Don Coates Memorial 1-P and 9-Ball, Brass Tap and Billiards, Raleigh, NC
Justin Bergman vs David Ferguson. Justin breaks and scratches. Confusion
reigns. Tournament director rules that Justin breaks again without penalty.
I asked him about that ruling and he told me that the pros voted in this new
rule because they felt that 1-P was getting too easy for the pros, and the
pockets on the tournament tables were too generous, although he himself
didn't agree with the rule change.
Comments? Discussion?
I'm old school, you scratch, you owe a ball, you make one on the break, you keep shooting.
People are always looking to change things, rarely for the betterment of the game.
The ball on the break rerack rule is a rule change that the better players want enforced, IMO, simply because it's not a defendable position. You lose the lag or the flip and you take a seat. Your opponent opens em up, makes one & runs 8 & out. Now if you are the better player, and a big favorite to win, then you want to neutralize this chance for your opponent to win the game in this fashion. I understand why they want this rule in effect, it reduces their chances of losing without having a say so in the loss.
Scratching on the break.... No foul.... Rerack!!! C'mon..... What's next?
Call every shot.... No kisses.... Everything goes clean... Imaginations out the window. Not!!
The rules of the game are in pretty good shape IMO, but could stand a little tweaking in the time allowed to shoot area. To an insider, a player, someone intimately familiar with the game and it's moves and strategies, it might not bother him if someone takes an inordinate amount of time to select and shoot a shot. Otoh, it might bother him and could very well be used as a weapon, an unfair advantage against him. I'm not advocating a 30 second shot clock, but in fairness to all players, something could be put in place to not only make this part of the game fair to each player, but also to the newcomers ( fans ) who are the next generation players, the future one holers. 60, maybe 90 second shot clock?
Sorry about the mis-direction, ie; the Hi-Jack.