US Open 08/18-23

I know two things for certain about Billy Thorpe:

He is the world’s best banker.

He is consistently inconsistent at every other game.

A shame. Plays great in stretches, then misses relatively easy shots any great pro should make. Did it again today, and now he’s out.
 
It's actually ridiculous how many great players there are. This may end up being a problem for Matchroom if they really want to develop known commodities. There's just too many players that can play + .900 level TPA even on tough equipment. Big names will always get knocked out early. Maybe that's the selling point. Guess I don't know, but rivalries are good in sports and with so many great players, rivalries will be hard to develop.
 
It's actually ridiculous how many great players there are. This may end up being a problem for Matchroom if they really want to develop known commodities. There's just too many players that can play + .900 level TPA even on tough equipment. Big names will always get knocked out early. Maybe that's the selling point. Guess I don't know, but rivalries are good in sports and with so many great players, rivalries will be hard to develop.
I agree. A fatal flaw with pool ever again becoming much of a spectator sport is that instead of most sports that appear difficult pool appears easy. In other sports fans are waiting for the relatively rare amazing feat (scoring a goal in soccer, hitting a home run in baseball, etc), whereas pool is a sport where near-perfection is the rule and so the winner isn't one who does the most amazing things (at least, to the layman) but the one who makes the fewest of relatively rare mistakes. Thus, the game appears easy and uninteresting.

In professional hockey, shooting 15% SOG is good. In baseball, .300 (30%) is good. In basketball, 50% shooting percentage is good. In football, 60% completed passes is good. I can think of only pool, amongst spectator sports vying for eyeballs, that has its best participants up around 90%+ for its most basic offensive measure.
 
A successful pro tour will have mechanisms to ensure top players have preferential tournament access and privileges, fostering rivalries and increasing fan familiarity, while allowing new faces to bubble up. Pool isn’t quite there yet but there are many templates to copy, notably snooker on the other side of the Matchroom house.

Upsets are fine from a marketing perspective as long as there is a deep enough pool of famous and marketable folks left in the final few matches. And of course they are inevitable in a game as luck driven as pool.
 
Man who was that dude that took down Alcaide? Nguyen Ahn Tuan? Never heard of him before, but really enjoyed watching him play.

Table 4 YouTube stream, 2nd to last match, day 2.

viet pool instructor with a high top gear, but not super consistent. played in most of the recent majors and some invitationals. to my knowledge never made QF
 
I've paid for WNT.tv, where can I watch that match? What table what day?
That was the YouTube table from day one.

Spoiler Alert:

Wolford was breaking on the hill up 3 games I think. JJ got back to the table and really dug in. Wolford wasn’t getting any real shots and when he had an opportunity missed a back cut on a 6 ball. With the match hill-hill Wolford appeared to second guess himself playing a draw on the 7 ball when it at first looked as if he would come off two rails. The 7 rattled out.
 
That was the YouTube table from day one.

Spoiler Alert:

Wolford was breaking on the hill up 3 games I think. JJ got back to the table and really dug in. Wolford wasn’t getting any real shots and when he had an opportunity missed a back cut on a 6 ball. With the match hill-hill Wolford appeared to second guess himself playing a draw on the 7 ball when it at first looked as if he would come off two rails. The 7 rattled out.
Do you have a link? I've given up on Matchroom Pool. I can't even find the draw. Last month for WNT.tv for me. Matchroom Pool seems totally incompetent at providing info, draws, schedules, matches for paying subscribers.
 
I know two things for certain about Billy Thorpe:

He is the world’s best banker.

He is consistently inconsistent at every other game.

A shame. Plays great in stretches, then misses relatively easy shots any great pro should make. Did it again today, and now he’s out.
Probably a "feel" player. Which is funny to me. If they can't sort out a pool method, how they gonna sort out their feelings? IDK
 
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