SVB versus Shaw score updates...Anybody?

[AtLarge]

Interesting stats. Do you keep shooting percentages as well? I think I only saw Jayson miss two shots all night long.

For those final 44 games, my notes show:

• 6 misses for Jayson on 158 attempts to pocket a ball, or a bit under 4% misses.

• 11 misses for Shane on 208 attempts, or a bit over 5% misses.

The "attempts" used here exclude break shots, safeties, and intentional fouls.

 

[Johnnyt]

For those final 44 games, my notes show:

• 6 misses for Jayson on 158 attempts to pocket a ball, or a bit under 4% misses.

• 11 misses for Shane on 208 attempts, or a bit over 5% misses.

The "attempts" used here exclude break shots, safeties, and intentional fouls.

Thank you as always for keeping and posting us the stats. Johnnyt

 

[scttybee]

Shaw outplayed shane...period
shanes break is unbelievable in person
best match ive seen in years

 

[bdorman]

I've been saying for the last couple years that safety play is his Achilles heel.

I've always felt that safety play is more difficult than pocketing balls. When you pocket a ball you only care about where the CB is going to go -- the OB is going in the pocket so you can hit it at any speed.

But with safety play you have to be right with both the CB and the OB. -- twice as difficult.

I find myself choosing which ball (CB or OB) requires more precise placement on a safety, and play for that ball. Sometimes I can place both balls precisely when the pool gods are smiling (usually they're laughing).

 

[ibuycues]

Shaw outplayed shane...period

Pretty extreme, with the "period", considering Shane won.

Will Prout

 

[AtLarge]

Shaw outplayed shane...period
shanes break is unbelievable in person
best match ive seen in years

Distribution of the number of balls made on the break:

Shane -- dry 7 times, made one ball 7 times, made two balls 5 times, made three balls 4 times, made four balls once, made five balls once. Total -- made 38 balls on 25 breaks for an average of 1.5.

Jayson -- dry 9 times, made one ball 8 times, made two balls 2 times. Total -- made 12 balls on 19 breaks for an average of 0.6.

Again, this is only for the Saturday night portion of the match (44 games).

 

[itsfroze]

For those final 44 games, my notes show:

• 6 misses for Jayson on 158 attempts to pocket a ball, or a bit under 4% misses.

• 11 misses for Shane on 208 attempts, or a bit over 5% misses.

The "attempts" used here exclude break shots, safeties, and intentional fouls.

I've said this before but thanks once again for the stats.
They are always interesting !

 

[Nostroke]

Shaw outplayed shane...period
shanes break is unbelievable in person
best match ive seen in years

and he hits them no harder than the average pro-He just hits them perfectly.

 

[JB Cases]

Shaw outplayed shane...period
shanes break is unbelievable in person
best match ive seen in years

The stats say otherwise. They say that Shane outplayed Shaw on day one, Shaw outplayed Shane on day two to catch up and after he caught up Shane outplayed him to stay ahead to the finish line.

What I think you are saying is that it was ONLY the break that mattered in deciding this match. I think it was a big part of it as it is in all Shane's ten ball matches. Well, the lesson is that putting in hundreds of hours working on your break pays off.

But Shane played great otherwise, coming with tough shots, kicking out of Shaw's safes, playing good safeties of his own, and running out tricky racks. It's not all because of Shane's break. Shane's break to me is the advantage that puts him over an otherwise fairly evenly matched player.

And he earned every bit of that advantage because I would put $100,000 down to bet than no other "western" player has put in as much time on their break as Shane has done...I doubt even Corey has put in that amount of time. He said the longest he put in during one day was 18 hours of working only on the break. Show me any other player with that kind of endurance and focus on the break and I will show you a player known for their consistently great break.

 

[peteypooldude]

I don't think so. Shane makes mistakes too. He misses, he chooses to go for shots rather than play safe, he breaks dry. I doubt highly that Shane wanted the score to be 92/91 going into the last ten games.

At Large has all the stats but I would tend to think it is more along the lines of streaks that can come up in long matches. I think Shane is the better player slightly and that is what ultimately plays out over distance. But as any of us know, even when we are a ball or two below another player we are likely to have a couple good sets where we out play that "better" player.

And I don't think that Jayson is a ball under Shane. Maybe half a ball. As well I think Shane is also prone to losing focus a little and having min streaks where his head is not in the right space. That's just a feeling who knows what's really going on in there?

Your more than likely right John, I just couldn't help for it to cross my mind

 

[cleary]

He's from Scotland

Which happens to make him European... So if he played on the mosconi cup, it would be for Europe.

 

[SakuJack]

Well, the lesson is that putting in hundreds of hours working on your break pays off.

I think you could also argue that the lesson there is that the break has a disproportionate influence as a deciding factor in pool matches, particularly playing winner breaks.

Shane is a monster, though, and led the way in terms of putting in the hours in perfecting his break.

 

[gxman]

the pockets on that gold crown seems to be very forgiving. any balls that came close to the pocket fell.

 

[peteypooldude]

In my opinion to alter the game because of SVBs break would be no different than putting ankle weights on the fastest runner. It is up to the rest of the players to catch up or suffer defeat. I hate hearing players crying about his break. It's a pro division ... Not handicapped

 

[Nostroke]

I think you could also argue that the lesson there is that the break has a disproportionate influence as a deciding factor in pool matches, particularly playing winner breaks.

Shane is a monster, though, and led the way in terms of putting in the hours in perfecting his break.

Yeah a disproportionate influence for ONE GUY!

 

[ssbn610g]

If your break can't keep up with the competition, ya need to work harder to improve your break!!! Work

Al

 

[SakuJack]

In my opinion to alter the game because of SVBs break would be no different than putting ankle weights on the fastest runner. It is up to the rest of the players to catch up or suffer defeat. I hate hearing players crying about his break. It's a pro division ... Not handicapped

Who is promoting changing the game because of SVB's break?

A single frame of pool right now is akin to a sprint race from the blocks, over around 30 metres or so. Most of the time the fastest guy wins, sure, but a lot of the time it's just the quickest out of the blocks (i.e. the best breaker) taking the lead early and the other runners just can't catch up.

I'm not sure if the game needs changing (or even how you would change it). I do think we should be playing alternate break, but that's already been discussed in a recent thread.

I also think Shane is a better player than Shaw (although Shaw has a lot of potential) and his stronger mental game had the biggest influence on him getting the win.

Yeah a disproportionate influence for ONE GUY!

It's not for one guy, though, it's apparent in a lot of matches.

 

[Nostroke]

It's not for one guy, though, it's apparent in a lot of matches.

Sure the break can be a big factor in any given set but
who are the others who dominate set after set after set because of their break. The last guy to dominate half like that due to his break was COREY IMO and of course that was 9 Ball.

 

[SouthernDraw]

Yes; apparently Shane's breaks were more "runnable" whether wet or dry:

• 21 of Shane's 25 breaks (84%) were won in one inning -- 13 by Shane on his 16 wet breaks and 8 by Jayson on Shane's 9 dry/fouled breaks.

• 8 of Jayson's 19 breaks (42%) were won in one inning -- 3 by Jayson on his 9 wet breaks and 5 by Shane on Jayson's 10 dry/fouled breaks.

AL thanks for your tenacious reporting on stats. I'm just wondering if it's possible to quantify a break with no problems (easy run). Not sure how this would be counted. Maybe a break with ball pocketed and all balls make - able with cue ball in hand length of center of table? I don't know the best way to count it. Maybe like a Senator once defined porn, as "I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I see it." Breaks with favorable layouts can dictate a match, especially a short race.

Anyway, by my experience, Shane breaks the balls and controls all balls in the rack better than anyone.

 

[SakuJack]

Sure the break can be a big factor in any given set but
who are the others who dominate set after set after set because of their break. The last guy to dominate half like that due to his break was COREY IMO and of course that was 9 Ball.

We see very few players dominating due to their break because very few players have put the number of hours in that Shane has. It is common to see sets decided by which player broke better on the day, though, as opposed to which player played better overall.

I don't want to penalise those who have put the time in to perfect their break, I'd just rather it wasn't such an overpowered aspect of the game.