Learning the pattern play

justnum

justnum

Billiards Improvement Research Projects Associate
Silver Member
I am restarting my journey for a 141 high run.

Ive been focusing on breakshots for the past few months and made some progress.
And the keyball and getting to the breakshot.

Check pool pro Michael Yednak on Facebook.

I plan to journal my discoveries.

Any tips on navigating the stack?
 
justnum, Howdy;

"The Straight Pool Bible" by Arthur "Babe" Cranfield is literally just that.
Sit down and read it. Read it a second time see what ya missed the first time?
Ok, now set-up on your table the diagrams that are in the book. Shoot them,
remember them. Continue on.
Another good book was written by George Fels entitled "Advanced Pool
Techniques and Strategies for Mastering the Game". Worth doing the same
as mentioned above.
Each of the authors has their own take on how the game "should" be played.
Both are worth reading. Problem is, reading anything other then the table won't
do you any good. They are merely guides to help you begin to see what is out
there. Best advise is what the Cocobolo Cowboy mentioned; "you need to go play Pool"!

hank
 
Howdy All;

Thinkin' maybe he's thinkin that 141 is the winning number like in 8,9 or10 ball????
141 = 14.1 ???

hank
 
measureman said:
I think he meant 14.1.
My tip would be to clear the balls off the rails early because these are the hardest to play position from.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh, you’re likely right.

Our self appointed new-player brand ambassador just needs to tighten up his knowledge a bit.
 
TheBasics said:
justnum, Howdy;

"The Straight Pool Bible" by Arthur "Babe" Cranfield is literally just that.
Sit down and read it. Read it a second time see what ya missed the first time?
Ok, now set-up on your table the diagrams that are in the book. Shoot them,
remember them. Continue on.
Another good book was written by George Fels entitled "Advanced Pool
Techniques and Strategies for Mastering the Game". Worth doing the same
as mentioned above.
Each of the authors has their own take on how the game "should" be played.
Both are worth reading. Problem is, reading anything other then the table won't
do you any good. They are merely guides to help you begin to see what is out
there. Best advise is what the Cocobolo Cowboy mentioned; "you need to go play Pool"!

hank
Click to expand...

I would still recommend going to play, take 99 critical shots with you, read, practice what you read, and become better.

in 2021 Pool instructional material is cheap, free, and people do not use it.

Back in 50’s n 60’s no one gave you anything for free. Might have to buy dinner, fill gas tank, or wash car, people who were good plsysbgave nothing.

Might learn by watching, might.🤣
 
Over and above some sound advice already offered in this thread ....

I've always liked 200+ ball runner Steve Lipsky's philosophy when it came to planning the end pattern. Steve made a distinction between the balls that would be expected to be useful in the end pattern and those that would not, and this philosophy invariably led to leaving a very manageable end sequence. It was rarely about early selection of the exact order of the last few balls in the rack and entirely about eliminating all the balls that were unlikely to be useful in the end pattern, a practice that left him many options when he got toward the end of the rack.

By the way, Steve has a lot of nerve. In about 2005, I lent him my Meucci, which was my spare cue at the time. He then used it to beat me to a pulp in a practice match, running 117 along the way. That was pretty mean, wouldn't you say?
 
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measureman said:
My tip would be to clear the balls off the rails early because these are the hardest to play position from.
Click to expand...
Clearing behind the rack also rules out a break shot there. It’s usually fairly easy to make that (14th) ball and get shape on a better/side break ball (?).
Position difficulty from rail balls sort of depends on whether they are frozen, or close to the pocket (?).
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
Ask me any question you want, you maybe not get a reply. Might get told none of your business.
Click to expand...
is there such a thing as hitting the break shot too hard.

I know to avoid freezes or scratches. I am talking about the distribution of the rack, like I hit it and sometimes balls cluster near the rail.

I cant tell if its break angle or break speed? Whats your diagnosis?
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
Ask me any question you want, you maybe not get a reply. Might get told none of your business.
Click to expand...
is there such a thing as hitting the break shot too hard.

I know to avoid freezes or scratches. I am talking about the distribution of the rack, like I hit it and sometimes balls cluster near the rail.

I cant tell if its break angle or break speed? Whats your diagnosis?

My practice routine was 100 break shot balls at various speeds, without the rack.

Then I moved on to hitting breakshots and working through the rack.

I just want to practice looking for my balls and thinking about what factors decide my run.

Practice has been good. I will not make a high run attempt until a few weeks of training. Right now its all technique and visualization practice.
 
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Well I like to joking say the world has two kings of people Talkers, and Doers.

Most doers work toward goals, those who succeed are good at something, or very sucessful.

Talker just talk, most only do one thing good FAIL, as there is no work towards goals, or dreams.
 
justnum said:
is there such a thing as hitting the break shot too hard.

I know to avoid freezes or scratches. I am talking about the distribution of the rack, like I hit it and sometimes balls cluster near the rail.

I cant tell if its break angle or break speed? Whats your diagnosis?
Click to expand...
Many of the old timers used to think that there was such a thing as hitting the break shot too hard.

According to the great Jack Colavita, Ray Martin watched one of his matches (1986 in Philadelphia, I think) and offered that he shouldn't draw so hard off the front of the pack that he could scratch into one of the top two corners. That said, these days, both Hohmann and Feijen, arguably the two best straight poolers of this generation. often hit it hard enough that the cue ball hits the head rail and, yes, occasionally they scratch into one of the top corners. To my recollection, the only one of the golden agers that hit the break shot as hard as Hohmann and Feijen was Luther Lassiter.
 
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sjm said:
Many of the old timers used to think that there was such a thing as hitting the reak shot too hard.

According to the great Jack Colavita, Ray Martin watched one of his matches (1986 in Philadelphia, I think) and offered that he shouldn't draw so hard off the front of the pack that he could scratch into one of the top two corners. That said, these days, both Hohmann and Feijen, arguably the two best straight poolers of this generation. often hit it hard enough that the cue ball hits the head rail and, yes, occasionally they scratch into one of the top corners. To my recollection, the only one of the golden agers that hit the break shot as hard as Hohmann and Feijen was Luther Lassiter.
Click to expand...
I learned to play 14.1 with the old clay balls on slow cloth.
You had to hammer the break shot and sometimes use force follow to open the balls.
But we didn't know any better.Thats what we played on.
With modern balls and fast cloth you can hit the break shot much easier which means you are a bit more accurate in pocketing the break ball.
 
TheBasics said:
justnum, Howdy;

"The Straight Pool Bible" by Arthur "Babe" Cranfield is literally just that.
Sit down and read it. Read it a second time see what ya missed the first time?
Ok, now set-up on your table the diagrams that are in the book. Shoot them,
remember them. Continue on.
Another good book was written by George Fels entitled "Advanced Pool
Techniques and Strategies for Mastering the Game". Worth doing the same
as mentioned above.
Each of the authors has their own take on how the game "should" be played.
Both are worth reading. Problem is, reading anything other then the table won't
do you any good. They are merely guides to help you begin to see what is out
there. Best advise is what the Cocobolo Cowboy mentioned; "you need to go play Pool"!

hank
Click to expand...
. Best advise is what the Cocobolo Cowboy mentioned; "you need to go play Pool"!

Well that's got to be a first.
 
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