ThePoolkillers
Banned
OK guys (and girls :grin
, I'm new to this forum but I'm definately not new to the pool world, or, to be more specific, the world of 8 Ball. I've been playing for several years now, encountering dozens, maybe hundreds of players in different bars and other similar locations. Although I gathered some experience and improved my play style alongside my friends, I'm still developing as a player. However, what interests me even more than playing is the complex theoretical aspect of this game. I like comparing different play styles, analyzing strategies and finding counter-strategies, classifying various techniques and tactics and so on. I've also been studying the present situation in this game on the world scale and I came to some disturbing conclusions.
Firstly, I need to say I'm not a pro, just like all other players I know or have encountered during these years (and I've seen many). Even the former pros I know tend to play casually, using public (or unofficial) rules. And pretty much any group of players uses a different variant of those public rules. So I made a little investigation on the web, and the results were just as I expected. Players who use official rules came out to be just a small minority, comparing to millions of casual players in the world who play by public rules. This discovery matched perfectly with the real-life situation, as I couldn't find someone willing to play by official rules even if I wanted to. However, it was still surprising, even shocking, as in all other sports I know the official rules and type of play are the dominating ones.
When I joined AzBilliards Forum a few days ago, I wanted to find out what people here think about this global situation. My search ended in no time, as I soon discovered multiple posts in which people say they're trying to preserve the old classic 8 Ball, with its traditional values. They all claimed 8 Ball (and other types of pool) are continuously deteriorating in the "dark ages" of this sport. It was just like 97% of basketball players are unaware of the real basketball rules and never heard of Jordan. Old players and pros keep advising the people on this forum to spread the official rules and do their best to fight back against masses of casual players, who, as they say, don't know how to play the game. It all made perfect sense to me, except one thing. During the past several decades, all their efforts have kept proving unsuccessful, as the number of casual players who play by public rules countinues to grow rapidly every day. I asked myself why the world of 8 Ball is putting up such a fierce resistance against spreading of the official rules. I found it quite strange that dozens of millions refuse to play the game correctly and keep developing various types of public rules. I guess this kind of situation was never before seen in any sport or game.
With the help of my friends, I performed yet another study, talking to some people, discussing different aspects of professional and casual play, comparing the official rules to the public ones. Once we finished our job, the conclusion was inevitable: The 8 Ball isn't falling apart or deteriorating. It is evolving. Before we start discussing the details, I have to say I already presented this discovery to several people on this forum, and their reaction was extremely negative. They didn't even pay attention to my explanations, but insulted our work and called me and my friends lunatics. So, if you disagree with me, please state your resons in a logical and polite manner. I'm tired of fighting and insulting. If you're unable to do that, please leave this topic to more civilized people. Thank you in advance.
And now the results of my research. I made an all-round comparison of a classic official match and a typical match played by public rules. We'll use the standardized public rules we presented in our guide. I'm currently unable to post a link to that guide, but if you want to read about those rules, you can find the link in my post "All-out Offensive vs Successive Offensive". We'll cover the following game aspects: technique, tactics, strategies and player development (which is covered in all 3 points).
1. Technique
Official matches mostly concentrate on this aspect. Technical quality of a player is their number 1 asset when dealing with their opponents. Even the simple shots can be technically demanding to perform, creating a major gap between the newer players and the older ones. On the other hand, in public matches the difference in experience isn't nearly as crucial for victory, as technically simpler moves are available to newbies to counter the superior technique of their advanced opponents. I'm not saying that the more experienced players shouldn't have an advantage over the beginners, but the public rules level the playing field in this aspect, giving a much greater importance to the strategic factor and player ingenuity.
The learning time and type of practise also go in favor of the public play. Casual players can learn to play properly much faster than the newbies who play under official rules, due to the existence of simple techniques excellent for beginners. In other words, they can become independent and capable of putting up a fight against most opponents in a relatively short period of time, giving them the opportunity to start developing in the way they choose much sooner. Furthermore, after the initial stages of learning, having a mentor is only optional, as they mostly practice simply by playing their matches. It may sometimes take more time than having someone to teach you, but an important advantage is the fact they learn how to incorporate the newly developed skills in their game much better.
2. Tactics
Public rules allow a much wider array of different tactics, adjusted to both beginners and masters. Players can choose a right combination of tactics they find most useful and incorporate them in their strategies. Those who prefer advance technique usually go for more complicated tactics, while players who find such shots too challenging can always choose simpler variants and try to outsmart the opposition using better strategies and cunning moves. In official 8 Ball the tactic choice isn't as developed, as players are supposed to learn most previously determined tactics, regardless of their personal preference.
3. Strategies
In this aspect lies the major difference between public and official play. To win official matches, players are practically forced to learn successive play, which complicates the offensive part of the game, while greatly reducing the variety and potential of the offensive play present in public matches. Defending is also severely limited. In public play, there are four major strategies and numerous other combinations, with the existance of strategy - counter-strategy relations. Each strategy has unique characteristics, and players choose which ones they want to develop and to which point. Knowing which strategy works best against another one is the key in winning public matches. By learning and practising different strategies, players create their own play style which makes them unique comparing to any opponent. While in most official matches a better player is the one with more accuracy and technical skills, in public play being a good players means having a good play style. Taking all this into account, we have to say there's much less diversity in official play.
To summarize, I agree with anyone who says the official rules and type of play have been developing through centuries and they require respect. However, I need to emphasize one important factor many people forgot. While the official play has been perfecting all this time, the problem is the conservative pool community separated itself from the masses, making their decisions independantly and mostly ignoring what was happening outside official matches and tournaments. And during that same period of several hundred years, casual and amateur players all around the globe have been developing and improving their own type of play, leading to creation of all those variants, as each group or area had their own ideas how to make the game better, more interesting and more balanced. After all these years, while like the official community made significant progress, millions of unrecognized, anonymous players brought the 8 Ball to an entire new level. Growing beyond the conservative boundaries, they refuse to go back to the old game and enjoy the masterpiece they have dedicatedly created all by themselves. Some call it deterioration, other people, like me, call it evolution.
, I'm new to this forum but I'm definately not new to the pool world, or, to be more specific, the world of 8 Ball. I've been playing for several years now, encountering dozens, maybe hundreds of players in different bars and other similar locations. Although I gathered some experience and improved my play style alongside my friends, I'm still developing as a player. However, what interests me even more than playing is the complex theoretical aspect of this game. I like comparing different play styles, analyzing strategies and finding counter-strategies, classifying various techniques and tactics and so on. I've also been studying the present situation in this game on the world scale and I came to some disturbing conclusions.Firstly, I need to say I'm not a pro, just like all other players I know or have encountered during these years (and I've seen many). Even the former pros I know tend to play casually, using public (or unofficial) rules. And pretty much any group of players uses a different variant of those public rules. So I made a little investigation on the web, and the results were just as I expected. Players who use official rules came out to be just a small minority, comparing to millions of casual players in the world who play by public rules. This discovery matched perfectly with the real-life situation, as I couldn't find someone willing to play by official rules even if I wanted to. However, it was still surprising, even shocking, as in all other sports I know the official rules and type of play are the dominating ones.
When I joined AzBilliards Forum a few days ago, I wanted to find out what people here think about this global situation. My search ended in no time, as I soon discovered multiple posts in which people say they're trying to preserve the old classic 8 Ball, with its traditional values. They all claimed 8 Ball (and other types of pool) are continuously deteriorating in the "dark ages" of this sport. It was just like 97% of basketball players are unaware of the real basketball rules and never heard of Jordan. Old players and pros keep advising the people on this forum to spread the official rules and do their best to fight back against masses of casual players, who, as they say, don't know how to play the game. It all made perfect sense to me, except one thing. During the past several decades, all their efforts have kept proving unsuccessful, as the number of casual players who play by public rules countinues to grow rapidly every day. I asked myself why the world of 8 Ball is putting up such a fierce resistance against spreading of the official rules. I found it quite strange that dozens of millions refuse to play the game correctly and keep developing various types of public rules. I guess this kind of situation was never before seen in any sport or game.
With the help of my friends, I performed yet another study, talking to some people, discussing different aspects of professional and casual play, comparing the official rules to the public ones. Once we finished our job, the conclusion was inevitable: The 8 Ball isn't falling apart or deteriorating. It is evolving. Before we start discussing the details, I have to say I already presented this discovery to several people on this forum, and their reaction was extremely negative. They didn't even pay attention to my explanations, but insulted our work and called me and my friends lunatics. So, if you disagree with me, please state your resons in a logical and polite manner. I'm tired of fighting and insulting. If you're unable to do that, please leave this topic to more civilized people. Thank you in advance.
And now the results of my research. I made an all-round comparison of a classic official match and a typical match played by public rules. We'll use the standardized public rules we presented in our guide. I'm currently unable to post a link to that guide, but if you want to read about those rules, you can find the link in my post "All-out Offensive vs Successive Offensive". We'll cover the following game aspects: technique, tactics, strategies and player development (which is covered in all 3 points).
1. Technique
Official matches mostly concentrate on this aspect. Technical quality of a player is their number 1 asset when dealing with their opponents. Even the simple shots can be technically demanding to perform, creating a major gap between the newer players and the older ones. On the other hand, in public matches the difference in experience isn't nearly as crucial for victory, as technically simpler moves are available to newbies to counter the superior technique of their advanced opponents. I'm not saying that the more experienced players shouldn't have an advantage over the beginners, but the public rules level the playing field in this aspect, giving a much greater importance to the strategic factor and player ingenuity.
The learning time and type of practise also go in favor of the public play. Casual players can learn to play properly much faster than the newbies who play under official rules, due to the existence of simple techniques excellent for beginners. In other words, they can become independent and capable of putting up a fight against most opponents in a relatively short period of time, giving them the opportunity to start developing in the way they choose much sooner. Furthermore, after the initial stages of learning, having a mentor is only optional, as they mostly practice simply by playing their matches. It may sometimes take more time than having someone to teach you, but an important advantage is the fact they learn how to incorporate the newly developed skills in their game much better.
2. Tactics
Public rules allow a much wider array of different tactics, adjusted to both beginners and masters. Players can choose a right combination of tactics they find most useful and incorporate them in their strategies. Those who prefer advance technique usually go for more complicated tactics, while players who find such shots too challenging can always choose simpler variants and try to outsmart the opposition using better strategies and cunning moves. In official 8 Ball the tactic choice isn't as developed, as players are supposed to learn most previously determined tactics, regardless of their personal preference.
3. Strategies
In this aspect lies the major difference between public and official play. To win official matches, players are practically forced to learn successive play, which complicates the offensive part of the game, while greatly reducing the variety and potential of the offensive play present in public matches. Defending is also severely limited. In public play, there are four major strategies and numerous other combinations, with the existance of strategy - counter-strategy relations. Each strategy has unique characteristics, and players choose which ones they want to develop and to which point. Knowing which strategy works best against another one is the key in winning public matches. By learning and practising different strategies, players create their own play style which makes them unique comparing to any opponent. While in most official matches a better player is the one with more accuracy and technical skills, in public play being a good players means having a good play style. Taking all this into account, we have to say there's much less diversity in official play.
To summarize, I agree with anyone who says the official rules and type of play have been developing through centuries and they require respect. However, I need to emphasize one important factor many people forgot. While the official play has been perfecting all this time, the problem is the conservative pool community separated itself from the masses, making their decisions independantly and mostly ignoring what was happening outside official matches and tournaments. And during that same period of several hundred years, casual and amateur players all around the globe have been developing and improving their own type of play, leading to creation of all those variants, as each group or area had their own ideas how to make the game better, more interesting and more balanced. After all these years, while like the official community made significant progress, millions of unrecognized, anonymous players brought the 8 Ball to an entire new level. Growing beyond the conservative boundaries, they refuse to go back to the old game and enjoy the masterpiece they have dedicatedly created all by themselves. Some call it deterioration, other people, like me, call it evolution.
