World 9 Ball Championship 2017 (9-14 Dec) ,Doha- Winner $30K
- Thread starter spartan
- Start date
it is funny
nobody would blink twice if I suggested the NBA or NFL players were in their early 20s
some of these guys only start in ninth grade, do 4 years high school and 3 years college to reach the pros, basketball guys are doing it either straight from high school or a 4 +1
these pro level guys DO NOT just......."play" games to get better, they have a practice ratio of around 9:1
pool guys here historically play games to get better, or...."go on the road", or....."play for money", lol....all falsehoods that do not develop your game
What are the most important tournaments atm ? Seems like very few of them have a proper crowd and coverage.
I think a guy like Barry Hearn must buy all leagues and clean that mess. This sport is scattered and the only «*hype*» of the year appear to be the Mosconi Cup.
I think a guy like Barry Hearn must buy all leagues and clean that mess. This sport is scattered and the only «*hype*» of the year appear to be the Mosconi Cup.
10 players from Taipei out of 64 .
Damn!
Damn!
No one from the UK was in the field of 128.
The qualifier lists show Paul Mackeowan from England and Wessam Al Ahmedy from Great Britain, but neither made it through to the main event. I'm not familiar with either of them.
It's so funny for me to hear commentators here in the US saying something like "OMG he's just 20 blah blah" not knowing that that's not a rare thing outside the U.S to have major-winning caliber player around that age.
Somehow in the U.S people have the idea that pool players need a lot more years to reach that level, maybe it ties to the idea of most players here are self-taught compare to "more formal" learning/practicing pool like a real sport the way many others countries do.
Maybe go to pool school > go on the road.
You mean like the Philippines.
I for one am not convinced that all the training in the world necessarily makes you a better player than the guy who learns through the school of hard knocks, playing on the road for money every day. There is more than one way to skin a cat and I saw players like Keith McCready at 16 and Cole Dickson at 18 and they were robbing the world! Even the greatest European players would not have liked putting their money up against this twosome. Keith never played in tournaments until he was in his mid 20's and even then he put the fear of God in all the tournament champions.
Efren was strictly a money player in the Philippines until his 30's when he arrived in the USA. He didn't fare so badly in tournaments either. I could say the same for Parica, Bustamante and several others. The problem I see with the US players is more mental than physical. They know how to play, but can't seem to get out of their own way in the MC. The prospects for the future don't look any brighter either.
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You mean like the Philippines.
I for one am not convinced that all the training in the world necessarily makes you a better player than the guy who learns through the school of hard knocks, playing on the road for money every day. .
This is very true, however its simply about likelihood.
By having formal training, the ability to focus full time from a young age without having to worry about paying the bills (not always the case, but some players in Europe get salaries/grants, albeit they aren't huge) it increases the chances of a player 'making it'.
Someone blessed with natural talent may well get there on their own, but the odds on them doing so are longer than those who are lucky enough to be born in a country with a formal training programme.
Good post...Taiwan's support of pool has been great.
Poland is now being called by some "the Philippines of Europe" for the same reason.
So many of the great North American players were rebels.
I'm sure there's older ones, but this happens to be one of my suppliers:
http://www.cuewizard.com/Technical.html
Squarespace is $18/month for a business and you can set up your site in 2 hours. Come on people.
You mean like the Philippines.
I for one am not convinced that all the training in the world necessarily makes you a better player than the guy who learns through the school of hard knocks, playing on the road for money every day. There is more than one way to skin a cat and I saw players like Keith McCready at 16 and Cole Dickson at 18 and they were robbing the world! Even the greatest European players would not have liked putting their money up against this twosome. Keith never played in tournaments until he was in his mid 20's and even then he put the fear of God in all the tournament champions.
Efren was strictly a money player in the Philippines until his 30's when he arrived in the USA. He didn't fare so badly in tournaments either. I could say the same for Parica, Bustamante and several others. The problem I see with the US players is more mental than physical. They know how to play, but can't seem to get out of their own way in the MC. The prospects for the future don't look any brighter either.
you couldn't be more wrong, "school of hard knocks" is simply a working class euphemism
Keith was nowhere near today's guys, Efren and Earl were essentially prodigies and exceptions to the rule
there is a proven formula to developing skills in sports, guys like you Jay ...sorry....but you're too old and too uneducated to simply get it
seriously? you really just said that?
Ludicrous. A man can't do more than beat everyone. You don't get to see hours of smothering pool by a single player in any tournament. Those races are often decided by a small turn of circumstance and they all have a chance to start over and beat the next guy.
Look at what buddy hall did to Louie. Made him an ATM, before there were ATMs.
I guess Shaw's disappearance is a mystery.
Coming up at 10 pm pacific time:
http://www.esnooker.pl/live/en/tsnew.php
Coming up at 10 pm pacific time:
http://www.esnooker.pl/live/en/tsnew.php
I'm not on Facebook, but was wondering if someone here could give his Facebook a run down because I'm sure folks have been asking him where he is.
I'll have to say I'm disappointed because I thought for sure this was his year.
Watching defending champion Albin Ouschan play three racks without missing a shot... it's amazing he didn't even make the Mosconi Cup team. Maybe there were personality differences with the other players? Because it's sure not because he's a worse player than any of the 5 European Mosconi qualifiers.
No differences, just the qualifiying modus. Ralf Souquet, Joshua Filler, Nick van den Berg and Jason Shaw qualified directly over the points and the captains pick was between David Alcaide and Albin. David won the World Pool Masters this year and played rock solid over the last couple of years like Albin too. In the last years David was almost on the team but 5 other players were picked over him, so I think this year was a little gimmie for him.
I am not sure on this but I thought there were actually two wildcard picks for team Europe - Jayson and David..?