I never write about pool (as you know), but I've never seen this before. Del "147" Smith is playing Chris Lawson in a short race to five at the 2019 WPA Players Championship at Griff's in Vegas. Neither player is having a good day—the big guy is whacking the hell out of everything and the little guy is missing simple shots.
Having broken three times, Smith, who is British and naturally a snooker player—which means he's likely to be not very good at the break shot—has scratched on the break not once, not twice, but three out of three times. (Scratch means to pocket the cue ball, which you're never supposed to do. Note that both the commentators are British, so they call a scratch an "in-off." Note also the sound is very low, so you might have to turn up your speakers.) Three scratches on three breaks in a row is not something you see every day, or, well, every year.
Determined not to do it another time, Del lines up on the rack dead straight and hits the head ball, the yellow one-ball, head on. That in itself is a bit of a joke—it's a setup that's not likely to result in an effective break, but it's about the safest way to shoot to avoid a scratch. So watch what happens.
Del doesn't get to break again, so four is his total for the match.
Mike
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A scratch is my best shot. Right up there with inappropriately sinking the 8 ball.
Posted by: MikeR | Friday, 20 September 2019 at 04:52 PM
You cannot create a situation from which I could not scratch. I am the worst cue player ever.
Posted by: James Weekes | Saturday, 21 September 2019 at 08:24 AM