Florida Open 2025, August 5-10, Orlando, Caribe Royale

[BasementDweller]

One of the things I think many of us get wrong about top players, is how long they actually improve. Yes, there are those like Filler and Gorst that come out of the gate -- playing close to their peak, but others get better and better, inch by inch for years. This gets lost in the shuffle because - overall the standard continues to rise.

Sure some of them fade as they age due to their lack of desire or health concerns, but others get better. Varner got better. Efren got better. Dare I say -- SVB has gotten better. I know he doesn't win the titles as much, but his overall game looks better to me in many respects.

Others will say, you should have seen them in their prime, then a video of them in their "prime" surfaces and they look worse. The ever increasing standard, forces players to continually improve or go home. The greats that stick it out, find ways to get better.

 

[jbart65]

felt like yapp missed more balls (although few) than shane, but that shane played worse safeties and percentage play. icbw.

MR events should really use accustats TPA. in some events they've had their own stats but they've been wonky

Both players missed enough key shots to let the other win. Shane had two big mistakes, though.

The second he couldn't be faulted for: He scratched on the break, down 12-10 I think, and lost control of the table. CB took a carom as if often the case on scratches on the break.

The big error, as has been pointed out, was his risky (reckless in my view) decision to try to pocket the 2 ball on a steep backcut after he broke leading 5-1. One the worst decisions I have seen in the short WNT era.

Smart play, by far, was to hook Yapp. That is what Yapp (and Gorst) would have done to SVB if the situation was flipped.

 

[jbart65]

Is there any reason to think chopping is going on at the highest level in the WNT? I am not aware of any evidence to suggest it's going on. As such, I am not going to worry about it.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Hopefully today's players learned from yesterday's players, realize they've got a very good thing with Matchroom and don't do anything stupid to screw it up. ...

Yes, that's true, but we have the recent example of pro snooker where ten players were banned or suspended for match fixing or failure to report such activity when they knew about it. The current world snooker champion had been suspended for 20 months. Evidently he worked hard on his game during that time.

Zhao Xintong - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[pt109]

Yes, that's true, but we have the recent example of pro snooker where ten players were banned or suspended for match fixing or failure to report such activity when they knew about it. The current world snooker champion had been suspended for 20 months. Evidently he worked hard on his game during that time.

Zhao Xintong - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I feel the young Chinese players were treated a bit harshly…..especially the non-reporters….the underground culture in Asia can be brutal…..over here, many honest Italians were not expected to report Mob activity.

 

[skogstokig]

One of the things I think many of us get wrong about top players, is how long they actually improve. Yes, there are those like Filler and Gorst that come out of the gate -- playing close to their peak, but others get better and better, inch by inch for years. This gets lost in the shuffle because - overall the standard continues to rise.

Sure some of them fade as they age due to their lack of desire or health concerns, but others get better. Varner got better. Efren got better. Dare I say -- SVB has gotten better. I know he doesn't win the titles as much, but his overall game looks better to me in many respects.

Others will say, you should have seen them in their prime, then a video of them in their "prime" surfaces and they look worse. The ever increasing standard, forces players to continually improve or go home. The greats that stick it out, find ways to get better.

this is was shane says too. and making two big time finals in a year, close matches, that's not easy. another one of the older players that's stepped up imo is naoyuki oi. with biado, lee van, chang yu lung, svb, etc.. don't discount the 40+ boys

 

[AtLarge]

... The big error, as has been pointed out, was his risky (reckless in my view) decision to try to pocket the 2 ball on a steep backcut after he broke leading 5-1. One the worst decisions I have seen in the short WNT era.

Smart play, by far, was to hook Yapp. That is what Yapp (and Gorst) would have done to SVB if the situation was flipped.

Yes, that decision in Game 7 was questionable. Yapp ran out to make it 2-5, the start of an 8-game win streak that took him to a 9-5 lead. And there might have been a mental effect of that miss on the 2-ball.

But, to me, that miss in Game 7 was not the error that caused the most damage. In Game 8, SVB fouled the 3-ball (with his stick, I think) on a jump shot at the 2-ball. That error took it to 3-5. In Game 9, on his second visit to the table, SVB was running out from the 2-ball, which would have limited Yapp to 2 wins in a row and restored a 3-game lead, but SVB missed a fairly easy 7-ball. To me, that miss led to the most damage. Yapp ran out that game (after a really nice shot on the 7-ball) and followed it with his only B&R games (a 3-pack), taking the score to 7-5. Yapp then won the next 2 games because of excellent safeties, taking it to 9-5.

So, if SVB had run out Game 9 and taken a 3-game lead, with the break for Game 10, things might have been quite different.

 

[SBC]

SVB lost quite a few games because of his own mistakes. Yapp's only B&Rs were a 3-pack in Games 10-12. SVB got to the table in 20 of the 23 games, 11 on his own break and 9 on Yapp's 12 breaks. Yapp just made fewer errors than SVB.

And a lot of tough shots in succession

Guy has heart

 

[jbart65]

Surprised WNT.TV has Boyes and Yates, I think, commenting on a Battle of the Bull match. Wasnt expecting that.

 

[sjm]

Surprised WNT.TV has Boyes and Yates, I think, commenting on a Battle of the Bull match. Wasnt expecting that.

They were just in Florida, and Virginia is, pretty much, on the way to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the US Open 9ball begins on Monday.

 

[maha]

yes some of those guys are just human and miss a shot that looked easy to the viewers.

or made a play that didnt turn out right so those that go by results fault him for it.

 

[skip100]

Jonas Souto has quite the fast and loose playing style.

 

[sjm]

One of the things I think many of us get wrong about top players, is how long they actually improve. Yes, there are those like Filler and Gorst that come out of the gate -- playing close to their peak, but others get better and better, inch by inch for years. This gets lost in the shuffle because - overall the standard continues to rise.

Sure some of them fade as they age due to their lack of desire or health concerns, but others get better. Varner got better. Efren got better. Dare I say -- SVB has gotten better. I know he doesn't win the titles as much, but his overall game looks better to me in many respects.

Others will say, you should have seen them in their prime, then a video of them in their "prime" surfaces and they look worse. The ever increasing standard, forces players to continually improve or go home. The greats that stick it out, find ways to get better.

This post is just superb! Yes, once in while there is an Allen Hopkins, Alex Pagulayan, Josh Filler, Wu Jiaqing, or Fedor Gorst, players that seem to have 95% of the skills and features needed for greatness by the age of 18. Still, they are the exception.

Aloysius Yapp is 29, but he is a perfect example of a player that is still improving. Relative to when he was 25, he is a better pattern player, a better ball pocketer, a better executor of the jump shot and has a stronger mental game. Bustamante improved greatly in his 30s and so did Earl Strickland and Carlo Biado. I agree with the many on this forum who feel that SVB is playing the best pool he has ever played. As we saw last week when he managed silver at the Florida Open, Shane is still one to be reckoned with at the majors. Ralf Souquet was still improving in his 40s and so was Jose Parica.

The increasing globalization of the game means that great players will continue to pop up everywhere, and young players and veterans alike who fail to improve will be left behind.