Break Stats -- 2024 International 9-Ball Open, November 2024

[AtLarge]

Here are some aggregate break statistics from the 2024 International 9-Ball Open played November 18-22, 2024 at the World Golf Village Renaissance St. Augustine Resort in St. Augustine, Florida. Pay-per-view streaming was provided by Accu-Stats. Aloysius Yapp won the event, defeating Moritz Neuhausen in the final match.

The commentators were Mark Wilson, Mike Sigel, and Scott Frost. The referees for the matches I tracked were Ken Shuman, Ed Liddawi, and Jose Burgos. The Master of Ceremonies was Derrick Keith.

Conditions -- The conditions for the feature table included:

• Diamond 9-foot table with 4¼" corner pockets ;​

• blue Simonis 860 cloth;​

• Aramith Tournament balls with a blue-measles cue ball;​

• Accu-Rack racking template;​

• referee racks with the 9-ball on the foot spot (2-ball not necessarily in back location);​

• alternate breaks from a box -- 9" to each side of the long string;​

• 30-second shot clock (even after the break) with one automatic extension per player per rack;​

• foul on all balls;​

• jump cues allowed;​

• all slop counts; and​

• lag for the opening break in each match.​

This was a 128-player event, with double elimination down to 16 players (8 on the winners' side and 8 on the one-loss side), and then single elimination to the end. These stats are for all 19 matches (288 games) played on the feature table, with commentary. Matches 1 through 12 below were in the double-elimination stage and matches 13-19 were in the single-elimination stage. These 19 matches were only about 8% of the total of 247 matches played in the event, but included 47% of the 15 single-elimination matches.

The figures in parentheses are the Accu-Stats Total Performance Averages (TPA), as calculated by Accu-Stats and shown on the stream. TPAs were not provided for a few of the matches.

Monday, Nov. 18

1. John Morra (.926) defeated Gabe Owen (.780) 10-3​

2. Roberto Gomez d. Gregorio Sanchez 10-5​

3. Dimitris Loukatos d. Rich Ross 10-4​

4. Fedor Gorst d. Naoyuki Oi 10-4​

Tues., Nov. 19

5. Mitch Ellerman (.897) d. Brent Worth (.650) 10-2​

6. Shane Wolford (.848) d. Ralf Souquet (.807) 10-7​

7. Kledio Kaçi (.837) d. Billy Thorpe (.712) 10-5​

8. David Alcaide (.965) d. Vitaliy Patsura (.912) 10-6​

Wed., Nov 20

9. Mickey Krause d. Mika Immonen 10-3​

10. Alex Kazakis (.843) d. Shane Van Boening (.776) 10-6​

11. Niels Feijen (.872) d. Jayson Shaw (.810) 10-6​

12. Georgi Georgiev (.899) d. Mario He (.746) 10-4​

Thurs., Nov. 21

13. Carlo Biado (.940) d. Tyler Styer (.863) 10-4 (Last 16)​

14. Joshua Filler (.918) d. Max Lechner (.899) 10-9 (Last 16)​

15. Pijus Labutis (.859) d. Wiktor Zielinski (.691) 10-4 (Quarterfinal)​

16. Aloysius Yapp (.949) d. Georgiev (.864) 10-6 (Quarterfinal)​

Fri., Nov. 22

17. Moritz Neuhausen (.923) d. Labutis (.731) 10-4 (Semifinal)​

18. Yapp (.931) d. Feijen (.873) 10-7 (Semifinal)​

19. Yapp (.866) d. Neuhausen (.692) 13-10 (Final)​

Overall results

Successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):​

Match winners -- 76% (111 of 146)​

Match losers -- 57% (81 of 142)​

Total -- 67% (192 of 288)​

​

Breaker won the game:​

Match winners -- 75% (109 of 146)​

Match losers -- 41% (58 of 142)​

Total -- 58% (167 of 288)​

​

Break-and-run games on all breaks:​

Match winners -- 37% (54 of 146)​

Match losers -- 14% (20 of 142)​

Total -- 26% (74 of 288)​

​

Break-and-run games on successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):​

Match winners -- 49% (54 of 111)​

Match losers -- 25% (20 of 81)​

Total -- 39% (74 of 192)​

Here's a breakdown of the 288 games (for match winners and losers combined).

Breaker made at least one ball and did not foul:​

Breaker won the game: 122 (42% of the 288 games)​

Breaker lost the game: 70 (24%)​

​

Breaker fouled on the break:​

Breaker won the game: 7 (2%)​

Breaker lost the game: 17 (6%)​

​

Breaker broke dry (without fouling):​

Breaker won the game: 38 (13%)​

Breaker lost the game: 34 (12%)​

​

Therefore, whereas the breaker won 58% (167 of 288) of all games,​

He won 64% (122 of 192) of the games in which the break was successful (made at least one ball and did not foul).​

He won 47% (45 of 96) of the games in which the break was unsuccessful (fouled or dry).​

Break-and-run games -- The 74 break-and-run games represented 26% of all 288 games, 44% of the 167 games won by the breaker, and 39% of the 192 games in which the break was successful (made a ball and didn't foul).

With alternating breaks, B&R "packages" of the normal type are not possible. But we can still look at the breaks of a given player and see how many he ran on his own successive breaks, and we can call these "alternate-break packages." The 74 break-and-run games consisted of one alternate-break 5-pack (by Biado), one alternate-break 3-pack (Yapp), 13 alternate-break 2-packs, and 40 singles. So only twice in these matches did anyone break and run more than 2 games in a row on his own break.

9-balls on the break -- The 74 B&R games included 4 game-winning 9-balls on the break (1.4% of all 288 breaks). Two other 9-balls on the break were on fouled breaks.

 

[AtLarge]

Miscellany from the data for the 2024 International 9-Ball Open:
[This relates only to the 19 tracked matches, not to all matches in the event.]

• The most balls made on a single break was 4 -- just once, by Neuhausen in a B&R game. Three balls were made on the break 13 times. Four of those 13 games were won by B&R, 5 were won but not by B&R, and 4 were lost.

• The average number of balls made on the break was 1.1 (this includes dry and fouled breaks). On successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul), the average was 1.5, and the distribution was 58% 1 ball, 34% 2 balls, and 7% 3 or 4 balls.

• Number of innings:

47% (135 of 288) of the games ended in one inning – 74 games on the breaker's first inning (B&Rs) and 61 games on the non-breaker's first inning.​

26% (76 of 288) of the games ended on the second inning.​

27% (77 of 288) of the games went beyond the non-breaker's second visit to the table, with the longest game ending on the non-breaker's 12th visit.​

• 35% (102 of 288) of the games were run out by the player who was at the table following the break. These run-outs were:

- By the breaker after successful breaks (B&R games) – 39% (74 of 192)​

- By the non-breaker after fouls on the break – 67% (16 of 24)​

- By the non-breaker after dry breaks – 17% (12 of 72)​

• The player who made the first ball after the break:

- Won the game in that same inning 57% of the time (161 of 284)​

- Won the game in a later inning 14% of the time (40 of 284)​

- Lost the game 29% of the time (83 of 284)​

[Note -- total games used here are 284 rather than 288 to eliminate the 4 games in which no ball was made after the break.]​

• For the 18 races to 10 (i.e., excluding the Finals race to 13) the match loser won an average of 4.9 games. One match went to hill/hill; the fewest games won in a match was 2.

• The race to 10 that was longest in elapsed time, at about 118 minutes was Kazakis d. Van Boening 10-6. The elapsed time was measured from the lag until the winning ball was made (or conceded), so it includes time for racking and timeouts. The match that was highest in average minutes per game, at 8.0, was Neuhausen d. Labutis 10-4.

• The match that was both shortest in elapsed time, at about 57 minutes, and lowest in average minutes per game, at 4.4, was Krause d. Immonen 10-3.

• The average elapsed time for the 18 races to 10 was about 91 minutes. The average minutes per game for all 19 matches was about 6.1 minutes.

• Breaking fouls averaged 1 for every 12.0 games, other fouls 1 for every 4.5 games, and missed shots about 1 for every 1.8 games.

• One or more safeties were played in about 41% of all games and in about 55% of games that were not B&Rs.

 

[skogstokig]

great stats as usual. and you had to put up with sigel to gather them, hard work.

Tues., Nov. 19

5. Mitch Ellerman (.897) d. Brent Worth (.650) 10-2​

6. Shane Wolford (.848) d. Ralf Souquet (.807) 10-7​

7. Kledio Kaçi (.837) d. Billy Thorpe (.712) 10-5​

8. David Alcaide (.965) d. Vitaliy Patsura (.912) 10-6​

ellerman sticks out a bit. plays 900 speed at the tv table but goes 1-2 in the tournament, losing to lower fargo players

 

[Island Drive]

Mitch, hadn't seen em in a few years but did this past week, gained allot of weight maybe just going thru one of those life moments.

 

[skogstokig]

Mitch, hadn't seen em in a few years but did this past week, gained allot of weight maybe just going thru one of those life moments.

maybe so. still remarkable TPA / result ratio. mitch is one i would've hoped to see give the pro scene another go now that there's a tour and money is bumping up. crazy talented guy

 

[Island Drive]

I know, but the younger generation has passed em by, he's gotta be more cautions picking his Tournament $pots at this time in life. Maybe he's just a working pool player now. Hatch sells his own cars.

 

[Bob Jewett]

I measured several pockets on several tables. To me they all seemed like standard Diamond 4 1/2 inch.

 

[AtLarge]

I measured several pockets on several tables. To me they all seemed like standard Diamond 4 1/2 inch.

Hmm. Mark Wilson has said 4¼" for the feature table several times.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Hmm. Mark Wilson has said 4¼" for the feature table several times.

I'll see if I can get a better look. The 10-foot is in the arena now, I think. Two balls could get to the flat of the facing.

 

[Island Drive]

Dave Isaac rebuilt my GCI.
Teet to teet in the attachment pic, is what he told me determines the pocket size.
As you can see it's 4.5''.
The Corner pockets in FL were for sure wider at the opening than the pic.
Dave said the table specs he used setting up my GCI, were used in the US Open about 3 yrs ago.
Corner pockets at the Opening in FL, teet to teet were about 1/8'' Larger.
bm

 

[AtLarge]

great stats as usual. and you had to put up with sigel to gather them, hard work. ...

I got a kick out of this over the last few days:

Sigel clearly isn't enamoured of the 9-Ball cut break, playing for the 1-ball in the side pocket. He doesn't like the cue ball going back and forth and remaining at the foot-end of the table, risking a scratch, while the 2-ball can wind up anywhere on the table. Surprise, he likes a power break, trying to make the wing ball and get position on the 1-ball at the head of the table.

He felt that one of the players on Day 1, Rich Ross, was not playing a cut break to make the 1-ball. So, to make his point on subsequent days, Sigel cited how well Ross had fared on the break on Day 1. Mike said that Ross was just "raining in" 2 balls or 3 balls on his breaks. Mike said that on at least 3 of the 4 days beginning with Tuesday.

Trouble is, Ross's rain wasn't wet. He broke 7 times, 6 of which were dry. Commentators are frequently wrong about stats for their current match or earlier matches in an event. But this was a bit extreme.

[And in case we might think that Mike just mixed up names, no one else on Monday was "raining in" 2s and 3s, either.]

 

[jtompilot]

Dave Isaac rebuilt my GCI.
Teet to teet in the attachment pic, is what he told me determines the pocket size.
As you can see it's 4.5''.
The Corner pockets in FL were for sure wider at the opening than the pic.
Dave said the table specs he used setting up my GCI, were used in the US Open about 3 yrs ago.
Corner pockets at the Opening in FL, teet to teet were about 1/8'' Larger.
bm

That pic looks 4 1/4 or 4 3/8 to me. Definitely smaller than Diamond spec 4.5”

 

[skogstokig]

I got a kick out of this over the last few days:

Sigel clearly isn't enamoured of the 9-Ball cut break, playing for the 1-ball in the side pocket. He doesn't like the cue ball going back and forth and remaining at the foot-end of the table, risking a scratch, while the 2-ball can wind up anywhere on the table. Surprise, he likes a power break, trying to make the wing ball and get position on the 1-ball at the head of the table.

He felt that one of the players on Day 1, Rich Ross, was not playing a cut break to make the 1-ball. So, to make his point on subsequent days, Sigel cited how well Ross had fared on the break on Day 1. Mike said that Ross was just "raining in" 2 balls or 3 balls on his breaks. Mike said that on at least 3 of the 4 days beginning with Tuesday.

Trouble is, Ross's rain wasn't wet. He broke 7 times, 6 of which were dry. Commentators are frequently wrong about stats for their current match or earlier matches in an event. But this was a bit extreme.

[And in case we might think that Mike just mixed up names, no one else on Monday was "raining in" 2s and 3s, either.]

well then at least he remembered a players name and didn't go "this guy", "that guy". so an improvement

 

[Island Drive]

That pic looks 4 1/4 or 4 3/8 to me. Definitely smaller than Diamond spec 4.5”

2 1/4 + 2 1/4
Ball middles touching the teets.
4.5

This was how Isaac explained pocket size.

Makes me wonder, if ALL table mechanics talk pocket size from this perspective.
Doubt it.
The Teet to teet explanation he gave.....is a simple way to standardize Opening Size.
Then
1. Facing angle
2. Shelf Depth

It's these three things that seem to not be ''standardized''.
One would think Snooker has it figured out.

Cup size in Golf is the same for all pro events.

 

[Bob Jewett]

That pic looks 4 1/4 or 4 3/8 to me. Definitely smaller than Diamond spec 4.5”

All of the tables I've measured in St. Augustine have been the same size: two balls get just far enough in to sit on the flat of the facing. I think that's called 4 1/2. That includes the Bigfoot table. This is the Bigfoot:

This is a random 9-foot table:

 

[mikemosconi]

AGREED! to me, if I place two balls inside the jaws of the pocket, just below the point opening - both together and the middle of those balls touching one pocket facing; and if they fit inside very snugly with no visible space on either side of the balls, or between the balls- to me, that is a 4 1/2 inch pocket.

IF the balls don't fit together in the pocket just inside the corner points, then it is a less than 4 1/2 inch pocket. I don't see these aformentioned ball pocketing on the break and runout after the break stats for this tournament occurring on true 4 1/4 inch pockets, even at this level, my guess would be that they were 4 1/2 inch pockets. Just an opinion.

BTW, most standard GC pockets from 1960s forward had plenty of room just inside the pocket with two balls together against one pocket facing-- always easily leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch of remaining space between the two tangent balls and one pocket facing. I never encountered an unaltered Brunswick factory GC that was not a minimum 4 3/4 corner pocket - in fact , most stock factory Brunswick corners from the Anniversary table right through the GC IV -- mostly came with closer to 4 7/8 and sometimes even more as per my definition.

 

[AtLarge]

All of the tables I've measured in St. Augustine have been the same size: two balls get just far enough in to sit on the flat of the facing. I think that's called 4 1/2. That includes the Bigfoot table. ...

You don't have a tape measure in your briefcase? That's easier than using balls, for which the equator is about 0.3" below the nose of the cushion.

 

[Bob Jewett]

You don't have a tape measure in your briefcase? That's easier than using balls, for which the equator is about 0.3" below the nose of the cushion.

Nope, no tape measure. But anyone who happens to be near a Diamond where the balls sit as shown can make their own direct measurement. New Diamonds have very little variation in pocket shape.