i was in a tournement and my opponent had a friend watching. The idea of having friends being able to watch a game is nice and all that but it distracting and slightly annoying when the spectator is coaching the opponent on shots. i understand that its the opponent who has to make the shot, but the distraction and annoyance is there. You do not have some guy standing next to ronnine o'sullivan telling him what his next play should be. Just a thought. What about at least disabling the chat feature for spectators during tournement games? what do you think guys post comments please.

Best thing you can do is ignore that person during the game, there is no way of disabling chat and imo there shouldnt be!

However, ignoring that person whos chat is distracting you, will solve your problem. After the game is done, take them back off ignore

I admit that was me but you do exaggerate mate.

All i said was "middle" before one shot in the whole game i think thats an excuse for the loss dont you think.

alex mate i have nothing against you. its not just that game where it has happened

i am generalising, it has happened more than once.
its not actually the coaching that bothers me, its the knowing that its happening and the movement of the chat interface takes attention away from the game

Okay fair enough carry on

I can see where you're coming from. However, you're specifically describing something that's happening during your opponent's shot, not yours. The issue of chat in general during a game doesn't quite lie alongside this and has been done to death on other threads, but it's good that it's been brought up.

Regarding coaching, I can't say I've ever seen it myself. That said, playing games of pool here is less like the Rocket in the Crucible and more like a friendly down at the local. Still, the idea of me playing some newbie (with all respect) in round 1 of a tournament whop has a friend tell him "Don't hit it too hard or you'll scratch", "Use backspin", "That ball won't pass, try a different ball" would be a bit annoying. However, I wouldn't be long adding my own advice* ...

...and hoping (1) it would contradict that of the other guy and (2) I'd get a similar position myself later on to prove I was right

well yeah, it happens. The best you can do is put the chat screen down to the smallest size, and if its still bad, put the opponent on ignore.

Personally I see nothing wrong with it. Because it must be distraticg for the other person too. And as soon as they lag, then the wont have time to read the coaching and play a shot.

All I am saying is that you have to worry about your game. In the same scenario, I may be a little annoyed - but all you can do is beat them.

Tournament games should not be private at all. If you dont like the people coaching, then I would suggest making your private room.

But I have only seen two or three people doing this myself anyway.

im glad i managed to get some good responses thanks guys. any other views or oppinions???

ill try the reducing chat box thing as i figure that putting ppl on ignore then removing them after the match is too time consuming for me during a short timed round - i dont really want to be missing my shot due to the inconsideration of others