I disagree, I think in the older days the pockets were buckets. Now you have tighter pockets in most of the tournaments. Also, most of the Taiwan top pro players don't even use low squirt shafts so that's a non issue.
I think the competition today is much higher and the safety game has evolved a lot more than what it used to be.
So again, I think new players of today would smoke old players except games like 1 pocket and straight pool and such, Although, Thorsten Hohmann would most likely beat anyone at straight pool in the old days as well. The truth is that pool evolved and the competition got a lot more fierce. If you win a world 9 ball in 2015 I have much more respect for that than winning it in 1990 because you have to beat a lot of better players in 2015 than you would in 1990. Sure there were some good players too in 1990 but no where near as many as today with the invasion of the asian players who learns how to play pool from the time they are a child and have pool classes in their schools and the government pay the pro players... It's big over there, it's like their main sport almost and it's only normal that they are dominating and has become the best players ever.
This is just my opinion from what I have seen, I have seen the old school matches and I have seen these Asian monsters play, they run like 9 packs pretty often with ease.
Pocket size is a non factor if the rest of the table conditions are piss easy, which they overall are in today's so called "evolved" game. And it also depended on the tournament in question. The toughest 9 ball world championship table I've seen was the in the 1994 Finals: A Diamond with 4.25" pockets, no Magic Rack of course, and very wonky speed, playing fast and slow when it ever it felt like it (probably due to the TV lights and the dry Vegas climate). Tournament conditions are a lot more controlled today.
On that note, the current WPA tournament tables can't go below 4.5" pockets per their standard. Combine that with Simonis 860 and use of the Magic Rack, and of course the game looks "evolved."
Once you get to a certain level, shotmaking isn't what is difficult about the game, so pockets above 4.25" won't have
that much of an impact on overall play (note: Chinese 8 ball, which uses 3.75" snooker cut pockets actually has more break and run outs than regular 8 ball because of the heated table and Magic Rack giving easy spreads after the break. I believe the break and run out % was near 50. The IPT's break and run out percentage was around 15). Speed control and ball layout is more important to runout success, and modern conditions and equipment make those two elements of the game easier than ever before.
Defense and kicking has certainly evolved, and we can thank Efren and other Filipinos for that, and that evolved safety play was present in the 90's. After Efren revolutionized those aspects of 9 ball in the 80's, other players brought their own defensive games up to par. If anything, kicking and escaping from safeties has gotten worse/lazier because of the proliferation of the jump cue.
When I compare today's game to the past, I see much weaker strokes today that are still able to get cue ball action because of the fast cloth. No surprise Kiamco was a mid-level WPA player in the 90's, decidedly behind the Stricklands, Archers, Reyeses, and the players on the PBTA, but is now magically having his strongest years ever in his 40s.
Not that he isn't a great player, but he was a step down from the 90's greats, but can now play with anyone in the World. Same thing is happening with Ernesto. Always a great player, but he is having some of his strongest years in his 60s!
I wonder why that is?
Because the equipment has made the game more accessible.
