Observations from the "Grudge Match"

StrokeofLuck

StrokeofLuck

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I ended up watching most of this last night and will try to watch again tonight. Just thought I'd throw a few things out there regarding the match up.

I thought Gene looked pretty good warming up. It seemed he was comfortable with the table and might make it a close match. Chris won the lag and started with a break and run but seemed tighter than Gene as Gene took off the next few games.

To me a huge turning point in the match was when Gene had the lead by a couple of games and got straight in down the rail on the 8. I thought he should've made the 8 and then tried to hide the cue ball behind the 10 off the 9, or tried a similar shot to what he did and leave the 8 on the short rail and the cue ball on the other end. Instead he chose a cross bank with no hope of shape on the 9, left a hanger on the 8 and Chris got out. Now I'm by no means saying Gene would've gone on to win but Chris went on his run after this and the whole match looked different than it had to that point. Chris got loose Gene got tight.

There's no doubt that Chris is a better player, younger, in the heart of his career with pool and on his home table. Gene in his best days was a low level pro and Chris is a mid level pro right now. There's no way Gene gets there last night and there's no way he gets there tonight.

I know it's not Chris' favorite but I would've liked to have seen this matchup on the Diamond BB. I still think Chris takes it down but it would make for a better match.

As for the keyboard warriors on the match chat, never ceases to amaze me how good those guys play. Gene made some good outs, some good shots and some good safes but he's overmatched. As soon as he started missing a few shots people are jumping all over how terrible he is and can't believe he would rattle a shot on that tight table. I'm guessing Gene would take it off against 99% of the people in the chat. It's no wonder some players don't want to be on a stream table.

I'll watch some more tonight but I'm expecting a similar outcome. Too many factors in Chris' favor, but this how they chose to match up.
 
StrokeofLuck said:
...snip....
To me a huge turning point in the match was when Gene had the lead by a couple of games and got straight in down the rail on the 8. I thought he should've made the 8 and then tried to hide the cue ball behind the 10 off the 9, or tried a similar shot to what he did and leave the 8 on the short rail and the cue ball on the other end. Instead he chose a cross bank with no hope of shape on the 9, left a hanger on the 8 and Chris got out. Now I'm by no means saying Gene would've gone on to win but Chris went on his run after this and the whole match looked different than it had to that point. Chris got loose Gene got tight.

....snip.....
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In my opinion, he was playing a safety on the 8, not a bank. The 8 was supposed to be hit thinner, so that it would hit the long rail in front of the pocket, and bank back so it landed on the end rail with the CB at the other end of the table.

If he really was playing the bank, well, then you are right, that was a horrible shot choice.
 
Some people come out of the gate slow, maybe why that's why they don't do better in tourneys.... Just sayin.
 
Gene was for sure looking to safe that 8. Well, I think.
His safes are just poor. He knows the move on paper but hasn't practiced it.
He didn't shoot it like he's hit that "Z-bank safe" thousands of times.
You're right though, it was where momentum shifted.

I actually don't like his odds on a diamond bbox.
The hole in Gene's game is his safes and decisionmaking.
Shotmaking may be the one thing he has on Chris... a small table would take that away from him.
Don't let the white hair fool you, he has hawk eyes. Shoots incredibly straight.
Didn't miss a ball for almost the first hour and when he did it was an easy bridge shot.

Late in the match when chris was on the hill or near it, a shot came up like this...
I could almost hear Gene thinking... "I may lose this. But I'm gonna drill this f'ing shot."
And he did. An unfortunate bump stopped him from converting it to an out.

qfM9mnD.png
 
The Saw said:
Say WHAT, homie?????
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Yeah....CreeDo is right that Gene shoots pretty straight but saying he might have an advantage in the shotmaking department is just flat wrong.

What I took away from this match was you guys are right about Gene's safety play, JB called this the other day before the match. You really would expect Gene to have a better safety game. I think the fact that Gene has stayed away from playing one pocket all these years has something to do with this. But at the same time, not playing one-pocket is probably the reason his ball pocketing is so good at his age.....I don't know.:shrug:

I look for Gene to come out swinging tonight but Chris is a beast. I've enjoyed watching him shoot. I don't think the youTube videos that show Chris playing in tournaments do his game justice. I'm guessing Gene watched a few of those recently and probably didn't accurately gauge Chris' speed.

As far as the chat comments -- I didn't think it was that bad. Guys where just having some fun. It wasn't mean spirited at all. I think most guys on there understand that Gene can play some pool. He just bit of more than he could chew here.
 
I was kind of referring to stream chat in general and last night was no exception. When people are behind the keyboard, not all just some, as soon as a guy misses or rattles a shot or over runs position, it's "he's a dog" or "this guy can't play". Kind of gets old IMO. Once Bartrum got going he put a lot of pressure on Gene and it showed in Gene's play as the match wore on.

I also agree, like I said, I don't think Gene has the best of it on a bar box. I just think it would make for a better match up.
 
BasementDweller said:
Yeah....CreeDo is right that Gene shoots pretty straight but saying he might have an advantage in the shotmaking department is just flat wrong.

What I took away from this match was you guys are right about Gene's safety play, JB called this the other day before the match. You really would expect Gene to have a better safety game. I think the fact that Gene has stayed away from playing one pocket all these years has something to do with this. But at the same time, not playing one-pocket is probably the reason his ball pocketing is so good at his age.....I don't know.:shrug:

I look for Gene to come out swinging tonight but Chris is a beast. I've enjoyed watching him shoot. I don't think the youTube videos that show Chris playing in tournaments do his game justice. I'm guessing Gene watched a few of those recently and probably didn't accurately gauge Chris' speed.

As far as the chat comments -- I didn't think it was that bad. Guys where just having some fun. It wasn't mean spirited at all. I think most guys on there understand that Gene can play some pool. He just bit of more than he could chew here.
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IMO Gene doesn't have a good safety game because for as long as he's been on AZ he has played mostly BB tournaments where he was the favorite most of the time. You can't win all those bar tournaments if you haven't picked your spots and made sure you are favorite to cash 1st through 3rd. Nothing wrong with that IMO but in most cases you are just running out on a BB. I was a BB player for years and the only reason I had a decent safety game was because I played a lot of 3 cushion billiards and stayed on the lemon as much as possible. Johnnyt
 
Question for the Class

I noticed one other thing about Chris' game recently. When you consider how he addresses the table, there is something that he does differently than just about any other top pro player I have seen.

Does anybody know what this is???:grin:

Answer to follow.

I wonder if Chris knows.
 
beav99_4life said:
I'm a champion from the booth
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Beav in the booth. Woohoo. Good meeting you Beav. Hope you get to make it out tonight.

FYI - This is important The show will be broadcast from JustinTV tonight. You MUST GO to this link to enter password: http://www.justin.tv/poolactiontv

I will not be using Ustream any longer. Our new system for PPV will be coming online soon. It will be much easier to use.

Thanks for watching,

Ray
 
iusedtoberich said:
In my opinion, he was playing a safety on the 8, not a bank. The 8 was supposed to be hit thinner, so that it would hit the long rail in front of the pocket, and bank back so it landed on the end rail with the CB at the other end of the table.
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I'm sure that hit on the 8 was just too fat or he'd have had a good safe. It would have helped Gene keep some momentum and perhaps he would have won a few more games but not the set. Chris' s consistency and discipline was going to take this match. Even when the score was well in his favor Chris didn't take any flyers. He played the smart shot every time.
 
BasementDweller said:
I noticed one other thing about Chris' game recently. When you consider how he addresses the table, there is something that he does differently than just about any other top pro player I have seen.

Does anybody know what this is???:grin:

Answer to follow.

I wonder if Chris knows.
Click to expand...

He furrows his brow!

No?
 
CreeDo said:
He furrows his brow!

No?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delayed response. I posted in this thread and then I went out of town.

What I was referring to was how Chris doesn't plant his back foot. I don't know that I have seen any other top player address the ball like this.

It appears that he stands just a couple of inches closer to the cue ball than most other players, then as he goes down into cueing position he takes a step forward with his left foot, then he takes a small step back with his right foot.

You can see his technique better in the match against Harriman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKO9f_tK7VQ

I'm not sure what the point of my post is. This was just something that I noticed and found to be a bit unorthodox.
 
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BasementDweller said:
Sorry for the delayed response. I posted in this thread and then I went out of town.

What I was referring to was how Chris doesn't plant his back foot. I don't know that I have seen any other top player address the ball like this.

It appears that he stands just a couple of inches closer to the cue ball than most other players, then as he goes down into cueing position he takes a step forward with his left foot, then he takes a small step back with his right foot.

You can see his technique better in the match against Harriman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKO9f_tK7VQ

I'm not sure what the point of my post is. This was just something that I noticed and found to be a bit unorthodox.
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Ali had the Ali Shuffle, Chris has the Bartram Bolero, he does it right before he ends your misery.
 
It is interesting, at least to me....
Someone else posted about a foot position problem today. I saw some responses saying to put
the back foot in line with the shot. I don't know if that is supposed to me point your foot
along the line (like your big toe points at the cue ball) but if so, that seems crazy uncomfortable me.

I leave my back foot alone, but sometimes I do a half step back like chris.
Makes it easier to get down a little lower. I think he's got short legs and seems like he can almost
keep both legs straight without needing to bend either knee to get down low over the cue.
 
Johnnyt said:
IMO Gene doesn't have a good safety game because for as long as he's been on AZ he has played mostly BB tournaments where he was the favorite most of the time. You can't win all those bar tournaments if you haven't picked your spots and made sure you are favorite to cash 1st through 3rd. Nothing wrong with that IMO but in most cases you are just running out on a BB. I was a BB player for years and the only reason I had a decent safety game was because I played a lot of 3 cushion billiards and stayed on the lemon as much as possible. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

Johnnyt,
Gene is a top player but the FAVORITE in MOST of the BB tournaments he competes in?

JoeyA
 
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