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

I've got a pool buddy. He likes 9 ball, me one pocket. I'm going to suggest this next time we meet.

9 ball rack in the middle and fill in the blanks or 9 ball in the middle and random fill?
I haven't done this scientifically so your results should be the guide. I promise you will learn something including big clues on what to develop in your craft. :D
 
Another hard one:

15 ball rotation - split rack. Normal 9-ball rack at the foot spot, but the remaining six balls are racked in a triangle at the head spot (10 ball on the head spot, 15 ball back middle), guaranteed to not have a full spread after the break.
 
9-ball is indeed nonsense for the pros at this point in pool history. Here's what I'd like to see for pro rotation pool tournaments:

1) Call-shot 10-ball.
2) 10 on the break spots, but early 10-ball combos are winners.
3) 10-foot table.
4) 4-1/4" corner pockets with commensurate side-pocket size.
5) No jump cues, but jumping with "full" cue is allowed.
6) Winner breaks the next game from the cueball position after legally pocketing the 10-ball, iff it is in the kitchen. If it isn't, opponent breaks with BIH in the kitchen. If a player wins on the 3-foul rule, they break from the kitchen with BIH.

The last rule prevents players from grooving their break with BIH because they have to break from where the cue ball stopped in the kitchen after their winning 10-ball shot.
I like breaking from where the cue ball comes to rest.

I might try early 10 only counts if you sink a different nominated ball at the same time.
 
Lots of good, and humorous ideas.
I think the bottom line is that most of us agree that the players and equipment are getting so good that it's making the games easier, especially at the pro level.
The "mandatory push after the break" rule that Bob J. mentioned is a fun one my friends and I play for 9-ball. Definitely makes practice more entertaining and useful. It has my vote for the pro game for sure.
 
9-ball is indeed nonsense for the pros at this point in pool history. Here's what I'd like to see for pro rotation pool tournaments:

1) Call-shot 10-ball.
2) 10 on the break spots, but early 10-ball combos are winners.
3) 10-foot table.
4) 4-1/4" corner pockets with commensurate side-pocket size.
5) No jump cues, but jumping with "full" cue is allowed.
6) Winner breaks the next game from the cueball position after legally pocketing the 10-ball, iff it is in the kitchen. If it isn't, opponent breaks with BIH in the kitchen. If a player wins on the 3-foul rule, they break from the kitchen with BIH.

The last rule prevents players from grooving their break with BIH because they have to break from where the cue ball stopped in the kitchen after their winning 10-ball shot.
1) ...check
2) ...interest placement of the rack. Never tried it myself. Early 10s dumb down the game imo. Thought we wanted to make it more challenging..?
3) ...never going to happen. The size of table is partially market driven. 10fters will never be the table of the pros.
4) ...check
5) ...This is bunk. Either have jumping or don't. This long vs short argument is weak sauce.
6) ...I've seen this done in a small Predator professional circuit in Quebec. Some think it's dumb but I think it's great. No less gimmicky then a shoot out to decide a winner imo. Certainly adds an element that makes stringing racks together more difficult.
 
I'm halfway surprised that there aren't at least some random 15 ball rotation matches with all the content coming out these days. I don't think a lot of players would be willing to stake themselves though in a game they've never played vs. an opponent they have no data on. It would take 3rd party money to get it started.

I also want to see literal bar box 8-ball. Lets see SVB vs. Gorst on the following equipment:

1) 7' Valley Bar Box
2) Championship cloth, must be at least 4 years old and have >3 beer stains.
3) Cheap balls that have not been cleaned in a few years (in game rule: it's not allowed to clean the cue ball at all during the match)
4) Plastic triangle rack that is taped together in at least 1 spot
5) 2 dead rails, and 1 loose rail
6) American bar rules, where only the referee knows them, and there's is no discussion before the game as to what that actually means.
No referee... The owner of the room decides the rules/calls after factoring in who he's betting on.
 
You could allow multiple 10s/9s. This could add drama in a typical fixed tourney race. IOW race goes to the maximum number of games while the points would have no restraints.
 
I would love to see a new variation of rotation added to to pro scene like maybe "11-ball" played with 9-ball rules, or even play regular pinoy 15-ball.
Would be very entertaining for fans AND players imo.
The players are getting too good for some of the old-style games.
11-ball with 9-ball rules has been an idea of mine for a while, understanding that pushing for non-WPA 10-ball is a losing cause for me.
 
5) ...This is bunk. Either have jumping or don't. This long vs short argument is weak sauce.
Jump cues make it MUCH too easy to hop over balls, even when they're close to the cueball. Only allowing full-cue jumps would separate the great jumpers from the pretenders and would force more kicking. It's disgusting to play a great safe and have your opponent pull out a jump-cue—essentially a crutch—and easily make the hit.
 
As others have noted, and we saw this at Derby City, nine ball and ten ball are far better games without the jump cue, but jump cues are big business and that's why they'll never go away.
Sadly, I agree. My list was about what I would like to see, even if it may be impossible.

I think it's too bad jump cues weren't outlawed immediately. Didn't Pat Flemming invent the jump cue? 🤔
 
9-ball is indeed nonsense for the pros at this point in pool history. Here's what I'd like to see for pro rotation pool tournaments:

1) Call-shot 10-ball.
2) 10 on the break spots, but early 10-ball combos are winners.
3) 10-foot table.
4) 4-1/4" corner pockets with commensurate side-pocket size.
5) No jump cues, but jumping with "full" cue is allowed.
6) Winner breaks the next game from the cueball position after legally pocketing the 10-ball, iff it is in the kitchen. If it isn't, opponent breaks with BIH in the kitchen. If a player wins on the 3-foul rule, they break from the kitchen with BIH.

The last rule prevents players from grooving their break with BIH because they have to break from where the cue ball stopped in the kitchen after their winning 10-ball shot.
How about the cue ball must land in the kitchen for your break shot or the 10 gets spotted for opponent to shoot at from where the cue ball did land .. that would remove all the ball in hand on the break
 
I'd rather we tighten tables/rules for an existing game rather than create a new game, mainly because its yet another new discipline to explain to non-pool players when trying to bring them into the fold and grow the interest. I still have people look at me the way that RCA Victor dog looked at the phonograph when explaining why 10 ball is a thing.
 
I think it's too bad jump cues weren't outlawed immediately. Didn't Pat Flemming invent the jump cue? 🤔
No, but the ones that helped develop and popularize the jump cue were Pat Fleming of New Jersey and Sammy Jones of California. AZB's deceased but still beloved poster Hemicudas noted that the real origin of the jump cue dates back to when the world's greatest bumper pool player, Marcus Collier, used his bumper pool cue in a pro pool event in about 1970 to execute a jump shot. Per Hemicudas, this caught the attention of several pro pool players, who quickly understood that a jump shot could be executed far more easily with a shorter and firmer cue. The rest, as they say, is history.
 
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Jump cues make it MUCH too easy to hop over balls, even when they're close to the cueball. Only allowing full-cue jumps would separate the great jumpers from the pretenders and would force more kicking. It's disgusting to play a great safe and have your opponent pull out a jump-cue—essentially a crutch—and easily make the hit.
A great safe the "only" safe at pro level is leaving the cueball locked to a ball. I dont like jump cues either. But pros are just gonna force you to kick early in a game. Then a guy has gotta get a somewhat lucky roll where opponent that played origional has to bank....if not.. Then the guy that played the first safe can play yet another even better safe. Get ball in hand and run out an even easier rack.

Hell I'm to a point where u better leave me more than a one rail kick or your not gonna like how you played your half ass safe. I'm no where near the level of these pros
 
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Since this industry loves comparing itself to golf -- and there really are true parallels so I completely get it -- it would be good to mention that there have been technology improvements in golf as well which have made the pros much better and scores much lower. Metal woods, multi-layered balls, hybrid clubs and turf management improvements which have made putting greens much smoother and slicker. No one in golf has proposed inventing a new game or playing more holes or anything else except making courses tougher -- longer lengths, tighter fairways, bringing hazards into play in key landing areas, etc. Occasionally people huff and puff about dialing back the golf balls but, as long as Titleist and Bridgestone continue to sell them by the boatload, that won't happen. Maybe that's where pool should head as well, like professionals going back to competing on 5 by 10 tables with tight pockets as a standard instead of a one-off event at Derby and now International.

Think about your own personal golf game if you play. Unless you're a 10-handicap or less you probably aren't playing from the tips; you're on the white tees like the rest of us. Why? The course is shorter and that makes it more manageable. And if you are playing from the black tees, you're doing it because the white tees aren't a challenge to you any longer. Whats the factor in all of this? Distance and space.
 
Jump cues make it MUCH too easy to hop over balls, even when they're close to the cueball. Only allowing full-cue jumps would separate the great jumpers from the pretenders and would force more kicking. It's disgusting to play a great safe and have your opponent pull out a jump-cue—essentially a crutch—and easily make the hit.
...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.
 
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