Why eight ball????

Nature Boy said:
The last time I saw eight ball was as a kid when Wide World Of Sports used to do it.
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Maybe it's simply you need to get out more and see 8-ball played by the best players.

The WPA still holds a World 8-ball Championship. The winners are a Who's Who in pool. When Earl Strickland won the that championship, he told the pool world his pride in winning that championship because it said that he wasn't just a 9-ball player. Nick Varner still confesses to love playing 8-ball. The European pros still play 8-ball. All this on big tables.

And as far as small table 8-ball goes, one only has to visit the BCA Nationals to see how good the game can be. Those that still look down on that game are exactly the type of people that Eddie Felson was talking about... the ones who really didn't know how good this game can be.

Fred
 
Dave Nelson said:
Nature Boy

If 8 ball is too easy for you because of too many balls to shoot at, try some full rack rotation. I will chance a prediction that you wont like that either. I don't care for 9 ball but why knock another persons game?

Dave Nelson
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I wasn't even talking about me as I won't play eight ball. And I do like rotation.



Everyone is sort of proving my point for me. I said that between two competent players, eight can be an okay game. But the strategy you are speaking of certainly doesn't go on in 99% of the games played daily, I would guess.
 
Alternate break 8-ball on a tight cut 9-foot diamond of gold crown is a far more complete game and would give the better players more opportunities to rise to the clear top of the charts. 8-ball by it's very nature is a far more skill based game that has far less luck involved then 9-ball.

Alternate break 8-ball win by 2 on 4 1/4 cut pocket 9-foots.

This game would see the cream rise to the top AND it would get about 100 times the current interest from the general public. It would do nothing but great things for pool, but the people in charge don't seem to want to take the chance on it, as if we have much to lose.

TBH I am a little saddened by the fact that they are running a 10-ball event on the 9-foots at the BCA in Vegas instead of a 8-ball event on those same 9-foot tables. The minimal amount of seating watching the pro's shoot on the 7-foots in the Grand Masters event last year was standing room only and I spent many a time sitting on the edge of the bleecher as all the chairs were full, IF I could even get a seat there which was often not the case.

Seriously, if the finals of the tournament on the 9-foots in Vegas during the BCA was SVB vs Wu in a race to 9 8-ball, alternate break, win by 2, the stands would be full. Announce that match is about to start, $5 to enter and watch it, you will be at standing room only in the tournament room in no time.

I could not care less about watching the pro's play some 10-ball, I heard Dennis won last year. Watching two top pro's battle it out in 8-ball on a tight cut 9-foot? I would pay to watch that.
 
Barbox 8 is fun. :p

You get to be much more creative than you do in 9. There's normally much more to be broken up during the game, so you have to think about that as well as the leave.

I disagree that the game is easier with lop-sided skills playing. A person more likely to miss will be much easier to beat in 9, imho. Of course, even a decent shooter with weak strategy could be as easy to beat in 8.

I think a good game of 8 is much for fun to watch than a good game of 9.
 
Totally agree . . .

softshot said:
8 ball is a great game... made for a bar box...

8-ball on a 9 foot ... is like 9-ball on a bar box... not very challenging to a competent player..

8 ball on a box played correctly by skilled opponents is every bit a chess match.. rivaling one pocket in complexity..

come play some 8-ball with me:)
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I play BCA 8-ball league two nights a week on 7' Diamonds . . . it's so MUCH more challenging then 9-ball, and a lot more fun to play then on a 9 footer.

The game of 9-ball, and particularly for the higher skill/pro player, has been destroyed by the break . . . with league and lower skill amatuers its even more a matter of being a "luck" game.

You'd better have some cue ball control and know your patterns well for 8-ball on a 7' bar box . . . there's a lot of "traffic". Skilled players also make it way more interesting due to the defense/safety play. Try navigating a kick shot 3 rails with 12 balls or so on a 7 foot table to avoid giving your opponent ball-in-hand.

9-ball to me became pretty mindless . . . I just plain quit playing it 4 years ago. They ought to switch over to 10-ball for a rotation game, especially on TV - that would neutralize the "break" issues and at least make it entertaining. Or they could just switch over to playing on what I call a "2 drink minimum table":
 

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I enjoy 8 ball on a box. Plus, like stated earlier, if I'm at a place charging me a dollar I want to at least get to shoot. I also feel in the confined space it is a game of much strategy!
 
8 the hard way

Pushout said:
I would personally rather not play than play 8 ball on a bar table. From 1973 on I played in the one pool room in NYS that even had bar tables, the 3 x 6 variety. The players NEVER played on them and NEVER played 8 ball. I've played more 8 ball since I moved to South Carolina in about three years than I played in 25 or more in NY. I've resolved not to play it any more. I just don't like the game. I learned to play playing Straight Pool, as did most people at that time, so 8 ball is relatively easy for me. Comparing it to One Pocket is a joke as far as I'm concerned.
Until I came to AZ, I never heard anyone considered a player say they liked 8 ball better than 9 ball, not ever. I don't care what Trudeau's whore says.
I understand why bar players might prefer it on coin op tables but I just don't like it. I don't think it was ever designed to be a game for skilled players.
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8-ball is not easy but sometimes your opponent is.
The best player wins like any game of skill.
I didn't play 8-ball for years only because of goofy rules.
There are excellent rules now.
I agree about 3x6's - they are mickey mouse.
 
softshot said:
8 ball is a great game... made for a bar box...

8-ball on a 9 foot ... is like 9-ball on a bar box... not very challenging to a competent player..

8 ball on a box played correctly by skilled opponents is every bit a chess match.. rivaling one pocket in complexity..

come play some 8-ball with me:)
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Eight Ball does not rival One Pocket, no way, no how. The only thing that comes close to rivaling the great game of One Pocket is Fourteen and One.
 
Tramp Steamer said:
Eight Ball does not rival One Pocket, no way, no how. The only thing that comes close to rivaling the great game of One Pocket is Fourteen and One.
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The reason I like 8-ball is because it has the best elements of all the games..

you have to bank and move like a one pocket player.. sometimes

you need to keep an extremely tight leash on your CB while navigating traffic and busting clusters like a 14.1 player... sometimes

you should check out the book "The 8ball Bible" if you get the chance...

it gives great in depth strategy, pattern, and safety play info needed to play high level 8-ball.
 
I second that

softshot said:
8 ball is a great game... made for a bar box...

8-ball on a 9 foot ... is like 9-ball on a bar box... not very challenging to a competent player..

8 ball on a box played correctly by skilled opponents is every bit a chess match.. rivaling one pocket in complexity..

come play some 8-ball with me:)
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Very good post,my thoughts exactly
 
Why not? Been playing it for years and plan on keepin on as far as I can see. All billiard games require skills that parallel each other. One shouldn't look down their nose at anothers strongest skill set unless you can belly up to the bar and show em how to do it.

Some of the guys I play BCA with are wicked strong players. Better have your game on or it's gonna be a long night...
 
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