Template Rack 9-Ball too easy for pros...

[sjm]

...and break cues make the break easier, and cue extensions allow players not to develop the skill to use a mechanical bridge. etc... etc...

Love or hate jump sticks, jumping is apart of the game. If you're going to limit equipment then do it across the board.

You may or may not have followed the endless threads on this specific subject matter. However I'm also a fan of SJM's suggestion of only allowing the jump shot during the first shot of a player's inning. Weak safeties can still be punished but poor position play cannot be salvaged. Of course what a "great safety" actually is, is a subject opinion. What you may consider great, I probably don't.

Nice post, JV.

Just one clarification here. The break cue really derives from the fact that during the straight pool era, hard hits of the cue ball were very rare and the integrity of the tip on one's playing cue was nearly never compromised. In the earliest days of the nine-ball era, when players still carried just one cue, players grew concerned that the breaking of the balls was causing the tip on their cue to mushroom far too often. The advent of the break cue in the late 1980's solved this problem.

Of course, many have been obsessed with building a better break cue ever since, but the emergence of the break cue has more to do with protecting one's player than breaking better.

 

[JustPlay]

Snooker style pockets or 10 foot tables. If the games are too easy, let the fans cheer etc while the players are playing like real sports do. To get real annoying, let the fans clap after every single shot, like they did on the women's 9-ball circuit on espn some years ago. Races to 11 true double elimination where if you make to the finals of the winners side, the loser side winner had to actually beat you twice.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... Races to 11 true double elimination where if you make to the finals of the winners side, the loser side winner had to actually beat you twice.

Not if an audience is important to you. DE is lousy for television.

 

[sjm]

Not if an audience is important to you. DE is lousy for television.

Even the Turning Stone Classic, which used true double elimination for many years, has dropped it and the final is now just a race to 13. I think true double elimination is still used in some other Joss events.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Even the Turning Stone Classic, which used true double elimination for many years, has dropped it and the final is now just a race to 13. I think true double elimination is still used in some other Joss events.

At Turning Stone double elimination might even work because of Mike Zuglan's scheduling efficiency. There are few tournament endings less bleak than the first finals starting at 2AM on Monday morning and the second finals starting at 3:30.

How many majors still use DE in the final 16 now?

 

[sjm]

At Turning Stone double elimination might even work because of Mike Zuglan's scheduling efficiency. There are few tournament endings less bleak than the first finals starting at 2AM on Monday morning and the second finals starting at 3:30.

How many majors still use DE in the final 16 now?

Double elimination beyond the last sixteen is now almost unheard of at the majors.

 

[JustPlay]

I am just throwing out ideas since a lot of people think that 9/10 ball is too easy for the top players. BTW, in a double elimination, your assuming the person on the one loss side beats the player from the winners side. You could make it a race to 8 double elimination. Also, who on TV is actually watching pool? These are just ideas. That is it. I would prefer Snooker style pockets.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... Also, who on TV is actually watching pool? These are just ideas. ...

If there is no audience, there is no reason for a promoter to get involved. Well, maybe for a local tournament at a pool room, but that will have a prize fund almost entirely from the players and money and time is not an issue for the room owner.

 

[straightline]

I am just throwing out ideas since a lot of people think that 9/10 ball is too easy for the top players. BTW, in a double elimination, your assuming the person on the one loss side beats the player from the winners side. You could make it a race to 8 double elimination. Also, who on TV is actually watching pool? These are just ideas. That is it. I would prefer Snooker style pockets.

Snooker cut pockets are the worst idea for pool. The jaws reject rail shots. I'm all for super tight pockets but the jaws need to be redesigned for pool - and left out entirely at the tightest dimensions.

 

[AtLarge]

Even the Turning Stone Classic, which used true double elimination for many years, has dropped it and the final is now just a race to 13. I think true double elimination is still used in some other Joss events.

My info is that the Turning Stone final has been a single race to 13 from the start. Immonen came from the losers' side to beat Hernandez 13-2 in a single race to win the first one, and it has been races to 13 in the final ever since.

 

[sjm]

My info is that the Turning Stone final has been a single race to 13 from the start. Immonen came from the losers' side to beat Hernandez 13-2 in a single race to win the first one, and it has been races to 13 in the final ever since.

My memory may be failing me here. I recall a two-set final between Earl and Sossei and another involving Dechaine, but perhaps these were at the Ocean States Championship, the next most important event on the Joss Tour. Those are the only two Joss Tour events I have often attended.

Thanks for the correction.

 

[WoodyJ]

9 ball ....Make the players pick a side of the table to pocket balls on..or have tables that DO NOT have side pockets. Or anything that goes in the sides gets spotted

(1) Made me think of the old 7-ball games on TV with Mosconi, Fats, Crane, etc. in the 1970s. Have the opponent pick the side of the table they want to make the 9-ball in just after the break. A minor change that would complicate the game a bit.

(2) I'd like to see the pros playing Saratoga. Rack like 8-ball. A hybrid of 8-ball and 9-ball.

Saratoga Pool - Dr. Dave Pool Info

Answers to frequently-asked questions about the pool game Saratogo.

billiards.colostate.edu

When I played it we used all 15 balls and racked just like 8-ball. Had to run your balls (solids or stripes) in order. Plus, last pocket on the 8-ball (i.e., where you made your last stripe or solid).

 

[AtLarge]

My memory may be failing me here. I recall a two-set final between Earl and Sossei and another involving Dechaine, but perhaps these were at the Ocean States Championship, the next most important event on the Joss Tour. Those are the only two Joss Tour events I have often attended.

Thanks for the correction.

Earl's lone win at Turning Stone was at TS XXI (Sept. 2013), and he did, indeed, play Sossei in the finals. But it was a single race, 13-7.

Dechaine's only win at Turnng Stone was at TS XIX (Aug. 2012). He played Putnam in the hot-seat match and lost 2-9, then got back to the finals and won 13-4. So he did play Putman two sets, but it was in two different matches, not a two-set final.

 

[sjm]

Earl's lone win at Turning Stone was at TS XXI (Sept. 2013), and he did, indeed, play Sossei in the finals. But it was a single race, 13-7.

Dechaine's only win at Turnng Stone was at TS XIX (Aug. 2012). He played Putnam in the hot-seat match and lost 2-9, then got back to the finals and won 13-4. So he did play Putman two sets, but it was in two different matches, not a two-set final.

Thanks for that.