Stats -- Frost vs. McGrath 7-Foot 8-Ball Race to 80, August 2021

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Here are some results from the Scott Frost vs. Bobby McGrath 8-Ball match played at Racks on the Rocks in W. Peoria, IL on August 17-19, 2021. Pay-per-view streaming was provided by PoolActionTV. The commentators were Larry Schwartz and Ray Hansen, with Jeremy Jones subbing for Larry for the second half of Day 2.

This match was a race to 80 game wins played over 3 days. Frost won the match, outscoring McGrath each day. The scores (Frost's score first) were:
Day 1 -- 30 - 21​
Day 2 -- 30 - 26 (2-day total 60 - 47)​
Day 3 -- 20 - 13​
Total -- 80 - 60​

Conditions -- The conditions for this call-shot 8-Ball match included:
- Diamond Smart 7-foot table with pro-cut pockets (4½" corners);​
- Simonis 860 blue cloth;​
- Aramith Tournament balls with a measles cue ball;​
- breaker racks using a triangle rack, putting balls of the same group on all 3 corners;​
- winner breaks from anywhere behind the head string;​
- take what you make on the break if balls are made from only one group, open table otherwise;​
- ball in hand behind the head string after a foul on the break;​
- if an 8-ball is made on a successful break, the breaker has the option to either spot it and continue play or to re-break;​
- jump cues allowed;​
- 3-foul rule in effect (did not occur);​
- cue ball fouls only;​
- no shot clock; and​
- lag for opening break on Day 1 (won by Frost).​

■ Frost broke 80 times -- successful 52 times (resulting in 36 game wins and 16 losses), 13 fouls (6 wins, 7 losses), and 15 dry (8 wins and 7 losses).

■ McGrath broke 60 times -- successful 35 times (resulting in 20 game wins and 15 losses), 2 fouls (1 win,1 loss), and 23 dry (9 wins, 14 losses).

Successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):
Frost -- 52 of 80 (65%)​
McGrath -- 35 of 60 (58%)​
Total -- 87 of 140 (62%)​

Fouled and/or dry breaks:
Frost -- 28 of 80 (35%)​
McGrath -- 25 of 60 (42%)​
Total -- 53 of 140 (38%)​

Breaker won game:
Frost -- 50 of 80 (63%)​
McGrath -- 30 of 60 (50%)​
Total -- 80 of 140 (57%)​

Break-and-run games -- on all breaks:
Frost -- 28 of 80 (35%)​
McGrath -- 14 of 60 (23%)​
Total -- 42 of 140 (30%)​

Break-and-run games -- on successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):
Frost -- 28 of 52 (54%)​
McGrath -- 14 of 35 (40%)​
Total -- 42 of 87 (48%)​

Fouls and foul rates: [Note: "games at the table" means total games less opponent's B&R games.]
Frost -- 23 fouls, including 13 on the break, in 126 games at the table (a rate of 1 foul for every 5.5 games at the table)​
McGrath -- 11 fouls, including 2 on the break, in 112 games at the table (a rate of 1 foul for every 10.2 games at the table)​
Total -- 34 fouls in 140 games (1 per 4.1 games)​

Missed shots (est.):
Frost -- 35 misses in 126 games at the table (a rate of 1 for every 3.6 games at the table)​
McGrath -- 46 misses in 112 games at the table (a rate of 1 for every 2.4 games at the table)​
Total -- 81 misses in 140 games (1 per 1.7 games)​

Run-outs from first shot after the break:
By Frost after his own successful break -- 28 of 52 (54%)​
By Frost after McGraths failed break -- 12 of 25 (48%)​
By Frost, total -- 40 of 77 (52%)​
By McGrath after his own successful break -- 14 of 35 (40%)​
By McGrath after Frost's failed break -- 14 of 28 (50%)​
By McGrath, total -- 28 of 63 (44%)​
Total for Frost and McGrath -- 68 of 140 (49%)​
Run-outs from first shot after Frost's break:
By Frost -- 28 of 52 (54%)​
By McGrath -- 14 of 28 (50%)​
Total -- 42 of 80 120 (53%)​

Run-outs from first shot after McGrath's break:
By McGrath -- 14 of 35 (40%)​
By Frost -- 12 of 25 (48%)​
Total -- 26 of 60 (43%)​

Break-and-run packages
Frost's 28 B&R games consisted of 1 4-pack, 1 3-pack, 3 2-packs, and 15 singles​
McGrath's 14 B&R games consisted of 1 4-pack, 1 3-pack, 2 2-packs, and 3 singles​

Games with 1 or more safeties (est.) -- 21% (29 of 140)

Average number of balls made on the break:
Frost -- 1.1 on all breaks, 1.5 on successful breaks​
McGrath -- 0.9 on all breaks, 1.5 on successful breaks​
Total -- 1.0 on all breaks, 1.5 on successful breaks​

Number of innings
• 61% (85 of 140) of the games ended in one inning., with 42 games ending on the breaker's first inning (B&R games) and 43 games ending on the non-breaker's first inning;​
• 26 games ended on the breaker's second inning, and 6 games ended on the non-breaker's second inning;​
• 16% (23 of 140) of the games went beyond the non-breaker's second visit to the table, with the longest game ending on the non-breaker's 8th visit.​

8-balls on the break -- One (in the first game of the match!); it was spotted. A second 8-ball on the break occurred in Game 80, but a misunderstanding of the rules led to replaying that break.

Match length (including racking and brief timeouts; there were no long intermissions)
Day 1 -- 4 hours, 48 minutes​
Day 2 -- 5 hours, 43 min.​
Day 3 -- 3 hours, 23 min.​
Total -- 13 hours, 54 min.​

Average minutes per game
Day 1 -- 5.6​
Day 2 -- 6.1​
Day 3 -- 6.2​
Total -- 6.0​
 
Last edited:

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
When I checked their FargoRates last week, Scott was at 761 and Bobby at 701. If those rates were valid for 8-Ball on a 7-footer (and, apparently, some people felt they were not), then the race to 80 for Scott that was most fair for Bobby was 80-56. The actual result of 80-60 is not too far from that.

Today as I look at their FargoRates Scott is still at 761 but Bobby has dropped to 688; I don't know why. Perhaps additional data came in for people Bobby had done well against in the past not doing so well recently.

Edit -- I'm not remembering their last-week FragoRates correctly. The difference, as I recall, was about 50 points, not the 60 that I wrote above. That means what was a most-fair race was 80-58, not 80-56. And that's even closer to the actual result of 80-60!
 
Last edited:

mikepage

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
When I checked their FargoRates last week, Scott was at 761 and Bobby at 701. If those rates were valid for 8-Ball on a 7-footer (and, apparently, some people felt they were not), then the race to 80 for Scott that was most fair for Bobby was 80-56. The actual result of 80-60 is not too far from that.

Today as I look at their FargoRates Scott is still at 761 but Bobby has dropped to 688; I don't know why. Perhaps additional data came in for people Bobby had done well against in the past not doing so well recently.

Edit -- I'm not remembering their last-week FragoRates correctly. The difference, as I recall, was about 50 points, not the 60 that I wrote above. That means what was a most-fair race was 80-58, not 80-56. And that's even closer to the actual result of 80-60!

There was a $2,000-added open 9-Ball event at Racks on the Rocks last week (8-14) that Bobby played in.
 

tim913

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've played Bobby many many times. Rack’s on the Rocks used to be called RJ’s and when I’d go in on a slow day Bobby and I would play friendly sets of races to 7 for $20 since we all knew each other . I grew up playing Bobby senior, Al Heet and Judex James
 
Last edited:

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
There was a $2,000-added open 9-Ball event at Racks on the Rocks last week (8-14) that Bobby played in.
Ah, thanks, Mike. I guess Bobby performed well below the 700 level in that event -- not such good preparation for his long challenge match!
 
Top