straight rail

Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
erriep said:
hehe, normal. You'll spend your entire life to try to achieve these as perfectly as you imagine the shots :) , and there is no end to this quest. That's straight rail.

one key is to master the speed levels in the 1/3 of the table, and that's not mostly due to your stroke speed, but to the "quantity of OB1" at a known stroke speed. Work to find the appropriate "quantity" of the OB1 who gives you the "automatic speed" of the ob1 when you die on the ob2. That's a productive training. It's "most thick that you believe". This advice is usefull when you begin to learn straight rail. Think to it . More thick.

another advice i would suggest you, if you train to master the straight rail, is to play on a small table.
9feet/2m80 , or even smaller 2m60 (<- norm in belgium under 20 of general average in tournament :) belgians are verrrry serious straight rail opponents.incredible level they play. what they call "medium players" are masters level in the usa ... their masters -"Honneur" in their league-can really play >200 general average in a tournament on a 10feet , 400 points distance. not a joke).
To learn straight rail on a 10feet , 3.10 is wayyyyy too hard IMHO. That's the problem you have in the usa, where so many tables in the poolrooms are 10feet.
Click to expand...

The place close to me that has three gabriels Does also have 2 9ft olhausen billiard tables, the cloth on them is like carpet though, not very well maintained or played much, but I do see guys playing straight rail in them time to time

But this is the only place I've ever seen smaller billiard tables and never seen one smaller than 9ft
 
Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
Do the players play with very light cues?
Like 17 ounces or less?
I have 18 ounce for my current cues, often thought while playing straight rail, that it could help some to have the cue even lighter
 
erriep

erriep

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
yep, for straight rail, 17oz / 480g or bit less -without the wrap- is kind of norm here . the lighter, the better.
from 16.5 to 17.3 is what you'll see the most in the poolhalls. (personnally i do like the light side for straight rail , 470g ).
short, 140cm. sometime 138 , depending of the stance & taste.
 
Last edited:
Dean_H

Dean_H

luv the small modalities
Silver Member
Hi Beneath The Sur

I use a Longoni Sorrento 480g with a shaft with a 11mm tip. I also use an elkmaster ( soft tip ) for my shaft I use for straight rail although you may want a layered soft tip instead.

I have been practicing gather shots for many years now. I memorize the position, set up, and especially the feel and speed of the shot. I have worked thru the easy gather shots from Xavier Gretillat's book. I am now working my way thru the medium difficulty shots. Learning Gather shots takes a lot of time and practice. Once you get a feel for one position you should try to gather and make 5 more points after the gather. Once you can gather and make 5 points after the gather shot move to next diagram. Practicing Gather shots has helped me visualize what to do in a very abstract game.

I suggest not trying to learn the nurses yet, once you get good at controlling the balls and gathering then you can learn the nurses.

I meet people at the billiard hall and all there view of straight rail is you learn the nurses and that is the whole game, but there is a lot more to the game then nursing.

Don't get discouraged by peoples attitude to straight rail either. For some reason people hate the game for whatever reason. As long as you like the game, and are improving, and having fun that is what matters.
 
Last edited:
Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
Dean_H said:
I use a Longoni Sorrento 480g with a shaft with a 11mm tip. I also use an elkmaster ( soft tip ) for my shaft I use for straight rail although you may want a layered soft tip instead.

I have been practicing gather shots for many years now. I memorize the position, set up, and especially the feel and speed of the shot. I have worked thru the easy gather shots from Xavier Gretillat's book. I am now working my way thru the medium difficulty shots. Learning Gather shots takes a lot of time and practice. Once you get a feel for one position you should try to gather and make 5 more points after the gather. Once you can gather and make 5 points after the gather shot move to next diagram. Practicing Gather shots has helped me visualize what to do in a very abstract game.

I suggest not trying to learn the nurses yet, once you get good at controlling the balls and gathering then you can learn the nurses.

I meet people at the billiard hall and all there view of straight rail is you learn the nurses and that is the whole game, but there is a lot more to the game then nursing.

Don't get discouraged by peoples attitude to straight rail either. For some reason people hate the game for whatever reason. As long as you like the game, and are improving, and having fun that is what matters.
Click to expand...


Is this fellows book printed in English?

I have no one to discourage the game for me as I don't have anyone to play any billiards with, even if I dof

I enjoy things that take more than a little time to get a handle of
 
Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
this game seems to be more frustrating than 3c while trying to gather the balls,
i do feel more loose though when attempting a 3 rail shot, make quite a bit more, also see different shots i wouldnt see or attempt while playing 3c

very intriguing game
 
Dean_H

Dean_H

luv the small modalities
Silver Member
Yeah the Grand Dutch Pentathalon tournament is a great tournament. Kozoom is covering the matches and it seems with more than one camera so there is good chance some of the matches end up in the Kozoom replays.

On another note the youtube channel of "Didier Tromas" just posted 12 matches of the French Masters tournament for 47_1 Baulkline.
 
Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
hey dean i found dalys book, free pdf

lots of stuff for me to learn there, kinda crazy its free
 
R

rikdee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've often said the first 17 pages of this book are a fascinating read as the narrative highlights the unimaginable skill level of the 19th century billiard masters, all in spite of the comparatively primitive equipment. Some players!
 
Last edited:
book collector

book collector

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
rikdee said:
I've often said the first 17 pages of this book is a fascinating read as the narrative highlights the unimaginable skill level of the 19th century billiard masters, all in spite of the comparatively primitive equipment. Some players!
Click to expand...

There is an old video of Walter Lindrum playing English billiards , which also counted the straight rail billiard shots.
He figured out how to gather the balls on the end rail from the break and then run hundreds and even thousands of points.
He made them so fast that I read they put 2 referees on his matches to keep count.
He single handedly killed the game because he was so much better than everyone else, there was no interest to play.
I think one of his last matches , he spotted one of the other top players 6 or 7000points in a race to 13,000.
He passed him at 10,000 and gave him a couple more thousand spot and beat him doing that also.
Nowadays if you run 100 you are a monster.
I think Walters record was 5000 in a row without using the corner to trap the ball.
A player named Tom Reece did that before it was illegal and ran 200,000.
 
Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
book collector said:
There is an old video of Walter Lindrum playing English billiards , which also counted the straight rail billiard shots.
He figured out how to gather the balls on the end rail from the break and then run hundreds and even thousands of points.
He made them so fast that I read they put 2 referees on his matches to keep count.
He single handedly killed the game because he was so much better than everyone else, there was no interest to play.
I think one of his last matches , he spotted one of the other top players 6 or 7000points in a race to 13,000.
He passed him at 10,000 and gave him a couple more thousand spot and beat him doing that also.
Nowadays if you run 100 you are a monster.
I think Walters record was 5000 in a row without using the corner to trap the ball.
A player named Tom Reece did that before it was illegal and ran 200,000.
Click to expand...


Can you imagine how long it would take to do this?
200000 shots
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
book collector said:
There is an old video of Walter Lindrum playing English billiards , which also counted the straight rail billiard shots.
...
A player named Tom Reece did that before it was illegal and ran 200,000.
Click to expand...
A google of Walter Lindrum will bring up some videos on YouTube of him. Wikipedia says:

His record break of 4,137 was made in a match he lost against Joe Davis at Thurston Hall on 19 January 1932. However, this precipitated a change in the rules of the game. As this break mostly consisted of long runs of close cannons (a total of 902 cannons were scored), the Billiards Control Council established the first version of the baulk-line-rule, in which the cue ball had to cross the baulk line every 200 points during a break.​

As for Tom Reece, the break was almost 250,000 consecutive shots. Wikipedia says:

In 1907, he scored a record break of 499,135 points over a period of five weeks, without a miss, using an anchor or cradle cannon nurse system. His opponent was Joe Chapman, and the match (which was played to 500,000 points with the express intention of trying to better the recently set record for highest break) was played in Soho, London, England.​

They (or rather, he) played at night for five weeks. The record was not recognized because the records people said that the press and public were not present for the whole run. They would have needed to be paid a lot to stick around. The shot is done by getting two balls frozen on the jaws of a corner pocket with the cue ball very near. The cue ball is double kissed off each ball and returns to its starting point. Someone went to the trouble of measuring how many shots it took for one of the frozen balls to rotate in place one full revolution.

The officially recognized break with the corner nurse allowed was only 42746 by William Cook, so it was only 21 thousand shots or so at two points per shot.
 
R

rikdee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
book collector said:
There is an old video of Walter Lindrum playing English billiards , which also counted the straight rail billiard shots.
He figured out how to gather the balls on the end rail from the break and then run hundreds and even thousands of points.
He made them so fast that I read they put 2 referees on his matches to keep count.
He single handedly killed the game because he was so much better than everyone else, there was no interest to play.
I think one of his last matches , he spotted one of the other top players 6 or 7000points in a race to 13,000.
He passed him at 10,000 and gave him a couple more thousand spot and beat him doing that also.
Nowadays if you run 100 you are a monster.
I think Walters record was 5000 in a row without using the corner to trap the ball.
A player named Tom Reece did that before it was illegal and ran 200,000.
Click to expand...


yeah, I've watched the Lindrum vids, equally impressive as the stories related by Daly.
 
Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
in the daly book theres a practice exercise that im doing, and its kickn my ass

the one where you make a 12inch circle, hit full on the first, dead ball, the object is to train a gather

all 3 close togther in the circle, hit the first one full, with dead center, make the billiard while driving the ball across table back to the circle, 3 different ones where you have to use a dead draw, dead follow and dead spread

its very tough,
very very tough
 
Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
do tables made for playing straight rail have slower cloth than the ones they play 3c on?
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
beneath_the_sur said:
do tables made for playing straight rail have slower cloth than the ones they play 3c on?
Click to expand...

I think this depends on the room. I have played most of my straight rail on Simonis 300 or Granito M. Watching the speed of the cloth on videos of Caudron playing the small games, it sure looks like he is on fast cloth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top