That is not entirely true in my opinion. I play on Diamond bar boxes all the time and at no time do I have any illusions that I am doing anything like a pro. Pro's can shoot just as well as on a 9 as they can on a 7. I get my break and runs but I don't string them together 7 and 8 in a row like a pro..until I do that I understand the difference! Believe me.
WHY is the US Open on the 7 Foot tables now?
- Thread starter MuchoBurrito
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That is not entirely true in my opinion. I play on Diamond bar boxes all the time and at no time do I have any illusions that I am doing anything like a pro. Pro's can shoot just as well as on a 9 as they can on a 7. I get my break and runs but I don't string them together 7 and 8 in a row like a pro..until I do that I understand the difference! Believe me.
I think a lot of people don't care whether a tournament is 7' or 9'. They can pick and choose whether they want to play, support, watch. (I suppose if CSI's logic were to hold true we could expect the DCC to go to 7' tables.)
I believe the central issue is what the events are called and in this case the words "Bar Table" should be inserted right after "U.S Open." Even Thorsten made that distinction in his interview after winning the 10ball event. Everything is just spin and not very good spin at that.
Lou Figueroa
That's interesting, 9 footers are too expensive to lease/transport/etc?
That's a terrible shame.
Of course the pro's played amazing pool this last week on the bar tables, they're the best in the world, I would expect stellar pool. The 9 foot tables however really showcase the superior shot making ability the pros have though.
I can't remember ever seeing a ball potted on a bar table and thinking to myself "wow what a shot!".
I think it would be a shame if North American pool turn into barbox pool because general interest in pool wasn't sufficient to support 9 foot tables.
There's no doubt that the best players will still be at the top of the list (although I'm not sure Rory Hendrickson would be in the finals of the US Open 9-ball on 9-foot tables).
What bothers me is that US pool is in the toilet, and this is just another sign that it's not crawling out any time soon.
I don't think CSI has any responsibility to US pool other than doing what their customers, i.e., the league players, want, and the league players almost all play on 7-footers. But let's be real, we know why leagues play on 7-footers: For "practical" reasons. They're cheaper, you can fit more into a room, they're easier so games go quicker and less-skilled players have more fun on them.
So 9' pool rooms close, bars with small tables take over, people get used to small tables, CSI uses small tables for its league events, why put in a new set of bigger tables for the Open events when they've got tons of small tables already there?, pros play more and more on small tables, new and young players who might become pros rarely play on big tables, and pretty soon Americans are about as comfortable on 9-foot tables as they are on snooker tables. That sucks. It's not CSI's fault, but it still sucks.
Yes when you look at the registrants for this year's US Open, there were very few European and virtually no Filipino names to be found. Now that I take a closer look at it, it kind of seemed like a weak field when you consider just how prestigious the US Open title is supposed to be.
Also, giving big Mosconi cup points to someone because they placed well in a bar table 8 ball event??? That seems kind of inappropriate.
There's no question that some of these players believe that 7' pool table okay isn't "real pool." That's what I'm addressing.
To the title, I agree that something should be in there like US Open 7'ft 10-ball Championship. These Diamonds are entirely too good and challenging to be under the "barbox" umbrella.
I'm quite sure Thorsten agrees with you and me that a "US Open" title by itself should be on a bigger table. Maybe Irving Crane believed that the US Open 14.1 should have had a special "on 9' tables" clarifier when the switch from 10' to 9' tables occurred.
Freddie <~~~ moving forward
Oh, please, let's not make up silly conclusions. The world stayed away because the Qatar event being by so close. Players staying away had nothing to do with the smaller table. Same things happen every tournament if there's a scheduling conflict.
I think some of them stayed way because of the world 9 ball event in Qatar coming up. Appleton for example said he would have played if not for that- he thought shooting on 7 footer so close to the world 9 ball would be bad for his game.
There's a difference between comparing the outfield wall at different ballparks, vs comparing a major league ballpark to a school yard. Didn't one match go without even one missed pot? 10' to 9' tables don't completely change the game, and I might argue that even 8' tables aren't so bad, though it's borderline. 7' tables are completely different. Just look at the areas of the table:
10' - 50sq"
9' - 40sq"
7' - 24.5sq"
It's just over 1/2 the playing surface of a 9' and not even close to the difference between a 10' and 9' table. That's a pretty drastic reduction in actually playing surface.
I actually enjoy watching bar table 8-ball, the precise cue ball movement and traffic make it interesting to me. I think the game is ideally suited for the bar table and 8-ball on a big table may be an easier game for the pros.
I don't love rotation on the small table. I agree that if this is supposed to be a premier US tournament then they should be using big tables for the rotation games at least. I have no problem with bar table tournaments, but having the US Open on 7' tables is a bit of a joke.
I don't love rotation on the small table. I agree that if this is supposed to be a premier US tournament then they should be using big tables for the rotation games at least. I have no problem with bar table tournaments, but having the US Open on 7' tables is a bit of a joke.
What would make it a lot more interesting is if the balls and pockets were also 1/2 size, and I'm 100% serious about that. I'd enjoy watching that and playing that, and it would respect the big difference in table playing area. It would be a different game, and it is anyway, so why not just make it a different game and be done with it?
For me, it's not even worth watching. Why not just play on one of these and get it over with?
Honestly, it's a little embarrassing for American pool, IMHO.
agree 100 percent, tables should be getting bigger for pros and smaller for casuals
I think that scheduling conflicts are largely to blame. Most the young gun Pinoys (and other ones who didn't get the invitation to Stage 2) are playing in the qualifying events in Qatar. The Europeans were all playing in the UK Open 9b event, which had free entry and was worth Euro Mosconi Cup points.
That said, there were a few pros who seem to have skipped the event because they wanted to prepare for the World 9b by playing on 9' tables. Daz said as much on FB and has been practicing at home.
To return to the original question, the switch was made because (a) CSI owns the rights to the names; (b) it is apparently considerably more expensive to stage an event like this on 9' tables; and (c) CSI gets considerably better PPV numbers from 7' events. It may also be the case that CSI likes being able to have their league players in Vegas see the pros playing on the same equipment the league plays on. None of this is a criticism - CSI runs a business and no one else is putting up the money to run these events on 9' tables.
I unfortunately didn't see the 10b, but I did watch almost all of the 8b.
When the balls broke wide and didn't cluster, it was easy run outs - except that even the top pros do still miss occasionally (e.g., both Thorsten and Busty missed fairly easy shots in the side right at the end of their respective matches. Thorsten survived - Busty's miss was at hill-hill and he lost to SVB, who would have been eliminated).
When the balls did cluster, it was fascinating to watch the pros navigate tables that would normally result in multiple innings and safeties. I strongly recommend anyone who plays any 8b on 7' tables watch some of these matches - it redefines how bar table 8b can be played, IMHO - although some of the shots and patterns they play can only be played when you are pro speed.
All of that said, I personally would like to see these events on 9' tables, but that doesn't mean that the events are not worth watching.
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re: pros playing
Pros are pros. This is how they make their living, so they play wherever and on whatever they need to, whether they like it or not. I'm sure there are some that stayed away because of the equipment, but I doubt most care. They want to win. Hell, I've never turned down a game just because of the equipment and I enjoy playing on whatever I can get, but it's sorta' not the point.
When I was a kid, and we still had lots of nice pool halls around, pool on TV, etc, I always thought it would be fun to do a "Basement Series". Setup some crappy, 7' tables, each one with odd idiosyncrasies, put some walls too close to the table, maybe a couple of posts, house cues only, etc etc, and let them battle it out. The really adaptable guys would find a way to use the equipment to their advantage, hook people in areas where they can't even make a proper stroke, and things like that. It would be fun.
This isn't quite what I had in mind, though.
Pros are pros. This is how they make their living, so they play wherever and on whatever they need to, whether they like it or not. I'm sure there are some that stayed away because of the equipment, but I doubt most care. They want to win. Hell, I've never turned down a game just because of the equipment and I enjoy playing on whatever I can get, but it's sorta' not the point.
When I was a kid, and we still had lots of nice pool halls around, pool on TV, etc, I always thought it would be fun to do a "Basement Series". Setup some crappy, 7' tables, each one with odd idiosyncrasies, put some walls too close to the table, maybe a couple of posts, house cues only, etc etc, and let them battle it out. The really adaptable guys would find a way to use the equipment to their advantage, hook people in areas where they can't even make a proper stroke, and things like that. It would be fun.
This isn't quite what I had in mind, though.
I can understand that for many players it was a simple scheduling conflict, with the event in Qatar being more important to them.
However, I can also see why many players wouldn't want to spend the week before the world 9 ball playing on a bar table. I wouldn't play a week on a bar table before a tournament on a 9 footer.
It's already been said by Darren a bar box event so close to a world event on big tables makes it to hard to be in top form switching table size ,, Iv heard several pro's say the exact something ,
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