US Open 08/18-23
- Thread starter Island Drive
- Start date
So what shark move MR boy Fedor is going to use against Chua? They are both matchroom boys.
But seriously, Fedor is the only top player that I have heard openly say that he favors the 3 past the headstring rule. That rule is junk, because everyone knows that collisions could prevent balls going up table.
Advocating to the referee about soft break is low, because the referee is there to do his/her job without outside influence. He might have lost some fans.
But seriously, Fedor is the only top player that I have heard openly say that he favors the 3 past the headstring rule. That rule is junk, because everyone knows that collisions could prevent balls going up table.
Advocating to the referee about soft break is low, because the referee is there to do his/her job without outside influence. He might have lost some fans.
I tuned in to Yapp-Filler with Yapp up 7-3. I thought it was very tense affair with both players feeling tremendous pressure and showing it. Critical errors resulted. Crowd was great.
Niels said on FB that Chua got 5-6 lucky rolls early on, which he did, and that Niels himself got a few unlucky ones. But he credited Chua with taking advantage of the rolls by following up a few mini-packs of break and runs. Feijin didn’t do anything wrong. Chua simply seized control of the table and his break was spot on.
Just goes to show how hard it is to get to the semis of the U.S. Open. Niels almost did it two years in a row. Nobody played better than Feijin this week. Chua certainly didn’t. But he seized the moment.
Chua was sharp and broke great. Niels got very few chances at the table given the winner break format.
chua smoked him. if chua plays like that today, he wins.
I disagree, he was mid before, seemingly still mid
I agree, they already have the system. I am not sure why they don't use it, at least from the quarter final stage where there are referees.
Greetings from Atlantic City. Another day is in the books and we have a very elite final four.
Looking at each
Ko Pin Yi has navigated a tough draw to the semis, eliminating Shane and Shaw along the way. Really in form.
Johan Chua has been inconsistent this week, but I think he found his A game vs Feijen and he looks very dangerous.
Fedor Gorst walked through two mine fields yesterday. I think he needs to raise his level a bit if he ito win the title. he hasn’t been closing the deal in 2025, with several top 3 finishes this year, but not even one title in either 9ball or 10ball. Today might just be his day.
Yapp , who, over the last nine months has won three huge field, high prize money events (International 9ball, UK Open, Florida Open) looks tough after a blowout win over Roda and a close win over Filler. He can probably lock up player of the year today with a US Open 9ball title.
It is very tough to pick a winner here, but I think Ko Pin Yi might be the one to beat. That said, I will be rooting for Fedor..
All four semifinalists have a good chance to win the event, and you could not ask for a better lineup for the final day of competition.
Good luck to these fine players. Let the games begin.
Looking at each
Ko Pin Yi has navigated a tough draw to the semis, eliminating Shane and Shaw along the way. Really in form.
Johan Chua has been inconsistent this week, but I think he found his A game vs Feijen and he looks very dangerous.
Fedor Gorst walked through two mine fields yesterday. I think he needs to raise his level a bit if he ito win the title. he hasn’t been closing the deal in 2025, with several top 3 finishes this year, but not even one title in either 9ball or 10ball. Today might just be his day.
Yapp , who, over the last nine months has won three huge field, high prize money events (International 9ball, UK Open, Florida Open) looks tough after a blowout win over Roda and a close win over Filler. He can probably lock up player of the year today with a US Open 9ball title.
It is very tough to pick a winner here, but I think Ko Pin Yi might be the one to beat. That said, I will be rooting for Fedor..
All four semifinalists have a good chance to win the event, and you could not ask for a better lineup for the final day of competition.
Good luck to these fine players. Let the games begin.
MR has given players the right complain to refs if they think an opponent is soft breaking. I heard a ref even tell players that either this week or at the BotB.
I saw Chua soft breaking a few times earlier week against a weak opponent. Boyes and Frost even called him out. The ref said nothing, and the opponent didn’t complain.
Frost later said he thought it was because Chua was tired. Chua played five matches on the final day of the BotB. Chua hasn’t soft broken since then, though.
I understand the criticism, but I think too many pool fans exaggerate "sharking." These are grown men. Baoanan played on and almost won. It didn’t stop him, and if it did, it would be his own damn fault. If Gorst called me out like that, it would just fuel my motivation to beat him.
Ko was a bit shaky in the first stage. He hasn’t played much this year and it showed. Ditto for Ko Ping Chung.
Ko has found his form since beating SVB. He’s broken well, controlled the table, made few mistakes and shown his supreme tactical game.
I’d bet on Ko to win it all, but as the Chua-Feijin match showed, a guy in great form can be beaten easily if just a few rolls go one way or the other.
Guess you are shark proof. Maybe you swim in a cage.
Your statement is easier said than done. Maybe you never played against sharks.
Chua got a warning for soft breaking against Neil’s.
And given the subjective (idiotic) MR rules on soft breaking, if breaking on the softer side is to your advantage, then it's only reasonable to expect players to push the limit as to how soft you can break until you get a warning from the ref. Again, I had no issue with Fedor bringing up his concern to the ref. (It was the mocking that I took issue with.)
The subjective rules on soft breaking is equivalent to getting rid of the shot clock and simply discouraging "slow play". Of course naturally slower players would push it until they get a warning from the ref. And each ref would have their own threshold.
As others have suggested, a simple radar gun would solve the problem. If you break under a certain speed, it's a foul and BIH. Any subsequent times you go under the limit, then it's automatic loss of rack. Easy.
That's fine. Did Niels complain or did the referee act on his own? Big difference.
If a referee has to act after a complaint then he/she is not doing their job. If they give a warning due to pressure from an opponent (MR boy) then the player would be playing against the opponent and referee.
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What I said was that I like a variety of breaking speeds. I liked Corey's because at the time it was unique, and because he'd obviously put in the necessary time to perfect it. It's not as if he were Barry Bonds on Mark McGwire taking steroids to gain an advantage. Seems to me that the resentment against Corey came mostly from players who didn't like the fact that at the time he was beating them. But then some players like Earl love to whine about everything.
And again, if you don't like soft breaking, fine, then get out the radar gun and require a minimum breaking speed. I have no objection to that. What I don't like is that idiotic three balls must past the headstring bullshit, or even worse, leaving it up to players' bitching and subjective rulings by a referee. A radar gun is at least objective.
If the opponent is going to complain, it should be immediately after a soft break. The problem needs to be addressed immediately.
There are free apps that give break speed from the sound -- you don't need special equipment. Alternatively, if you have video, you can set a maximum number of frames of the cue ball moving towards the rack. That video should be faster than 60 frames/second, though. YouTube is 24/second and you get only about 4 frames of cue ball travel.
Introduction/stuff in progress -- play should start very soon.