Puerto Rico Open 10 Ball, Men & Women (Nov 15-18), Winner $25K (Men)/$20K (Women)

Rocket354

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The commentators' inability to say anything interesting about the spot shot shootouts are Exhibit A for how boring and pointless they are.
I was trying to think of an analogy to another sport, to describe how silly the entire setup is with two short races and then a shootout. The best I could come up with is, for example, March Madness. Imagine if each matchup in the tournament, instead of being a 40min game to determine the winner, was split into two 5-minute halves, where a team had to win each half independently in order to advance. So even if a team won the first half 30-5, if they lost the second half 20-19 then it was considered a tie. In the event of a tie, the teams would determine who "won" by engaging in a three-point shooting contest.

I can't imagine any basketball fan liking the above setup. So why are they doing it for pool? That said, I have to trust Matchroom Predator/CSI to know "what people want" better than I do. But these matches are not fun at all for me to watch, particularly the shootout portion.

Edit: shows how much these matches make me not care, I failed to notice who's running the whole show! Thanks 9ballhasbeen for the correction.
 
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9ballhasbeen

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was trying to think of an analogy to another sport, to describe how silly the entire setup is with two short races and then a shootout. The best I could come up with is, for example, March Madness. Imagine if each matchup in the tournament, instead of being a 40min game to determine the winner, was split into two 5-minute halves, where a team had to win each half independently in order to advance. So even if a team won the first half 30-5, if they lost the second half 20-19 then it was considered a tie. In the event of a tie, the teams would determine who "won" by engaging in a three-point shooting contest.

I can't imagine any basketball fan liking the above setup. So why are they doing it for pool? That said, I have to trust Matchroom to know "what people want" better than I do. But these matches are not fun at all for me to watch, particularly the shootout portion.
Totally agree with your Basketball analogy, but you should know this isn't Matchroom. This is Predator and CSI's show, it has nothing to do with Matchroom.
 

skip100

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Tough draw for Kelly Fisher in the first round of single elimination - she's losing 1 set to 0 against the current World 10 Ball champion Chieh-Yu Chou (rating 782).

In the match below her in the bracket, the losers bracket representative Kristina Zlateva is a 662. Lower down there is actually a 553(!) in the final 16, Savannah Easton. Presumably Easton has improved and is playing better than that number.
 

skogstokig

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Tough draw for Kelly Fisher in the first round of single elimination - she's losing 1 set to 0 against the current World 10 Ball champion Chieh-Yu Chou (rating 782).

In the match below her in the bracket, the losers bracket representative Kristina Zlateva is a 662. Lower down there is actually a 553(!) in the final 16, Savannah Easton. Presumably Easton has improved and is playing better than that number.

all they're streaming is womens matches. absurd. at least don't bogg down both stream tables with it
 

dnschmidt

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
They can push this bullshit format as much as they like. I'M NOT WATCHING IT EVER! This isn't pool this is a close approximation of random chance. Spot shots are garbage. We've not playing 14.1 here. COMPLETELY STUPID FORMAT.
 

Cuebuddy

Mini cues
Silver Member
Is it me or do the rails on the tv table look slowish / kinda dead
Not sure what it is but something seems a little off to me also. The cue ball seems to roll normal until it starts to slow down, then it comes to a rest sooner then I expected.

One thing that I noticed is the railing that separates the spectator seats from the table has the fans looking over it and under depending on where the shots are on the table.

I don't want to seem critical and I have certainly enjoyed this event. Hell I don't even mind the commentary.
 
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kling&allen

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Oi and Filler was a great match.


I'm speaking to the choir here, but I'm often left wanting for more pool (and not shootouts). This would have been a great race to 11.
 

sneakynito

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Never seen this event before. Just scrolled to the end of the YL Chang vs Filler match to see how the end of a matchup with two giants went, only to find a, what? Shootout?
What a freaking charade. Everytime I start to think there's hope for our sport... Let's just roshambo next time? Oh! Oh! Maybe an arm wrestle!? My money's on Thorsten.
 

RunoutJJ

Professional Banger
Silver Member
I wish they would get rid of the shoot out as part of the format. Maybe do a race to two winner break after a lag instead of the shoot out.

This way one player could run out the two games to add some excitement to the sudden death match up. Better yet the opening player can run a rack and let the other player back in with a win and a chance to break run for the match.

I’m not knocking the format but it is very boring watching players make 6-15 spot shots before a miss. Just my opinion 🤷‍♂️
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
The interminable and ultimately useless commentary during the shootouts, in which commentators try to make a great distinction between the spot shot from the left side and the one from the right side, brings to mind the TV commercial for a very popular candy bar called Twix.

In the commercial, Twix eaters are asked whether they prefer the right Twix or the left Twix? Of course, the two are identical, but that's the joke, and it nearly always makes me laugh on the grounds of its absurdity.

Seems I don't laugh when asked to compare the two spot shots. Guess it's just me. In fairness to the commentators, there isn't much they can say when the same shot is attempted eight times in a row, but they always chime in with "this is a big shot" or "this is a big match" or "this might be his preferred side of the table" or "you could feel the momentum swing on that shot". Silence would make for far better commentary as the scoreboard tells you everything you need to know.
I don't quite understand why they just don't play two out of three sets. That would make it feel like a real match that would have just as much or more intensity and pressure, and be far more interesting than endless spot shots.
 
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