GRABE vs APPLETON ▸ 2024 Yalin WPA Men's World 8-Ball Championship

[Music] s [Music] [Music] [Applause] on [Applause] sure she gets it first look get out of that oh [Applause] wow oh okay wow a 9 wi and there he goes Shane boning or world a champion hello and welcome everybody to the Predator World eightball Championships presented by y ly this is a first round match of the men's division we're also going to have the Women's World nineball Championships this week and the World Junior Championships uh today's match is Darren Appleton and Dennis grave playing a race to eight eight single or double elimination part of the tournament get and we'll be eliminating down to 16 players into a sing single elimination joined here with Chris Reinhold how you doing today Chris hey what's up Eric hey everybody glad to be here pretty close match up i' give Garren The Experience Edge in eightball seems to be back to full form after a bit of health issues about it going back about a year yeah I think eightball is his expertise but I would say that Dennis is definitely you know definitely capable yeah he's coming off a win at the malds open earlier in the Year Dennis wins the leg winner breaks format both players will be settling into the conditions here first round we saw players previously in the world aall championships presented by Predator breaking from the side rail seem to be the favored break break that Shane Van boning went with when he won the tournament last year in Austria and you're not talking about about the second ball break you're talking about Square on the one like it was a nine ball with one on the spot correct yeah yeah side rails and square onto the head ball Dennis is going from the middle this is the more offensive break I mean if you get this one going you can run a lot of WS let's see how it works out for him in this first rack good pop three ball straight down to the corner playing open break r that three ball go in yeah I think there was a wied ball off the back well five and the 11 are going to be the problem balls here has openers on both suits nine would be the easiest opener but if you wanted to go with solids you could take the seven what would you do here I mean I got you got to start making a plan of how to open up the 511 I can see that the four playing into the side and then onto the five not many balls are really ideal for breaking up that 5'11 could go six off the short rail into the into the cluster you see an anything I think the solids are the way to go but the stripes are easier to se a lot of you're going to have to sorry my bad with the newer cloth you're going to have to let it stretch a little bit there um yeah missed the ball looked a little uncomfortable but I'm not I'm honestly not sure if he didn't just kind of let Darren have a run at it and just see if he'll break it up it' be unfortunate yeah I think he had just a yeah he just had a little too much angle he felt you had to play the thick side of the pocket just kind of undercut the ball purposely and try to make the break up left Darren a long seven Darren can consider going into the five here tough opener I played him in the US Open couple weeks ago played really well me tied up another ball over there now the drawing angle is off the six it looks like it's actually playing into it if it is he'll definitely be trying to draw back into the stack there yeah I think that's the best shot on this opportunity for sure just have to be careful I'd run into a little bit of pace for sure I wouldn't try to Slow Roll draw into it got one on them out but the four still there and he's running out of balls to break up the four with settle for a bank shot could looks like barely passes the 13 over to the right side pocket could try to play the gap between the 14 nine kind of move over towards it that's a nervy Miss there in the first rord there Dennis still has the problem with the 11 being tied up consider getting aggressive here if he Pockets the 13 he'll definitely be going into it just going to lay off I think that's a really underrated thing that a lot of amateurs don't realize like you know when you start outnumbering someone like in this case Dennis has them outnumbered uh six to four you got to maintain that Advantage you know and he he can't start pocketing balls until he's sure he's going to get into the 11 he he would have got into the 11 there but he was just playing the percentages of maybe missing the 13 and giving up this numbered Advantage you know when you're watching nine ball or 10 ball there's a general shot that's the correct shot but an eight ball there's so many different ways to go about it and ways to attack and play defense it's a very interesting game to watch yeah like even there I wonder if Darren was even just trying to play the five over the corner probably not because Dennis would have just shot it in looks like he's going to do that now interesting yeah I mean like you know he's he's leaving the the bank available on the four playing really defensive here in this first rack both players just kind of feeling their way around first game tournament tying it up again yeah Dan's got the one over by the four now but not really in a spot where he could really break out the four unless you banked in the one Daren side might be the move I like it too yeah you know the Q Ball's kind of playing into a scratch It's Tricky but you can bring the que up below the four and take a take a shot at winning the game from a bad position here would you ever consider four on the 11 on the one I definitely would I don't think it's a bad shot why look at that I don't think he got rewarded though yeah does the three ball combo go yeah I don't think he can really create the angle from the 11 to the one but he's going to try he's in such a underdog spot have safe he's got to go now yeah ke Ball's running the 11 but it's heading towards the eight perfect speed over there wow control theball nicely there interesting opening rack and Darren takes it one nothing race to eight Darren's just double checking the rules it's only obvious shots World standardized rules playing a world championship so WP rules here and I can't I can't see Dennis taking a win like that anyway sure I definitely could yeah I think the only set of rules where you actually have to call the a to the APA if you're playing Jeffrey DeLuna have you played my aall Chris sure play yeah of course it's really fun and I think it's one of my top three favorite games it's probably the third on the list but it's still really fun wouldn't say it's one of the bigger games in California though right nine balls probably the biggest game like rotation pools the biggest game up there yeah rotation and the one pocket and the eightball most likely Daren to break here from the rail probably second ball here interesting not many players went second ball last year right break gra yeah the advantage of hitting second ball with a when you're using a template rack is you can make one of the balls in the very corner of the rack directly into the one of the two bottom corners but with a hand rack I don't know if it's that big of a of an edge we definitely didn't see it employed by most players in the past couple years that this tournament's been around shot by gra rear ringing the traffic in the middle got unlucky with a 13 tying up to the one he's on the five so he's still going to have options to develop things here very interesting SC I mean the one ball does it go can you hit another solid into those to make the one ball yeah kind trying to get yeah was trying to get an angle on the seven where maybe it went off a short railing into it but he didn't get the proper angle for that he can still maybe run into the two now and get that angle on the seven oh there's a combo good spot that great though need a little window in between the two and eight with the Q ball in order to make the seven it's got to be on the seven here he is he over top of the eight so Position will be a little hamper easy enough pocketing though so he can focus on the Q ball here it's always good to have that safety ball when you go into other balls you might get stuck it's close I would lean towards saying he doesn't have it no he doesn't does have the two but again over top of the 15 so going to have tough very tough position on the four so tough he might just have to opt the long shot don't want to hit that 11 ball and then get stuck behind it all pocketing now eight passes in both corner so if he feels like he wants to put a little more power into it he can cross the cube allall over might be just a little too much angle to hold it on the same side he'll know he'll know better being over the ball good shot very nice there from gra most top players most top players like to let the stroke out when they can so I don't fault him for going that way with [Music] it and part of the pocket the the eight goes down the break is definitely a big part of eightball I mean it's a big part of any game but if you can get the break going you know having those options of being able to choose more than one ball to play your position you can run a lot of rats and you're pretty much guaranteed to have a shot especially open break on the on the first ball if you pop it one I don't mind what graes doing here like you know breaking from the middle just kind of go all in try to open them up try to get offensive but again the players that were a little more successful in past years trended towards the side rail more side rail head you know also seeing that Darren did the second ball break and wasn't successful I'm sure it gives him a little more confidence in this break so we'll see if he keeps it up and I mean it looks like he's hitting it well so let's see what happens pop there nothing down only one ball to really go after the two but it's makeable Ball's kind of running into the 10 I mean ideally if you could weave it between the 101 and kind of come over for the three that' be a good shot he might be trying to avoid it all together yeah I so I'm kind of 11 good shot free the CU ball up enough do the favorite in this rack now six has I would mind going for the three ball here yeah four balls got to be managed they take the four in the bottom right got to get into that stop area around the 651 from there over see if that proves devastating for him in this rack we'll see um still some nerves from both sides sure lot of lot of balls in the middle here 13's kind of surrounded not much of a pocket he has the angle to draw into it I don't mind it might have too much angle going to the right I try to get into it not quite there scrambling a little bit now got to find a path back towards the 13 big thing to mention here too is that we're on a 30se second shot clock and you know if you're playing rotation under a 30 second shot clock that's one thing I mean the numbers and the balls are kind of telling you what to do but when you start you know thinking about all these options playing eightball and you're on a shock CL it's it you know you'll get used to it over the course of the tournament but first round like this you can kind of get flustered a little bit yeah I totally agree I think they also have to understand that they're both going to make mistakes and to not get as mad as they've been getting after every shot you know it's a long race and they're both breaking Dry still a lot of pool to play shot from applon covering everything except for the 10 but or the 12 but not much you can do with the 12 graes looking at playing safe down to the short rail here decent landing area where where he won't leave much got there except for the one see if Darren goes offense here I think he might have to have to play safe around gra six Stripes him and Chris melan I'd say are the top two of the top eightball cool players I've seen so it's nice to see their creativity beautiful shot there by yeah they have experience from English eightball and Darren even I believe won a a very major Chinese eightball tournament so definitely I'd say it's his best [Music] game six plays onto the 35 like the five passes the eight in the bottom left maybe a little too much angle here but might use the 12 to slow the Q ball down straight enough to roll through it's good Trot this where position makes a very it's a very big factor in trying to run out especially in these tight positions this is where he's so deadly well that's the underrated thing about eightball right like the pocketing looks easy but Precision on the QQ ball to play the game at a high level is very underrated yeah I'd say with nine ball it's easier to get away with a little scrappy position if you have good shot making because every time you make a ball one less balls on the table but if you're at a position on here you have so many more obstacles it's one of those games too where everything can look perfect but kind of just turn sideways in one second just because you're half an inch off good rack there from Darren starting with a good opening pot takes the lead two to one see if he sticks with that second ball break on second break attempt of the [Applause] match going to be a great week of pool coming up for you guys here all free streams when Women's World nineball Championships all the best women in the world are showing up for that one World Junior Championships boys and girls under 17 and under 19 if sticks with the second ball break Eric yeah he's over to the side rail looks like he's going to stick with it I mean it's only one break it's the break he came in planning to use so he's definitely going to take a few shots at it side hit one down little one lucky with the Q ball there not sure if the 14 passes in the B my favorite yeah after 14 passes he has an option to start with stripes 13 goes in the side as well the side for sure Fair bit of Miss balls in these first three games both players not quite comfortable yet definitely popped up on a stroke there for sure though it looks like he was pretty uncomfortable on it grae really only has the three to pocket could get aggressive and go at the nine Stripes I think are lying a little better particularly because of the 17 oh pardon me he has the 10 did well to open up that strip believe the nine goes in both Corner Pockets toughest ball in the table is probably the 14 to Safe it passes the eight in the left side pocket getting in the closer position now or we can kind of pinpoint the CU a little more still unsure if the 14 passes the eight but maybe he's going for the lower leftand corner Eric yeah it does pass in the lower left as well if you ran the Cub on the 13 now you could get on the 14 yeah 12 13 draw over probably goes in the left side oh wow unary maybe the 14 didn't go just felt like he had to rearrange that position didn't quite work out how he wanted checking now if the 13 Even passes if does then he might have a shot at the bang three's kind of in that track with need a different camera angle look at that recovery Nice Shot grave there all field shot it quick too down near the end of a shot clock just felt the ball in the pocket shot good stroke there good recovery like you said Wonder's going to draw yeah going to draw this low left maybe come out for the that would come out one rail most likely oh wow yeah just the elevation got him there he had to draw it but yeah nervous starts for both players [Music] here look like he po us the Three Can Play The Q ball into the 17 doesn't have to break them out the one does CL there could consider playing safe too if he doesn't want to take a long pot on the three see again they're playing the percentages right like you know it's probably about 85 to 90% to pocket the three but he knows he would have grave in such a bad spot here that pretty much can't get out of it could actually crossbank it over to the top left but again very low percentage shot and to get position after that that's tough wow do you not like that sh but don't you think you have to be offensive there I guess he leaves the ball over the pocket where maybe Darren can't play safe as much but to me if you're outnumbered by that much you got to kind of go at it even if it's low percentage Yeah I think Darren's going to go those three ball now because he kind of made him smart shot there well he could Dennis could kick it this slow and maybe hook him on the on his own ball I was thinking like a yeah you're right I think yeah get get the keyb going forward and then drawing back on the on the same line yeah I don't I don't like that shot from Dennis because he just gave him a shot to the side I think with the six maybe and if he didn't he still has a shot on the one I I like going the opposite way maybe hooking him behind the ball I hear you for sure he had a chance to actually get him on all his balls well interesting I mean I just feel like it's giving Dennis an unnecessarily undeserved opportunity and when Darren could have went for been offensive the last few times in my opinion right I never really thought of that though you know when you're outnumbered that badly just kind of leaving a ball in the air pocket I guess the reason it doesn't work a lot of the he's trying to go behind it like that the reall go I guess yeah I guess the reason it doesn't work a lot of the time is because your opponent could just shoot your ball into the pocket and then just play safe on the a here but he's actually stayed alive here for about four Innings from spot where he extremely low percentage to win the game still back wow I mean the tricky part at this point too is the six ball is in a bad spot for Darren seven balls no picnic either sure still leaving Darren on tough pocketing here doing well to manage not leaving him an easy chance and Darren's going to play safe again huh yeah I don't know I'm not sure I like that yeah it's about a four shot exchange here and I'd say Darren has more of an advantage than he had before four being patient but there was a couple times where it almost looked like gra could kick the ball in he just didn't have the exact right angle I think he's wishing he would have kicked one of those balls in now yeah yeah he's in a bad spot now maybe leave the Q ball on the short rail attempt Daren taking the six in the side kind of just waiting for a defensive mistake from Daren here hasn't really made it hasn't made it yet I mean if he hasn't tried the shots previously in this game you think that he wouldn't try one of these either they decide to go offense though looks like he got on the five so he'll be the favorite now in this rack good run into the one and kind of get funny with the Q Ball but if he's able to clear the one would' be good except the one actually goes that out of the equation yeah I like the six here and then play the three six a little bit of stun left or a little like drag with draw left hold the QQ ball a little better there you go we're on about no New Zealand time right now so guys are watching North America you can kind of think about tuning in between around 6:00 pm till midnight or if you're night person there'll be matches going on past midnight D staying in line well there it's eight to level the match of two each no break of runs yet and he'll be looking to change that tide his next break [Applause] I played in in a 9 foot tournament with Alex pagul liion once where he broke second ball on the N9 foot and he won the tournament he's in he's in New Zealand this week he's been playing a lot of eightball lately been playing a lot of Chinese aall look for him to be a force in this tournament Albin oan in the tournament as well Josh filler a lot of Heavy Hitters trying to get that $75,000 first first place prize amazing amazing what predator is doing for the sport that can happen with that second ball break Q Ball's going in the side rail and crossing over has to get through a lot of balls to really get through to the side pocket but it happened there yeah I feel like if he doesn't hit that second ball thick enough the the the reaction of the rack is just a whole different animal it's a lot different than when he hits it hit that second ball Square the energy doesn't transfer as well Dennis those stripes here using the nine to break out the 13 might have got a little straight going to have to cheat the extreme right edge of the pocket here if even goes at it it's a chance to maybe roll forward and play the 10 and then run into the 13 whatever ball that one is yeah that'd be the second option he'll want to get on it now but he he just he's so straight that it's tough to tell if he can manufacture enough angle going to the right I don't believe he can yeah I think he would have shot it by now if it was there just going to totally back off that pattern and try to get back to the same spot now same problem though I think he's a little too straight again it's definitely too straight again yeah just this goes to show you how important be on the correct side of the ball is in every game but more importantly it will just abandon the Rena from there really would you not I mean you could have considered going just rolling forward and then using the 10 to break it out you still would have had two stripes left understand I don't need either uh just understand for everybody at home he didn't miss that ball he just he just backed off the running yeah I mean I I figure if you go that far and you have good opportunities I mean most of the you know the last four out of five balls around the open you might as well try to force something in my opinion well that was the other Factor too right it's not like the 15 was kind of you know pocketable but below the 56 where he probably wouldn't have got on it right like if you go into the 13 there you got a decent shot at getting on the 15 or the 11 so I'm really surprised yeah I look for Darren to clear these up to be honest I mean the 17 is right there um I don't see it presenting too big of a problem hopefully you get there so use the three ball as a safety ball in case he gets stuck on the nine or something like that but I mean I I I could see him getting out here for sure good shot just like that and you're yeah and you're and it's good call there you know leaving maybe the three would have got him onto the one better but he's more guaranteed to get on a ball trying to get on the one right now so that's a good shot just seeing how aggressive he's going to go into the seven or if he's going to hit the rail first we'll see beautiful so Appleton pulling away early here or solids remaining to take a 4-1 lead yeah maybe Dennis gra grab a little frustrated I mean eightball is a game that unless you're playing Chinese eightball that most touring Pros don't play as much as rotation so if you're not used to it can come out kind of flat little straight the wor worst angle he could have gotten here I just a slight angle going to the left and follow two RS for Mark your pocket solid out there from Darren taking care of the breakout early and again you know with gra abandoning the run out when he still had a chance to get all the way out that's what he left himself open to so I'm surprised there I also think being down 4-1 31 41 you have to give yourself a chance to come back and win a game so I I I would have gone with trying to outman you know out Firepower the rack just you know to give myself a chance to win before I let my opponent back to the table totally agree yeah you ever been over to this part of the world Australia or New Zealand I've never been over there have been many places to go but um I have a friend's wedding this weekend that I can't miss so uh sad that I couldn't go but you know I'm lucky to be able to still do this remotely and have a good partner with me commentating this match have you ever been over there in the past no no no no um it's on my bucket list though some place I want to go so if it's here next year I'm definitely going to be going yeah I guess the reason is there's not many tournaments over go on there without my I might have to go there without my pool ke sometime players have gone on break well we're just going to take a break ourselves for a couple minutes and we'll be right back [Music] all [Music] [Music] all [Music] this [Music] [Music] [Music] and we're back break here Appleton winning the last game taking taking a sizable lead in this first round match it's been decently successful on the break actually caught a scratch on the last one still no breaking runs in the match yet there's that corner ball going directly in the corner that's the one he's looking for it's a little bit rack dependent but if you can find a table that's racking consistent like that that's that's the one he's looking for hit those a lot harder as well I I think he had made a better connection on those ones for sure CU ended up unlucky again only real option is the long one just thinking if it has value right now five's in a bad spot but the six plays well onto it he's going after the one [Music] here there that's one of those shots Eric where you just kind of have to make the want to take whatever you can get it's not really uh you know you don't have to be perfect with your position just focus on making the ball yeah the pocketing is so tough you really have to kind of put onck good stroke there keeping that QQ ball near the four five goes in the side by the eight do you think he's going to attack that or go for the six now yeah it looks looks like you can play underneath the 14 and play the six in the long pocket Place well onto the five just a little too much angle looking confidently can hold it I'm sure he'll be fine more spin less speed there you go beautiful so Appleton opening up a big lead now first breaking run of the match getting his offensive game going yeah it looks a little more comfortable in this W than he did in the others way to let your stroke out Eric wow beautiful stroke there yeah could has to be better on the eight no commentators curse there he goes up 5-1 against gra interesting to see if Appleton sticks with this break throughout the tournament and if it starts going really well for him if other players kind of trend towards it as well yeah continue to do so until it costs him yeah I mean I I feel like he's been successful on three out of five which is reasonable you know four or obviously five would be perfect but somewhere in the four to five successful range it's pretty good with a hand right I totally agree the most wired ball in this rack is the nine and he did make that ball in the previous rack see goes in here directly into the [Applause] corner missed it this time it went High there nothing down so Grave's going to have a chance nice open table too really nothing as long as the 11 passes the one he's good checking that right now looks like he does pass yes I have relief for him for sure get another chance after passing up his last one yeah four stripes on the same side of the table very little Q ball movement eight balls nice and open in the middle on over for the 10 I don't think he got there so he's going to have to play the 15 in the side and hopefully get on that 11 I'd rather be closer to the 11 just because it it has a maybe half of a pocket or three4 of a pocket past the one so you'd like to be close so you have a little room for air I did get on the 10 so that's good and actually able to play the 11 in the open pocket as well got a little too much angle here but he can take the qo past the aen back towards the 915 in the same pocket maybe just straight enough that he can hold for the 15 in the side but looks like he's looking at the nine here good play that's going to come up a lot more in eightball than it is in rotation there's so many balls on the table so if you know you're running directly into a ball you know where that key Ball's going to stop generally yeah and then he knocked it kind of does it go on the side still I wonder yeah ideally it would if it doesn't it's got the bottom left corner pocket pretty good there seen gra on his first two break attempts really open them up from the middle so he's an offensive threat if he starts making balls I would assume he'll stick there he's hitting it well he was one for two made a ball in the first one didn't make a ball in the second one yeah I'd say you have to give yourself a chance to crawl back in this match but I'd probably break from the middle just so I can get some momentum going I agree you know you spread the rack out wide open hope for kind of a gim me one guima Rack or two gimme racks narrow the score line let it's live by the sword Die By The Sword if he doesn't make one the Eight's not in the middle it doesn't C it's not it's behind the one yeah graping two balls there 111's going to be the biggest problem on the table but he can get into it right now off the two I think we've seen that a few times with the N Mall being racked on the wing but I don't ever remember one where the eight was in the middle yes one for the Highlight room more dangerous than nineball because the nine Ball's a winner the wp rules the eight doesn't count as went off the and so this one ball might be problematic and does it go by the 35 in that side of the in that lower left corner the one B yeah yeah if it does it'll make things a lot easier like he's trying to get on it now and he did good shot well that's even more so simple then have to play a touch draw shot 1 5 six 78 yep what what grab I needed here oh we got a little straight I guess just the slightest angle where you can move the QQ ball to the left good shot getting close to the seven there took what he could there RAB with a nice run out getting himself back in the match he's breaking in rack number nine firir to stay with that offensive middle break for the rest of the match [Music] all right we got the eat in the middle this time we're good let's pay attention to his Q ball here see if it jumps back or if it goes behind the side pockets at all yeah he's hitting it really well actually getting good pop out of the out of the QQ ball what you want if you're trying to power break like you would an eightball particularly with hand rack just trying to get the biggest dispersion you can get the C Ball skipping towards the ground little less po that Time Square yeah kicked in too to roll for grab there sols are looking good as well six will have to be M yeah this an interesting situation to get on the six Darren's just double checking if it's actually ball in hand or if it's CU all behind the line This rule has gone back and forth over the years but yeah the the fact that he's putting the CU on line it's they've moved back to not being ball in hand off the break so they can't maybe being able to get on the six as the second ball which be good classic straight in stop shot here good stroke like to get that six out of there as fast as I could personally let's see looking at there he's on solids why would those PS matter kind of odd there's another B there's another solid right there oh ohow I didn't even see that yet oh jeez [Music] yeah it's kind of hidden yeah tall yep the tuo I'm glad he saw it little tough to see those glasses colors the clock too right you doing here so he's got enough room past the nine I don't trust shots like this but maybe I need to trust them more little trick shot there for the viewers yeah yeah bit angle going to the left here he he's come down and take a look at this a couple times so he's pretty sure at poets beautiful stroke there can he hold it enough for the two yeah I feel like he's definitely on side of having too much angle seems okay though though with his body language feels like you can hold it T shot there yeah most of those top European players are so good with that little that little stun kill broke you know to help that QQ Ball slow down go or didn't didn't have the full pocket for sure so bit of a turning point in this match if appon was to get out there he'd make him a big favorite but now rabit can bring the score line one game closer yeah up three opposed to being up one is a very big difference I don't like this approach I'm being honest would have kind of took more effort at really yeah thinking about taking more effort at really covering the two then I'd say you just go for the 10 ball wholeheartedly off the 10 in yeah wow yeah was you're right it's kind of odd that like knew he was going to leave him a shot at the two but also left him in the spot where he the bank was on big turning shoton there yeah let off from Appleton nice Bank on the two I feel like he's playing not to lose instead of to win if that makes sense I just feel like you have to be a little more aggressive yeah even the other time when he backed off on the nine that really surprised me I mean you're giving Appleton his only opening to win that rack is by leaving him some form of a bank shot you might as well go through the ball and if you miss you leave him it instead of you know just giving it to him yeah a gra seems a little frustrated right now but so maybe that has something to do with it I'm not 100% sure yeah it's always been a bit of an emotional player strong player kind of one of the guys that doesn't come up in the conversation with the best players in the world but one of those guys that does get very strong results four or five times a year yeah he's capable of beting anyone in the tournament that's for sure but always a threat oh cross cross it on the side again that's twice in this match yeah I'm curious I mean if I'm if I'm Dennis I'm really going for it here I'm not I'm not trying to play safe and you know do all this stuff I mean oh yeah SC line yeah you got to get your you got to get up to four before he gets up to seven you know you you got to keep putting the pressure on him for sure see his body language who knows this is a tough tough rack bigest isue uh I was going to say doesn't have an O on the stripes where where he would want to take Stripes but you yeah he's going to take a tough shot of 10 there is actually a lane between the four five as well if you wanted to take the nine but I guess he wants to use the nine to break up the 10 wow and now he's forced to shoot the 11 or a 159 combination I believe yeah yeah almost looks like there a window the N how about the window on the nine the in just covering it a little too much must be super defensive match from gra here yeah I mean this one's understandable right I mean he's still on a similar number of balls on the table to Appleton and you know he just felt like he an underdog to run the whole rack but like you were saying he kind of has to make something happen here he's stuck in the score line so kind of might have I wouldn't say it would have been wrong to trying to continue running out there I personally would have tried to run out there but um we'll see how this Frack develops positive thing for grab now is that all the stripes are open yeah that 10 might be the only problem but I don't think it's a lifechanging problem I mean let's see he's playing it off the six maybe how's he doing this oh wow look at that combination and got two balls tied up yeah how many balls were involved in that four four ball combo wow four four ball combination yeah oh no has a bit of a problem with three of us solids on the left long rail so he might be able to make the six off of the the green stripe in the side break out the three and to go down to the bottom rail and break out the one two but maybe I'm just a little too aggressive that was a much better shot what he just did yeah I like this shot here particularly if the 14 doesn't pass the side it doesn't go off as 14 does I think it might be a little too deep yeah to me it looks a little past the pocket but you know yeah I bit of a loose match from grab here yeah I'm not sure how much eightball he plays I'm not sure if it's because he's not 100% sure on what he's um his end result on each shot is or if he's just kind of a little frustrated or things aren't going as well way I it's I I don't usually see him like this in his uh demeanor yeah it could be part of it I mean I I would say most Europeans kind of grow up on eightball I mean they they play a bit of straight pool too they they played in the European championships it's not like a foreign game to them I I don't think eightball is a foreign game to anybody they they play it everywhere in the world but maybe just not competing at it at at a high level or as regularly as Appleton or maybe some of the other players in this tournament yeah or maybe when you're practicing the same you know the problems that have been presenting themselves here don't present himself in practice and you don't get that experience you know through repetition so maybe he's just a little you know maybe he's not getting the same kind of looks that he normally gets appon staying in line nicely here looking to take a commanding lead in the match get get moving onto the hill yeah I feel like he Appleton's got a lot of tools in his toolbx and he's going to use a allall and eightball where if you have more or less a hammer you got to use it getting enough angle on the four here so we can move the Q ball towards the eight are you playing the eight in the same pocket as the five I was thinking about past the 14 right middle see I just learned something thank you I would have went all the way up there and probably overran it and then been on the 50 yard line simple simple beautiful well Appleton's put a put together a pretty good match grab struggled a little but app's definitely taking advantage of his chances only one breaking run out of the seven games he's won but a couple good tactical games where he kept grab a at [Applause] Bay these players will need three wins to advance to the single elimination stage of the tournament 16 out of 64 players that started will advance the single knockout stage a single knockout stage will be a race to 10 the women's event starts to tomorrow that's a 64 player field as well eliminating down to 16 players for the redraw stage of the tournament we're going to have another round coming up for you um at 2 pm local time in New Zealand 10m Eastern and and there'll be four rounds total today this is round one struck well but nothing down kick oh didn't didn't quite scratch this time but almost the third scratch of the match yeah wow you're almost forced to play the nine here right looks like it two was there don't think the three passes the 14 it doesn't oh you can run into it right now yeah grab's just he's kind of freewheeling a little bit you know it's the way he kind of went at that breakout and three goes off the four on the side too yeah hate to say it but he almost got what he deserved there just like you know take a little more care into how you're going to run into the 14 oped up quite a bit on that one look like G's going to have to develop the 1114 he's coming over taking a look at the angle now not quite the easiest to develop chance to 14 pockets in the left bottom but I don't think so 11 might go on the side taking a look at that as well yeah I like that I like playing for it in the side personally now we get there is another [Music] part he actually had a chance to get there off off the ball you just shot could have drew it back diagonally think he would have seen that maybe just didn't want to move the cube all that much he's looking for the angle to play off the 10 two rils forward onto the 11 it's a good play Just minimize the Q ball movement when you're playing aall you got a little too much here thinks for sure he has too much he could run into them how is the 14 pass the five oh that's another another Factor too good shot he all the pocket there he had to I didn't think that it went but you think he might be going in the top left corner with this 11 and just floating the in the opposite corner I if he's straight enough to play the side he will yeah just barely straight enough left more angle on the 12 than he wanted but safer shot on the 11 so Appleton two more balls to take this first round match stay on the winner side gra will still be in the tournament have to win around four matches to get back to the S single elimination stage but promising opener here for Darren look for him to be a force I mean he has just as much you know more eightball experience than 75% of the field so he's feeling good he can get his break going we'll be expect to win the tournament you don't don't touch a ball with your shirt here it should be good I get an extension yeah just to make sure does to reach over the five as much good match from mlon taking the taking down his first round match with Dennis grab 8 to3 we're going to have another round coming up for you in uh about 45 minutes time you can switch over to the other stream table at Pro bilard TV believe uh Josh filler is playing remember his opponent but it's a tough match uh first and H I believe and for Chris Reinhold each other yeah tough tough first round match there uh but yeah we'll be looking to spending a lot of time with you guys this week and make sure you tune in we'll talk to you soon all right bye guys thank you for watching [Music] that's all [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so f