[mojomike]

Is 8 ball or 9 ball a harder game to play?

If 8 ball is so easy then why are the best players in the world only running out 1 in 4 from the break?

Does any one know how often they run out at 9 ball. I think Fast once posted that it was the same, 25%.

[billiardspoolnet]

I think 9 ball is harder but apparently not as much as I thought over 8 ball.

[Leftoverchinese]

Most people on my league seem to be ranked higher in 9 ball than in 8 ball. One would guess that would make 9 ball an easier game to play. I could be wrong though.

[gian323]

Harder is an opinion, not fact.

9 ball is a runout game and 8 ball is a strategy game.

I'd say 8 ball because if you mess up on your last ball, your opponent still has to run more than one ball. Rather than 9 ball where if you miss the 9 the other guy has a freebie.

[Black-dot]

Quote

gian323 wrote:
Harder is an opinion, not fact.

9 ball is a runout game and 8 ball is a strategy game.

I'd say 8 ball because if you mess up on your last ball, your opponent still has to run more than one ball. Rather than 9 ball where if you miss the 9 the other guy has a freebie.

Both games are strategy games, IMHO, although 8 ball differs from 9 ball in that you can't win by slopping in the 8 ball, whereas in 9 ball you can. Plus, in 8 ball, the fellow who runs 5 balls and dogs the 6th is probably going to lose, at least if he's up against a good player, for that person will often run out, as there likely will be very few blocker balls to stop him. More balls on the table often means you'll have a better chance of winning, not losing.

Both games are tough, but each has different challenges...

JMO/ICBW

Black-dot

[Hazer]

Going into this thread I would have said 9, but I realized that's because I usually play 8, and 9 requires a whole different strategy.

It seems as if it is easier to mess up and recover off a bad leave in 8, because there are usually multiple balls to hit, and later on you thin out the table.

In 9 you've got the one ball that you can hit, and then the next, so position play to me is even more vital to be as near perfectly precise as possible.

[roadrunner711]

I always thought 9 was harder but the more I study this it is clear the two games are much closer in skill requirements than I ever thought. I guess 8 ball is now getting somee respect now that the pros are finally playing it.

[Sodapop]

I would have to say 9 ball, 8 ball is just a pattern game.

( Leftoverchinese wrote, Most people on my league seem to be ranked higher in 9 ball than in 8 ball. One would guess that would make 9 ball an easier game to play. I could be wrong though.)

The reason for that is, there are more players good at 8 ball than 9 ball, They are ranked higher at 9 ball because not too many people are able beat them at that game. 9 ball requires more skill.

With 8 ball, many players are good at it, so even if you are a great player, so are many others.

The problem is, when players compare 8 ball to 9 ball, they usually compare it on a bar box table (3.5 by 7)

Which yes, 9 ball is quite easy on a bar box because it takes great position & shot making out of the equation. The pockets are huge and the table is small. Play 9 ball on a 4.5 by 9 with deep tight pockets and tell me how easy it is?

The best player in my area never loses to anyone in our area in a long race of 9 ball, on a 4.5 by 9, nobody can touch him. Change the game to 8 ball and he is still the favorite, but you can now choose

between 1 to 10 guys who will win, because there are many great 8 ballers in our area who can't play high speed 9 ball.

I watched Efren verses Mika Immonen playing 8 ball in a race to 8, set ended 8-6 Efren, every game was a run out except 1, and neither of these guys spend much time playing 8 ball.

Every game is totally different. What makes 8 ball hard is you have to know when to go for it and when not to. If you go for the runout and screw up with only a few of your own balls left on the table, you

now have about a 5% chance of winning that game. In 9 ball, if you screw up near the end of a game you can always play safe and still leave the

table with a 90% chance of winning. If you just plain miss a shot late, there is a good chance the ball may land tuff or safe, and you still have a high percentage chance of winning.

Picture 9 ball played perfectly: every kick made, every bank made, every tuff shot made, every tuff position shot played perfectly, that would be unbelievable to watch.

The problem is no-one has been able to, you can always dump and play safe, which most players do. From what I hear about this CHIA-CHING Wu kid, is that he hardly ever plays safe, he goes for everything.

Maybe he will change the way 9 ball is played and players will have to start mastering these shots, in order to beat him.

Straight pool played perfectly has been done by willie mosconi, many times over (526 ball run).
Most high runs I've seen have not been that exciting to watch.

I guess 8 ball played perfectly would also be exciting to watch, but still mainly pattern play, with some breakouts and banking a few balls in tuff positions.






[ Edited by Sodapop on 2005/12/3 12:07 ]

[Pelican]

In essence 9 ball is pattern play. You break and boom, you have a pattern to run out.

Pel

[Sodapop]

True! But what I mean is, in 8 ball you can chosse the easiest pattern possible, in 9 ball the pattern is there you either have the skill to clear that pattern or you don't. You don't have the options available to you that other games offer.