Serious question, not joking. Feeling old…
Going to a Straight Pool tournament tomorrow, only my second larger tourney since surgery last year, and practiced some tee-off shots from the head rail today, only to find that my eyesight is such that I can roughly tell if I'm hitting an object ball that far away head-on, or to either side, so my make percentage is down to maybe 50% or worse. So I'm wondering if I should avoid making a fool of myself and break-off and let the other guy attack from there?
Alternatively, I could try to get opponents on two fouls first, but the problem with these youngsters is they don't have a clue and will shoot at a white flag and make it. Last time I played in a bigger tourney, I could try to corner-hook my opponent in a foot pocket, leaving the guy seven feet from the stack, and he'd fire the ball in and bust the stack open.
Believe me, it hurts to feel like I'm still taking the balls off the table as well as anyone, but, which is what happened to me in the first round of the K.O. stages last time, lose to a youngster whose pattern play looks hilarious, and who I really feel should be taking lessons with me finding insurance ball patterns and leave himself end patterns and break shots less than five feet away and off-straight, but who will not miss (we're talking about people who will shoot a spot shot in from an almost corner hook with enough speed to go four rails to the other side of the stack for position, and make it look like a hanger…).
Basically, when I break and leave anything whatsoever, what I'm looking at is to be 40 to 50 behind on average (taking into consideration guys like that will get out of line every once in a while, regardless of how straight they're shooting), and trying to beat someone to the shot who, again, is unlikely to ever miss anything sticking out anywhere.
Which makes me think I might as well try and win the lag, because there's little to like about my chances either way?
Ideas?
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
Going to a Straight Pool tournament tomorrow, only my second larger tourney since surgery last year, and practiced some tee-off shots from the head rail today, only to find that my eyesight is such that I can roughly tell if I'm hitting an object ball that far away head-on, or to either side, so my make percentage is down to maybe 50% or worse. So I'm wondering if I should avoid making a fool of myself and break-off and let the other guy attack from there?
Alternatively, I could try to get opponents on two fouls first, but the problem with these youngsters is they don't have a clue and will shoot at a white flag and make it. Last time I played in a bigger tourney, I could try to corner-hook my opponent in a foot pocket, leaving the guy seven feet from the stack, and he'd fire the ball in and bust the stack open.
Believe me, it hurts to feel like I'm still taking the balls off the table as well as anyone, but, which is what happened to me in the first round of the K.O. stages last time, lose to a youngster whose pattern play looks hilarious, and who I really feel should be taking lessons with me finding insurance ball patterns and leave himself end patterns and break shots less than five feet away and off-straight, but who will not miss (we're talking about people who will shoot a spot shot in from an almost corner hook with enough speed to go four rails to the other side of the stack for position, and make it look like a hanger…).
Basically, when I break and leave anything whatsoever, what I'm looking at is to be 40 to 50 behind on average (taking into consideration guys like that will get out of line every once in a while, regardless of how straight they're shooting), and trying to beat someone to the shot who, again, is unlikely to ever miss anything sticking out anywhere.
Which makes me think I might as well try and win the lag, because there's little to like about my chances either way?
Ideas?
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________
„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
Last edited: