Good thing pool isn't tennis!!
Fixing the game of 9 ball.
- Thread starter realkingcobra
- Start date
Don't compare pool to other sports, unless the players get paid the same, to which, they don't!!
It is a good thing for tennis that it isn't pool.
Last edited:
Everything in pool has been tried, tables, pocket sizes, rules, you name it....but the pay has never improved with all the suggestions ever made to help pool, guess something different has to be done!!
Lying to pool players works pretty good
The most financed tour was the international pool tour.
The promise of pay was enough to attract pool players.
You think there wasn't some pool players involved in that, behind the closed curtains??
The Camel Pro Tour sponsors didn't lie, they got ripped off by the so called leadership of this sport, didn't they???
I told Deno they were going to fail before they even got off the ground, because they had NO idea what they were doing in the first place!!
The Camel Pro Tour sponsors didn't lie, they got ripped off by the so called leadership of this sport, didn't they???
I told Deno they were going to fail before they even got off the ground, because they had NO idea what they were doing in the first place!!
The demise of pool has always been the male leadership. You just can't have male pool players leading this sport to success.
Perhaps controversially, I would argue nothing currently needs to be done.
Now Matchroom have started investing in 9-Ball in a serious fashion, simply be patient and results will follow.
The prize money for both the snooker and darts world championships is GBP 500k to the winner, but of course it didn't start like that.
There's no reason why 9-Ball won't improve from here with professional marketing behind it (not saying the prize money / exposure will be as big as snooker or darts, but who knows maybe it could be one day).
What definitely won't work is making the game slower and more technical (e.g. 10-Ball or any other pool game for that matter), snooker exists for that. 9-Ball has a place as the faster paced alternative (i.e. the way Matchroom events have always been run) with big breaks, 'slop' (i.e. non call shot) and jump shots (the purists may not like it, but its good for casual viewers on tv)!
Now Matchroom have started investing in 9-Ball in a serious fashion, simply be patient and results will follow.
The prize money for both the snooker and darts world championships is GBP 500k to the winner, but of course it didn't start like that.
There's no reason why 9-Ball won't improve from here with professional marketing behind it (not saying the prize money / exposure will be as big as snooker or darts, but who knows maybe it could be one day).
What definitely won't work is making the game slower and more technical (e.g. 10-Ball or any other pool game for that matter), snooker exists for that. 9-Ball has a place as the faster paced alternative (i.e. the way Matchroom events have always been run) with big breaks, 'slop' (i.e. non call shot) and jump shots (the purists may not like it, but its good for casual viewers on tv)!
Last edited:
If you do not like rules, or 9 ball game do not play. Why change rules to appease crying babies, no reason. Pool is a game of skill, most the most skilled player wins.
Hey wait a second. Nine-Ball rules were not handed down by God on a stone tablet thousands of years ago. Nine-Ball rules were changed on us old guys who played in the 50s, 60s and 70s. It was "THE GAME OF CHOICE". It was so much fun. I think the rules played today have ruined the game. All the players do is duck and argue. That is a bad dynamic.
The comment of the year right here. Good comment.
A return or partial to the game of old might not be a bad thing.
I didn't play a lot of 9-ball under the old rules but I remember ball in hand the kitchen and
having to make a spot shot and getting position too and the cloth wasn't so damn fast.
I'd consider a return to the rules of those years, during which I first played nine ball, would represent a giant step backward for pool. Some suggest the players enjoy it more, but even in the 1980's, when both types of nine ball were still in use, you very rarely saw top amateurs playing nine ball with the old rules, and now you never see it. Speaking as a fan, I wasn't very inclined to watch nine ball when contested under the old rules. The "shootout" version of nine ball in the pre-shot clock era was too laborious for this fan.
For twenty years now, I've also been told constantly that 10-ball will replace nine ball. One of the biggest problems with straight pool was the call shot requirement. Onlookers often had no idea what the shooter was attempting, and ten ball has the same problem. Snooker, a far tougher game than 10-ball, doesn't require calling your shot. Except in the end game, every shooter turn begins with an attempt at a red, and neither the ball nor the pocket need be called, and (barring a violation such as hitting a colored ball first) if any red goes into any pocket it counts. The game is easy to follow for the fans, who love its simplicity, but understand the skill required to play it well.
Matchroom has ushered in an era in which the priority is to keep nine ball moving swiftly and it's working. When you attend a Matchroom event, it always stays on schedule, and the gaps between matches are short. RealKingCobra has shown that he understands the criticality of keeping the game moving swiftly, too, and he's dead on in his comments.
Finally, I think the number of arguments in pro competition has dropped precipitously in recent years, as the big events offer neutral rackers and referees in any match being streamed. The almost unbearable racking disputes have largely gone by the wayside.
The pay improving (or not) is a separate issue from the game itself. 9ball is fine and the direction it's gone is great. In order for there to be more money in the game, the solution is not endless tinkering with the game rules, it's about attracting a wider audience. That begins with making the game accessible to people of all ages.
Pool is fairly unique in that it's a game that many can't even access until they are 18+, or even 21+, since it's often found only in bars. Pool tables are a big investment in terms of money and space, so there are relatively few of those around in homes. Thus, very few kids grow up playing and loving the game. How popular would football or baseball or tennis be if people were effectively barred from playing it until they were 21?
More purely athletic sports (like the aforementioned) are popular with kids. More intellectually-focused games, or games that require fine motor control, are also popular--just look at video games. There's likely a large potential market for a game that straddles those lines, like pool. It just needs to be made accessible. Until pool is a readily available entertainment option for most kids, we're all just rearranging chairs on the titanic with all this tinkering.
9-ball is called 9-ball because there are 9 colored balls on the table .
Pool is not getting "saved" by a joker ball on the table .
Major sports exist today ( huge part of it ) because of sports book .
UFC even posts the betting line on their fights during fights. How wild is that ????
Pool will not generate huge viewership and sponsorship if it's not a betting sport .
Snooker is a betting sport . Pool , for the most part is not .
You can thank the former generation of pro pool players for that . I believe two are in the hall of fame.
A promoter has to come forward and promote events with betting line and 100% guarantee nobody is dumping.
Pool is not getting "saved" by a joker ball on the table .
Major sports exist today ( huge part of it ) because of sports book .
UFC even posts the betting line on their fights during fights. How wild is that ????
Pool will not generate huge viewership and sponsorship if it's not a betting sport .
Snooker is a betting sport . Pool , for the most part is not .
You can thank the former generation of pro pool players for that . I believe two are in the hall of fame.
A promoter has to come forward and promote events with betting line and 100% guarantee nobody is dumping.
How can someone guarantee that? There have been fixes in all sports all throughout history. The sports that seem to have the most "trust" in that regard are popular (read: rich) team sports, most notably football. It's easier to dump as an individual than as one member of a team. As well, with proper sanctions in place, a player with a multi-million dollar contract would be a fool to try to dump. But in sports where the participants (and/or refs!) don't make much, dumping is much more of a real threat--think of all the college basketball point shaving scandals through the years.
While I agree that having betting on the sport would greatly enhance its popularity, I think that might be putting the cart before the horse. Pool needs to be popular to some degree first so that there is enough scrutiny on its participants and enough money in the sport, that it can be reasonably believed that there are very likely no fixes. Only then would betting be viable. But I agree it's a necessary step the sport needs to make in any path towards mainstream popularity.
Lifetime ban and criminal prosecution . Look at Pete Rose . He didn't even dump.
That one snooker player who was caught, is banned forever .
There was more than one. Here is a list of the snooker players who have been investigated and in some cases punished for match fixing or knowing about possible match fixing and saying nothing:
List of snooker players investigated for match-fixing - Wikipedia
None of the punishments was a lifetime ban. The most serious was a 12-year ban and about $170,000 in investigation costs.
It seems that the bookies are the ones who monitor possible misbehavior. "Unusual betting patterns" is the most common cause of an investigation.
Last edited:
It's a foul if you don't hit the lowest ball on the table.