2013 AZ Billiards Straight Pool Challenge!

dmgwalsh said:
Thanks, Mike.

Back at you for your 39. Up until this one, I was in the low 30s only infrequently this year, so far.
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Very nice shooting Dennis, really enjoyed that !!!!

You really had to come with some crazy shots to get your way out of trouble.

Keep it up kid !

Steve
 
I agree with Mike, Stevie, and Vahmurka -- nice going, Dennis! Crazy shots in some places, but ya did what ya had to do to keep the run going, in classic "London Brawler" style. :p

Now, clean the bird sh*t from the surface of the table. :p

(J/K; I know those are holepunch-reinforcers / ball-marker positions.)

-Sean
 
stevekur1 said:
Very nice shooting Dennis, really enjoyed that !!!!

You really had to come with some crazy shots to get your way out of trouble.

Keep it up kid !

Steve
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Thanks, Stever. Crazy shots are needed when you play position and bang balls around like me. A couple of times I almost hooked myself, but my shooting bailed me out.

And, Steve, didn't I tell you that a guy my age is not "kid". I will be 62 next month for crying out loud. :cool:

sfleinen said:
I agree with Mike, Stevie, and Vahmurka -- nice going, Dennis! Crazy shots in some places, but ya did what ya had to do to keep the run going, in classic "London Brawler" style. :p

-Sean
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Thanks, Sean. I do feel like I am trying to bend the table to my will at times and the table is fighting me tooth and nail, but I did not think this run was too awful bad in that regard. I had a couple where I bounced the ball off the rail and had a tad too much inside english which one time bumped the eight ball down to the bottom rail which forced a thin cut and a wild cue ball, and the other time almost hooked my cue ball, leaving a side cut. A couple other times, my cue did not do what I thought it would making for a couple of tough shots, sequences, but actually less often than usual. I am sometimes reminded of what Bobby Hunter said while commentating Brandon Shuff's match at Maryland last year. You shouldn't have to work so hard for the balls. Shooting like that, a couple of racks feel like a 100. Working on it.
 
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First post in this thread...

7/24/2013: 18 run

My goal is to run 50. I started yesterday and got 18. I'm a 9 baller but used to play a lot of straight pool when I first started playing 15-20 yrs ago. I had bought all the vhs instructional tapes and watched them all at the time. My high run then was I think 27 or so. I'm I'd say 2 or 3 balls better now in 9 ball, but haven't played straight pool for 15 years. I put my 9 ball speed as a high C/low B.

Lets see if I can get the 50 this year.
 
I played a few hours today, and beat my high run from yesterday.

New number for 2013 is 21.

I kept track of every run, all from a standard break shot. They were as follows today:

Trial-Run
0 - 0
1 - 16
2 - 9
3 - 9
4 - 0
5 - 3
6 - 18
7 - 8
8 - 2
9 - 21
10 - 14
11 - 9
12 - 4
13 - 4
14 - 9
15 - 4
16 - 21
 
dmgwalsh said:
Got a little 40 ball run to go with my 50 yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFPckvfN-kk

It felt a little cleaner, especially in the first two racks.

Had I not made the 50, this would have been my highest since 2011.
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Very Nice Shooting "not so" - Old Man

you really played some nice patterns there, yes you did get in trouble a few times. but you got right out of it with ease.

keep up the great shooting my friend !!!

-Steve
 
98(!) and missed the break shot

Folks:

Shot a 98 in practice tonight, and -- I must've thought I was Clark Kent or something -- I missed the break shot on the 8th rack! A standard side-of-the-pack breakshot (object ball in one of the foot corner pockets), and I wanted to stun *hard* into the side of the pack and bounce back out to the middle of the table. Did just that -- the cue ball was in the middle of the table, but the object ball fluttered in the corner pocket and bounced back out. A coincidental ball pocketed out of the break, but since the object ball was not made, it doesn't count -- 98 it is.

Damn. Rather than get mad at myself, I just looked in amazement that I didn't take my time and *pocket* the object ball -- really didn't need to be all that fancy in how I hit the pack or how it opened. But I paid the price for trying to be fancy. :(

Anyway, I climbed my 2013 high run up a bit on a tight-pocketed GCIII (4.5" corners), so I can't feel all was lost.

Hope I play this well in the Sandcastle qualifier this weekend,
-Sean
 
sfleinen said:
Folks:

Shot a 98 in practice tonight, and -- I must've thought I was Clark Kent or something -- I missed the break shot on the 8th rack! A standard side-of-the-pack breakshot (object ball in one of the foot corner pockets), and I wanted to stun *hard* into the side of the pack and bounce back out to the middle of the table. Did just that -- the cue ball was in the middle of the table, but the object ball fluttered in the corner pocket and bounced back out. A coincidental ball pocketed out of the break, but since the object ball was not made, it doesn't count -- 98 it is.

Damn. Rather than get mad at myself, I just looked in amazement that I didn't take my time and *pocket* the object ball -- really didn't need to be all that fancy in how I hit the pack or how it opened. But I paid the price for trying to be fancy. :(

Anyway, I climbed my 2013 high run up a bit on a tight-pocketed GCIII (4.5" corners), so I can't feel all was lost.

Hope I play this well in the Sandcastle qualifier this weekend,
-Sean
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Nice warm up for the Qualifier, Sean.

As for the run itself, if you had never been to 100 before, it probably would have bothered you more, but it sounds like you must have been in control of the table and just let your concentration lapse a tad. Nice job!
 
Interesting 52 Ball Run with Discussion

I thought I'd have a go at producing a 50 ball run while talking my way through each shot, explaining how I see it. I hope you find this interesting.
I'm playing on my home table which is a custom table with super tight pockets made by Thomas Ramsayer of Sport64.ch. On the BU pocket tightness they score 1.24.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fvqJ6pGxaI

My highest run so far on this table since I got it is 127 Balls. Planning to break 200, but it's SUPER tough.
 
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9BallJim said:
Way to go Dennis! Great run!
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Thanks, Jim.

I just finally finished your last match with Latimer at the IBC the last time you were here. Interesting discussions and pretty good straight pool.

I see you competed in the Straight Pool Challenge in Vegas. How did that go?

You did ok in your other events, also. How did you finish?
 
furryboffin said:
I thought I'd have a go at producing a 50 ball run while talking my way through each shot, explaining how I see it. I hope you find this interesting.
I'm playing on my home table which is a custom table with super tight pockets made by Thomas Ramsayer of Sport64.ch. On the BU pocket tightness they score 1.24.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fvqJ6pGxaI

My highest run so far on this table since I got it is 127 Balls. Planning to break 200, but it's SUPER tough.
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Very nice! I really appreciate ALL of your quite excellent insights.
Lots of knowledge there!
Would love to see you do a couple more runs of 3/4 racks the same way.

Stan Shuffett
 
Update to my earlier post Where i did say i got 83 run...
Actually it was 97..
Got PM from forum. Somebody was so kind to watch my run and noticed i got 1 rack more than i counted.. Lol.:grin:
 
I just started to play straight pool again. I ran a 71 then a 94 in my first couple weeks trying( to run a 100) I got video but cant post a link yet.
 
dmgwalsh said:
Thanks, Jim.

I just finally finished your last match with Latimer at the IBC the last time you were here. Interesting discussions and pretty good straight pool.

I see you competed in the Straight Pool Challenge in Vegas. How did that go?

You did ok in your other events, also. How did you finish?
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I'll have to watch that last video of me and Ed. I remember we talked about a lot of things. It was good to see him in Vegas and was surprised about his early exit from the Senior Singles.

As for the 14.1 challenge, it was my first time. I've been wanting to try it for the last three years and never found time to do it. You probably know how it works, but in case you don't you get four attempts for $20. Each attempt you rack 14, place the break ball wherever you want and take ball in hand. They keep track of your cumulative total and your best single attempt high run. My first time I ran 10 in each of my four attempts for a cumulative total of 40. I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't even get into a second rack. My second time was even worse. I think I had a 4, 5, 9 and 6 for a total of 24. Caleb von Dangershark was running the challenge and was very polite and supportive as he saw how bummed I was. He told me that my 40 was higher than some of the pros first attempts which made me feel a little better. Max Eberle was also there and was friendly and supportive too.

As for my performance in the Men's Open Singles, I won my first match then lost my next two. I had a 3-0 and then a 4-2 lead in my second match. I scratched and ended up on the wrong side of a safety battle in the hill-hill game. My opponent banked the 8 to beat me from a wheelchair and finished 17-24 out of a field of 1086. He played great and is now an Advanced player.

My team performed our best in the last several years we've been together for a finish of 33-48 out of 554 teams. We had a record of 6-2 and made it to the final bracket and won a match and then was eliminated.

The 9 days started off slow and then flew by towards the end. I can't believe it's over.
 
Thanks Stan. I'll see what I can do. I don't have much time these days. I only just got the room finished and new table set up quite recently. So I'm still getting a feel for the table. I plan on making a few more videos like this. Hopefully my memory card won't run out in the middle of the run next time! DOH!

Also, I'd be glad of any comments on my shot choices too, and if anyone sees things I missed, I'd be glad of their input. We're always learning!
 
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