Practicing 9 ball

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
I just saw something Jay said in another thread about practicing 9 ball. He mentioned he simply throws the balls up, spreads them out and takes bih to start. That's exactly what I do as well, but I also, always, have the odds on one end and evens on the other. That way, I am, effectively, making it as difficult on myself as possible which, to me, is the purpose of practice. Now, in real-time competition, do the balls spread out that way? Of course not. Sometimes, you break, and the 2, 3 and 4, etc., are all within a few inches of each other. But, again, I believe if I make it as difficult as I can ( without taking it to extremes ) on myself, the time spent is more quality-driven than if not.

Anyone else do this ( odds one end, evens the other )?
 

RiverCity

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just saw something Jay said in another thread about practicing 9 ball. He mentioned he simply throws the balls up, spreads them out and takes bih to start. That's exactly what I do as well, but I also, always, have the odds on one end and evens on the other. That way, I am, effectively, making it as difficult on myself as possible which, to me, is the purpose of practice. Now, in real-time competition, do the balls spread out that way? Of course not. Sometimes, you break, and the 2, 3 and 4, etc., are all within a few inches of each other. But, again, I believe if I make it as difficult as I can ( without taking it to extremes ) on myself, the time spent is more quality-driven than if not.

Anyone else do this ( odds one end, evens the other )?

Yep, but most of the time, I just try to make sure sequential balls arent close to each other. Six in one hand.

Another thing I do if i need to work on fine tuning my cue ball, Ill leave some clusters that need to get broken out etc.

I personally dont like drills, I get bored with them too easily. So I work on running out mostly, and then setting up situations/shots that have come up recently that I feel I need to work on.
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
Yep, but most of the time, I just try to make sure sequential balls arent close to each other. Six in one hand.

Another thing I do if i need to work on fine tuning my cue ball, Ill leave some clusters that need to get broken out etc.

I personally dont like drills, I get bored with them too easily. So I work on running out mostly, and then setting up situations/shots that have come up recently that I feel I need to work on.

Bingo. Ditto... And, as you said, I also cluster a few balls much of the time as well because, as we all know, having to break balls apart comes up a lot in game situations.
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
I do the same with 15 balls, making sure there’s a cluster or two and a few balls on the rails.

pj
chgo

Patrick - Yeah, I freeze balls on the rail as well, especially on the side rails and then ( usually ) play shape so I'm making it going by the side pocket.

I mostly play on the front table closest to the counter ( the "game" table, for the most part ) and it almost always has the balls left on the table from "previous tenants", as it were. Many times they were playing 1 hole so ( being lazy ) instead of removing the high balls, I'll just toss up the first 9 I come to. But, sometimes, I'll throw up 11 or 12 to make the outs more difficult and, occasionally, I'll throw up all 15 and run those.

Also, a lot of times, I'll throw up 9 all behind the head string ( or the spot ) which, as you can imagine, makes running out just that much more difficult. But it's good practice. ;)
 

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just saw something Jay said in another thread about practicing 9 ball. He mentioned he simply throws the balls up, spreads them out and takes bih to start. That's exactly what I do as well, but I also, always, have the odds on one end and evens on the other. That way, I am, effectively, making it as difficult on myself as possible which, to me, is the purpose of practice. Now, in real-time competition, do the balls spread out that way? Of course not. Sometimes, you break, and the 2, 3 and 4, etc., are all within a few inches of each other. But, again, I believe if I make it as difficult as I can ( without taking it to extremes ) on myself, the time spent is more quality-driven than if not.

Anyone else do this ( odds one end, evens the other )?
Sounds like a good idea. I usually just play the ghost and keep score. It seems to make me focus and grind a little harder, knowing that if I miss, I have to mark up that game on the wire for the ghost, rack up the balls and start all over.
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
Sounds like a good idea. I usually just play the ghost and keep score. It seems to make me focus and grind a little harder, knowing that if I miss, I have to mark up that game on the wire for the ghost, rack up the balls and start all over.

I'd never heard the term "play the ghost" before these forums but as a type of drill, I suppose, I used to ( and still do occasionally ) run the balls and if ( when ) I missed I would, as you did ( but not break ), throw up all the balls and start over again. I used to do that all the time when I was 15, 16 or so... not so much anymore. I actually hadn't thought of it in many years until seeing your comment just now.
 

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'd never heard the term "play the ghost" before these forums but as a type of drill, I suppose, I used to ( and still do occasionally ) run the balls and if ( when ) I missed I would, as you did ( but not break ), throw up all the balls and start over again. I used to do that all the time when I was 15, 16 or so... not so much anymore. I actually hadn't thought of it in many years until seeing your comment just now.
Yeah, it's usually a pretty humbling but constructive practice session for me to play the ghost. I usually do it on our 10-foot table with 4-1/2" corners, and I've always played you lose if you scratch on the break and you have to complete the runout even if you're able to play the 9-ball early. I usually play a 7-ahead or 9-ahead set. I'm never able to beat the ghost, but it's just a matter of how long I'm able to hang in there until the ghost wins the set.

By doing this as opposed to just throwing the balls out on the table and running them, you also get valuable practice breaking the balls and trying to control your placement the CB on the break.
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I don't do the ball dividing deliberately, one thing I do practice and suggest that other do (say on my league team), is to practice getting position on the 9 ball on the spot and lower. Almost all the time the 9 is near the spot, or goes back to the end rail. Which means you need to play position to those areas a lot to win. Many matches lost by medium level players are lost after they run 4-5-6 balls and then get bad shape on the 8 or 9, so learning and getting comfortable playing position for the last 2 balls is very important.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
I just saw something Jay said in another thread about practicing 9 ball. He mentioned he simply throws the balls up, spreads them out and takes bih to start. That's exactly what I do as well, but I also, always, have the odds on one end and evens on the other. That way, I am, effectively, making it as difficult on myself as possible which, to me, is the purpose of practice. Now, in real-time competition, do the balls spread out that way? Of course not. Sometimes, you break, and the 2, 3 and 4, etc., are all within a few inches of each other. But, again, I believe if I make it as difficult as I can ( without taking it to extremes ) on myself, the time spent is more quality-driven than if not.

Anyone else do this ( odds one end, evens the other )?

I also try to spread out the balls so they aren't too close together by the numbers. I don't want the 3, 4 & 5 all in the same immediate area of the table. I don't exactly take BIH either. I just give myself a decent opening shot at the one, something like what may come up in a real game.

By the way, I can't beat the ghost on my table. It's a 4.25" corner pocket Diamond that plays pretty tough. I do know that if I can get in stroke on this table, I can pretty much play anywhere. I just got done watching Dennis break and run out rack after rack of Ten Ball for HOURS! It's pretty humbling watching one of the best in the world play. He loves his new Mezz cue and Brush break cue. Look out world is all I've got to say. I predict big things for Dennis the rest of this year.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
Why do you think more travel of the cb is harder?

It isn't.

Seems intuitively right that more distance = less accurate. Why do you think it isn't?

pj
chgo

Finesse is difficult under pressure...holding for position can be very difficult.
...letting out your stroke is easier on the nerves.
Yeah, I was thinking that must be the idea. Still, I get closer on medium-short shape than medium-long...

pj
chgo
 

Runner

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Even for 9 ball, I practice 10 ball, just thrown out randomly, CB in hand.
If balls are tied up, so be it, as that's what happens in games... play for the break out, etc.

I'll play the ghost 9 ball sometimes, break and all.. I just don't like wasting time racking balls... working on the break IS valuable in 9 ball!
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
Yeah, it's usually a pretty humbling but constructive practice session for me to play the ghost. I usually do it on our 10-foot table with 4-1/2" corners, and I've always played you lose if you scratch on the break and you have to complete the runout even if you're able to play the 9-ball early. I usually play a 7-ahead or 9-ahead set. I'm never able to beat the ghost, but it's just a matter of how long I'm able to hang in there until the ghost wins the set.

By doing this as opposed to just throwing the balls out on the table and running them, you also get valuable practice breaking the balls and trying to control your placement the CB on the break.

I'll have to give a try sometime. I need to practice breaks more... but, my back is so bad these days it would take away from the limited time I have just to play. Sooner or later, I'll pay a kid in the room a few bucks to rack for a session or two.
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
I don't do the ball dividing deliberately, one thing I do practice and suggest that other do (say on my league team), is to practice getting position on the 9 ball on the spot and lower. Almost all the time the 9 is near the spot, or goes back to the end rail. Which means you need to play position to those areas a lot to win. Many matches lost by medium level players are lost after they run 4-5-6 balls and then get bad shape on the 8 or 9, so learning and getting comfortable playing position for the last 2 balls is very important.

Sound advice. Couldn't agree more.
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
I also try to spread out the balls so they aren't too close together by the numbers. I don't want the 3, 4 & 5 all in the same immediate area of the table. I don't exactly take BIH either. I just give myself a decent opening shot at the one, something like what may come up in a real game.

By the way, I can't beat the ghost on my table. It's a 4.25" corner pocket Diamond that plays pretty tough. I do know that if I can get in stroke on this table, I can pretty much play anywhere. I just got done watching Dennis break and run out rack after rack of Ten Ball for HOURS! It's pretty humbling watching one of the best in the world play. He loves his new Mezz cue and Brush break cue. Look out world is all I've got to say. I predict big things for Dennis the rest of this year.

Which is exactly why I always put odds one end, evens the other! :D

Nice to have someone like Dennis playing in your home for hours on end, Jay. But I know I'm preaching to the choir in saying that. I'm envious.
 

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
Even for 9 ball, I practice 10 ball, just thrown out randomly, CB in hand.
If balls are tied up, so be it, as that's what happens in games... play for the break out, etc.

I'll play the ghost 9 ball sometimes, break and all.. I just don't like wasting time racking balls... working on the break IS valuable in 9 ball!

Breaks are vital in 9 ball but the reason I don't practice them is my back. Just that time spent gathering then bending over racking takes time from playing.

Getting old sucks. :mad: :eek: :frown:
 
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