Why I love slop

The OPs points are arguable but I think the best issue the slop rule brings with it is encouraging the shooter to blast a cluster hoping one pockets, like you're 9 years old again.

+1 for youthful exuberance.

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PoolChump said:
For the young players: WPA 2009

http://www.wpa-pool.com/web/index.asp?id=118&pagetype=rules
Click to expand...

This is not startling information for me....not sure why you showed it to me.
....I disagree with these rules and dislike them intensely.
...and the WPA is a latecomer to the pool world....don't make seem like these rules are
written on stone like the Ten Commandments.
Hell, the WPA can't get outta their own way a lot ot the time.

To me, the greatest games to play are SNOOKER, ONE-POCKET, AND THREE-CUSHION....
...they are NOT played with call-shots.....playing for multiple outcomes from a tough spot
can be very skillful.

The only games I personally like that are played 'call-shot' are straight pool and banks.
 
Eliminating call shot will simplify the rules, which will have a number of effects:
1. fewer disputes between players regarding if a shot was called or not
2. easier to learn the rules
3. allow 2-way (and more) offensive shots, which will make offense more appealing and thus make games go faster
4. missed shots have a chance of still making something by accident, which will further increase the appeal of playing offense
5. allow blast shots where the player tries to luck in a ball
6. possibly give a lesser skilled player a slightly better chance of beating a better player, due to the lesser skilled player missing more and getting lucky. The better player can still get lucky, but they won't need to because they will not miss as often. I speculate this will cause more lower players to compete more. In fact, a better player can play more 2-way shots and actually might even have an advantage because of slop.
7. a close match could be determined a bit more by luck, but there is already a fair amount of luck involved with the game (the break, slopping a safety, bad rolls, etc.)

Currently, almost all 9-ball games are not played with call shot and you still see the same players winning because it just doesn't make that much of a difference.

Most of the effects above don't really apply to good players because they don't want to have to rely on luck - they want to control the table. Personally, I think slop could lower the barrier to entry to the sport and bring in more players.
 
Luck can/does play a factor in other sports/games. I don't see why some people want to completely take any luck out of pool. If a golfer's ball hit a tree and goes in, it still counts. Basketball banks in to win at the buzzer, that also counts. Might suck for the opposition, but that's life.

I understand people's thinking both ways on the subject. However, the top players will still probably be the same whether slop or not. Slop does give people a bad beat stoty to tell others though. :)
 
I think the newer call shot rules are bad for the game as well.

Luck isn't actually so much the problem. It's the differential in luck between any two players that is the problem. That differential has not changed at all in the long run with the two sets of rules. Just as with the old rules, a player can get luckier than another just as easily.

Yet there are problems with the new rules and I don't think they solve anything. The problems are you have more communication necessary between players and that leads to arguments.

So, the differential between players in luck will stay the same, yet we now have added problems. I also think the new rules make for a less interesting game. I'm all for change but I don't think those rules have been good changes myself. There are a ton of situation that come up in pool where you shoot a hard shot and know you will get safe if you miss it. Identifying those situations is no longer an advantageous skill. The new rules just make for a less creative game and you have guys calling balls on kicks that are sort of ridiculous. It's almost like in trying to eliminate luck we've moved backwards and are now compelling players to predetermine their luck haha.
 
Hmm, I'm not really sure where the problem is. And, I'm not sure what your calling called shot. For the most part 9 Ball is Slop in every sense of the word. Hit the lowest ball on the table and what ever falls goes, however you make a bad hit you get penalized with a ball in hand foul.

10 Ball is Call Ball & Call the Pocket, not how many rails or off a ball, etc. etc. etc. that would be Call Shot. If you play a Good Safety you should be rewarded by causing the opponent to create a foul. Otherwise get a Jump Cue or, get your Kicking game up to Speed. Creating a situation of what I believe your calling Slop is ridiculous, otherwise there's no penalty for just breaking the balls open or repositioning the table layout.

I believe your confusing Bar Rules with what the majority of all organized pool the world over is played by.

Black Cat :cool:
 
Yes imagination is great but when someone misses badly and ends up banking the ball. It SUCKS. Not sure that how the great game of SKILL is meant to be played. How about this. Kick shots can get lucky. Shots with the purpose to be pocketed get called.

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I don't think it matters much either way... you join the tournament, league, or action depending on whether the rules suit you.

One can blast at clusters and send the cue ball around the table all day, and sometimes, the guy gets lucky and slops the 9 in. Of course, if that person plays against YOU, it seems like he slops them ALL in! Meanwhile, you get out of someone's "mystery safe," only to have the cueball scratch in the side pocket from the most ridiculous of angles you wouldn't dare try to pocket a ball from. Just a matter of perspective. In the end, the guy with better shot making and decision making always comes out ahead in the long run, if they don't let someone else's luck or their own get to them. Hey, that's why it's called gambling! But I've found that in the end, even with the 9 hanging, I find it way better whenever possible (and if I'm ahead) to run the table out.

On the other hand, I used to play a lot of 3-cushion as well, so if the 9 is in the jaws and it's a friendly game, I go for it. Of course to many of my opponents it looks like luck, especially if the shot doesn't seem obvious. My favorite is having a ball in the corner jaws, miss it on the short rail, then go around the table and make it anyway. But not when the guy I'm playing is bigger than me! Also spent a lot of time learning how to read clusters for dead shots. Again to someone not in the know, it may appear to be luck, when in fact it was a measured risk-reward shot. And again, not something I'd normally do if the stakes were higher and my opponent more formidable.
 
Bank it said:
Quick way to get your opponent to start taking the heat. Only thing I've seen better is to follow it with a package & watch their head explode.
Click to expand...

I have been known to do that too! Though it is usuall a messy mess of combining the two.
 
Tin Man - you are suggesting that where the balls end up after a kick is complete luck? Maybe if players are bangers and don't try to learn how to kick properly...

Every kick shot I play has a purpose, both for the object ball and the cue ball. Of course you cannot hit every one as plum as you like, but there can be solid plans at play, I don't think there is as much luck as you seem to be inferring.

Play with the correct weight on the shot and good things can happen. Hit them fast then of course it's coming down to luck.
 
Definitely not COMPLETE luck, but there is an element of luck that is hugely impactful.

You kick a ball to the end rail and it ends up not quite frozen, or it freezes. Just off rail makes it far easier for other guy to kick in, vs. frozen to rail.

Anytime you want to bet you can freeze a kicked ball to the end rail...

BFrench501 said:
Tin Man - you are suggesting that where the balls end up after a kick is complete luck? Maybe if players are bangers and don't try to learn how to kick properly...

Every kick shot I play has a purpose, both for the object ball and the cue ball. Of course you cannot hit every one as plum as you like, but there can be solid plans at play, I don't think there is as much luck as you seem to be inferring.

Play with the correct weight on the shot and good things can happen. Hit them fast then of course it's coming down to luck.
Click to expand...
 
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