Why 7 ball?!?!?! And two set format!!!!!!! ARRGHH

C

Cameron Smith

is kind of hungry...
Silver Member
Yesterday i saw 7 ball on tv for the first time, we don't get much of it up here in canada. I could'nt help wondering why would they have a pro 7 ball tournament? Allen Hopkins explicitly stated that it was a game created so that Minnesota Fats had a chance to beat Mosconi. If the game is set up so that a weaker player can win why have a pro tournament? Shouldn't proffessional competition challenge the players? There just doesn't seem to be any merit to it. The addition of ball hand after a miss, doesn't do enough to ensure the better player wins. All im saying is that if they want to play a rotation game then play 9 ball, 10 ball or rotation. I know that ESPN probably feels it will get viewers because it is a fast paced game, but the problem is that alot of people don't know what 9 ball is, let alone 7 ball. Due to that they may lose interest quickly. Furthermore pro pool kinda loses it's awe factor when they are only running out 4-5 balls, an accomplishment that many people are capable of, even bangers.
My other problem is the two set format. Let me get this straight, if i win the first set i would have to win another set to win the match. But if my opponent loses the first set he/she would only have to win one set plus a one ract tie breaker. Sounds like my 9 year old cousin created the match format. Lets say I win 7-0 in the first set and lost 7-6 in the next, then lost the one rack tie breaker. That means I would lose 8 games to 13. Wait, that seems odd. Let me do the math again on that..... nope still comes back stupid. If people want to mess with the formats, and they really should, they should look to tennis. Multiple sets, must win each set by at least two games, or a tie breaker where each player has equal opportunity. Translated to pool, best of 3 sets, player has to win by two games. Or something like that. Hill-hill matches in pro tournaments have a tendency to be very anti-climatic.
Sorry about the rant, just had to get off my chest.

Regards
 
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I agree I hate 7 ball also. I wish they would have a 15 ball rotation match so we could see a better game
 
The game that Fats and Mosconi played wasn't quite the same as the 7-ball on the TV. Even with the difference, Fats never beat Mosconi.

The game played on TV is created for TV. In a lot of cases, it's pretty trivial. But, professional pool is professional pool no matter how many balls are on the table. It still takes skill, and you will see a lot of shots with it that wouldn't ususally be attempted in other games. I find it enjoyable to watch.
 
Many of the shots you see in 7 ball are the same ones that occur in any other rotation based game. Only the 7 ball variation is easier because there are less balls on the table. I agree its fun to watch SOMETIMES but I wouldn't recommend anyone to practice it. Maybe it would be a good game for beginners to start with. If you make a ball there are at most 6 balls left on the table, so its a nice game to kind of get your feet wet in the positional aspect of pool. But still nothing beats straight pool, regardless of the level of the player.
 
I would rather watch the pros play 3 ball in like a 10 set frame match. That would be alot more exciting than 7 ball in my opinion. By the way has anyone ever seen pros play like a ring 3 ball game?
 
A couple weeks ago i watch on ESPN classic a match between Mosconi and Fats, and they did 3 sets race to 7, one 9ball,7ball and 8ball.

Now when they played 7ball, it was just like 9ball, no ball in hand on the missed shots, and the person not breaking got to call the side of the table they wanted to make the 7ball too.

So in the NEW TV format of 7ball its just made for TV to speed things up. Cuz in all reality, a Pro would run endless racks of 7ball. Unless they used the real rules of 7ball, and made it illegal for using a softbreak.

And playing 7ball is actually kinda interesting if you play it the real way, cuz it makes you choose your shots carefully and make the use of your one saftey very important.

dave
 
As long as Allen Hopkins' Expo event in Phili is a two set event rather that double elimination, I probably won't play it. I know several other people that feel the same way. If I'm going to travel to play a tournament, I want to play at least twice. I do understand the problem though. So many people. Two sets seem to make a match longer, but no mater how you look at it, it is a single elimination event.
 
I would rather see a best of 3 series than the so called exciting sudden death one game play off. The sudden death part is if you don't win the lag you are dead. How exciting is that.
 
Why 7-ball on TV?

Simple, TV is looking for some kind of pool format that the general public will like and watch.

Evidently, 7-ball is not it.
 
Cameron Smith said:
Yesterday i saw 7 ball on tv for the first time, we don't get much of it up here in canada. I could'nt help wondering why would they have a pro 7 ball tournament? Allen Hopkins explicitly stated that it was a game created so that Minnesota Fats had a chance to beat Mosconi. If the game is set up so that a weaker player can win why have a pro tournament?
Click to expand...

The 7-ball game that Wanderone and Mosconi played on television wasn't the same game as what's been force fed on us on ESPN. Do a search on 7-ball on this forum.

The biggest difference in true 7-ball compared to the ESPN version is that the non-breaker chooses which side of the table was his. This meant that there would be hopefull some end-game strategy that might include single ball moving and banking. Mosconi was no slouch at banking, and had little problems moving the 7-ball to his side of the table.

I do wonder, however, why they (the Legends of Pocket Billiards Tournament) didn't play banks, one-pocket and 9-ball instead of 7-ball, 8-ball, and 9-ball.

Fred
 
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