Well I'm not the best player on this board by a long shot, but I've been around Pool long enough to know what's what.
I'm flat calling Bull shiat on the results of this poll. I think about 1/2 of it is "open mouth insert keyboard" kind of action (as in peoples perception of their games are way better then it actually is) and the other half is just people perhaps misunderstanding what "beating" the ghost actually is.
I'm going to start with that second part first.. If you play the ghost and you run 3 racks and the ghost wins 9 : 3, that DOES NOT MEAN that you can beat the ghost 33% of the time.. That does'nt mean in 9 sets with the ghost your going to get 3 of them. As well, in that fifth or sixth rack when you missed that easy 8 ball, or rattled the 9 ball you don't get to add that to your score becuase you "should've" made it (which I have a hunch quite a few are doing here online)
To beat the ghost in a race to nine you pretty much have to be at the very worst a low A player, (By San Diego Standards) and even with that be having a pretty good day. The ghost is an unmerciful, unrelenting, whore of an opponent. It will break down just "about" (there's some exceptions to that rule) anybody short of a pro over time if you keep them playing long enough. I've seen many people beat the ghost.. On the flip side I've seen many people run a rack too. It's not that big of a feat to beat it once for an A player. It is that big of a feat to beat it like it owes ya money. To walk up, take the bet and whoop it's ass all day long like 28 of the people on here said they can do.. I'm calling B.S.
So we have 28 players on AZ Billiards that flat beat it like a red headed step child. (Most of the time) I'd be willing to wager we might have maybe 5 guys on this whole website that'd come out on top across 5 sets races to 9 on a "tight but accurate" 9' table.
19 people that beat it 50% of the time.. Again I'd bet that # would be cut atleast in half.
34 people that can beat it 20/30 percent of the time.. OK, again running 3 racks doesn't give you a 30% win / loss ratio.
35 People that can beat it in a blue moon. I'd bet that # is probably pretty correct for the WHOLE BOARD.. And the people that clicked the "most of the time button" should've in reality most likely clicked the 50% of the time.. The 50% of the time should've clicked the blue moon, and the guys that clicked the blue moon should've probbaly clicked the never.
Not saying it can't be done, just saying when somebody tortures the ghost on a regular basis, then their going to be pretty well known as a player.
The ghost is NOT as easy as y'all are making it seem. Yes running a rack in ball in hand is easy.. Hell I've got 10 or 12 videos of my B player ass doing it on an extremely tight table. Running a set to 9 and maintaining a better then 50% run out ratio is the biatch of the bet. I think most are thinking "I can run 9 racks in 17 tries"
That must be why we see so many videos being posted up of people doing it.. Shit awhile back somebody posted a thread "Post your break and run videos" Anyone remember how long it took for even the few videos that showed up in that thread to appear? Yet there's (19+28=47) 47 players on here that have a better then 50% run out ratio in sets to 9 for the money? Doesn't add up. After I get paid (on the 1st) I'd be willing to wager on some of the socal guys.
Tate (not picking on you, but I noticed you live in Burbank) You can torture the ghost at home on your 4 inch pockets. Would you be willing to go down to Hard Times, or HollyWood Billiards and give it a shot for 100 a set? I'll bring 500 bucks, a video camera (so we can all see) if you can do it on a table with 4 1/4's.. I don't want you to read that the wrong way, I'm not doubting your talent. Just giving you the opportunity to do something that you made sound relatively easy and make an extra 300 - 400 bucks doing it.
DJ
