Will Maynard
Registered
Anyone who has played 14.1 Straight Pool knows that sooner or later you’ll be faced with a full 14 ball rack and no break ball, or none that will allow breaking the rack to continue a run. Most of us know several possible shots using just the full 14 ball rack but are unlikely to take these shots during a match due to the low make percentage.
In spite of this I was curious about how many possible full rack shots there are, but I have never seen any research or videos on this topic, other than a few single shots. So I undertook a study to uncover as many shots as I could. This took over 6 months and 1500 racks of sporadic research.
I began by trying various shots and when a shot succeeded I would generally try that shot 10 more times to get a make percentage for that shot (not counting the first make). Often while I was attempting to make certain shot, a different new fluke shot would go. That would send me down the path to duplicate that new shot.
There are lots of variables at play here, so it was important to always have a consistent tight rack with identical placement (magic rack was used on some shots). Also, I tried to have the same conditions each time: humidity, ball and table cleanliness, same table.
I captured 80 unique shots and broke them down into corner ball shots, head ball shots, and mid-rack shots. Here are 3 videos showing those 80 shots. There are shots that I wouldn’t have guessed could succeed and there some shots that were stunning. There are certain shots that I could not duplicate and about 9 that I did not attempt to duplicate. For the rest, I show the shot, where I struck the cueball, my stroke speed, my make percentage, the target ball and target path. There is commentary throughout.
These shots are of little value in a match game as the make percentages are too low to be practical. But I learned a lot about full tight rack shots and the interaction of forces that play out among all 14 balls. A study of physics and vector analysis would certainly help with this study. Newton’s Third Law of Motion (“for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction”) is at play here, e.g., when a ball rebounds off the frozen balls beyond it.
Please have a look. Try these shots yourself. Your make percentages will certainly differ from mine as 10 tries on a shot is not statistically significant. Your playing conditions may net different results than mine. I welcome all comments and if you know of other shots that have been made or that you would like to see if they can be made, please pass that along.
I hope you enjoy these videos.
Thanks,
Will
In spite of this I was curious about how many possible full rack shots there are, but I have never seen any research or videos on this topic, other than a few single shots. So I undertook a study to uncover as many shots as I could. This took over 6 months and 1500 racks of sporadic research.
I began by trying various shots and when a shot succeeded I would generally try that shot 10 more times to get a make percentage for that shot (not counting the first make). Often while I was attempting to make certain shot, a different new fluke shot would go. That would send me down the path to duplicate that new shot.
There are lots of variables at play here, so it was important to always have a consistent tight rack with identical placement (magic rack was used on some shots). Also, I tried to have the same conditions each time: humidity, ball and table cleanliness, same table.
I captured 80 unique shots and broke them down into corner ball shots, head ball shots, and mid-rack shots. Here are 3 videos showing those 80 shots. There are shots that I wouldn’t have guessed could succeed and there some shots that were stunning. There are certain shots that I could not duplicate and about 9 that I did not attempt to duplicate. For the rest, I show the shot, where I struck the cueball, my stroke speed, my make percentage, the target ball and target path. There is commentary throughout.
These shots are of little value in a match game as the make percentages are too low to be practical. But I learned a lot about full tight rack shots and the interaction of forces that play out among all 14 balls. A study of physics and vector analysis would certainly help with this study. Newton’s Third Law of Motion (“for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction”) is at play here, e.g., when a ball rebounds off the frozen balls beyond it.
Please have a look. Try these shots yourself. Your make percentages will certainly differ from mine as 10 tries on a shot is not statistically significant. Your playing conditions may net different results than mine. I welcome all comments and if you know of other shots that have been made or that you would like to see if they can be made, please pass that along.
I hope you enjoy these videos.
Thanks,
Will
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