Ohio Open, US PRO SERIES

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Maybe this is part of the difficulty. People have a tendency to look at the last thing that happened as being of unusually high importance. Overall, that missed shot in the shootout isn't really more important than the missed shots in games 2 and 8 or the could-have-been tighter safety in game 3. It just occurred at the end. But that leaves some people walking away saying this "determined the match," and it doesn't feel right it is a single planned shot.

The flip side is by putting this at the end, both players get an active try at the same thing. That makes it interactive in a way that me breaking and running with you not allowed out of your chair doesn't (or me breaking dry and you running out with me in my chair).
You can post all the data you want. To me, and apparently to quite a few others, this format sucks. Two races-to-four and some hokey shoot-out has no place in professional pool. One other thing(and i'm a Yapp fan), his opponent in the Michigan final was AWOL. Gomez played WAAAAAY below his speed. Yapp probably would have won but that match was basically a gift.
 

Joe_Jaguar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Maybe this is part of the difficulty. People have a tendency to look at the last thing that happened as being of unusually high importance. Overall, that missed shot in the shootout isn't really more important than the missed shots in games 2 and 8 or the could-have-been tighter safety in game 3. It just occurred at the end. But that leaves some people walking away saying this "determined the match," and it doesn't feel right it is a single planned shot.

The flip side is by putting this at the end, both players get an active try at the same thing. That makes it interactive in a way that me breaking and running with you not allowed out of your chair doesn't (or me breaking dry and you running out with me in my chair).
How tight are you with CSI? :unsure:
 

Omrider

Registered
I would assume none because it's a stupid format and only those who need to in order to put food on the table are even willing to.

Jaden
Thank you for your very unsurprising response. But you're kind of proving my point. Opinions from those who haven't played the format themselves mean little.
 

Joe_Jaguar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thank you for your very unsurprising response. But you're kind of proving my point. Opinions from those who haven't played the format themselves mean little to me.
you are making the assumption there is something special about the format. It is just dumb and misguided to have a childish spot shot shootout unless you have the IQ of a child and think that is "exciting".
 

Omrider

Registered
you are making the assumption there is something special about the format. It is just dumb and misguided to have a childish spot shot shootout unless you have the IQ of a child and think that is "exciting".
I'm not defending the format. I have my own issues with it. But I'm also not interested in people's opinion of broccoli who have never tried broccoli.
 

Jaden

"no buds chill"
Silver Member
I'm not defending the format. I have my own issues with it. But I'm also not interested in people's opinion of broccoli who have never tried broccoli.
Wrong metaphor... It's like someone's opinion on horse racing(who HAS raced horses) where they decide the winner not on who wins the race but which horse doesn't drop the wreath placed around their neck while racing around the track after they've raced twice and each one once.

Jaden

Yeah, ya need them to race that format before acknowledging a valid opinion on it? You sound like the idiots who say if you haven't had to have an abortion your opinion on abortion doesn't matter...lol
 

Cameron Smith

is kind of hungry...
Silver Member
I'm not defending the format. I have my own issues with it. But I'm also not interested in people's opinion of broccoli who have never tried broccoli.
Whether someone has played in it is not relevant. A professional tour is dependent on spectators and if spectators don’t enjoy it, it doesn’t matter whether they’ve played in an event or not. Or even if they’ve played pool for that matter. Your analogy only works with respect to people who have not watched any of the tournaments to date.

That said, I don’t know what the feedback has been from more casual spectators. My personal experience has been that I enjoyed the first event, but the format got old quickly. It felt like it was designed to get as many shoot outs as possible.
 

Jaden

"no buds chill"
Silver Member
Whether someone has played in it is not relevant. A professional tour is dependent on spectators and if spectators don’t enjoy it, it doesn’t matter whether they’ve played in an event or not. Or even if they’ve played pool for that matter. Your analogy only works with respect to people who have not watched any of the tournaments to date.

That said, I don’t know what the feedback has been from more casual spectators. My personal experience has been that I enjoyed the first event, but the format got old quickly. It felt like it was designed to get as many shoot outs as possible.
He's going a step further and saying that people who WOULD play in it otherwise and/or HAVE played in other similar events with different rules don't have a valid opinion either...

Jaden
 

Scratch85

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
You can post all the data you want. To me, and apparently to quite a few others, this format sucks. Two races-to-four and some hokey shoot-out has no place in professional pool. One other thing(and i'm a Yapp fan), his opponent in the Michigan final was AWOL. Gomez played WAAAAAY below his speed. Yapp probably would have won but that match was basically a gift.

Just to let it be known that some of us are OK with this format and love the added money being available to pro players, I am OK with this format. I’m also surprised so many US players chose to let this opportunity pass them by. It looks like the logistics/cost of participation in the series is more of a deterrent than the format, to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

mikepage

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How tight are you with CSI? :unsure:
I'm not sure how you mean that.

I think they respect our judgment as we do theirs.
We are as tight as we would be with any forward-thinking, hard-working organization that shares our values and vision of growing pool by connecting players geographically and by drawing a tighter connection between play at all levels, from casual to elite.
 

VarmintKong

Cannonball comin’!
It looks like the logistics/cost of participation in the series is more of a deterrent than the format, to me.
Logistics shouldn’t be an issue. Ohio is, “The Heart of it All.”

I’m enjoying watching this. Fortunski looking good v Chinahov. A little disappointed that not a single spectator is sporting Cleveland Browns gear.
 

PracticeChampion

Well-known member
I like t races to 4, it makes it more exciting but not a fan of the spot shot tie breaker.

Think I'm running over either tomorrow or Friday and play a few mini tournaments and watch a few pros goes at it
 

Woodshaft

Do what works for YOU!
A better format imo would be to lag for break at the beginning of each set, ALTERNATE breaks for the first two races to "4", and then, if necessary, have a race to "2" tiebreaker match (also with a lag to determine the first breaker). It's called a "10-ball Tournament" so why have 2 players start out playing 10-ball, then switch to spot shots to determine the winner? The tiebreaker currently used isn't 10-ball-- you may as well have them play beer pong to break the tie lol
 

buckshotshoey

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Some of you guys crack me up! Why, some of you guys are talking like you are Shane Van Boning's agent. When, in fact you are only spouting your own opinion.

Let's do it this way... post the link to the Facebook page of the pro that has said anything bad about this format. Then we will have it from the horse's mouth, not a bunch of pool cue hacks.( before anybody gets all pissy, I include myself in that "hack" group). If you find enough Pros to count up to fingers on one hand, (that would be five unless you were in a sawmill accident), I would be very surprised. And even then the opinions of only five Pros isn't going to change a damn thing.

When some of you are saying this format"has no place in pool", what you are saying is there is no place in pool for growth or change. Only death.

So there's the challenge for you... I want to hear it directly from the pro... Not somebody telling me what a pro said. Because guess what, there's at least a 50% chance you're full of shit. Why do I say that? Because everything you read on an internet forum should be considered 50% bullshit.
 
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FeelDaShot

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Shorter race than what? It's not a race, so you must have some way in your mind of equating the format to a "race."

Is it at least interesting to you that of the five events in 10 weeks using that format with about a quarter million prize $$, the WINNER of all but one has the highest Fargo Rating of the field? That's four of five events with top place: highest-rated player.

Arizona Open, (winner Gorst, 821)
Las Vegas Open,
Michigan Open, (winner Yapp, 821)
Austria Open, (winner Kaci, 820)
Austria Open Women (winner Fisher, 759)

Does that sound like a series to avoid because the format is too much of a coin flip?

The highest-rated player in the fifth one, Las Vegas Open, was Shane Van Boening, and he got 3rd for $5,000 in that event, more than he made the following week in the US Open or any of the other handful of tournaments he played since Vegas.

Below was our post before the Michigan event: "Who is going to reign in Yapp?"
Evidently the answer was nobody.

I would like to live in a world in which top players in the host country show up and belly up to the table in their own events whether they like some aspect of the format or not, for two reasons:

(1) it is the respectful thing to do with so many of the world's best traveling far and long to be here.
(2) top players should acknowledge and encourage significant actors in our community digging deep, working hard, and working together to bring something the likes of which we haven't seen in decades.
Good post. You seem to be right that the best players win regardless so I stand corrected.

Regardless, based on the lack of attendance and public outcry, it's safe to say that the players generally don't like the format. So why would they choose a format that most players don't like? It just doesn't make any sense to me. It's great that this tour exists but why the sudden change in format.

Pool is crazy with all of the constant rule changes and format changes. I can't think of any other sport that does anything similar. It's wild!
 
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