alex only lagged
China Open
- Thread starter jay helfert
- Start date
alex only lagged
sudocrushms
Well-known member
I'm not familiar with the template they were using, but it looked like the racks were really inconsistent too. No one seemed to get a consistent break pattern and we all know how good these players are at repeating breaks...
Yeah. Having neutral rackers has been a big step forward in our sport, but if the refs give bad racks, it defeats the purpose.
China is known for not playing fair in international competition.
I am obviously in the minority here, but I don't enjoy watching racks run. I enjoy watching a strategic battle. I say winner break but there's a mandatory push after the brake. Besides being able to enjoy all the strategy and safety play, it negates all the pattern breaks. Also, it will save all the time players spend racking and inspecting the rack. Has this even been tried?
You are in the minority on this one for a reason. If you like strategy, watch and play one pocket. It is more strategic and more interesting than defensive oriented rotation IMO. Short rack rotation games are supposed to be ball running games. Push after the break is like putting speed bumps on a race track IMO.
It's still 9 ball (or 10 ball); mandatory push just rewards the better safety players as opposed to the better breaker. Plus, a mandatory push eliminates the luck that's involved in the break.
Yes, it has between tried. Pat Fleming staged a "mandatory push after the break" style event at the Derby about a decade ago (?2014?). Yes, it emphasizes strategy, but the racks took longer and if this style of 9ball were ever adopted, the races need to be shortened a lot.
That said, I can't say I enjoy this type of 9ball. I enjoy a good tactical rack, but not to the exclusion of every other kind of rack (runout racks, racks that begin with a safety, racks that begin with a two-way shot, racks that begin with a kick/jump, etc.) The last thing I want to see is for the game to be homogenized in a way that makes it more, not less, repetitious.
I think WNT has it about right. Per AtLarge stats, at the Matchroom majors, close to half the racks include at least one safety, so there are, roughly, as many racks that come down to defense as offense.
Last edited:
Attachments
Badpenguin
Well-known member
Sigh, when will they stop trying to turn 9-ball into 10-ball or snooker? 9-ball is supposed to be packs and fast action.
So is WPA now in the 9-ball business? Will the winnings from this go towards players' matchroom rankings? WPA going to do their own rankings for 9-ball?
So is WPA now in the 9-ball business? Will the winnings from this go towards players' matchroom rankings? WPA going to do their own rankings for 9-ball?
Which would be the cue CJ was using, IIRC.
fact
The WPA ranking still seems to include all WPA sanctioned events. Most of the WNT events are "registered" or something but not sanctioned, and do not count towards the WPA rankings. So far as I can see, the World Championship (9-ball) is the only Matchroom event that is included in the WPA rankings. Those rankings and the events that produced them are on the WPA website.
On May 7, a letter issued jointly by WPA and Matchroom offered “an agreement has been reached, ensuring that WNT events will be ratified by the WPA going forward.”
Then one mandatory push after the break wouldn't be a disruption at all. It would stop all the racking issues and pattern breaking. It would also ensure everyone has a fighting chance every rack. What's not to like?