I would say, as a player's opinion of all things considered Rotation is the most "pure" game.
I grew up playing rotation and so did Efren, Bustemante, and ALL Filipinos from what I'm told. I would venture to guess that many of the past and some present champions also grew up playing rotation as well.
To run all 15 balls in order is a major accomplishment and if you can "beat the ghost" playing rotation, that is the highest speed possible. IMHO
CJ:
I would agree to a small point. I say, "small," because running all 15 balls in rotation is certainly an achievement. It would mean you really have the cue ball on a string.
However, the parts NOT covered by the "small" part of my agreement would be the following:
1. Virtually all forms of Rotation unfortunately have slop bolted to their hip. In fact, *any* rotation game -- including 10-ball (which was specifically resurrected by the WPA to address the slop issue) -- is played with Texas Express / slop rules. (10-ball, in some parts of the country, is actually played T.E. -- and on *bar tables* no less.) There is not one version of Rotation game where it's universally understood to be played with call-shot rules. You'll always find someone, somewhere, playing that very same rotation game with slop rules. Courteous opponents will raise their hand to you in apology if they slop a ball in (or make it in a pocket other than the one intended), but they still maintain control of the table.
2. Non-rotation games, like bank pool, 14.1, and to a mostly-applicable extent, 8-ball ("mostly applicable" to mean the rest of the world, vs. what the APA leagues play 8-ball), are played call-shot.
3. Bank pool has the additional caveat that the shot must go in "clean" -- meaning, the banked ball cannot carom off of a ball into a pocket, or be combo'ed.
4. Rack mechanics. In any form of rotation pool, the obvious underpinning thrust of the game is not to just pocket a ball on the break, but more importantly, to get a shot on the lowest-numbered ball on the table. It
behooves the rotation player to be a rack mechanic -- finagling the rack and using break techniques to ensure both of these things happen. You are freed from that crap with true pattern games like 14.1, bank pool, and 8-ball. Short-rack banks to a lesser extent has some rack finagling going on (merely to ensure a ball goes in -- using 9-ball breaking techniques to wire those wing balls to the corner pockets), but nothing like rotation games. Full-rack banks just about removes this completely (except for 8-ball breaking techniques, which noone would have a problem with anyway).
In full-rack banks -- with the congestion of all 15-balls on the table -- that is quite a feat to bank 8 and out with most of the banking lanes blocked. Safeties are a bit easier than short-rack banks, obviously, so a congested / clustered table is rife with safety play in full-rack banks.
While I love to watch the likes of Efren, Bustamante, Alcano, etc. play full-rack rotation, I get even greater joy watching a full-rack bank pool game played by the banks-equivalent caliber of player (e.g. Brumback, Daulton, Gregg, etc.). Here, you have something that rotation play will NEVER have -- patterns dictated by the
player, not by the numbers on the balls. This lights-up an additional part of the brain that is dormant in your average rotation player.
-Sean
