I saw Joyner in 89 or 90 about 4 to 6 years before he hit his top gear, he ran soooo many balls it would allow him to mix it up with the top guys getting small spots from them.
Tyler,
In my opinion (this site is full of opinions ...lol) running balls is of
paramount importance in this game.
Shotmaking and ball running is oftentimes undervalued in onepocket because it's the only game where you never have to "actually" pocket a single ball and still win (put 8 balls within the jaws and make hime give them to you.
The otherside of the coin:
I believe that OnePocket can be handicapped very accurately by a skill level system based on a 1 to 100 ranking system (I'm still working on my scale) In other words, a 9-baller that can run a 4-pack (break n run 4 racks) or a straight pool player that can run 40 or more is always iin it so to speak.
Example ... take a European who's never played a game of one-pocket but runs racks at 10 ball, send him in against best one-pocket players and they cannot give him 8 to 5. Compare this to someone who knows the game but is never a threat to run 7 or 8.
To play onepocket like you are playing 9-ball sounds crazy, but when you have a big gun (the best defense is a strong offense) it really sometimes doesn't matter.
To go back to my scale, if Reyes and Frost are rated 99 on the scale and your local room ball banger who has never played anything but 8 ball would be a 1 on the scale. A straight shooter will land at level 55 or 75 easily, his shooting ability sort of falsely lands him higher on the scale. As stated earlier, equiptment of th last 20 years helps to elevate his scale rating also.
Ball running is huge.