Contender for shot of the year
Yes, the evidence is abundant that CSI/Predator and World 10-ball are skewed to greatly tip the scales in favor of just a few. As Darren Appleton noted, to make money in a CSI/Predator event, you need a top eight finish. It's not as difficult to make money at the World 10-ball, but two additional steps have been taken at the World 10-ball to give some of the top few an unearned advantage.(IMHO, They are overpaying for runner up-$40K is probably biggest for runner up of any event for past decade. Usually runner up is 50% of winner's cheque so $30K is more reasonable. The extra $10K could have been used to pay more players further down. 3rd-4th of $20K is also high -more reasonable is 25% of winners cheque so $15K each which means extra $10K could have been used to pay more players further down the line. This payout structure is paying more and more to the "top 1%" )
Nice post, I always assumed that the primary motivation for overpaying the winners was for marketing purposes. It looks good to say that you should have $60,000 first prize. I agree with you though that this doesn’t grow the sport.Yes, the evidence is abundant that CSI/Predator and World 10-ball are skewed to greatly tip the scales in favor of just a few. As Darren Appleton noted, to make money in a CSI/Predator event, you need a top eight finish. It's not as difficult to make money at the World 10-ball, but two additional steps have been taken at the World 10-ball to give some of the top few an unearned advantage.
Seeding Stage 1
Some like seeding and some don't, and I can live with it either way, but using the almost meaningless WPA rankings to seed the top 16 is a joke. This badly discriminates against those Asians who were grounded by COVID over the past two years who were denied the opportunity to maintain their world rankings. WPA rankings have become a complete joke and, frankly, shouldn't be used for anything right now. Hence, the methodology used to seed stage 1 is unfair.
Seeding Stage 2
The only time I've ever seen WPA ranking used to seed Stage 2 of any event was at last year's World 10-ball. It was a disgrace back then, but this year it's worse. Seeding stage 2 by WPA ranking is ludicrous. To maintain fairness, Stage 2 needs to be seeded based on performance in Stage 1, which is how it was done at every multi-stage event I've ever attended. What we'll get, once again, is matches in Stage 2 Round 1 between two undefeated players, and that's patently unfair to both.
In Conclusion
Those running ten ball events of late have done everything imaginable to make sure that nearly all of the prize money ends up in the hands of just a few. I'm sure they have their reasons, but giving all players a fair chance to succeed doesn't seem to be one of them.
Yes, I hadn't even thought of that, but it does cut both ways. Albin (817) and Lee Van (813) are both among the best 16 players in the world based on Fargo, which is, for now, by far the most accurate means of evaluating players. A year from now, when the Matchroom rankings reflect a full year of play, I believe the Matchroom rankings will be the better measure, but even Matchroom is on record that patience is required with respect to their rankings.Also, the other downside to the seeding this year that I noticed was Albin Ouschan, the form player of the last year, ran into Lee Van Corteza in the first round. That has to be frustrating when someone lower ranked had easier first round ties.
Yes, in my recap of the International Open in October 2021, I posted the following:The members of FR800 (FargoRate 800) are falling like flies
Biggest upset of the tournament- promising 19 year old kid Eric Roberts (not Julia's brother) FR667 eliminated Niels Feijen whose FR is about 140 higher
Roberts excels in pool
Crossville’s Eric Roberts has been making waves in the sport of pool recently, as the 16-year old has won won three Billards Education Foundation junior state championships. Roberts won inwww.crossville-chronicle.com
Aloysius Yapp Out KOed by Sniegocki
Mario He eliminated by Yukio
Agreed 100%. Lee Van Corteza is playing beautiful pool. A couple of his runouts in the win over Ko Pin Yi required incredibly precise position play, but he was up to the challenge. Lee has already beaten two of the world's ten best players in Ouschan and Ko, and he will have to beat another one of them if Kaci prevails in his next match.Lee Van on a tear
hi Joe, are there any more matches today
Looking at the brackets nothing else until 7:00esthi Joe, are there any more matches today
Didn't realize stage 2 would have so many players. Congrats to all who've made it through.The other guys-Lee Van, Sanjin, Souquet, Marc B, Capito , Maciol quietly grabbed their seats and are through to last 32 single elimination stage.
Sky, Zielinski winner of last week’s Las Vegas are out.
FargoRate is meaningless. Who cares? How many major titles have you won?The members of FR800 (FargoRate 800) are falling like flies
Biggest upset of the tournament- promising 19 year old kid Eric Roberts (not Julia's brother) FR667 eliminated Niels Feijen whose FR is about 140 higher
Roberts excels in pool
Crossville’s Eric Roberts has been making waves in the sport of pool recently, as the 16-year old has won won three Billards Education Foundation junior state championships. Roberts won inwww.crossville-chronicle.com
Aloysius Yapp Out KOed by Sniegocki
Mario He eliminated by Yukio
I thought he played well, but what he really did well was PUNISH Big Ko for his two silly mistakes --those two scratches cost him the match. First scratch was when he was up 4-2 and running out and had careless scratch. Sigel used to call those kind of mistakes Mr. Carless when he would do it to himself!Agreed 100%. Lee Van Corteza is playing beautiful pool. A couple of his runouts in the win over Ko Pin Yi required incredibly precise position play, but he was up to the challenge. Lee has already beaten two of the world's ten best players in Ouschan and Ko, and he will have to beat another one of them if Kaci prevails in his next match.
Toughest draw ever!
Late Correction: Lee is through to Stage 2, so he will draw his next opponent at random.
8-4 Changdo you see the score?