John Morra appreciation

[Fatboy]

I don't think JM gets enough love for having to switch hands AND play at a championship type level.

An incredibly cerebral player and able to explain why and how he does what he does.
Congrats to you John for a really good weekend so far.

I agree 100%

saw him playing big money sets a few weeks ago in Vegas one after another $5K-$10k left handed. Occasionally if he couldn’t reach a shot he’d shoot it right handed.

Looked like he’s played left handed since day 1. Amazing, he’s a great guy too. Glad he was able to make that adjustment, I don’t think many people could.

 

[smoochie]

I think you can compare the way he plays now with the way he played right handed.

I watched him beat Orcollo, SVB and Kiamco yesterday and he played really great. He beat Warren 9-1 in the finals

I think his game now, especially these last few months is very close to as good as before he switched hands.

Wait isn't it only few months old when he lost to Justin Bergman with a handi-cap of 15 games advantage?

I mean, if his game now is similar to what it used to be prior to switching hands then great, but during the Justin Bergman match it wasn't and I don't remember how old was that match? especially now with the covid pendemic I've lost sense of time, who knows that match could of been one year ago and I feel like it was yesterday.

 

[terryhanna]

Mr Smooth won again last night in a strong field.

Racks on the Rocks Classic 8 Ball Division Champion.

He has been playing great over the last few months

 

[GideonF]

Wait isn't it only few months old when he lost to Justin Bergman with a handi-cap of 15 games advantage?

I mean, if his game now is similar to what it used to be prior to switching hands then great, but during the Justin Bergman match it wasn't and I don't remember how old was that match? especially now with the covid pendemic I've lost sense of time, who knows that match could of been one year ago and I feel like it was yesterday.

That match was over a year ago.

 

[WTD14]

Here's a video of a sweet shot on the 8 ball that he made on Sunday. Sorry for the quality. He played extremely well. It was clear early in the day that no one was going to beat him.

Morra shot: https://youtube.com/shorts/lXqb6dWgrLM?feature=share

 

[WTD14]

Poteet is playing great as well recently. He was crushing the break all week.

Devin's break:

 

[u12armresl]

2 3rd place finishes in an incredibly tough one hole and rotation tournament, oh ya and doing it left handed.
Dude is just flat out impressive.

 

[gregnice37]

John is also one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Must be a Canadian trait. Years ago he was at an Accu-Stats make it happen event as a participant. I went to many of these events because I love really close to Sandcastle. Anyway I was talking to most of the pros there and of course the regulars because I've known most of them for 25+ years. Didn't know John at the time yet but he came up to me actually. He introduced himself and shook my hand asked me a couple things about myself and proceeded to conversate with me for a bit. Never expected it but was appreciative to see a pro do something like that. I could understand a pro being that nice after anyone goes up to him but him coming to me was different for sure.

 

[thepavlos]

I don't know if this was discussed but why did he switch his playing hand?

 

[The_JV]

How long does a player need to play with what was considered his "wrong" hand before it's now considered the correct hand...?

 

[Charlie Hustle]

I don't know if this was discussed but why did he switch his playing hand?

Something about a shoulder injury I believe. He could no longer shoot comfortably with his right hand, so he switched.

 

[couldnthinkof01]

How long does a player need to play with what was considered his "wrong" hand before it's now considered the correct hand...?

He would break more often lefty if that was the case, no?

 

[rharm]

How long does a player need to play with what was considered his "wrong" hand before it's now considered the correct hand...?

He still breaks and jumps using his right hand. He has said that his left will never be as strong as his right because his right hand is his dominant hand.

 

[rharm]

John is also one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Must be a Canadian trait. Years ago he was at an Accu-Stats make it happen event as a participant. I went to many of these events because I love really close to Sandcastle. Anyway I was talking to most of the pros there and of course the regulars because I've known most of them for 25+ years. Didn't know John at the time yet but he came up to me actually. He introduced himself and shook my hand asked me a couple things about myself and proceeded to conversate with me for a bit. Never expected it but was appreciative to see a pro do something like that. I could understand a pro being that nice after anyone goes up to him but him coming to me was different for sure.

He is a really nice guy. Spent about 30 minutes talking with him a couple months ago at the HEX.com tournament. Very friendly and approachable. Spent some time talking about his switch to left handed and was very interesting.

 

[Z-Nole]

2 3rd place finishes in an incredibly tough one hole and rotation tournament, oh ya and doing it left handed.
Dude is just flat out impressive.

I was at that tournament and if you had never known Morra wasn't originally left handed you would never guess it. He's one of a handful of guys I saw there that look at the game as a profession and career, most of the guys were just there to get fucked up and find a quick score.

 

[The_JV]

He still breaks and jumps using his right hand. He has said that his left will never be as strong as his right because his right hand is his dominant hand.

I haven't done the comparative research but I'm wondering how his recent results measure up to his right handed efforts. I don't recall his win % righty. He's certainly been tearing it up very well lately.

I don't know if I would use what hand a player breaks/jumps with as a means to determine his correct hand for playing. I guess that boils down to what you think is the more important measure of one's ability.

 

[The_JV]

I was at that tournament and if you had never known Morra wasn't originally left handed you would never guess it.

I'm absolutely no where near a level close to John's. However I spent the summer playing strictly left handed for sake of a personal 'summer league' challenge. Week 1, I looked like a drunk toddler with back issues trying to hold the cue. The last few weeks, players that have known me for years didn't realize I was still playing with my wrong hand. I'm not saying I was playing at the same level of my dominate hand. Just that my PSR and mechanics were really damn close with about 20hrs worth of effort.

I do know that John is way more deliberate with his PSR now, then he was back in the righty days.