Final Results - Drivermaker Holiday Invitational

Congrats to everyone on the list. Just completing 100 racks is an accomplishment. Good luck on improving your scores next year. Peace, John.

what were the rules to this again?

-edit-
nevermind - i see there is a search feature on this forum

Williebetmore said:

Well, it's finally over. Sorry for the delay, but server problems and DCC ate into my free time. Here are the results for everyone completing 100 racks. Thanks to all who participated, even if they didn't finish all 100 racks. I think we shall try to do this again next year - maybe start a little further in advance, maybe get people to put their Q-skill rating in their posts like an avatar so we know who has what kind of credibility (perhaps an official AZBilliards ranking list).

TheGoldenChild = 1886
Williebetmore = 1678
Drivermaker = 1509
sniper = 1312
Woody_968 = 1116
breakup = 1041
chefjeff = 864
JDB = 849
Razor Blade = 769
Rackin_Zack = 761

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Thanks, Willie...I figured you were at the DCC.

I posted on the original sticky thread that we should use what we learned from this game and discuss how to improve, but nobody apparently read it or responded to my suggestion.

I'll repeat a little of it here, at the risk of boring some. For example, I noticed that there were a lot of 10 scores. This tells me that the transition from the straight pool format to the rotation part gave us some troubles (esp. me, btw) and I'd like to ask Golden Child and the rest of the top players what strategies they use to make this transition.

Any comments?

Jeff Livingston

chefjeff said:

Thanks, Willie...I figured you were at the DCC.

I posted on the original sticky thread that we should use what we learned from this game and discuss how to improve, but nobody apparently read it or responded to my suggestion.

I'll repeat a little of it here, at the risk of boring some. For example, I noticed that there were a lot of 10 scores. This tells me that the transition from the straight pool format to the rotation part gave us some troubles (esp. me, btw) and I'd like to ask Golden Child and the rest of the top players what strategies they use to make this transition.

Any comments?

Jeff Livingston

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Hey, I want to hear from GoldenChild myself. But as I recall, I think I remember him saying that he spent about 10 minutes after the break just studying the table for patterns and the best out.

In my case, I really didn't start doing it until about the last 7 or 8 balls were on the table and that might have already been too late. You have to plan for the most natural and easiest way out without running the CB all over the table or snookering yourself. My low scores before I even got 10 were also a result of bad thinking and pattern play that resulted in a long or low percentage cut shot that I either missed or ended up trapped with another one right after that.

This is why I think the game is so good for practice because it makes YOU think and use your brain to create your own patterns. In 9 ball the pattern is already laid out for you, you just have to figure out how to move the CB around properly.

I also think we should do this again next year, then we can gauge how much we have improved over a year. This game is alot of fun, it has alot more strategy than just playing nine ball and rewards "smart play" To me the most important part of the game was two things. One, the break shot and getting a nice spread of balls preferably with no clusters, and two, seeing the pattern in advance, once you see how you can get out it comes down to shotmaking and concentration/focus.

a few (?) observations

chefjeff said:

I posted on the original sticky thread that we should use what we learned from this game and discuss how to improve, but nobody apparently read it or responded to my suggestion.

I'll repeat a little of it here, at the risk of boring some. For example, I noticed that there were a lot of 10 scores. This tells me that the transition from the straight pool format to the rotation part gave us some troubles (esp. me, btw) and I'd like to ask Golden Child and the rest of the top players what strategies they use to make this transition.

Any comments?

Click to expand...

OK, here are a few of my observations :

- my really low scores were most often a result of poor position play, getting the cue ball squeezed into bad spots ... the cause was more often bad shot selection than bad execution, but both happen to me.

- the transition from straight-to-rotation did cause problems for me frequently. My less than stellar position play often caused me to change the plan for the last 5 balls many times while shooting ball #7, 8, 9, and 10 (roughly) ... the results of which often became a very difficult table in the later stages. In general I was worried about a lower score if I took on a more difficult shot that would result in a better layout. Better planning would help me more than better execution, I'd guess 60/40 based on the sessions I played. BTW, this also reflects my 9 Ball game

- the early sessions were the steep part of the learning curve, you should have seen the dumb shots I took in the first bunch of frames !

- as always, when playing an objectively measured game there are some competitive pressures, unlike regular practice sessions. This is good for me as I play maybe 1 or 2 sets a week while practicing alone a lot more. Measuring or testing oneself works the mental aspect much more than any practice drill, and I think that the famous Yogi Berra line applies "this game is 90% mental, and the other 10% is in your head"

- while not perfect, this drill/game is a fine measurement of offensive skills (in pool, my other offensive skills come naturally) and I for one intend to use it to track my meagre progess

- the range of scores illustrates my inconsistency well. I know my game fairly well, and in those sessions where mistakes and misses were rampant, I knew that guy would loose league matches. When I was playing well it was the guy who can beat better players. I'd like to be that guy more often, and I think doing this drill on an ongoing basis and analysing the play will help drive out the lower end of the performances. Hopefully I can transfer an improving decision process to other games. The huge one that is absent is the pot-vs-safety decision, one that I mess up all too often.

Dave

drivermaker said:

Hey, I want to hear from GoldenChild myself. But as I recall, I think I remember him saying that he spent about 10 minutes after the break just studying the table for patterns and the best out.

In my case, I really didn't start doing it until about the last 7 or 8 balls were on the table and that might have already been too late. You have to plan for the most natural and easiest way out without running the CB all over the table or snookering yourself. My low scores before I even got 10 were also a result of bad thinking and pattern play that resulted in a long or low percentage cut shot that I either missed or ended up trapped with another one right after that.

This is why I think the game is so good for practice because it makes YOU think and use your brain to create your own patterns. In 9 ball the pattern is already laid out for you, you just have to figure out how to move the CB around properly.

Click to expand...

It is a great game for practice, Drivermandu...

I was thinking it would be a nice game for spectating, as each player has to play the same "hole" (in golf terms), but then you reminded me that guys like Golden Child stand and study the table for 10 minutes---that's not too interesting to watch.

As for strategy, I'm discovering, since still playing this game, that when I have a ball near a pocket, I integrate the ball's number into my runout plan. For example, if it's the 15 ball, I'll probably take it out before the rotation phase, as it would be the last ball on the table if I didn't. This means it is in the way now and it would only get me from a score of 18 to a score of 20 at the end of the game. I'm trying to determine what balls, and where they are, that I want to use for the rotation shots.

Now if I can just get shape on the eleventh ball...geez!..

Jeff Livingston