Keeping the heat on the guy giving out the spot is the trick to winning.
That means constantly looking for ways to stick him up in a deadly safety when approaching your money ball in the rotation.
This means he has to be ultra careful because just about anyone, (even me), can run 2 balls from an open position.
Example: You're getting the wild 8. Stick him up when you get to the 6 or 7 and watch him start to sweat. This forces him into a runout status whenever he walks to the table. That's hard to fade (unless you're SVB or somebody similar) and they're not going to be playing you in the first place.
Most players do not know how to get the best of it when they get a spot because they feel(?) they 'just have to show they can run balls'. They play the game the same old way as if they were not getting a spot at all.
About an hour or two of studying and practicing this for fun will reveal how this can drive a spotter crazy.
Furthermore, if you can talk him into laying 8-5 on the money for each game, you'll bust him. Just do the arithmetic and see how that works for your advantage. The ego of some of the guys out there is something to behold. You'd be astonished at how many wise guys will jump on that one.
(Just some old tricks from a very old "grocery" player.)
You are completely correct but there is a catch-22 there. If the player was that clever he isn't getting such a big spot. You have to take into account if he knows the game.
He may not be such a great shooter for what ever reason, but if he knows the game his spot it going to have to take that into account. The player may not even know how big the spot he is getting is because he doesn't know what to do with it.
If I give someone the 7&8 wild, I really can't hardly miss or make any mistakes if the guy can play at all. If he safes me on the 5 and I don't hit it I lose. If I miss on the 5 and leave a shot, I lose. If I miss, get snookered, he plays me safe on pretty much anything past the 4 ball I probably lose. But if he doesn't know what to do I may win.
Jimmy Reid was in the pool room giving a guy a spot playing one pocket. The game was Jimmy could only run one ball and he had to play safe. The guy he was playing was not the worst player in the world but he was losing at the game. Someone watching from the side whispered something to the player.
What he told him to do was break the rack open and let Jimmy get his one ball. With the balls scattered and Jimmy not allowed to run more then one the player won easily. In fact Jimmy quit after losing one game.
I saw Buddy Hall playing a very weak player playing 9 ball giving him like 4 out. On night one the guy getting the spot lost. Night number two the guy had a plan. He began safe breaking the balls and going behind the rack with the cue ball.
They are playing like $500.00 a game by the way. After losing like 5 out of the first 6 games Hall quit. Here is the funny part. Hall told the guy he was not allowed to do it any more or he would not play. So the guy went back to open breaking and lost. A sucker is a sucker I guess.
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