Why do pool players need so much time?

spectators dont want to see a shot clock as they become part of the pressure of a clock on each shot.

of course it will make them speed up play but changes the game. and players will now just use every bit of the time allowed so it may not speed up play anymore .
just have the players play faster or they get penalized and forfeit their matches. try that first and see if it solves the issue. dont you think if they are told to speed up they will or lose their match will work.

and tell the slow players in advance they should not come if they dont play a so called normal speed.
all it takes is a t.d. that runs things properly.
 
spectators dont want to see a shot clock as they become part of the pressure of a clock on each shot.

of course it will make them speed up play but changes the game. and players will now just use every bit of the time allowed so it may not speed up play anymore .
just have the players play faster or they get penalized and forfeit their matches. try that first and see if it solves the issue. dont you think if they are told to speed up they will or lose their match will work.

and tell the slow players in advance they should not come if they dont play a so called normal speed.
all it takes is a t.d. that runs things properly.

have you watched any of the ultimate pool USA? their shot clock go down to 15 seconds when 20 minutes of the match has passed
 
what happens you go to a restaurant and its service is slow and the food takes forever to get out. you stop going there.
same with pool when the matches are slow people don't watch them.

you don't put a shot clock on the food place you stop going. at some point they go out of business or learn to speed it up.

in pool if the t.d. doesn't speed it up tell him he wont work anymore. see what happens. same with slow players.

if the organizer doesn't care, stop buying their streams and let them know. see what happens.

good business people have never run pool. some make money in spite of themselves though. and keep doing what they do as the participants don't react.
 
... good business people have never run pool. some make money in spite of themselves though. and keep doing what they do as the participants don't react.
Matchroom seems to be doing OK, business-wise. I heard that they are a billion-dollar company now. Of course that's mostly boxing and darts, but pool made them about $2,000,000/year in profit the last report I saw.
 
And even further down the chain, I’m often envious of the dart league players who are done with all their matches while our pool league play has “just” started.

Matchroom runs the main darts pro format (pdc) so I have confidence they can transfer some of that skill to pool.
Its also a spectacle, a show. Matchroom has just started with pool. It took over 20 years to get darts, where it is today. The fact, its fast paced game also helps, just like in pool, you do get the slower ones.
 
Last edited:
if you think they run their pool business well then okay. making money at something you have a virtual almost monopoly at doesn't mean you are good at business. just good at making money temporarily.
maybe they should be making 4 mil. a year.

a big company making 2 mil. might be considered failing. or doing great, depending on whose eyes are looking in.
 
I HATE slow play and would love to play with shot clocks all the time for 8/9/10 ball.

As Bob said, Chess Clocks (placed between the players) would be the way to go. It accomplishes two things;

Speed up the match, duh.
and
Focuses people to get away from the table when their inning is over.

It would take some tuning, but with the right formula, you could give each player 25 minutes for a race to 7.
If you run out of time before reaching 7, you get a game penalty something like 1 game for every 2 or 3 minutes the opponent has remaining. This would prevent stalling if you get a lead. Say you're up 6-4, but I have 9 minutes left then you would lose 7-6.

Ultimate Pool is gimmicky, but is entertaining to watch. Be interesting to see a pro event on 9 foots with a similar setup.
 
What kind of table is that? I have never seen a Diamond that looked anything like that.
They copied….but protected themselves….
IMG_1457.jpeg
 
I think the Slow Play naysayers are slowly winning over the argument except when big money action matches are taking place. No body is going to put a shot clock on T-Rex playing Dennis Ocullo for100K. Don't buy the stream if you don't like their slow play. I give this particular match as an example of two very thoughtful and deliberate player styles. At the very end of their big action match, T-Rex is trapped big time. It took him ten minutes to locate and measure out the carom shot that won him the match. It was riveting drama. No body complained then in the chatroom of that match. But in tournament play we probably need some type of time check between shots to keep it moving. It's important to distinguish between when the clock might be appropriate and not appropriate.
 
shot clock can also change the strategy of the game as if way ahead it may pay to play more safes if your opponent is running low on time.
and you need a third party to run the clock , as the opponent can do things to slow his opponent down taking up his clock time.

same as the foolish thing of putting a time limit on a match.
 
Back
Top