Inventing a new pool ghost

justnum

justnum

Billiards Improvement Research Projects Associate
Silver Member
The standard tournament ghost is not good practice for beginners.

Suppose you have Juniors rising or adults pushing to be upper tier.

It is best to imagine ghosts with specific preferences for shots.

An entry level ghost for beginners is the always one rail safe preference. Dealing with defense from both the incoming and leaving player is critical to player development. When practicing evaluate the table for a one rail safe all the time.

Another entry level ghost for beginners is the over powered player. Practice setting up the same shot and see how it goes a few different ways.

The idea of inventing an opponent or creating a new ghost. My favorite ghost from experience are the players that take too long at the table.

It is easy to practice waiting. Not so easy to do as a younger man.
 
justnum said:
The standard tournament ghost is not good practice for beginners.

Suppose you have Juniors rising or adults pushing to be upper tier.

It is best to imagine ghosts with specific preferences for shots.

An entry level ghost for beginners is the always one rail safe preference. Dealing with defense from both the incoming and leaving player is critical to player development. When practicing evaluate the table for a one rail safe all the time.

Another entry level ghost for beginners is the over powered player. Practice setting up the same shot and see how it goes a few different ways.

The idea of inventing an opponent or creating a new ghost. My favorite ghost from experience are the players that take too long at the table.

It is easy to practice waiting. Not so easy to do as a younger man.
Click to expand...
Interesting point on the waiting. Jack Nicklaus was on the range with a young pro and was driving the kid insane by hitting a ball and then waiting around 3-5min before hitting another. Finally the kid goes, 'why the hell are you taking so long between shots. It'll take 2hours to get through that half bucket.". Jack replied, "How long do you take between shots on the course?". As you might have guessed, Jack was not a young man at the time. Practicing waiting isn't that easy....esp if you pay by the hour.
 
Black-Balled said:
How many racks does the ghost run on an opponent?
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Anywhere from zero on. You could play one that can only manage .5 or less or one that incrementally increases the strings or randomly via app or dice. I like the incremental one for pros going 20 or more ahead against a thing that keeps threatening to destroy them.
 
justnum said:
The standard tournament ghost is not good practice for beginners.
Click to expand...
Basically, standard Ghost is not good until the practicer can run a rack occasionally.
justnum said:
Suppose you have Juniors rising or adults pushing to be upper tier.
Click to expand...
These people should be able to run a rack occasionally.
justnum said:
It is best to imagine ghosts with specific preferences for shots.
Click to expand...
The Ghost teaches you that anything less than running completely out is a loosing proposition.
justnum said:
An entry level ghost for beginners is the always one rail safe preference.
Click to expand...
Can you rewrite this sentence and use different words. Those make no sense.
justnum said:
Dealing with defense from both the incoming and leaving player is critical to player development.
Click to expand...
When you get to defense, two0-way shots, and safeties, you are no longer a beginner.
 
Z-Nole said:
Ghosts scare me. And Clowns? Well, fuck clowns.
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If you have ghosts you just have to hire a Pac Man or a Ms Pac Man.Last I checked Ms Pac Man was cheaper but was threatening to sue over some gender pay gap complaint. I told her to just identify as Pac Man
 
justnum said:
The standard tournament ghost is not good practice for beginners.

Suppose you have Juniors rising or adults pushing to be upper tier.

It is best to imagine ghosts with specific preferences for shots.

An entry level ghost for beginners is the always one rail safe preference. Dealing with defense from both the incoming and leaving player is critical to player development. When practicing evaluate the table for a one rail safe all the time.

Another entry level ghost for beginners is the over powered player. Practice setting up the same shot and see how it goes a few different ways.

The idea of inventing an opponent or creating a new ghost. My favorite ghost from experience are the players that take too long at the table.

It is easy to practice waiting. Not so easy to do as a younger man.
Click to expand...
BF52655A-DA4B-4AA5-8CA7-36539F0F7773.jpeg
 
MitchAlsup said:
Basically, standard Ghost is not good until the practicer can run a rack occasionally.

These people should be able to run a rack occasionally.

The Ghost teaches you that anything less than running completely out is a loosing proposition.

Can you rewrite this sentence and use different words. Those make no sense.

When you get to defense, two0-way shots, and safeties, you are no longer a beginner.
Click to expand...

Not being a beginner, and playing the shot or safety the proper way is a long transition phase.

The ghost is to give players a specific focus for how to read the table.

Learning to read the table quickly against an opponent comes after years of study and experience.

I used to hate slower players, but now I realize they were more observant.

A 14.1 runout will be a good measure to decide when the layout is obvious versus it takes some thought and experience to solve.
 
For beginning players wouldn't it be better to start with the 4/5/6 ball ghost??
Did anyone here ever have the ghost play a safe on them? How would that even work anyways?? If a rising player wants to practice safeties then practice safes.
 
A 14.1 ghost??
A runnable 14.1 layout?? Did someone break like they thought the game was 8 ball??
To me a 14.1 rack is something you develop, quite often (always) you are intentionally moving balls around the table unlike 8 ball or 9 ball where you usually try not to hit other balls.
 
fastone371 said:
For beginning players wouldn't it be better to start with the 4/5/6 ball ghost??
Did anyone here ever have the ghost play a safe on them? How would that even work anyways?? If a rising player wants to practice safeties then practice safes.
Click to expand...

I always played safe on myself because my early pocketing skills were weak. I would practice endless hours, alternating between offensive and defensive shots. I developed a bad habit of shooting balls from practice, in competition I would rush the runout and miss easy positions.

My remedy was to practice alternating between getting excited about running out and realizing I have a complex safety situation to think out.
My entire game changed based on my practice habits.

Now I almost exclusively focus on developing good practice habits.
 
fastone371 said:
A 14.1 ghost??
A runnable 14.1 layout?? Did someone break like they thought the game was 8 ball??
To me a 14.1 rack is something you develop, quite often (always) you are intentionally moving balls around the table unlike 8 ball or 9 ball where you usually try not to hit other balls.
Click to expand...

How about a reverse 14.1 layout? Start with the breakball and then keeping adding balls. The fun math part was to find the areas the runout continues and the areas where the runout dies. You get to practice a specific sequence of shots and you can always look for adjustments. I never knew how important three shot ahead position play was until realizing you can't get everywhere on the table from one shot.

I understand the value of the keyball and the breakball. Keyball appreciation takes a lot of pool knowledge.

I started a reverse runout for a computer simulation, its a fruitful study.
 
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