I got this the other day on a 9'er. Straighter than straight, with the CB as frozen as the credit market. What options do the pundits have for this?
How do you play this 9 ball end game?
- Thread starter KoolKat9Lives
- Start date
Personally, i don't have any pipe dreams about jacking up and doing some crack pipe shot.
You can either cross it and try to bank it or play safe banking it back and forth, or you can just try to make the 8 and accept the bank on the 9 or playing safe on the 9.
Since my safeties suck, i would play to make the 8, and stiffen the 9 bank short for a shot at the win.
You can either cross it and try to bank it or play safe banking it back and forth, or you can just try to make the 8 and accept the bank on the 9 or playing safe on the 9.
Since my safeties suck, i would play to make the 8, and stiffen the 9 bank short for a shot at the win.
I would try to play safe on the eight. Shoot soft on the 8 with bottom right, leaving the 8 on the lower rail about 1 foot out of the pocket and the cue on the side rail just below the side pocket. this leaves your opponent with 2 low percentage bank shot options on the eight, and little chance to gain position on the 9 even if he makes one.
You could try the low percentage 8 ball bank into corner pocket and get good position on the nine. If it were me, and I like cut shots, I'd slow roll the 8 into the corner pocket and take that tough 9 ball cut. Play it so that if you miss the cut, the cue ball goes to the right hand short rail and the 9 ball would be somewhere in the center of the left hand short rail. Many people call me an optimist.
This is a difficult situation - the goal should be defensive, just to get back to the table again in a better position. In a safety battle, let the other player try the difficult shots and make the mistakes.
I think the cross bank is difficult and a sell out. There are two safes I see here, a thin cut on the 8 at low speed to get the balls in this position:
Or this safe - which has to be hit right or it's a double kiss:
Neither one is particularly hard and either one will give you a chance, but speed contraol is critical.
Chris
I think the cross bank is difficult and a sell out. There are two safes I see here, a thin cut on the 8 at low speed to get the balls in this position:
Or this safe - which has to be hit right or it's a double kiss:
Neither one is particularly hard and either one will give you a chance, but speed contraol is critical.
Chris
This is what I did. As it turns out (I was playing partners, "non-scotch"), our opponent on the next shot left a moderately tough shot which my partner made.
I considered the cross corner bank, but being frozen just took any aggressiveness out of my % confidence.
We were fortunate to have won and I'm not positive I took the very best option, but it seemed like the safest route against an agressive minded playing B player.
We were fortunate to have won and I'm not positive I took the very best option, but it seemed like the safest route against an agressive minded playing B player.
Last edited:
I think you did fine - this is a difficult position.
The problem with the cross bank is it's almost a guaranteed sell out if you miss because the 8 will likely be right in front of the corner pocket.
Chris
I agree, but I'd use a little right english and try to get all the way to the short rail where the 9 is. I'd play to over cut the 8 and hope that it goes to the middle of the other short rail if I miss.
I'm with you but I like your first safe much better than the second one. I would rather keep the 8 away from the 9 as far as possible. If the cue ball is a little off the head rail, a carom to the 9 is very tempting.
I wouldn't try to make the 8 to get a bank or hard cut on the 9. I remember Grady saying something like " Never try to make one hard shot to get another one."
If you shoot the shot I suggested and miss, the balls come to rest as they do in the safety. If you make it, you win. I fooled around a little bit with it yesterday. Its a good shot.
***Sorry, I was looking at the wrong cuetable. This is in regard to post #7.***
Last edited:
I would do whatever it took to make the 8ball and feather in the 9. The only other option I see is to bank the 8 in. I know quite a few people who might play it this way, especially on tight equipment.
i agree if you got a good stroke then rolling the 8 in doesn't leave you that bad of a cut on the 9 ball.