The two bungled eight balls, both at critical times in the match. He butchered both of them. It's like he lost his mind for a moment.
WNT Florida Open 2026, August 4-9, Orlando, Caribe Royale
- Thread starter Bob Jewett
- Start date
Shane is in the prime of his career, playing the best pool of his life right now.
Does this answer your question? All seating at table level. Couldn't see a thing. And we had "premium seating." What a complete ripoff.
Scott kept mentioning his age, like it was surprising he still played so well. One mention would have been enough. The fact is a mature Shane is playing better than ever!
Shane broke them down mentally. They saw what he was doing and yielded to the better player. Pool often works that way.
jax_joe
Well-known member
Thanks for posting. Glad I didn't drive down for that. Zero fun as a spectator trying to fade that nonsense. They went cheap without bleachers.
jnwilliams
Active member
I was only there for the first three days when many matches were going on and thought it was pretty great. There was almost always a seat within 10’ of the main tables. I’m sure the quarters semi and final got crowded tho
Important to take note of the completely unrecognizable AJ Manas at the Florida Open. In this case, unrecognizable is a good thing.
We all understood that Manas came in as one of the most instinctive runners of the table we have seen in a long time. Like a Jayson Shaw or a Chezka Centeno, he seems to see the patterns almost instantaneously. Unfortunately, until this week, we saw very little tactical development in his game. Somehow, without giving it much thought, his pattern play is not far below legendary pattern players like Souquet and Appleton.
... and yet everything changed this week. He has clearly addressed some of his tactical limitations and showed some very impressive tactical conceptualization, especially against Lechner and Shaw at the Florida Open. Yes, he was completely unrecognizable, in a good way!
If Manas continues to commit himself to mastering the complementary skills needed to beat elite opponents to the shot, especially defense, he will be a force in pool with a good chance to become a top ten player in the world one day.
We all understood that Manas came in as one of the most instinctive runners of the table we have seen in a long time. Like a Jayson Shaw or a Chezka Centeno, he seems to see the patterns almost instantaneously. Unfortunately, until this week, we saw very little tactical development in his game. Somehow, without giving it much thought, his pattern play is not far below legendary pattern players like Souquet and Appleton.
... and yet everything changed this week. He has clearly addressed some of his tactical limitations and showed some very impressive tactical conceptualization, especially against Lechner and Shaw at the Florida Open. Yes, he was completely unrecognizable, in a good way!
If Manas continues to commit himself to mastering the complementary skills needed to beat elite opponents to the shot, especially defense, he will be a force in pool with a good chance to become a top ten player in the world one day.
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Was great meeting you at the Florida Open. Hope to see you again somewhere on the tournament trail.
The GOAT debate is pointless to me. You’re dealing with different eras, different equipment, sometimes different games.
You take Shane or Efren and make them play Mosconi 14.1 in 1950 on those tables with those balls, cloth and cues and I don’t think they’d like the match up.
If Efren was AJ’s vintage he’d jump like a kangaroo. And probably kick a hair less well.
I think the best you can do is try to pick who is the best player of an era. I think Shane is the best of the 21st century so far.
You take Shane or Efren and make them play Mosconi 14.1 in 1950 on those tables with those balls, cloth and cues and I don’t think they’d like the match up.
If Efren was AJ’s vintage he’d jump like a kangaroo. And probably kick a hair less well.
I think the best you can do is try to pick who is the best player of an era. I think Shane is the best of the 21st century so far.
I heard one commentator mentioning he'd recently lost 15 lbs.
Being in shape is key late in the week.
I had a bet but since I wasn't on the approved bet list, and dropped your name Jay paying you off it didn't help.
I watched the Greek play perfect in his earlier match, but Shane was in the game, I think in the highlights he only missed two shots, which is Very impressive with four inch pockets.
Back in the day, races to 11 you could only make two errors in a race to 11 and likely win, three you most always lost, tho seeing Shane in these conditions play this way was Very impressive/exciting. Hope he gets his US Open win, I think he's got a good chance.
bm
I don't know the exact dimensions but as I understand it, tight or at least uncommonly difficult pockets were common in the Filipino rooms.
Be very glad you didn't attend. The only way I'll go to another WNT event is if they guarantee arena seating up front. I'm very disappointed. Bait and switch is the legal term for what these reprobates pulled off. Sickening.
Anyone who thinks Efren's era didn't have 4 inch pockets didn't play at hardtimes or any number of pool halls throughout the country. In Efren's era it was about matching up, not tournament wins.
I'm more interested in watching him at this years US Open, number 6 anybody?????
I'm afraid that's probably projection.
You are right on the money. Mosconi would kill everyone in 14.1 if you sent today's players back to 1950. Slow, nappy cloth, ivory balls and high-deflection wood shafts would be the bane of all of the modern players. No doubt about it.
Could they adapt? Probably. But not necessarily enough.
Pockets are smaller nowadays because they have to be. Low-deflection shafts, no-nap fast cloth and phenolic resin balls changed the game irrevocably. Accuracy is much easier than it used to be. And so is moving around the table with fast cloth and phenolic balls.
Shaw's straight pool high run, impressive as it is (and I love Jayson!), is not all that great when you consider the equipment he used. If Mosconi could come back to life in his prime with the equipment of today, I believe he would be running thousands monthly.
This is not unique to pool. Golf has a similar history. I'll never forget reading a Golf Magazine article maybe 2 decades ago or more about Jack Nicklaus' famous 1-iron shot on the 18th hole at Baltusrol in the final round of the 1967 U.S. Open.
Before the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol, Golf Magazine asked Baltusrol's reigning club champion, Rod McCrae III, a 1-handicap, to reproduce the shot. They gave him an exact replica of Nicklaus's blade 1-iron and old-style balls, with similar into-the-wind conditions.
The results make Nicklaus's shot look almost absurd:
- McCrae's first two attempts traveled only 175 and 180 yards, versus the required 238.
- Through 30 swings, he still hadn't reached the green.
- They eventually moved him 10 paces closer, and then another 10 paces closer.
- On swing 37, his ball still finished five feet short of the green.
- McCrae described the sensation of mishitting that old 1-iron as being like hitting an aluminum bat off the handle. The Golf Magazine piece's punch line was essentially that even an accomplished club champion couldn't hit the thing.
dquarasr
Registered
one thing that impressed me was how quickly he saw the pattern and got down, prestroke, shoot. OB split the pocket, CB landed on the perfect side of the next ball. Repeat. Effortless. Little externally visible anguish at all over any shot. Truly confident and relaxed. At least that’s how it looked from the outside. Only he knows what going on in his head. But he sure makes it look easy.
Not extraneous concepts for sure. It looks easy because doing it is. All the work and issues are in the prep.