It’s one pocket time now, my favorite game. But I must admit that the 9-ball banks has really captivated me. I’m going to try to pay more attention next time around.
Gentle suggestions for the marvelous Accu-Stats crew:
> When there’s a streaming snag, viewers are directed to enter Chat. Chat requires Java, which I (and, I believe, many Apple Annies) have disabled because of malware concerns.
> Find a way to have the TV table influence the tournament schedule. It’s loopy for the most-watched venue to be dependent on the tournament desk. The tournament could schedule matches of the most interest to the most viewers. Actually, it usually doesn’t matter that much to me who is playing -- the more important consideration is to eliminate all the ‘dead air’ time on the TV table.
> Start the streaming coverage later and go later. Pool players don’t like morning matches. Viewers would appreciate after-work coverage. Again … this is similar to the above point: be viewer-centric as opposed to bowing to the arcane dictates of historical tournament practices.
> Know the rankings -- won / lost. Announcers should be able to keep ball scores / game scores. Know the won-lost status. Know the buy-in avails. Announcers should have mini-bios of each player on the TV table. It’s goofy not to know where they’re from, how old they are, how they’ve performed in this tourney and others.
> Share some inside info. Show where the announcer’s booth is in relation to the TV table. Show what was involved in moving the 10-ft. table into the arena. How cool that must have been, single slab-wise! Weight-wise!
> Find a way for the announcers to figure out which ball number is which. If I can tell -- on my little iPhone -- there must be booth-technology that can decipher this basic element. (One announcer suggested a pocket-by-pocket identifier to more precisely illustrate shot possibilities. Capital idea!)
Lord of the Rings.
I find hands interesting. They can be slender, stubby, graceful, brutish. And what better venue to observe them than on a competition blue cloth!
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni would, of course be the classic artist of choice to record and celebrate all things anatomical.
Since he’s no longer available -- by supervening reason of death -- Accu-Stats is a good preserver / chronicler of hands-on art.
Watching the Derby, one notices, yes, hands. But also fingers. And rings. Wedding bands, school rings, pinkies.
And what are rings? Symbols.
Symbols of friendship, of wealth, of fidelity.
Not that it’s important, but Niels Feijen didn’t seem to sport any digital diamonds?
Is he unencumbered by nature? By choice? By not having yet met the perfect soul mate? One wonders.
In his Scott Frost match, it seemed to me Niels was a bit adrift. Perhaps bereft of a stable familial grounding? Lonely?
Earlier in the tourney I had seen The Freezer spanked by J. J.
Scott did have one nifty 8-and-out, but he was … well, spanked.
So how to explain his night-and-day difference v. Niels?
Of course there is no one-size-fits-all answer. But didn’t Niels look a bit lonely? A tad forlorn?
Pearls. And a few questions.
Hickey -- apparently an intentional foul.
Sleep a ball -- I think this means a failure, perhaps on purpose, to spot an owed ball.
“Shoot the wrong shot perfectly and there’s no penalty.” Freddy.
“The best players do more than one thing with each shot at the opening of the game.” One pocket.
Rearrange the furniture -- move a bunch of balls from your opponents side?
“I won the match, but I was tired when I got done.” John B.
Also from John B. “The age of the cloth makes more difference than the new Diamond rails.” “Carrying an extension means needing a new case.” “Pool cases will be looking like golf bags.”
Will players be having caddies? Sherpas?
“It’s tough playing morning pool.”
“The TV table plays a lot longer.” I wonder what that means and why it’s so?
“Bank pool players are more comfortable shooting with the cue ball on the rail.”
A certain brand of chalk -- Danny D. goes two racks without chalking up.
The reason right handers usually break toward the right in one-pocket? It’s easier to reach many shots.
Why do the pockets get tighter as the tourney progresses?
High karate -- top spin. I gather this allows you to keep the cue ball close to the rail when knocking away an opponent’s ball.
When Cliff racked for one-pocket, why did he keep rearranging the order of the balls?
The ‘bite’ -- request for a temporary loan? ‘Temporary’ being iffy?
With a new cloth, playing one-pocket, if you break further from the rail, you are less likely to leak a ball.
Leak a ball -- when your one-pocket break sends a ball toward your opponent’s pocket.
Some people should not wear horizontal stripes.
I gather this applies not only for the one-pocket break, but also later in the game ... get a ball high and low -- on the side and bottom rails.
Are there shots that come up in one-pocket and no other games?
Are older players and commentators more conservative with one-pocket strategies?
There was some discussion whether Ronnie Allen or Eddie Taylor started the aggressive, offense-driven style of one-pocket.
“Scott Frost is so used to giving up 15 - 4 … he’s a ball-running machine.”
Notice how the younger players are still drinking soda? I’m happy to see that water is the predominant drink, even in that casino pool room. Of course once the day’s work is done, all bets are off! Break out the tequila!
SVB was up -- I believe -- 7 - 1 over Shannon. SVB eventually lost the game and it looked as if he never recovered. Posture, body language, general attitude, frustration shots … he just didn’t look like the fighter he usually is. (Of course that’s merely my take.)
English bank -- not, I believe referring the the British Isles. I think this is that long bank where the object ball is close to the side rail. Putting spin on the cue ball allows one to send the object ball away from the side rail, down to the end rail where the reverse English brings it back to a trajectory in the direction of one’s pocket. Or maybe not!
The first couple of TV one-pocket matches were, unfortunately, a bit of a snoozer. The Hunter v. Orcollo competition wasn’t as boring as Ike v. Darren. But it wasn’t an edge-of-the seat thriller either.
Emulating Bartleby, the Scrivener is my life,
Sunny
P. S. I bet the one-pocket Hall of Fame dinner was a blast! Maybe someday I’ll be invited!
Gentle suggestions for the marvelous Accu-Stats crew:
> When there’s a streaming snag, viewers are directed to enter Chat. Chat requires Java, which I (and, I believe, many Apple Annies) have disabled because of malware concerns.
> Find a way to have the TV table influence the tournament schedule. It’s loopy for the most-watched venue to be dependent on the tournament desk. The tournament could schedule matches of the most interest to the most viewers. Actually, it usually doesn’t matter that much to me who is playing -- the more important consideration is to eliminate all the ‘dead air’ time on the TV table.
> Start the streaming coverage later and go later. Pool players don’t like morning matches. Viewers would appreciate after-work coverage. Again … this is similar to the above point: be viewer-centric as opposed to bowing to the arcane dictates of historical tournament practices.
> Know the rankings -- won / lost. Announcers should be able to keep ball scores / game scores. Know the won-lost status. Know the buy-in avails. Announcers should have mini-bios of each player on the TV table. It’s goofy not to know where they’re from, how old they are, how they’ve performed in this tourney and others.
> Share some inside info. Show where the announcer’s booth is in relation to the TV table. Show what was involved in moving the 10-ft. table into the arena. How cool that must have been, single slab-wise! Weight-wise!
> Find a way for the announcers to figure out which ball number is which. If I can tell -- on my little iPhone -- there must be booth-technology that can decipher this basic element. (One announcer suggested a pocket-by-pocket identifier to more precisely illustrate shot possibilities. Capital idea!)
Lord of the Rings.
I find hands interesting. They can be slender, stubby, graceful, brutish. And what better venue to observe them than on a competition blue cloth!
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni would, of course be the classic artist of choice to record and celebrate all things anatomical.
Since he’s no longer available -- by supervening reason of death -- Accu-Stats is a good preserver / chronicler of hands-on art.
Watching the Derby, one notices, yes, hands. But also fingers. And rings. Wedding bands, school rings, pinkies.
And what are rings? Symbols.
Symbols of friendship, of wealth, of fidelity.
Not that it’s important, but Niels Feijen didn’t seem to sport any digital diamonds?
Is he unencumbered by nature? By choice? By not having yet met the perfect soul mate? One wonders.
In his Scott Frost match, it seemed to me Niels was a bit adrift. Perhaps bereft of a stable familial grounding? Lonely?
Earlier in the tourney I had seen The Freezer spanked by J. J.
Scott did have one nifty 8-and-out, but he was … well, spanked.
So how to explain his night-and-day difference v. Niels?
Of course there is no one-size-fits-all answer. But didn’t Niels look a bit lonely? A tad forlorn?
Pearls. And a few questions.
Hickey -- apparently an intentional foul.
Sleep a ball -- I think this means a failure, perhaps on purpose, to spot an owed ball.
“Shoot the wrong shot perfectly and there’s no penalty.” Freddy.
“The best players do more than one thing with each shot at the opening of the game.” One pocket.
Rearrange the furniture -- move a bunch of balls from your opponents side?
“I won the match, but I was tired when I got done.” John B.
Also from John B. “The age of the cloth makes more difference than the new Diamond rails.” “Carrying an extension means needing a new case.” “Pool cases will be looking like golf bags.”
Will players be having caddies? Sherpas?
“It’s tough playing morning pool.”
“The TV table plays a lot longer.” I wonder what that means and why it’s so?
“Bank pool players are more comfortable shooting with the cue ball on the rail.”
A certain brand of chalk -- Danny D. goes two racks without chalking up.
The reason right handers usually break toward the right in one-pocket? It’s easier to reach many shots.
Why do the pockets get tighter as the tourney progresses?
High karate -- top spin. I gather this allows you to keep the cue ball close to the rail when knocking away an opponent’s ball.
When Cliff racked for one-pocket, why did he keep rearranging the order of the balls?
The ‘bite’ -- request for a temporary loan? ‘Temporary’ being iffy?
With a new cloth, playing one-pocket, if you break further from the rail, you are less likely to leak a ball.
Leak a ball -- when your one-pocket break sends a ball toward your opponent’s pocket.
Some people should not wear horizontal stripes.
I gather this applies not only for the one-pocket break, but also later in the game ... get a ball high and low -- on the side and bottom rails.
Are there shots that come up in one-pocket and no other games?
Are older players and commentators more conservative with one-pocket strategies?
There was some discussion whether Ronnie Allen or Eddie Taylor started the aggressive, offense-driven style of one-pocket.
“Scott Frost is so used to giving up 15 - 4 … he’s a ball-running machine.”
Notice how the younger players are still drinking soda? I’m happy to see that water is the predominant drink, even in that casino pool room. Of course once the day’s work is done, all bets are off! Break out the tequila!
SVB was up -- I believe -- 7 - 1 over Shannon. SVB eventually lost the game and it looked as if he never recovered. Posture, body language, general attitude, frustration shots … he just didn’t look like the fighter he usually is. (Of course that’s merely my take.)
English bank -- not, I believe referring the the British Isles. I think this is that long bank where the object ball is close to the side rail. Putting spin on the cue ball allows one to send the object ball away from the side rail, down to the end rail where the reverse English brings it back to a trajectory in the direction of one’s pocket. Or maybe not!
The first couple of TV one-pocket matches were, unfortunately, a bit of a snoozer. The Hunter v. Orcollo competition wasn’t as boring as Ike v. Darren. But it wasn’t an edge-of-the seat thriller either.
Emulating Bartleby, the Scrivener is my life,
Sunny
P. S. I bet the one-pocket Hall of Fame dinner was a blast! Maybe someday I’ll be invited!
