I like the luck factor. Take luck out of billiards and you will watch the number of players decrease by over 50%. Make me believe I don't have a chance at winning and see if I show up to play much less pay tourney fees knowing I can't possibly even get lucky and win.
People complain all the time about how this sport is failing or has failed to make it on TV. Complain about the sport not having enough funds to support pro players. Take luck out and you eliminate people who will help fund tournaments payouts. You eliminate the fun of newer players so they never get addicted. To me it would be a bad turn for the game.
If you want to play a more elite game then do it with rules agreed on your opponent. But anything that makes the game harder will eliminate players that the game needs to continue to grow.
You want luck to play less and skill to be used more? Enter more high dollar tournaments.
This is only one players opinion and is worth exactly what you payed for it.:wink:
8up:
First, you're a valued member of these forums -- you gained big time notoriety when you chopped & burned a brand new set of the Australian Oysters instructional videos!
Now, on topic, JT was talking about removing luck in 9-ball, and the Texas Express fanatics jumped in, saying the game is fine as-is. In my post, I acknowledged that, and even indirectly said the game shouldn't be touched (via my comment that pigs would fly before 9-ball is played without Texas Express rules -- you might recall that in my post above).
My point was about 10-ball. If certain players want to play a "9ball-like" game (i.e. rotation pool), but are sick of the luck factor, then play 10-ball. As I mentioned, 10-ball is a very, very old game that resurrected from the ashes, due to many folks' complaints about the game of 9-ball. It's more than "9-ball with one extra ball" as the short-sighted 9-ball players like to look at it. (And the interesting thing is, those same 9-ball players that like to play 10-ball with Texas Express rules, make a huge deal about "that one extra ball." "Oh my gosh, how much more difficulty that one extra ball adds to the game!" <rolls eyes> They are, in fact, trying to redirect attention away from the fact that they're not playing 10-ball according to it's own very old / recently-resurrected rules ["you'll pry my Texas Express rules from my cold dead fingers"], and are making a big deal about that single extra ball.)
The point being, why do *both* rotation games "have to have" Texas Express rules? Why, "just because" the balls are shot in rotation? They don't. Let's keep 9-ball as it is, to appease the Texas Express advocates and those that appreciate the virtues of a soft break. For those that are sick of Texas Express and the weaknesses of 9-ball, let's play 10-ball, according to world-standardized rules.
Don't like the way 10-ball is played with those world-standardized WPA rules? Then don't watch. The same way I roll my eyes and look away / find something else to watch whenever a 9-ball match is being played.
This way, everybody's happy. Agreed?
-Sean
Agreed. Call pocket...as in pocket only, no calling safes.
Gives you an idea of this guy's caliber of play. Anyway, his philosophy was to always push to a safe. He felt confident enough to handle any shot his opponent pushed out to. He admitted that this wasn't the way everyone would do it, it was just what he did. There are a great many options in push out that don't exist in one foul, on both sides of the shot, offensive and defensive.
