[mrbrandonking]

It seems like straight pool provided a more accurate means of distinguishing skill levels between players. Dallas West (straight pool pro from 70's) once said that he knew he had arrived as a pro when, as a teenager, he finally ran 100-balls in a row. He then said that he had made a 100-ball run every day of his life since then. There's a similar jump in standing at 50-balls. A complete beginner might have to practice hard for a year to clear a single rack.

9-ball players like to boast about their long runs, too, but there's an element of luck (the break shot) that throws a kink into direct comparisons between players' high runs. Earl Strickland once ran 11-racks in a row to win a $1 million prize, but a player with a "six-pack" (6-racks in a row) isn't necessarily half as skilled.