World 10-Ball Championships, Feb-Mar 2024, Las Vegas, The Rio

Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Dates: Feb 27 2024 - Mar 02 2024
Players: 64
From the PBS website:

Event 5 (World Championship): Double elimination: best of 3 sets, each set is a race to 4, if the score is tied at 3-3 in the deciding set, a shootout determines the winner. Single elimination: best of 5 sets, each set is a race to 4, if the score is tied at 3-3 in the deciding set, a shootout determines the winner.​
​
There has been some irritation voiced due to the format. I think this might be unwarranted in terms of how effective the format is at separating wheat from chaff. A brief study shows that the best of three set format is equivalent to a single race to 9 -- not unreasonable. And the best of five sets used in the single elimination phase is close to the same test as a single race to 13. The shortest match in the knock-out is a 12-0 score and the longest is 17-17 plus a shootout.

Some people like sets and some don't but I think the format is a fair test.
 
Quite a change.

Last year -- 128 players, race to 8 double elimination down to 32 players, then race to 10 single elimination to the end.​
​
This year -- 64 players with DE down to 16, then SE to the end, with the races to 4 and possible shootouts used in the US Pro Billiard Series.​
 
I for one am curious how this will pan out: more tense matches, less tense, no change.

My hypothetical opinion is: more tense. The moments of winning a set - or not - are exciting. And every new set is a chance to start over.
 
It does not matter if the race format is a fair test. What matters is very few of the pros like it, and therefore have not been showing up for the 2-3 years CSI/Predator has been doing this. Now we are down to 64 for a WPA World Championship!? That's horrible!

If Predator made all of their events "normal" they would have double the participation at every event, IMO.
 
iusedtoberich said:
It does not matter if the race format is a fair test. What matters is very few of the pros like it, and therefore have not been showing up for the 2-3 years CSI/Predator has been doing this. Now we are down to 64 for a WPA World Championship!? That's horrible!

If Predator made all of their events "normal" they would have double the participation at every event, IMO.
Click to expand...

oh damn i didn't read the small print. why the hell did they go from 96 to 128 and then way down to 64 ?? bringing spot shots to the WC is bad enough
 
I'd like to see at least Races to Five. That's a little better test as shown by the Mosconi Cup format. Two out of three sets to five would be juicy imo. Still short matches with lots of pressure. What is the Shootout format to be? Spot shots and if so from where on the table are the balls located. Is this described somewhere?

Or they could just play single games for the whole enchilada if they want to get it over with quick! ;)
 
jay helfert said:
I'd like to see at least Races to Five. That's a little better test as shown by the Mosconi Cup format. Two out of three sets to five would be juicy imo. Still short matches with lots of pressure. What is the Shootout format to be? Spot shots and if so from where on the table are the balls located. Is this described somewhere?

Or they could just play single games for the whole enchilada if they want to get it over with quick! ;)
Click to expand...
Said this a few times in various conversations.

Do away with the spot shots and adopt a win by 2 racks.

Otherwise the format (assuming winner break) is the best method for competitive play.
 
jay helfert said:
... What is the Shootout format to be? Spot shots and if so from where on the table are the balls located. Is this described somewhere? ...
Click to expand...
If the shootouts will be the same as was used last year in the US Pro Billiard Series events, the description is on pages 5 and 6 of the Player Guide for those events: https://probilliardseries.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2023-USPBS-Player-Guide-Final.pdf

Essentially, the 10-ball is always put in the same place -- where it would be when racked for a standard game of 10-Ball, i.e., about 3.9 inches behind the foot spot. The players alternate turns taking shots to make the 10-ball in the foot pockets from boxes ("zones") that are one diamond wide next to the side rails behind the head string. A given player also alternates his shots between the left side and the right side. If they reach sudden death in the shootout, the cue ball must be placed at least one diamond behind the head string (still within the box).

The winner is most pots out of 4 attempts. If tied at 4, it goes to sudden death.

And, of course, they might change something this year.
 
skogstokig said:
... why the hell did they go from 96 to 128 and then way down to 64 ?? ....
Click to expand...
If I had to guess -- been guessing a lot lately... World Championships are filled by nominations from the continental confederations (each gets a quota) and from additional wildcards. In the current unsettled situation, I suspect that the confederations were unsure which or how many players they would be sending. I think 64 is enough to establish a proper champion, depending on who shows up.
 
AtLarge said:
The Las Vegas Open is the week before the World Championship, so the entries for the Las Vegas event give us a hint as to many of the top guys who will be there for the World event (scroll down to the Player List): https://probilliardseries.com/vegas-2024/vegas-open-men/
Click to expand...
An interesting case will be Yapp. I think he was banned by his confederation in previous tournaments because his national federation ran a conflicting snooker event.
 
I must be the only one who likes the shootout. The ones I have seen, you can almost feel the pressure the players are under. But then again I love soccer penalty kicks deciding big matches and the tie breaker in tennis, and I know soccer players hate having a match decided by PK's.
 
Bob Jewett said:
If I had to guess -- been guessing a lot lately... World Championships are filled by nominations from the continental confederations (each gets a quota) and from additional wildcards. In the current unsettled situation, I suspect that the confederations were unsure which or how many players they would be sending. I think 64 is enough to establish a proper champion, depending on who shows up.
Click to expand...

sure, but why did WPA agree to that then. doesn't make sense. it devalues the world championship stamp imo.

last year's finalist (or 2022, don't remember) tevez probably wouldn't even been present if it had been 64 that year.
 
skogstokig said:
sure, but why did WPA agree to that then. doesn't make sense. it devalues the world championship stamp imo. ...
Click to expand...
My point was that if each of the confederations said, "Well, in the current situation, we may send between 5 and 8 players," and there are six confederations... It's not a matter of agreeing, it's a matter of doing the best you can in the situation.
 
jokrswylde said:
I must be the only one who likes the shootout. The ones I have seen, you can almost feel the pressure the players are under. But then again I love soccer penalty kicks deciding big matches and the tie breaker in tennis, and I know soccer players hate having a match decided by PK's.
Click to expand...
I like the notion of a tie break format. I personally would just prefer a to see that format potentially contain all aspects of the game in an effort to win said tie break. I believe that same drama/pressure can be had in a win by 2 rack wherein the break follows the 1,2,2, etc.... format. With the first swing being taken by the player that tied the set. Will it take longer...?..., definitely.

Today's elite are so good, that a dry break is disastrous. My apologies to all but I keep rolling back to tennis's method. Holding serve in a tennis tie break is paramount. I think today's elite are so good that this can be applied to them as well. My suggested format would be practical for pros. This on the amateur level could be tear jerking.
 
This tournament is before the MR/WPA drama cutoff date, correct? The WPA threatened bans would not be in-effect until after this event?

If that is the case, then I don't see why the field is 64 and not 128. It must be due to the format, IMO.

I think Ozzy did well taking over for CSI and growing it, except this format.
 
iusedtoberich said:
I think Ozzy did well taking over for CSI and growing it, except this format.
Click to expand...
I don’t think Ozzy/CSI are involved in the production of this event. This is straight from Predator.

But then again, they love to have third parties make alll of their equipment so maybe they have someone handle their tournaments for them as well. /s
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top