Matchroom Predator Championship League Pool

CaleAYS said:
Might be wrong but I think he’s some kind of police in his country and doesn’t play full time.
Hes been impressive in the couple of tournaments I’ve seen him.
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he sure looks like one, but i think you may be confusing him with eklent kaci's scotch doubles partner in world cup of pool, policeman besar spahiu
 
It's the racking!

OK, so the matches are taking surprisingly long for races to five and they have put the players on a shot clock. That will help some. But I took a look at how long it is taking to go from pocketing a nine to hitting the next break and found that it routinely is very close to 90 seconds. That's 12 minutes in a 5-3 set, and those sets are taking about an hour to play. In the neighborhood of 20% of the time is spent racking the balls.

My survey was more of a spot-check than scientific, but I did look at a reasonable sampling to satisfy my curiosity.
 
DieselPete said:
It's the racking!

OK, so the matches are taking surprisingly long for races to five and they have put the players on a shot clock. That will help some. But I took a look at how long it is taking to go from pocketing a nine to hitting the next break and found that it routinely is very close to 90 seconds. That's 12 minutes in a 5-3 set, and those sets are taking about an hour to play. In the neighborhood of 20% of the time is spent racking the balls.

My survey was more of a spot-check than scientific, but I did look at a reasonable sampling to satisfy my curiosity.
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I doubt the average viewer cares about shot clocks or no shot clocks as long as their attention is held. It's more about ensuring the session fits into the 5 hour session booked for TV.

I don't think 90s is a long time between racks. I'm not sure who it would benefit if the interval were shorter.
 
smoochie said:
I'll use this thread to talk/ chitchat - about the predator league!

Who is that Fortunski !! I've never seen him before and I am completely shocked, does he play this good every time or is it like a one-time deal! I mean I am surprised at his skill in the game, he seems to me as good as Joshua filler as far as today goes.
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Fortunski made himself known in the US, at Vegas last year. I really enjoy watching him. He's smooth, accurate and has a a great demeanor. I think his Fargo is around 790. He plays this good every time I have seen him.
 
Well
Swighey said:
Other players are burning themselves out by second guessing themselves and putting too much pressure on themselves. I feel for them but it's also good to see that while us mere mortals can sometimes play as well as them, they can sometimes spend as much energy as us on routine decisions.
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I don't think they are sandbagging ;)
But Albin, Kelly and Niels could win more money in round robin rounds than Melling and Kaci who have qualified for final round. If they qualified for final round in next few days, they could still end up winning more $$ than Melling and Kaci. Even if they don't qualify and stay in top 4 for today and next 4 days, they would still win $8750 to $12700. Melling would win total $4K to $9K and Kaci $6250 to $10250 if they won the final round.

pwon.JPG
 
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spartan said:
Dark horse Fortunski is topping table.
I like the daily round robin format where everyone plays each other but the grouping format of adding 2 every day is dumb. So unfair for players in last few groups like Group 6 and 7 where they only have 1 or 2 days to win the group while the players in earlier Groups 1 and 2 have so many more chances provided they don't end up last. Wonder if Jasmin or Denis Grabe would show up on Group 7 last day lol


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Hey spartan! where can I find this data from the post...I'd like to see each day win x losses for all players...

EDIT: I found it! but is there anyway to watch previous days? I cant seem to find it.
 
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kelly has been very impressive from the little i've seen. admittedly i haven't seen her play much before, only the last women world championship. albin seems completely worn out.
 
Scratch85 said:
Fortunski made himself known in the US, at Vegas last year. I really enjoy watching him. He's smooth, accurate and has a a great demeanor. I think his Fargo is around 790. He plays this good every time I have seen him.
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Yes. And since then, i.e., since the pandemic began, he's logged another 400 games at 790 speed --Dynamic Billiard events: Gdansk, Slovakia; Polish 8-Ball, 9-Ball, and 10-Ball championships this past December. He's pretty credible.
 
I wish I had asked this before the event started.

Call it the end-to-end-average bet.

Of the remaining players who started in Group One, are there any you see that could avoiding elimination from a group (finishing last), but also never winning a group and advance?

The remaining players would be Ouschan, Feijen, and Fisher.

If you picked one to go end-to-end-average, who would it be? I'd take Fisher (and I mean that as a compliment, really. She is emotionally stable, and makes good decisions).
 
I would be curious what everybody's performance rating would be for just this event once it is over. I would guess Kelly is showing up above her rating.
 
Poor Darren on verge of going out. Fortunski on hill 4-2. If Fortunski wins, Darren is out. It could be Hello Goodbye for Darren all in 1 day

g11.JPG
 
Is Boyes the most cliche commentator in the game today?

In just the Alcaide/Thorpe match, he said

"This one might go the distance"

"Where's the cueball going??"

"He couldn't have placed it better with his hand"
"
 
spartan said:
Well

I don't think they are sandbagging ;)
But Albin, Kelly and Niels could win more money in round robin rounds than Melling and Kaci who have qualified for final round. If they qualified for final round in next few days, they could still end up winning more $$ than Melling and Kaci. Even if they don't qualify and stay in top 4 for today and next 4 days, they would still win $8750 to $12700. Melling would win total $4K to $9K and Kaci $6250 to $10250 if they won the final round.

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Yes it's a win-win situation as long as you don't finish 7th. That's why just playing your game is probably almost always the correct strategy as, as long as you are not much weaker than your opponents (unlikely at this level) in a race to 5, you should nearly always win enough matches to avoid last place. If you get to the semi-finals and win your next two matches then take your chance. If you make it you are in the winner's group, if you don't you get another shot. It's possible that one or more players will make more money than whoever wins the trophy. The trophy has added value because of ranking points, recognition and potential sponsorship but the money is a nice second best and makes the grind worthwhile.

It could get more brutal though in future. Post-covid and with sponsorship conflicts resolved and (hopefully) increased prize money, Matchroom might increase the number of players and have the bottom two eliminated, like in the snooker version of the event.
 
mikepage said:
A little, but not much. This is after yesterday (first two days) blue is rating, and orange is performance estimate View attachment 589846
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To be honest Kelly is playing about as better as I was thinking. I was going to guess in the 775 to 780 range.
David Alcaide is shocking that he played below his rating. By results I'd have said he was playing in the ballpark of Kaci. (never mind, I see this doesn't include day 3 when he went beast mode)
Forunski looks about right.
I'm surprised with Melling too. I would have thought he played at his rating.
 
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