Filler started out as an aspiring snookerer.
Why the Best Players Want Tight Pockets
- Thread starter brunswick1901
- Start date
I know pool purists will scoff at the idea, but IMO something like that format promotes the winner break dominance and still allows for actual competition. I suppose it negates the possibility of the big run comeback that rarely happens. So that would be lost.
I don't think many dislike the notion of "tie break" drama. However the shoot out format Predator uses seems to cheapen the efforts leading up to it.
I think the shootout schtik should be part of a preliminary qualifying session. Spotshots, backcut spotshots, straight backs, cross sides and corners etc. Trim the field from wannabe horde to a digestible portion of ready and ables. Just like motor racing.
This got me to wondering: Anyone heard from Buddy lately? I know he's retired from pool, but is he alive and well?
It was a real long time ago and my memory has faded to the details. I believe we just transferred our tray and played with the same pool balls.
there was an interview recently on youtube. didn't watch it but looked like he was in a hospital bed or similar
Pool, it seems, is caught between a rock and a hard place. Let me explain::
In the automotive world, over a century of development, we have made cars safer, and roads safer, and the death rate has gone down markedly. In 1910 f you took a turn to far to the inside, your tires would leave the paved surface and you had a good chance of a terrible accident. Now, berms on the edge of the roadways make the roads safer for the cars, and with modern safety equipment cars are safer, too. Even race tracks are far safer today than in the past, with gravel run off areas, nothing to hit, and well kept tarmac.
Pool wants to grow and flourish, tight pockets, like unbermed roads, are a hazard to the growth of pool--whether they give the better player an advantage or not.
"The better player wants tight pockets to give him more chances to get to the table."
There are far more lower quality players than better quality players, cater to them and the pool population grows.
It is as simple as that.
In the automotive world, over a century of development, we have made cars safer, and roads safer, and the death rate has gone down markedly. In 1910 f you took a turn to far to the inside, your tires would leave the paved surface and you had a good chance of a terrible accident. Now, berms on the edge of the roadways make the roads safer for the cars, and with modern safety equipment cars are safer, too. Even race tracks are far safer today than in the past, with gravel run off areas, nothing to hit, and well kept tarmac.
Pool wants to grow and flourish, tight pockets, like unbermed roads, are a hazard to the growth of pool--whether they give the better player an advantage or not.
"The better player wants tight pockets to give him more chances to get to the table."
There are far more lower quality players than better quality players, cater to them and the pool population grows.
It is as simple as that.
This post was a follow up to my post that, Tight Pockets are Not Good for the Game.
Tight pockets are NOT good for the game!
Nolan Bushell founder of Atari said, “All the best games are easy to learn and difficult to master”. Tight pockets do the opposite, the tight pockets discourage new players. A real world example was the very successful House of Billiards in Santa Monica California. The front four Brunswick...
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If you had a chance to play the best player in the world a race to ten, and you got paid $1000 for every game you won in 9-ball, would you rather have loose pockets or tight pockets?
You’d want them tight. You stand less chance of winning any game against the best player in the world if the pockets are loose. You increase your chance to get to the table the tighter the pockets go.
That’s true with anything else as well in pool. The further you get from ideal conditions, the more it affects the better player. The more ideal the conditions are, the more the advantage the better player can take with his skills.
The better players I have known simply believe their skills are so good, they could shoot them into the middle of the pockets if they had to. Lessers players could not.
You are absolutely correct. If the win/loss ratio stayed the same with 15" pockets why do you think there should be a change in Fargo ratings? Fargo ratings are not a result of the player against the table, its the result of player vs player regardless of the table, they both play on the same table.The craziest thing about your scenario is the 15 inch pockets would have zero effect on their Fargo Ratings.
Just from watching the matchroom events on 4” pockets, I see pros blowing the first round players out of the water.
Probably down to a mixture of being over awed and the pocket size, in this setting the mid 600s are missing routine shots, getting out of line and leaving the pros easy layouts to mop up.
As much as there is a chance for a pro to have a shock miss on the 7, 8, 9 ball, the weaker players will have far more of them and be less capable of taking advantage in the following game.
Probably down to a mixture of being over awed and the pocket size, in this setting the mid 600s are missing routine shots, getting out of line and leaving the pros easy layouts to mop up.
As much as there is a chance for a pro to have a shock miss on the 7, 8, 9 ball, the weaker players will have far more of them and be less capable of taking advantage in the following game.
Buddy also said, if you think the pockets are too big you ain’t betting high enough
Still alive in Metropolis, Ill. AFAIK he still still plays at Sully's old school pool hall. Go get a lesson while you still can.
It's a joke. I'm referring to the idea that there's absolutely nothing that changes the Fargo ratings. Not table size, not pocket size, not even the game. I can almost read the post now from Mike on how the 15 inch pockets had zero affect on the ratings. Let's just say I'm a bit skeptical.
Fargo is just numeration of the the first layer of observance. IOW win, lose, what, when... slightly more granular than A, B, C...
Played under the ABCs as far as that went; never under Fargo; perhaps why I never gode far. The nagging thing about those handicap structures - they have no competence criteria. It's all win loss.
Played under the ABCs as far as that went; never under Fargo; perhaps why I never gode far. The nagging thing about those handicap structures - they have no competence criteria. It's all win loss.
Better players control cueball so much better than lower skill players. Therefore they shoot a lot easier balls all the time, and tighter pockets affect their game less because shots are still easy. Even with tight pockets.
Of course when pockets get very, very (too)tight their game might get shaky too. I saw this happen in Spanish Open. 4 inch pockets with a lot of humidity due heavy rains and I saw guys like Wu and other break down.. Wu missed 4 times easy-ish 9 ball on hill. My buddy then won 6 last racks and defeated Wu
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Of course when pockets get very, very (too)tight their game might get shaky too. I saw this happen in Spanish Open. 4 inch pockets with a lot of humidity due heavy rains and I saw guys like Wu and other break down.. Wu missed 4 times easy-ish 9 ball on hill. My buddy then won 6 last racks and defeated Wu
...The humidity thing has only to do with familiarity. Those used to it have a similar zone or zones as the laboratory players. Switching on the spot to a zone you despise is not likely to be successful; not a good mental state to be in either.Better players control cueball so much better than lower skill players. Therefore they shoot a lot easier balls all the time, and tighter pockets affect their game less because shots are still easy. Even with tight pockets.
Of course when pockets get very, very (too)tight their game might get shaky too. I saw this happen in Spanish Open. 4 inch pockets with a lot of humidity due heavy rains and I saw guys like Wu and other break down.. Wu missed 4 times easy-ish 9 ball on hill. My buddy then won 6 last racks and defeated Wu
Happens to everybody whatever circle they travel in. Over the years the bad conditions show you your percentages. Key shots that would normally get you out are now fraught with treachery. I deal with it by omission rather than guess at what would otherwise be a simple cut, bank, or general positional shot. Nothing else _to_ do.
That said, I don't think most pockets - even 4"ers are the problem. To the monsoon guys, they are the solution.
Speaking as one who is suffering PTSD from the MR 4"ers. I can tell you that the successful players (pros and most notably Chung) played a different game. Nearly no one dared move the CB to any great extent and instead opted for slightly harder pots then normally necessary and played english minimally. Countless times I saw pros play stun/kill shots off the rail rolling across shape lanes rather than the traditional 3 railer into the next shot.
I believe the first rounders got destroyed (myself included) because that we didn't make these adjustments as well or at all, and tried to force our normal style of play. Which normally would have been the status quo.
