What are the thoughts on the outcome of the WPC tournament?

[Ken Barlow]

What happened to the Philippino's, the guys from Chinese Taipei and the Favourites for winning the WPC in general? They all seemed to loose their mojo. Why do you think that the final was made up of the tourney underdogs (No disrespect to Peach and Superman intended)? Did the favourites just have off days...all of them? Was it because the standard as a whole has increased across the board? What do you think?

 

[crappoolguy]

Personally I think that the soft break meant that anyone could have won it.

 

[crosseyedjoe]

What happened to the Philippino's, the guys from Chinese Taipei and the Favourites for winning the WPC in general? They all seemed to loose their mojo. Why do you think that the final was made up of the tourney underdogs (No disrespect to Peach and Superman intended)? Did the favourites just have off days...all of them? Was it because the standard as a whole has increased across the board? What do you think?

Number of talent pool has increased quite considerably. Anyone of the world top 100 players can win the 9-ball WPC. That's just how far the luck/bad luck on break can swing the game. Most of those players who got eliminated probably didn't make any mistake at all, it just that their opponent had a better roll. So even when you're on, you can still lose if you opponent is also on fire.

 

[JAM]

What happened to the Philippino's, the guys from Chinese Taipei and the Favourites for winning the WPC in general? They all seemed to loose their mojo. Why do you think that the final was made up of the tourney underdogs (No disrespect to Peach and Superman intended)? Did the favourites just have off days...all of them? Was it because the standard as a whole has increased across the board? What do you think?

Bird break!

JAM

 

[gulfportdoc]

Too much luck...

It's going to be rare for any player to dominate with Texas Express type rules. The modern game has a lot in common with poker. There are highly skilled players who might be expected to win frequently, but the luck factor can't be overcome. I recall poker's Mike Caro saying something like, "If I play 10 times better than anyone else, I might win 1 out 100 tournaments."

Doc