Shoot pool, Fast Eddie

[krupa]

Bit of controversy at the World 14.1 Tournament this past week.  Earl the Peal Strickland called the 2-ball then shot in the 10-ball but the foul wasn't called.  Earl committed the same breach earlier in the match but the foul was called.  His competitor, Jayson Shaw, fresh off a perfect win at the Turning Stone Casino 9-ball tournament conceded the semi-final match.  Although Earl only needed 14 or 15 more balls to win the match, I don't think Shaw should have conceded.

Earl went on to lose the finals to Mika Immonen, a world class straight pool player from Finland.

Where golf has no end of rules officials both official and armchair, professional pool has problems finding people capable of officiating and getting them to actually officiate.  Many tournaments have floating rules officials and players have to call over the official to watch close shots. 

 

[David in FL]

An interesting and valid comparison.

i used to play a little and even had the opportunity to play some competitive 9-ball against some top ranked pros, including Earl, waaaay back in the day.  Good grief, has he really been playing that long now?!  

A great sport, and also like golf, top players make the impossible seem easy.  I promise you, you wouldn't want to concede 15 balls to me these days, under any circumstances!  

[krupa]

4 minutes ago, David in FL said:

i used to play a little and even had the opportunity to play some competitive 9-ball against some top ranked pros, including Earl, waaaay back in the day.  Good grief, has he really been playing that long now?!

That's really cool, was Earl always so... entertaining?  Earl has been making something of a comeback in the last couple years.  I don't know how he's been doing overall, but obviously making the finals of a major tournament is doing pretty good.  A couple friends play the Turning Stone events, I don't practice nearly enough to waste the entry fee.    I did play with and against Johnny Archer at a couple exhibitions.  We played a rack of scotch doubles 9-ball and ran the table.  Then I played him 8-ball on a bar table and he whooped me good.

Since I started golfing, my pool table goes unused in the summer months and like golf, unless you practice and play regularly, your progress is going to be very slow.

[Gator Hazard]

That is a lot of balls to concede. I used to play a lot in high school. Played a little later but just didn't have the time with college and all that. Owned a Brunswick 4X8 table when lived I Chicago and loved it. 

[David in FL]

Back in the mid-80's Earl seemed to be a little more stoic/serious than now.  Back then, entry fees were fairly reasonable.  I was fortunate to play against Buddy Hall, Mike Sigel, and Efren Reyes too.  Needless to say, while I took a game here and there from them all, ultimately, I got creamed.  Fun stuff though.  As I recall, Johnny Archer was just starting to play back then, wasn't he?

[krupa]

Yep.  I don't know when he officially started but his first major win was 1992 (so says Wikipedia.)

Reyes is still playing, as far as I know.

Sigel briefly re-appeared on the scene a year or two ago to try to promote a new league system (GPPA, I think it was called) but it didn't get any traction. 

25 minutes ago, Gator Hazard said:

That is a lot of balls to concede. I used to play a lot in high school. Played a little later but just didn't have the time with college and all that. Owned a Brunswick 4X8 table when lived I Chicago and loved it. 

Tough to say.  At that level, 14 or 15 balls isn't too many but I  think he would have needed another break shot so there is some uncertainty there as well.  

Personally, I just wouldn't be able to concede a semi-final match.  It's generally assumed, though, that Shaw wouldn't have had a chance against Immonen.  Earl ended up making it somewhat close.  The final score was 300-270.

[Strandly]

I played quite a bit in highschool and college.  Won some junior leagues in highschool (won an Earl Strickland Cuetec cue actually) and won a couple tournaments in college.  I tried an open to the public paid-entry tournament once while in college and got pretty well smoked and my play dropped off after that.  I'd like to pick it up again though, hopefully I can do so in the next couple years.

Not sure about the rules stuff, it never seemed that complicated.

Edited November 10, 2016 by Strandly

[krupa]

16 hours ago, Strandly said:

Not sure about the rules stuff, it never seemed that complicated

Oh my god... there are so many rules variations that it's almost impossible to play without an argument erupting. 

In NY bar pool, the casual player plays "call everything" meaning you have to call every bank, kiss and carom or your shot is illegal.  A scratch means the cue ball "in the kitchen" and if you scratch while shooting the 8-ball, you lose.

On the west coast, most bar pool is "bca rules" meaning you call the ball and pocket; for a shot to be legal, you must contact one of your own balls first and either pocket your ball or something (cue ball or any other ball) contacts a rail; on fouls (as just described) or scratches, the incoming shooter has ball in hand -- he can place the cue ball wherever he wants.  Scratching while shooting the 8-ball is *not* a loss unless you also pocket the 8-ball.

Then you have different league organizations who have adopted or ignored these rules as they see fit.  APA plays slop, so you don't have to call your shot except the 8 which you call by marking your pocket with an object such as cell phone, key chain, etc.  (this helps prevent drunken arguments), and on the break you are what you make (pocket a stripe, you're shooting stripes.)  NAPA plays pretty close to BCA but has a couple small differences.

Tournament 8-ball is pretty standardized, thank God.

But then you have 9-ball and 10-ball.  Now there's a shit-show...

[David in FL]

23 minutes ago, krupa said:

Oh my god... there are so many rules variations that it's almost impossible to play without an argument erupting. 

In NY bar pool, the casual player plays "call everything" meaning you have to call every bank, kiss and carom or your shot is illegal.  A scratch means the cue ball "in the kitchen" and if you scratch while shooting the 8-ball, you lose.

On the west coast, most bar pool is "bca rules" meaning you call the ball and pocket; for a shot to be legal, you must contact one of your own balls first and either pocket your ball or something (cue ball or any other ball) contacts a rail; on fouls (as just described) or scratches, the incoming shooter has ball in hand -- he can place the cue ball wherever he wants.  Scratching while shooting the 8-ball is *not* a loss unless you also pocket the 8-ball.

Then you have different league organizations who have adopted or ignored these rules as they see fit.  APA plays slop, so you don't have to call your shot except the 8 which you call by marking your pocket with an object such as cell phone, key chain, etc.  (this helps prevent drunken arguments), and on the break you are what you make (pocket a stripe, you're shooting stripes.)  NAPA plays pretty close to BCA but has a couple small differences.

Tournament 8-ball is pretty standardized, thank God.

But then you have 9-ball and 10-ball.  Now there's a shit-show...

Yeah, local rules variations can be a bitch to figure out.  Then add in an area like a military community that's very transient, and you have to spend 5 minutes clarifying rules before every game.

[krupa]

3 minutes ago, David in FL said:

Yeah, local rules variations can be a bitch to figure out.  Then add in an area like a military community that's very transient, and you have to spend 5 minutes clarifying rules before every game.

The worst part is that even with the Internet in our pockets, everyone thinks that their rules are the correct rules!