Initial Results of the Matchroom Marathon

[dnschmidt]

Well, as expected in a round robin event the cream has indeed risen to the top in the current Matchroom Pool Tournament. If at the start of the event you would have told me Josh, Albin, SVB, Jason and David would be at the top that wouldn't have surprised me or anybody. However there are some that didn't make it out of first round that did surprise me. I've seen Max Lechner play some amazing pool and in this event he couldn't make a ball. It was weird watching a guy that I consider to be a ball making machine play this badly. The biggest surprise of all was Eklent KaÇi who finished last. This is a dude with Perfection tattooed on his neck. Apparently his performance was anything but. Also, considering how hot he’s been lately I was surprised to see that Yapp didn’t make it as that guy has been on fire. Sad to see Naoyuki Oi out as I find him to be very entertaining. Did anybody else notice that Jason Shaw seems to have gained quite a bit of weight? He displayed a beer gut that I hadn’t noticed before. I thought this guy was a work out fiend. Must be wrong about that. What do you guys think of the results so far?

 

[benjaminwah]

I think it’s the format, and playing the same people over and over. Dudes at the bottom were probably like “what did I get myself into…”
Do you think the players like it better with music on while they play or the silence? I imagine they can’t have music without paying royalties etc

 

[hotelyorba]

Maybe the short races in alt break format could be a factor for some of these surprising results. You could say that playing a lot of matches in this format should level that, because you get a clean start every time, but I think it may get between the ears for some of these players. I mean, Kaci is a good enough player to at least make this day 5 cut, but in reality he won just 2 of the 15 matches he played.

 

[sjm]

The biggest surprise of all was Eklent KaÇi who finished last.

Kaci is a great player, but he has done little to back up his impressive win at the World 10-ball last summer. Since then, he has a) failed to reach Stage 2 at the US Open 9-ball in September, finishing tied for 25th, b) skipped the International Open in October, c) looked shaky at the 2021 Mosconi Cup in December, and d) skipped the Derby City Classic in January. He may well return to form very soon, but how can anyone be surprised, given his track record and skipped events of late, that he wasn't one of the contenders in the star-studded Matchroom PLP event?

Yes, he didn't figure to come last, but there was no reason to have viewed him as one of the ones to beat in this spot.