Top Pros Flocking To BB Tournaments

Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
It seems like there are a lot more high added $ BB tournaments around the country and more top pros flocking to them. Seems like the PPV and the gates are doing OK with them too. I think most are catering to league players because that is where the money in pool seems to be. I just wish they would stop playing so much 9-ball on them and go to 10- ball with no jump-cues and 8 ball, take what you make...no JQ's on the boxes. Johnnyt
 
I think pros should mostly be playing on the big table, but I can enjoy some BB 8-ball. I think it's a game well suited to the box because the tight conditions can make run outs tougher and require some more creative shot making and really precise positional shots.

9/10 ball should be 9' or 10' tables...don't care for those on the box at all.
 
Johnnyt said:
It seems like there are a lot more high added $ BB tournaments around the country and more top pros flocking to them. Seems like the PPV and the gates are doing OK with them too. I think most are catering to league players because that is where the money in pool seems to be. I just wish they would stop playing so much 9-ball on them and go to 10- ball with no jump-cues and 8 ball, take what you make...no JQ's on the boxes. Johnnyt
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There is nothing wrong with BB except for one thing - BB require little different skillset than 9ft table so if US pros play lot of BB tournaments through the year then their skillset will adjust a bit (they will get tighter position on BB but their long potting will suffer a little). In the end those international tournaments on 9ft tables will get even tougher to win for US players because of that IMO.
 
slide13 said:
I think pros should mostly be playing on the big table, but I can enjoy some BB 8-ball. I think it's a game well suited to the box because the tight conditions can make run outs tougher and require some more creative shot making and really precise positional shots.

9/10 ball should be 9' or 10' tables...don't care for those on the box at all.
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I think the pros should play on any size tables that tournaments have available, and play in as many tournaments as they can play in per month so they can continue to earn a living. It's stupid to think that they should only play in 9 foot tournaments. Yes of course if theres more money in a 9 ft tournament than there is in a bar box tournament on that weekend of course they will pick the 9 ft tournament but be serious, they have to live. They are gonna play no matter what size table is available to them. They can't be picky, skipping a bar box tournament could be the difference between them needing a part time job or not.
 
Rhea said:
I think the pros should play on any size tables that tournaments have available, and play in as many tournaments as they can play in per month so they can continue to earn a living. It's stupid to think that they should only play in 9 foot tournaments. Yes of course if theres more money in a 9 ft tournament than there is in a bar box tournament on that weekend of course they will pick the 9 ft tournament but be serious, they have to live. They are gonna play no matter what size table is available to them. They can't be picky, skipping a bar box tournament could be the difference between them needing a part time job or not.
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Absolutely, I should have phrased it differently, I don't fault any player for playing in any tournament. But the big pro tournaments I think should be put on with big tables. My opinion has nothing to do with how the pros should act but about how event promoters should put on the bigger events with big tables.
 
I never said anything about getting rid of Bar Boxes. In fact, by the time my pool playing days were over, I had probably played more on 7' then the 9'. Johnnyt
 
I wouldn't say it seems like pros are flocking to bar boxes, I think they are just playing in the events available to them.

I can admit that the better players will still probably win on the bar box, but it's not terribly fun watching our elite players applying their painstakingly developed and perfected technique to knock in hangers. I'd prefer to give my PPV money to kozoom and watch the Eurotour. BB tournaments are fun every now and again for a change, but not every tournament or even every other tournament.
 
Not sure why the hate of barboxes... In some ways it can be harder to run out on a barbox in 8ball (clusters, tighter positioning).

Barboxes and leagues are probably the only reason that we have pool at all in the states anymore so I'm confused why so many people hate them. Is it just elitism or is it coming from the vocal minority?
 
zpele said:
Not sure why the hate of barboxes... In some ways it can be harder to run out on a barbox in 8ball (clusters, tighter positioning).
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And it would be much, much tougher to run out on a 3 foot table, but that doesn't mean playing on a 3 foot table is a good thing.
 
Players will play where the money is at or where the (gain possible - expenses) makes the most sense. I truly find it saddening that we have BB events even for amateurs but unfortunately its not like the sport is thriving to a point where players can make demands and room owners/promoters would just comply. Now imagine if pool was so popular that every promoters were competing against each other to see who would organize the tournament were trying to organize an event every week or so with 100K or more added everytime....then players could make demands

Now players need money so much that if a promoter was trying to organise a tournament with 50k added and the main rule was that you have to play with your bumper on the butt end of your cue...i'm sure the field would be full.
 
zpele said:
Not sure why the hate of barboxes... In some ways it can be harder to run out on a barbox in 8ball (clusters, tighter positioning).

Barboxes and leagues are probably the only reason that we have pool at all in the states anymore so I'm confused why so many people hate them. Is it just elitism or is it coming from the vocal minority?
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Not elitism, not from me at least. I accept that I can't beat good BB players, it's a different skill. It's just from a viewer's perspective, I like to see the top players have their cueing challenged.

I do believe bar boxes kept the game in the public eye in spite of limited promotional activities at times. But it's been a double-edged sword I think. In the early 20th century it seems pool was accepted more as a competitive professional game (based on archival New York Times articles), and also a hustlers or gamblers game. But the bar box has resulted in many players being introduced to the game in a bar, and never venturing out of the bar. So, on the one hand, the size of these tables have made them an economical choice for bars to include them as an activity they offer, which has, in turn, kept the game in the public eye. But on the other hand, it has completely removed the professional or competitive game from the public consciousness.
 
zpele said:
Not sure why the hate of barboxes... In some ways it can be harder to run out on a barbox in 8ball (clusters, tighter positioning).

Barboxes and leagues are probably the only reason that we have pool at all in the states anymore so I'm confused why so many people hate them. Is it just elitism or is it coming from the vocal minority?
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I don't hate bar boxes. For me there is something more graceful about a top pro running racks on a 9 footer......some pool players don't look graceful on any table though lol

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Bar table 10 ball event next weekend at the carom room. No jump cues allowed, just for JohnnyT. SVB, Orcullo, and Alex P are signed up. Looking forward to it!
 
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