World Cup of Pool 2018 Thread

That was one very fine performance by Chinese Taipei! They put on a clinic in how to play Scotch Doubles in defeating a game Team USA 9-5, after being down 5-1. CT played perfectly together, maybe the best single performance ever in the World Cup. China A better put on their big boy shoes because there is a storm coming their way. Wouldn't that be something if CT can win this on Chinese soil! Especially if they beat the two best China teams to do it. It could happen and it would surely send some reverberations throughout the Communist regime. They definitely won't be happy about an embarrassment like this.

On another note, I really enjoyed the commentary of Ted Lerner and Phil Yates. They covered the proceedings well and gave voice to what we were seeing. Kudos to both of them. That said I'm disappointed that in a Pool crazy country like China the attendance looks pretty sparse. Maybe the tickets are priced to high for the populace there, I just don't know. It looks nearly empty every day that I've watched. :rolleyes:
 
Cardigan Kid said:
That's not the pockets fault...it's the rails.
I have Kleber cushions on my gold crown and if a ball hits that far up the rail it's deflected enough that it won't even get to the inside facing of the corner pocket. The WCP table has seriously soft cushions and of course new cloth on the rails, that will make any ball slide if hit with pocket speed.

Regarding the pocket itself. Those appear to be just shy of 4.5" (possibly 4.25") and that's a good size for pro cut pockets in a professional tournament.

Do you think those are 5" corners at the world cup of Pool? Are you advocating for tighter than 4.25" pockets?
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They look like 4-1/2" pockets to me. Just as you stated, new cloth, particularly Simonis 860, can make the pockets bigger, which allows those object balls to hug closer to the rails when they hit them outside the pocket, resulting in balls still be pocketed that otherwise wouldn't be.
 
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jay helfert said:
That was one very fine performance by Chinese Taipei! They put on a clinic in how to play Scotch Doubles in defeating a game Team USA 9-5, after being down 5-1. CT played perfectly together, maybe the best single performance ever in the World Cup. China A better put on their big boy shoes because there is a storm coming their way. Wouldn't that be something if CT can win this on Chinese soil! Especially if they beat the two best China teams to do it. It could happen and it would surely send some reverberations throughout the Communist regime. They definitely won't be happy about an embarrassment like this.

On another note, I really enjoyed the commentary of Ted Lerner and Phil Yates. They covered the proceedings well and gave voice to what we were seeing. Kudos to both of them. That said I'm disappointed that in a Pool crazy country like China the attendance looks pretty sparse. Maybe the tickets are priced to high for the populace there, I just don't know. It looks nearly empty every day that I've watched. :rolleyes:
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I agree great commentary. Rarely watch an entire recorded match, but was glued to this one.
 
jay helfert said:
Wouldn't that be something if CT can win this on Chinese soil! Especially if they beat the two best China teams to do it. It could happen and it would surely send some reverberations throughout the Communist regime. They definitely won't be happy about an embarrassment like this.
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Don't read too much into it. It's not like ping pong. The Chinese and anybody else know how well the Taiwanese play pool, so there's no embarrassment at all. China hosts a lot of pool tournaments each year and top Taiwanese players have won many of them.
 
jay helfert said:
That was one very fine performance by Chinese Taipei! They put on a clinic in how to play Scotch Doubles in defeating a game Team USA 9-5, after being down 5-1. CT played perfectly together, maybe the best single performance ever in the World Cup. China A better put on their big boy shoes because there is a storm coming their way. Wouldn't that be something if CT can win this on Chinese soil! Especially if they beat the two best China teams to do it. It could happen and it would surely send some reverberations throughout the Communist regime. They definitely won't be happy about an embarrassment like this.

On another note, I really enjoyed the commentary of Ted Lerner and Phil Yates. They covered the proceedings well and gave voice to what we were seeing. Kudos to both of them. That said I'm disappointed that in a Pool crazy country like China the attendance looks pretty sparse. Maybe the tickets are priced to high for the populace there, I just don't know. It looks nearly empty every day that I've watched. :rolleyes:
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Definitely an epic performance! And agreed that would be something if it goes that way. USA played well overall, but like 1 miss cost about 8 racks! How do you stop that? Can't wait to watch the rest of this, and demolish my already ruined sleep pattern lol.

KMRUNOUT
 
big_worm said:
Don't read too much into it. It's not like ping pong. The Chinese and anybody else know how well the Taiwanese play pool, so there's no embarrassment at all. China hosts a lot of pool tournaments each year and top Taiwanese players have won many of them.
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Ok this kinda highlights my ignorance of international goings on: Is Chinese Taipei what was once Taiwan?

KMRUNOUT
 
TheLoneSilencer said:
I hate seeing balls hit up the rail almost 2 diamonds and still drop. No properly setup table should do that. I have seen that a number of times this tournament.
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Have you ever seen a table with new cloth where that didn’t happen?
 
jay helfert said:
On another note, I really enjoyed the commentary of Ted Lerner and Phil Yates. They covered the proceedings well and gave voice to what we were seeing. Kudos to both of them. That said I'm disappointed that in a Pool crazy country like China the attendance looks pretty sparse. Maybe the tickets are priced to high for the populace there, I just don't know. It looks nearly empty every day that I've watched. :rolleyes:
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You gotta hand it to the British audiences...build it and they will come...
...and cheer their hearts out....even in the more sedate snooker venues.

I’d like to see you and Jimmy do some of these....
...’course, if you’re not multilingual, y’all might not catch somebody mentioning that his
partner had the touch of a rapist....:duck:
 
jay helfert said:
That said I'm disappointed that in a Pool crazy country like China the attendance looks pretty sparse. Maybe the tickets are priced to high for the populace there, I just don't know. It looks nearly empty every day that I've watched. :rolleyes:
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IDK, I think we American's overestimate how popular pool is in other countries. I think its a niche sport all over the world. Yes, more popular than in the US, but still a niche. IMO:)
 
iusedtoberich said:
ha ha, true!

Here's another one: Have you ever seen a ball skid on Efren? :)
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As a matter of fact, I have....:eek::eek:

Ball was two feet from the hole at one pocket...diamond and a half from any rail...
...cue ball was two feet away, 3/4 ball cut....he just played to roll it in and come off the rail
about a foot....the ball missed the jaws by three inches.

Even a Magician can get a skid.

Mind you, a Magician just walks back to his chair with a smile on his face
 
KMRUNOUT said:
Ok this kinda highlights my ignorance of international goings on: Is Chinese Taipei what was once Taiwan?

KMRUNOUT
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Yes it is. The mainland Chinese insist on them using this name in all sports competition and they won't allow the Taiwan flag to be flown if the China individuals/teams are competing. I guarantee you there is no Taiwan flag shown on their name tags or table markings at the WCOP.
 
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Meanwhile in the second match last night between Spain and China A, it was marked by sloppy play on the part of both teams - missed shots, position errors, scratches, the whole works. At 7-6 Spain David Alcaide had a relatively straight forward cut shot on the six ball with a natural angle to come down for the seven, and he took so long looking at it that time almost ran out and he dogged the shot to get on the hill. Instead it went 7-7 and China A managed to stumble to the finish line ahead of them. Even the great Wu made some unusual unforced errors. I love Alex Lely, but I think he goes a little far in trying to dissect every shot, and it isn't always apropos to what actually happened. It's a case of a little bit being more than enough and too much being a bit redundant. Sometimes when a player misses a hard shot, it isn't because of bad mechanics or anything else. It simply means he missed a hard shot.
 
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jay helfert said:
Meanwhile in the second match last night between Spain and China A, it was marked by sloppy play on the part of both teams - missed shots, position errors, scratches, the whole works. At 7-6 Spain David Alcaide had a relatively straight forward cue shot on the six ball with a natural angle to come down for the seven, and he took so long looking at it that time almost ran out and he dogged the shot to get on the hill. Instead it went 7-7 and China A managed to stumble to the finish line ahead of them. Even the great Wu made some unusual unforced errors. I love Alex Lely, but I think he goes a little far in trying to dissect every shot, and it isn't always apropos to what actually happened. It's a case of a little bit being more than enough and too much being a bit redundant. Sometimes when a player misses a hard shot, it isn't because of bad mechanics or anything else. It simply means he missed a hard shot.
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That double-hill game featured a safety battle royale!
 
jay helfert said:
That was one very fine performance by Chinese Taipei! They put on a clinic in how to play Scotch Doubles in defeating a game Team USA 9-5, after being down 5-1. CT played perfectly together, maybe the best single performance ever in the World Cup. China A better put on their big boy shoes because there is a storm coming their way. Wouldn't that be something if CT can win this on Chinese soil! Especially if they beat the two best China teams to do it. It could happen and it would surely send some reverberations throughout the Communist regime. They definitely won't be happy about an embarrassment like this.

On another note, I really enjoyed the commentary of Ted Lerner and Phil Yates. They covered the proceedings well and gave voice to what we were seeing. Kudos to both of them. That said I'm disappointed that in a Pool crazy country like China the attendance looks pretty sparse. Maybe the tickets are priced to high for the populace there, I just don't know. It looks nearly empty every day that I've watched. :rolleyes:
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I think Kevin and Jung-Lin are the strongest duo in the tournament.
 
WCoP tables....................

I thought all Matchroom events used Rasson tables but they're using XingPai(STAR) tables. Just curious as to why. They offer Barry more $$$?
 
jay helfert said:
That was one very fine performance by Chinese Taipei! They put on a clinic in how to play Scotch Doubles in defeating a game Team USA 9-5, after being down 5-1. CT played perfectly together, maybe the best single performance ever in the World Cup. China A better put on their big boy shoes because there is a storm coming their way. Wouldn't that be something if CT can win this on Chinese soil! Especially if they beat the two best China teams to do it. It could happen and it would surely send some reverberations throughout the Communist regime. They definitely won't be happy about an embarrassment like this.

On another note, I really enjoyed the commentary of Ted Lerner and Phil Yates. They covered the proceedings well and gave voice to what we were seeing. Kudos to both of them. That said I'm disappointed that in a Pool crazy country like China the attendance looks pretty sparse. Maybe the tickets are priced to high for the populace there, I just don't know. It looks nearly empty every day that I've watched. :rolleyes:
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Very impressive performance by Chinese Taipei. The US team only got 2 trips to the table after it was 5-1 - one for a jump shot safety attempted by SVB after they pushed out, which was not a good one and led to a runout. The only other turn to the table was after Chinese Taipei made one of their only positioning mistakes and left themselves a kick safety, in which they got very lucky and snookered SVB up against another ball for an impossible low percentage kick, which led to a ball-in-hand and another runout.

In my opinion, for this winner breaks format where balls were being made on every single break, the pockets should have been a little tighter / tougher. They appeared to be a generous 4-1/2", which on new cloth plays equivalent to 5" pockets on more broken in cloth - Way too easy for the best players in the world.

I also noticed it was very sad there were not more spectators in the venue - so many empty seats.
 
iusedtoberich said:
IDK, I think we American's overestimate how popular pool is in other countries. I think its a niche sport all over the world. Yes, more popular than in the US, but still a niche. IMO:)
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Pool is only the third most popular cue sports in China, after snooker and Chinese 8-ball. The majority play snooker and look up to Ding Junhui, and barely know Wu.
A female tournament normally draws more spectators if its features the likes of Pan Xiaoting, Liu Shasha and Chen Siming.
 
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