Finding that type of motivation is sort of an extreme nationalist kind of thing.
Brainwashing takes time and commitment.
Chinese 8 Ball - I'm not convinced
- Thread starter voiceofreason
- Start date
Brainwashing takes time and commitment.
Lets be fair...its a commercial decision...not sure if you noticed, but there were World Snooker advertising boards up behind some of the tables on the live stream...it wouldn't surprise me at all if a few business brains got together and came up with the concept...if it takes off great, if not so be it!
Perhaps a commercial decision at some level, but one that, above-all, serves a higher agenda.
In general I liked it. A very tough game on a tough table with many very good players competing. And for decent prize money as well. All good imo. I saw nice crowds when a Chinese player was playing, which is quite understandable. Doubtful there would have been such a big crowd if Darren and Mick had been the finalists. Mick vs. Shi created the perfect scenario, China vs. the rest of the world.
My only real complaint was the length of the matches. They are borrowing too much from Snooker with these extremely long matches. Races to nine and eleven in the later going would be fine imo. The finals to 21 was a little over the top!
As far as i'm concerned if this is the format that gains a foothold for cue sports internationally then I'm all for it.
I too would be fine with this game growing internationally. At first I thought it was gimmicky, but later found that it is engaging enough while having its own identity as a game. By way of comparison you could see the influences on bonus ball, and it never felt its own game, more like a greatest hits package.
As an aside, I don't think this is a fabricated game for TV. I remember reading that it evolved and was played locally in China for a while before we all started to notice the marketing of it.
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I wonder if they'll payout in counterfeit US currency. ????.
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To VOR:
Not all E8B players play on the squarish cut pub tables, and regardless, whether you play on those or snooker style E8B tables, they both make potting down rails significantly more difficult than doing so on US type tables. Hence, the pattern play is similar for elite E8B play as it is for Chinese 8 Ball.
As for agenda.. provincial politics want high profile events, table manufacturers want to promote a product suitable to the market. Snooker tables (12 foot) were ubiquitous in China pre 2000. Since then, 9 footers took over the real estate. Some places US style, some English style.
There are over 500 venues with 8+ tables in Shanghai alone. Hundreds with 20+ tables. Tens of millions would have watched this event on TV on China I'd guess, based on having organized 2 televised events in China circa 2004-2006.
They have a huge market there and are not very interested in gaining small shares of an international market that few companies in China market to.
I can see these Chinese events growing in prize money and esteem in coming years, such that all but the best snooker players will aspire to succeed in the game. It was great for the future of this tournament that a Chinese won it. It was an all UK final last year with Daz and Selby.
I loved the long format. They can have other events with shorter formats. This is the pool equivalent to the World Snooker Championships, and congrats to the Chinese for creating their own event.
Not all E8B players play on the squarish cut pub tables, and regardless, whether you play on those or snooker style E8B tables, they both make potting down rails significantly more difficult than doing so on US type tables. Hence, the pattern play is similar for elite E8B play as it is for Chinese 8 Ball.
As for agenda.. provincial politics want high profile events, table manufacturers want to promote a product suitable to the market. Snooker tables (12 foot) were ubiquitous in China pre 2000. Since then, 9 footers took over the real estate. Some places US style, some English style.
There are over 500 venues with 8+ tables in Shanghai alone. Hundreds with 20+ tables. Tens of millions would have watched this event on TV on China I'd guess, based on having organized 2 televised events in China circa 2004-2006.
They have a huge market there and are not very interested in gaining small shares of an international market that few companies in China market to.
I can see these Chinese events growing in prize money and esteem in coming years, such that all but the best snooker players will aspire to succeed in the game. It was great for the future of this tournament that a Chinese won it. It was an all UK final last year with Daz and Selby.
I loved the long format. They can have other events with shorter formats. This is the pool equivalent to the World Snooker Championships, and congrats to the Chinese for creating their own event.
Slaughter? Hardly, with Mick Hill one game away from winning it all and Darren Appleton coming close to repeating his win from last year. You must not have watched the same tournament I did.
Slim Limpy
New member
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I am an E8B player and play on the international tour (ipapool.com) and know all the invited E8B players personally.
I would agree the pattern play is very similar, in much the same way that a race over a mile is similar to a race over 26 miles.
The rest of the equipment is quite different, offsetting this advantage I would think.
What strikes me as odd is how these players were able to get anywhere in this event.
For example, if I and ten of my pals were to come over for the US open having never or hardly ever picked up an AP cue or used the equipment, you would likely ruin all of us.
In the same context, if SVB and ten of his pals came and entered an IPA event under similar circumstances, they would be carved up in no time and no one would expect them to get anywhere in that either.
Same for anyone entering a snooker tournament, or billiards, or carom.
So I know these E8B players, for practise, were borrowing mates 9 ball cues, sets of AP balls and then knocking up on snooker tables.
Mick Hill posts on facebook that he "borrowed" a cue in qualifying and then borrowed someone else's for the knockout stages!
In what other sports is this kind of thing even possible????
So either the British and E8B players generally are sooooooooo far ahead of all the of the rest of the world at all cue sports - or something doesn't add up.
C8B has been around since the 80's btw - it has only really come to global attention as the C8B table manufacturers are under threat by snooker.
Mick Hill has won a GB9 event before:
http://www.gb9balltour.com/results-2013
Darren Appleton has of course been playing on American tables for years too with amazing success, so maybe English tables just provide a great platform for forming good fundamtals
Appleton and Hill (and to a degree Potts) and Melling too.... Are all sick prodigies - who have all done deals with the devil.
Poolplayergreg
Registered
For these age 1 qualifiers international players and Chinese players play seperate tournaments. In the stage 2 main event international and Chinese players are separated until the single elimination phase.
I like the C8B myself. I'd love to try it. I haven't heard of any issues with the players not getting paid, so I don't really see an issue.
i think its awesome see nothing of note to critique
world class pool, world class cross disciplined fields, world class conditions
world class pool, world class cross disciplined fields, world class conditions