one pocket strategy question

measureman

measureman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I play one pocket every Saturday with the same guy and usually we break even or one of us is up a game or two.
My Fargo is 576 his is 554 so we are pretty close.
The only advantage he has is that he banks a little better than me and I try not to leave an easy bank or if no choice I try to leave it off angle a bit.
I have tried two different strategy's I play very aggressive or very conservative and neither seems to gain the upper hand.
Suggestions?
 
measureman said:
I play one pocket every Saturday with the same guy and usually we break even or...
Suggestions?
Click to expand...
Practice your banks. When you bank, if you miss, the ball has to remain within a diamond of your pocket -- preferably half a diamond. Sometimes you must shoot long banks harder to avoid leaving a bank for your opponent.
 
You mention playing either very aggressive or very conservative. I don't know if you mean that literally or figuratively. But using the only context I have here, your post, I'm going to have to go with literally.

The best players play aggressively, conservatively, and everywhere in between depending on the situation. So don't limit yourself to just one or the other.

Also, don't ever be afraid to take an intentional foul when you're in a tough spot. Your opponent can't win by you going backwards in score. They can win by them going forwards in score, though.
 
measureman said:
I play one pocket every Saturday with the same guy and usually we break even or one of us is up a game or two.
My Fargo is 576 his is 554 so we are pretty close.
The only advantage he has is that he banks a little better than me and I try not to leave an easy bank or if no choice I try to leave it off angle a bit.
I have tried two different strategy's I play very aggressive or very conservative and neither seems to gain the upper hand.
Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Don’t think it’s an issue of conservative v aggressive, rather you should play to tighter specs.

IOWs, though it’s not possible to keep your opponent off every bank you can greatly reduce how many they get and try your best to leave distance, awkward angles, and the CB on the rail or jacked up when you do. The little stuff matters against most mortals and they’ll give up opportunities to you and break down if you squeeze tight enough.

Lou Figueroa
 
are you talking about mike? i’ve watched him give a lesson to somebody on 2 and 3 rail banks. He hit every single one of them.

whenever ive played one pocket with guys above my speed i just do my best to not leave them anything ever. i figure the only advantage i have is that i can MAYBE be more patient than them and just wait for their mistake to happen before mine.

this is tough to do until you get trapped a bunch of times and learn not to leave the guy that easy of an escape again. anybody proficient at thinning the bottom of the stack and leaving you welded to it, for instance, cannot be left that opportunity, which takes away a lot of easy returns, including takeouts.

obviously im not in a position to give you advice but we played once a long time ago and i know how dangerous you can be.

if it is mike, just try to stay aware of those 2 and 3 railers knowing full well that he will fire at them when it is safe to
 
Since your pretty close in execution.... I've heard Chicago Artie say this..... put more emphasis on your cue ball placement than the bank.
 
since you are very close in ability it doesn't do much good to think you can simply change something and make the results change.
only getting better makes you a favorite.

like flipping a coin. if its equal you cant change how you do by calling different sides of it.
 
measureman said:
I play one pocket every Saturday with the same guy and usually we break even or one of us is up a game or two.
My Fargo is 576 his is 554 so we are pretty close.
The only advantage he has is that he banks a little better than me and I try not to leave an easy bank or if no choice I try to leave it off angle a bit.
I have tried two different strategy's I play very aggressive or very conservative and neither seems to gain the upper hand.
Suggestions?
Click to expand...
It's a game of risk and reward. What is right one time can be wrong another.
 
Based on Fargo I'm assuming neither of you run balls particularly well. I don't say this to belittle. I say it to mean that games are likely longer. Very few games played where you or he makes one glaring error and that's that for that particular rack.

This is important to consider.

Place importance more on moving balls to your hole as often as possible and applying pressure in the onlyway you really can...CROWDING your hole while leaving him shots that he's uncomfortable with but might shoot(Long distance and relatively straight in, frozen to the rail, jacked up from medium distance etc etc, likely all the things that make you AND EVERYONE ELSE uncomfortable too). He will make them once in awhile and that's ok because he's not running out but when he misses you'll be able to get 2-4 or even more because you have an advantage in the lay of the balls. To really do this well you need to work hard on moving the balls while they are still in the rack area. It's much harder to gain this advantage when there are only 5-6 balls on the table.

Kicking at the stack when he doesn't have balls near his hole is a huge move for this and I suggest you spend a little time by yourself kicking with some pace at the stack and just see if you can get a feel for glancing off the balls in productive ways.

GL
 
I like the advice about practicing using the stack. The same goes for the rails. One ball and the rail safeties are quite possible but they need practice. Pocket points are underutilized also. Shoot at points, particularly side pocket points, there is a lot more margin shooting points than most people think.

Focusing on the table in general should gain you a few balls a session, caroms and unnoticed combos usually show up.

Use this thread to make a list. Break the list into groups of five. Practice the first group of five suggestions thirty minutes then rotate to the next five things. Group the suggestions into whatever you see as the order of importance.

Be realistic calculating risk and reward. What will you gain from a shot? What is the potential cost?

A guess, cut your speed in half on most shots, then cut it in half again!

Try to find a few new shots to show him every week. Keeping your opponent off balance can be a big part of one pocket.

Hu
 
Go to 1pocket.org and check out this.
Screenshot_20260323_083240_Chrome.jpg
 
measureman was a very good player when he was younger. not just a decent pool room player, he played well.

so he knows the game. its just the other guy plays as well as he does.
 
qolbrand said:
are you talking about mike? i’ve watched him give a lesson to somebody on 2 and 3 rail banks. He hit every single one of them.

whenever ive played one pocket with guys above my speed i just do my best to not leave them anything ever. i figure the only advantage i have is that i can MAYBE be more patient than them and just wait for their mistake to happen before mine.

this is tough to do until you get trapped a bunch of times and learn not to leave the guy that easy of an escape again. anybody proficient at thinning the bottom of the stack and leaving you welded to it, for instance, cannot be left that opportunity, which takes away a lot of easy returns, including takeouts.

obviously im not in a position to give you advice but we played once a long time ago and i know how dangerous you can be.

if it is mike, just try to stay aware of those 2 and 3 railers knowing full well that he will fire at them when it is safe to
Click to expand...
No not Mike, it's Fred from Maryland.
 
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