One Pocket has always been a strategists game. Straight shooting Josh has blown that theory away. He had Tony rattled.
Is your game more strategic or tactical?
- Thread starter Tennesseejoe
- Start date
Yes he did. And that is what is interesting. One Pocket strategists use a lot of slow play and traps but when they run in to a straight shooting kid ... it's a new ball game.
This was a fascinating series in that Tony lost his game plan and tried to shoot straight with Josh. If they played again ad Tony stayed with his style....it would be a different game.
WobblyStroke
Well-known member
As suspected, people have differing definitions of these words. Thanks to BBB for a post on the distinctions. I didn't read it, but I'm sure anyone who bothers to make such a write-up knows what's up.
A strategy is a general idea of how to get to your goal (winning). A tactic is a specific thing that can be done as part of the overall strategy.
Here's a few examples....
Soccer strat: play a ball possession style to dominate time of play. Tactics used to implement it: spacing, give and goes, set plays.
Bball strat: pick on the weakest defender to break down a defense. Tactics used: Pass to the guy he's covering. Use screens vs switching teams to switch the weak defender onto our preferred matchup, etc.
Pool strat: play into my opponents weaknesses. Tactics: if he's a bad kicker, make him kick. Maybe favor a safe over a 60% offensive shot you would pass up against a guy that's likely to kicksafe you back and maybe take the advantage. If he has poor eye sight favor safes that have distance and patterns that will leave him long on misses. If he has no power to his stroke, consider pushing out to spots where a power stroke is required.
Pool strat 2: mess with his head. Tactics: control your pace of play around the table to throw off his. This could mean playing really fast which can be intimidating if you are getting out. Or it can mean playing really slow vs a rhythm player and throwing off his pace and rhythm.
Pretending to play offensive shots and acting like it only to deliberately play safe as if lucky can also get some guys hot and bothered. Insert any sharking techniques not below you here.
Pool strat 3: Play aggressively. Tactics: banks over safes, riskier lockup safeties over sure weak safeties, etc.
So ye, to me the two are intertwined as my tactics are just the specific actions I take to carry out my strategy.
A strategy is a general idea of how to get to your goal (winning). A tactic is a specific thing that can be done as part of the overall strategy.
Here's a few examples....
Soccer strat: play a ball possession style to dominate time of play. Tactics used to implement it: spacing, give and goes, set plays.
Bball strat: pick on the weakest defender to break down a defense. Tactics used: Pass to the guy he's covering. Use screens vs switching teams to switch the weak defender onto our preferred matchup, etc.
Pool strat: play into my opponents weaknesses. Tactics: if he's a bad kicker, make him kick. Maybe favor a safe over a 60% offensive shot you would pass up against a guy that's likely to kicksafe you back and maybe take the advantage. If he has poor eye sight favor safes that have distance and patterns that will leave him long on misses. If he has no power to his stroke, consider pushing out to spots where a power stroke is required.
Pool strat 2: mess with his head. Tactics: control your pace of play around the table to throw off his. This could mean playing really fast which can be intimidating if you are getting out. Or it can mean playing really slow vs a rhythm player and throwing off his pace and rhythm.
Pretending to play offensive shots and acting like it only to deliberately play safe as if lucky can also get some guys hot and bothered. Insert any sharking techniques not below you here.
Pool strat 3: Play aggressively. Tactics: banks over safes, riskier lockup safeties over sure weak safeties, etc.
So ye, to me the two are intertwined as my tactics are just the specific actions I take to carry out my strategy.
Many Russian and British generals discussed strategy while falling-down drunk.Is waiting for your opponent to get drunk, considered a tactic?
WobblyStroke
Well-known member
More of a strategy. The tactic would be to buy him drinks yourselfIs waiting for your opponent to get drunk, considered a tactic?
I've tried that too. The strategy was cheaper.More of a strategy. The tactic would be to buy him drinks yourself
Filler with the "home" court advantage is pretty tough to beat. They'd have to play elsewhere.
StrategyIs waiting for your opponent to get drunk, considered a tactic?
That is a good strategy.
That's only one strategy at one pocket. Josh used a different one.
Tony has a complex strategy with many options. Josh has limited OP experience so I think his strategy is very basic...shoot the ball and make it. My reason for the first post is that folks start out by learning and practicing tactics. Strategy comes later and to a lesser degree if at all.
I think the more you practice and train, the more tactics are available. Some people can't draw the ball and some people can precisely control the rolling cueball path and speed control to execute a lock-up safety. The more tactics you have at your disposal, the more strategic options are available to you. There's more nuances to decide when to be aggressive, defensive, when to take lower percentage shots, which lower percentage shots are available, what to push out to, whether to break for an open table vs. clusters, etc. Depending on the circumstances, I tend to visualize different ways the game could play out and really set my heart to how I want it to play out. From that visualization I tend to have a game plan that informs my tactical decisions to steer the game to play out the way I visualized it.
The goal of the game is not to make balls,
The goal of the game is to make the last ball.
Three fouls? So, is three-fouling your opponent a strategy or a tactic?Not necessarily.
I can win a game of nine ball without ever making a ball