BrianK74 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but on the European/Asian tours, don't they have a rule that you must call the nine-ball?. I once saw a match on ESPN with Jeanette Lee and she almost forgot to call the pocket on the nine-ball. She later commented that she almost gave the whole thing away there. If the European/Asian tour requires this, why not the North American tour?.
I've thought about it some more and think that you guys are right, calling the 1-8 balls is silly. I'm just not a big fan of the fluke shot in general after my little romp in the CPA leagues.
Call 9-ball would definitely be an improvement and works well for the pros.
Calling the 9-ball would greatly reduce the cheese factor of the game.
The amateur players may still decide to call a pocket on the 9-ball on every shot, either randomly or take a half-assed shot. Cheese shots discourages amateur players from learning how to run-out balls. Thus, one solution, is to give the player the option (taking the next shot, or passing it to opponent), when the opponent misses on a called 9-ball shot. This would serve as an additional incentive for players to only call reasonable shot attempts. That would serve to encourage players of all levels to play run-out 9-ball.
The fluke shot on the 1-8 balls has its advantages. Forces the player to play much stronger safeties, because if the opponent can get a good hit on the ball (even strategical hit - controlling the pace, separation of balls, directions of ball travels) or even pocket it, which will counter the opponent's defensive measures. Thus the defender has to use much more effort to execute a good safety, so that player can improve their chances of being given such a high reward of ball in hand. This encourages increased skill by the defender, and increased incentive for the defensed player to go for a good hit. The fluke shot, also encourages players to run more tables. If the player messes up a run-out, then a safety play could get countered. Thus, if the player ran it out to begin with, then they wouldn't encounter that additional risk of being countered.
There are always some extreme examples of fluke shots, but it'd be very difficult to eliminate them all. At some point, you have to realize that it's just a game and there will be some element of luck involved. If you can't handle some luck, then you probably shouldn't be playing this game, or any other games.
Most of the time the luck factor is just some excuse for the loser to use, so that the loser can ignore all the other bad play that is in their game. In other words, your opponent doesn't have a chance to make a lucky shot, if they never get to the table.
