The statistic we are missing!

[whitewolf]

I never thought that I would be thinking this but IMO we need the APA innings per game average to see just how good the players are playing.

From watching the IPT on television, I can only conclude that the games consist mostly of a person either breaking and running and then the second player either running out, with not much safety play. I mean, I hardly saw any safety play on TV.

And as far as the Break and Run percentage, the ONLY one that makes any sense is the average per games won BTW. Granted the table conditions and the box are a factor, but less face it, B&Rng is easy if you are getting choice after making any ball on the break.

Maybe Fred's 8-ball offense is really the de facto standard here, even though a few months ago I think we all overstated how many times a pro will run out. You have to be able to break and run to win. Even Efren is breaking & running around 30%. Bustamante was at 40% last time I checked this morning. But they both have high and very similar winning percentages.

So this can be used to highlight the point of my question. According to stats, Bustamante would be defeat Efren because of his breaking ability, but we all know this certaintly may not be the case. Efren wins because he has all the tools, and I would bet that if one ran the stats on innings per game, Efren would be at the top because his super stats would overcome any kind of breaking deficits. This is why he won the last time.

Bottom line, from what I have seen, I almost have to answer 'no' to Cuetechsarius's question as to whether 8 ball is a real game for the pros. I just haven't seen enough of the play to make a determination either, and with evidentally not much safe play it seems that this is a run and gun show.

Personally, I think that the races need to be longer. Granted, it is grueling enough and is driving some players to exhaustion, but if we want to have real pool the break and run factor must be lessened to some extent.

Okay, some one who has watched the matches please correct me if I have made any false assumptions.

Thanks, WW

 

[rackmsuckr]

From one WW to another...no it is not all just run and gun. There are tons of safeties being played, there are quite a few 3 foul games being won. Of course, most of the games are about getting out from the get-go or when the opponent misses. But there are almost as many muffed runouts and then they are at the mercy of the other guy's safeties until they can get in a position to run out.

 

[Renegade]

hmmm i haven't seen any of the matches but, considering the stats we've seen here, i think this (the game as well as the tournament) is a good determinant of playing ability. If it were not, then we'd have a more heterogenous top 10 right now. but as someone pointed out in another thread, it actually has an almost homogenous composition. 4 of the top five are filipinos. and the odd man out is the great ralf souquet.
i know this could also mean that 8-ball suits the filipino style of play; but i think it also shows that cream does rise to the top. and i would venture to guess that eventually, the best one would really take it all: ralf souquet.