U.S. OPEN 2026, Frisco, Texas, August 25-30

dtroup64 said:
I completely understand your point. But I watch pool to get better, and seeing a "flow" player doesn't help me at all. I gain far more for my own improvement by seeing a player figure it out. Seeing them point to where they want the cue, or the object ball, to go during a safe is far more valuable to me. That's why I love watching Moritz.
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I watch it for its beauty, the same reason that I play it. Second guessing and multiple looks of those that need to look 5 times at the obvious ruin that beauty. Often they’re just time bandits attempting to get in their opponents heads. Some like Moritz are just anal retentive OCD types that don’t trust in their training and instincts.

You say you want to get better? You’re learning bad habits watching players like that. In some disciplines like 1 pocket, shots require more reflection, as they’re a myriad of factors that affect shot selection. 9 ball is pool by number, you know what ball you’re on and the the accompanying order after that, there’s nothing to agonize over or look at 17 times.

Again, what some kindly call “deliberate players” in rotation games, are those that use it as gamesmanship or those that don’t trust their instincts & training and what they’re eyes are showing them, neither of these is something to aspire to.
 
Somebody told me yesterday that the Matchroom-Frisco deal is for 3 years. Anyone else heard that?

The players and fans I talked to all love the venue.
 
Frosty said:
I watch it for its beauty, the same reason that I play it. Second guessing and multiple looks of those that need to look 5 times at the obvious ruin that beauty. Often they’re just time bandits attempting to get in their opponents heads. Some like Moritz are just anal retentive OCD types that don’t trust in their training and instincts.

You say you want to get better? You’re learning bad habits watching players like that. In some disciplines like 1 pocket, shots require more reflection, as they’re a myriad of factors that affect shot selection. 9 ball is pool by number, you know what ball you’re on and the the accompanying order after that, there’s nothing to agonize over or look at 17 times.

Again, what some kindly call “deliberate players” in rotation games, are those that use it as gamesmanship or those that don’t trust their instincts & training and what they’re eyes are showing them, neither of these is something to aspire to.
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If I learn Moritz's bad habits and am able to apply them the way he does, I'll glady incur your wrath.
 
Positively Ralf said:
I've been wondering something, did they move the US open 9 ball to texas because the state has one of the longest running 9 ball tournaments in the country with the Texas open? Also, I know there was some documentary released within the last year or so about pool in texas.

I know those are stretches but any chance those two things had a say in them going there this year?
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Miss Emily don't look at any of that frivolous crap.
 
loggerhead12 said:
Somebody told me yesterday that the Matchroom-Frisco deal is for 3 years. Anyone else heard that?

The players and fans I talked to all love the venue.
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Frazer has said the WNT wants to find a long-term home for the U.S. Open. Well, they have, judging by ticket sales, fan interest and the facilities.

There's also talk of the Texas Open becoming affiliated with the WNT as a ranking event.

Jeremy Jones and Scott Frost clearly had a lot to do with the US Open moving to Texas. Matchroom has rediscovered the U.S. as arguably the best country in the world to try to establish the WNT. The weekend crowd could rival Hanoi in numbers and energy, with 1,000 tickets sold.

Hence the WNT expansion of tournaments in the U.S. and effort to get onto ESPN. I have to think the majority of current WNT.TV subscribers are in the U.S., and that's where most potential subscribers live as well.
 
Well, at least Skyler Woodward is honest!

I watched the end of his second match yesterday. I came away thinking, man, Sky can really play when he’s dialed in. Too bad it doesn’t happen often.

Woodward admitted as much in a candid post-match interview. Here’s what he said.

“It feels good to actually practice for a week. I can show up at a tournament and actually start off playing good instead of trying to play myself into stroke, like I have been the last year or two.

Just telling the truth. It actually does feel good to be playing good the whole time instead of up and down. It’s nice."

Why did Woodward start practicing again? He said he was upset at his poor play and early exit from the Arizona Open. He recounted his reaction:

“Well, I said a few nasty words. I called my wife, and said, look, babe, clear my pool table off. When I get home. it’s all on. I’m practicing.

I haven’t had motivation since before Covid, really. I don’t know what it is. It finally triggered me. It feels good to actually want to play pool again instead of just show up at the tournament and play. I can get in stroke within in a couple of matches, but it feels good to practice and feel way more confident and comfortable over the ball.

Still in, still kicking, baby."
 
Bob Jewett said:
If they are going to seat 1000 spectators, they will have to quadruple the current bleacher seating, which is about 270.
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That has to be the plan, right? They don't have the premium seating set up yet, so I just assumed the configuration would change. Maybe today.
 
Bob Jewett said:
If they are going to seat 1000 spectators, they will have to quadruple the current bleacher seating, which is about 270.
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Now that I think of it, Frazer didn't say if it was 1,000 total including all weekend sessions. Or 1,000 for any one weekend event. Maybe it's several hundred apiece for different sessions. So cumulatively 1,000.
 
One other thing on Sky. He lost to Manny Perez 9-7 in his first match. Turns out Sky and Manny lived together for "three or four years," in Woodward's words. Woodward also said he scratched on the break four times in the match.
 
jbart65 said:
Now that I think of it, Frazer didn't say if it was 1,000 total including all weekend sessions. Or 1,000 for any one weekend event. Maybe it's several hundred apiece for different sessions. So cumulatively 1,000.
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And you need to include 254 players who might want to watch the finals. And maybe their guests.
 
jbart65 said:
You can never take one match as a definitive assessment of talent and talent gaps. Bergman this year has beaten Joshua Filler, Carlo Biado, David Alcaide, Wojciech Szewczyk, Quoc Hoang Duong and Arseni Sevastyanov.

In the PLP, he also won races to 5 vs Aloysius Yapp, AJ Manas and Kledio Kaci.

Any European who ends up on the Mosconi team will be better than Bergman. But Bergman is good enough to be competitive. The U.S. just needs players 4 and 5 to hold their own.
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Bergman handled Bergman!
 
Frosty said:
I watch it for its beauty, the same reason that I play it. Second guessing and multiple looks of those that need to look 5 times at the obvious ruin that beauty. Often they’re just time bandits attempting to get in their opponents heads. Some like Moritz are just anal retentive OCD types that don’t trust in their training and instincts.

You say you want to get better? You’re learning bad habits watching players like that. In some disciplines like 1 pocket, shots require more reflection, as they’re a myriad of factors that affect shot selection. 9 ball is pool by number, you know what ball you’re on and the the accompanying order after that, there’s nothing to agonize over or look at 17 times.

Again, what some kindly call “deliberate players” in rotation games, are those that use it as gamesmanship or those that don’t trust their instincts & training and what they’re eyes are showing them, neither of these is something to aspire to.
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i lean towards your position, but i'm not quite as categorical 🤣
 
Followup on 18-year-old Harrison Leinen - 'Hank the Tank.' He lost 8-7 to German journeyman Clemens Ebert and was ousted from the U.S. Open.

Leinen might be the most promising under-20 U.S. player I have seen in quite some time. I still hold out hope for Sam Henderson.

Lots of positives about Leinen. Good break. Lots of power. Plenty of finesse. Draws effortlessly. Solid pattern play. He’s also a patient shooter who doesn’t rush things like so many young players.

He has two big flaws from what I can see.

He struggles a bit on long, somewhat straight shots. That suggests he’s not the straightest shooter and needs to fine-tune his fundamentals.

His kicking and safety play are also subpar. He missed a half-dozen kicks attempting to get out of safeties. He ended up giving ball in hand.

His safety play was questionable. There were a few times he made head-scratching decisions that resulted in his opponents getting easy shots.

When he made smart safety choices, he often underhit the ball or overran his mark.

Perhaps it was his unfamiliarity with the speed of WNT tables, but he’s played in the last four WNT events in the U.S.
 
Texas has a big airport and a hotel that
jbart65 said:
Well, at least Skyler Woodward is honest!

I watched the end of his second match yesterday. I came away thinking, man, Sky can really play when he’s dialed in. Too bad it doesn’t happen often.

Woodward admitted as much in a candid post-match interview. Here’s what he said.

“It feels good to actually practice for a week. I can show up at a tournament and actually start off playing good instead of trying to play myself into stroke, like I have been the last year or two.

Just telling the truth. It actually does feel good to be playing good the whole time instead of up and down. It’s nice."

Why did Woodward start practicing again? He said he was upset at his poor play and early exit from the Arizona Open. He recounted his reaction:

“Well, I said a few nasty words. I called my wife, and said, look, babe, clear my pool table off. When I get home. it’s all on. I’m practicing.

I haven’t had motivation since before Covid, really. I don’t know what it is. It finally triggered me. It feels good to actually want to play pool again instead of just show up at the tournament and play. I can get in stroke within in a couple of matches, but it feels good to practice and feel way more confident and comfortable over the ball.

Still in, still kicking, baby."
Click to expand...
We didn't need this information to know that Sky has been slacking on his preparation in recent years.
 
dtroup64 said:
I completely understand your point. But I watch pool to get better, and seeing a "flow" player doesn't help me at all. I gain far more for my own improvement by seeing a player figure it out. Seeing them point to where they want the cue, or the object ball, to go during a safe is far more valuable to me. That's why I love watching Moritz.
Click to expand...
There was a teenaged player in a regional Virginia tournament in the late 90's who used to trace the exact path of where he wanted the cue ball to go before every shot, and then 9 times out of 10 it'd wind up exactly where he'd wanted it. As soon as I saw him, I started betting on him in every match against better known players like Ginky, and he wound up winning the tournament. You could tell that this kid was a serious player.

I didn't even know his name at first, but by the end of the tournament everyone knew who Corey Deuel was.
 
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