I work hard to get my ranking and am getting increasingly frustrated with the fact that a lot of people are slowly mastering the art of potting the black off the break, some of these guys seem to have it down to 1 break in 3 they'll pot the black which to me doesnt feel right.

Am I wrong to be annoyed with this?

theres a little saying and its if u cant beat them join them! why dont u master the break and get your points back

i know what you mean but i just feel that with an online pool game it was always going to happen that someone would figure the exact combination out and to me I'd rather win fair and square

It's a cheat shot that's ruining the game. Mastering a one shot win that doesn't require any skill whatsoever - only knowing where to smack the ball from - isn't sporting, and it's pointless.

Its been covered many times and Nick assures us its being dealt with...

cool_dude - what, do we all do that so nobody plays the game anymore?

lets hope he changes it to a loss with treble rank points deducted....

..... but doesn't tell anyone

Seriously though, its long overdue for scrapping. Maybe Nick or Simon will tell us the current situation.

That's a good point cool_dude.

Why don't you and everyone else who has mastered it make a point of training everyone up to play the GB trick shot?

Then we can all happily pot blacks all day without playing any pool. Sounds great.

lol come on even i know how to do it

i think its a nice way ive got a couple and each of them fills special to me lol

i have to say that when i lose to a GB it doesn't really bovar me because if your good enough you can get your rank back anyway am i right?...and plus it's a good feeling when you get the odd one youself which i have done myself but when it gets to the extent of getting 50+ GB's thats when something needs to be done should be changed to a loss not a victory

"plus it's a good feeling when you get the odd one youself"

That's true footy - it is.

The odd one. Not one in every 3. I know how to do it - where on D, which ball to aim at etc. but why...I wanna play a game of pool not just smack the black in cos I know how to do it I only do it in practice, never in the game, it's pointless, it proves nothing except how so concerned about winning u r

why dont u all go & master it & u wont moan as much

Says a man with 144 GB's!!

How many ranking points is that. It don't mean he's good at pool - it means he knows a cheat-shot.

I've played u in a tourny rangers. Went 1-0 to a GB - then outplayed u to go 1-1. Then u won aon a 2nd GB.

I stopped playing Uk after that - it's pointless playing ppl who prefer to cheat

Oh, & b4 u bleat 'it's a legal shot', I know it is, but its still an unsporting shot and ppl like u have spoilt UK pool. As soon as it's scrapped, you will slide down the rankings like rangers down the spl. 144 GB's is quite a cushion for an average player - in fact work it out - u've gained around 200 ranking points from simply smacking the black down - ur real rank is around 620 without those GB's

Edited at 19:30 Sat 27/05/06 (BST)

Martin_blank - How many ranking points is that. It don't mean he's good at pool - it means he knows a cheat-shot.

i totally agree with that statement, US 9 ball is the only place i get golden breaks... but i never go for them, they can go in many ways, im just mainly trying to pot a ball, UK 8 ball has got to the point now where it is pointless to play aginst some players not naming any.... i for one want golden breaks scraped, due to abusing the system...

it is bein looked into

when speaking with a mod in the last few days i asked 'has nick ever shown any dislike to the fact that GBs are so common now?'

the response was 'not at all, as long as they are done in a fair way its not a problem'

and that answer should be good enough for everybody shouldnt it?

Ok i have won quite a few games through gb's. I know its only a gesture from one player who knows how to do them but i'd just like to say i'll stop trying them. Personally i do enjoy a good game and can win most of the time without them. Hopefully a lot of others will follow suit and abandon the gb shot. It does need to be scrapped.

Well done Phillippe. As you say, hopefully all the decent players will follow suit.

If they dont, then why dont we ask for a new table, especially for GB's.

Make the a loss on all the other games but a win on the GB table, that way GB people only play fellow GB people!

if the staff do want to do something about it, just for the reason being its preventing proper games being played, why not count it as a loss for tournament and ranked games and only count them as a win in friendlies.

what an excellent idea - and from the GB king himself!