Since everyone ignored my last post in "Lucking out" thread, I have to repost it separately...
When they play opponents who shoot hard and try to luck balls in as much as possible, a lot of players counters with safeties and teaches others to do the same. Not only this advice is wrong, but it's also dangerous for development of future players... When playing against a usually weaker opponent who often tries to luck balls in by shooting hard, playing safeties is a common mistake people tend to make. Being a profound and experienced banger myself, I can assure you I'm very glad when I have to play a highly skilled player who spends most of his shots playing safe and trying to lock me up, especially when he sees I'm not the greatest shooter of all time. I blitz the defense he made with a few well positioned full-powered shots and before you know it I'm on the black. Then he tries to respond, shoots some difficult ball and misses, giving me a fairly easy win, knowing he'd most likely destroy me if he played smart.
Bangers who rely on slop shots will usually try to persuade you to play some bar rules version which has no punishment for that type of play. Decline if you can, but many times you won't get that option. And if you're a skilled tournament player, you don't even need to worry about the ruleset. Just play aggressively from the start. Don't even thnk about safeties, play simple position, or even sacrifice position play on certain shots and shoot one ball at a time. It's a much better solution than pulling back and defending. Just keep dropping balls, and if you miss, you'll actually want to leave a potentially easy shot for the opponent. If he tries to carefully aim and shoot at something pocketable, there's a larger chance he'll miss and leave himself open than if he decides to blast away. Think of the opponent as of a large piece of artillery. It's big, clumsy and innaccurate, so as long as you're on the move, it will have a hard time shooting you, but if you stop and try to build a large bunker instead, it'll rip you apart like a damn pinata. If you move forward, keep up the pressure and go for the 8 ball first, you'll be on the winning side 95% of time.
When they play opponents who shoot hard and try to luck balls in as much as possible, a lot of players counters with safeties and teaches others to do the same. Not only this advice is wrong, but it's also dangerous for development of future players... When playing against a usually weaker opponent who often tries to luck balls in by shooting hard, playing safeties is a common mistake people tend to make. Being a profound and experienced banger myself, I can assure you I'm very glad when I have to play a highly skilled player who spends most of his shots playing safe and trying to lock me up, especially when he sees I'm not the greatest shooter of all time. I blitz the defense he made with a few well positioned full-powered shots and before you know it I'm on the black. Then he tries to respond, shoots some difficult ball and misses, giving me a fairly easy win, knowing he'd most likely destroy me if he played smart.
Bangers who rely on slop shots will usually try to persuade you to play some bar rules version which has no punishment for that type of play. Decline if you can, but many times you won't get that option. And if you're a skilled tournament player, you don't even need to worry about the ruleset. Just play aggressively from the start. Don't even thnk about safeties, play simple position, or even sacrifice position play on certain shots and shoot one ball at a time. It's a much better solution than pulling back and defending. Just keep dropping balls, and if you miss, you'll actually want to leave a potentially easy shot for the opponent. If he tries to carefully aim and shoot at something pocketable, there's a larger chance he'll miss and leave himself open than if he decides to blast away. Think of the opponent as of a large piece of artillery. It's big, clumsy and innaccurate, so as long as you're on the move, it will have a hard time shooting you, but if you stop and try to build a large bunker instead, it'll rip you apart like a damn pinata. If you move forward, keep up the pressure and go for the 8 ball first, you'll be on the winning side 95% of time.
Here we go, AGAIN!
