Unluckiest scratch ever?

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Pretty freaky. I've seen a guy about to win a match in the World 14.1 Championships in about 1982. Back then, a tux and a tie were required. He didn't own a bow tie so he had purchased a clip-on bow tie. His clip-on bow tie came loose, fell on the cue ball for a foul, and he ended up losing.

Things happen!
 

VonRhett

Friends Call Me "von"
Silver Member
Eh. SMH. He hit the ball soooooo baaaaaad, he deserves what he gets.

When 2 - TWO - balls leave the table, hard to call the resulting scratch "bad luck".

-von
 

Z-Nole

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I thought you were gonna show that crazy scratch by Mr 626. This was way crazier.
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I find the chance of my scratches when I let the cueball loose is directly tied to how hard the shot I just made was LOL I would say that is true for all pool players.
 

JazzyJeff87

AzB Plutonium Member
Silver Member
Daaamn. The red went in the middle of the pocket it was just hopping a little too wildly : ) it is pretty insane that the cue ball jumped up in the pack, skipped off the top and right into that spot on a rounded jaw to shoot up in there. He rocked that ball though
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Wow, that was fun to watch.

I put the video on 1/4 speed on youtube... it looks to me like the cue ball hits before the round of the side pocket, and its follow makes it hug the rail. What do you guys thing? You really have to watch it watch it at 1/4 speed IMO to see where it hits better.
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
Wow, that was fun to watch.

I put the video on 1/4 speed on youtube... it looks to me like the cue ball hits before the round of the side pocket, and its follow makes it hug the rail. What do you guys thing? You really have to watch it watch it at 1/4 speed IMO to see where it hits better.

Send it......
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Wow, that was fun to watch.

I put the video on 1/4 speed on youtube... it looks to me like the cue ball hits before the round of the side pocket, and its follow makes it hug the rail. What do you guys thing? You really have to watch it watch it at 1/4 speed IMO to see where it hits better.
It is actually fairly common on snooker tables for a ball to hit on the near side of the side (middle) pocket and then hug the cushion to the corner. It happens on pool tables, too. The ball is somewhat inside the line of the cushion so the only way it can hug the rail is if it loops out a little and the follow makes it hug.
 

DynoDan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Don’t know much about snooker. Was he trying to land the CB in the middle of the red pack? Not an unusual shot in 14.1 when you end up with almost no angle on your break shot and have to launch the CB with stun. Gold Crowns with plastic pockets will often spit the OB right back at you.
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Don’t know much about snooker. Was he trying to land the CB in the middle of the red pack? Not an unusual shot in 14.1 when you end up with almost no angle on your break shot and have to launch the CB with stun. Gold Crowns with plastic pockets will often spit the OB right back at you.
I think he was actually trying to go into the rack flat and stay near the black. That's the standard play there, anyway. I think no pro player would try to go through/over the rack in that situation.
 

Tin Man

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
unluckiest scratch

I have a good one to report.

I was 17 and playing pretty strong. Someone a little older from another city came to town to play me some $100 a set 9 ball. I was spotting him the last two. I beat him the first two sets and we doubled the bet.

The second set went hill-hill, so I was looking at a $400 swing (even or up $400). The cue ball was near the middle of the table, and the 1 and 9 were near each other near the side rail. They were positioned so I could back cut bank the 1 at the side and try to billiard the 9 ball into the corner pocket.

The problem was they were really close together and I couldn't quite hit the 9 thin enough. It looked like it would catch the side rail and probably hang up. So I juiced the cue ball with some inside english on the 1 to twist the 9 ball and help throw it towards the corner. Keep in mind these balls were near the third diamond about 6" off the side rail so it wasn't an easy shot, particularly on the hill.

I pulled the trigger, the 1 ball banked back towards my bridge hand, and the 9 started shooting towards the pocket. The cue ball stopped dead in place spinning like a top. I was watching the 9 ball and it hit the center of the pocket and fell. VICTORY!

But the 1 ball! I forgot about the 1 ball. Because of my inside english it banked just short of the side pocket, and then it REVERSED directions like a trick shot and headed back towards the cue ball. It clipped the edge of the cue ball and cut it thinly down the rail and into the same pocket as the 9 ball had fallen. It barely had the speed to make it and the entire time I thought it would lose pace, but it wasn't meant to be.

My opponent laughed pretty hard, ran the balls out, then quit even.

I have tried to recreate that shot and have never come close. If that's not in contention for a tough scratch I don't know what is.
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
I have a good one to report.

I was 17 and playing pretty strong. Someone a little older from another city came to town to play me some $100 a set 9 ball. I was spotting him the last two. I beat him the first two sets and we doubled the bet.

The second set went hill-hill, so I was looking at a $400 swing (even or up $400). The cue ball was near the middle of the table, and the 1 and 9 were near each other near the side rail. They were positioned so I could back cut bank the 1 at the side and try to billiard the 9 ball into the corner pocket.

The problem was they were really close together and I couldn't quite hit the 9 thin enough. It looked like it would catch the side rail and probably hang up. So I juiced the cue ball with some inside english on the 1 to twist the 9 ball and help throw it towards the corner. Keep in mind these balls were near the third diamond about 6" off the side rail so it wasn't an easy shot, particularly on the hill.

I pulled the trigger, the 1 ball banked back towards my bridge hand, and the 9 started shooting towards the pocket. The cue ball stopped dead in place spinning like a top. I was watching the 9 ball and it hit the center of the pocket and fell. VICTORY!

But the 1 ball! I forgot about the 1 ball. Because of my inside english it banked just short of the side pocket, and then it REVERSED directions like a trick shot and headed back towards the cue ball. It clipped the edge of the cue ball and cut it thinly down the rail and into the same pocket as the 9 ball had fallen. It barely had the speed to make it and the entire time I thought it would lose pace, but it wasn't meant to be.

My opponent laughed pretty hard, ran the balls out, then quit even.

I have tried to recreate that shot and have never come close. If that's not in contention for a tough scratch I don't know what is.

That IS a tough scratch....the snooker one was way too much muscle on the shot.
 

Johnson

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have seen balls rolling down the rail on a snooker table and a pool table and fall back down but never this shot before. I was watching an apa 5 play a few weeks back and he hit this same shot on a valley a little softer speed and it spit it up in the air a foot and a half back and the top spin sent it straight into the pocket virtually the same as this shot. I thought about it and figured it had something to do with the cue ball because it plays wacky but this has a technique to it similar to efren rattling the ball in his opponent's hole to send it towards his in 1 pocket.

As far as unlucky scratches go I think that John Schmidt's is impossible to beat.
 
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Ratamon

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I think he was actually trying to go into the rack flat and stay near the black. That's the standard play there, anyway. I think no pro player would try to go through/over the rack in that situation.



I think he was trying to draw off the pack to the cushion with reverse for the blue or a balk colour (look how low he was aiming at the CB). At that pace, no way he was playing for the black. He totally mis-hit the CB though as it acquired a follow rather than a draw (he wouldn’t have jacked up had he meant to follow it).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Z-Nole

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a good one to report.

I was 17 and playing pretty strong. Someone a little older from another city came to town to play me some $100 a set 9 ball. I was spotting him the last two. I beat him the first two sets and we doubled the bet.

The second set went hill-hill, so I was looking at a $400 swing (even or up $400). The cue ball was near the middle of the table, and the 1 and 9 were near each other near the side rail. They were positioned so I could back cut bank the 1 at the side and try to billiard the 9 ball into the corner pocket.

The problem was they were really close together and I couldn't quite hit the 9 thin enough. It looked like it would catch the side rail and probably hang up. So I juiced the cue ball with some inside english on the 1 to twist the 9 ball and help throw it towards the corner. Keep in mind these balls were near the third diamond about 6" off the side rail so it wasn't an easy shot, particularly on the hill.

I pulled the trigger, the 1 ball banked back towards my bridge hand, and the 9 started shooting towards the pocket. The cue ball stopped dead in place spinning like a top. I was watching the 9 ball and it hit the center of the pocket and fell. VICTORY!

But the 1 ball! I forgot about the 1 ball. Because of my inside english it banked just short of the side pocket, and then it REVERSED directions like a trick shot and headed back towards the cue ball. It clipped the edge of the cue ball and cut it thinly down the rail and into the same pocket as the 9 ball had fallen. It barely had the speed to make it and the entire time I thought it would lose pace, but it wasn't meant to be.

My opponent laughed pretty hard, ran the balls out, then quit even.

I have tried to recreate that shot and have never come close. If that's not in contention for a tough scratch I don't know what is.

From the joy of victory to the agony of defeat all in five seconds!
 

Pangit

Banned
Those of you who think of snooker as a quiet, reserved game with little luck may be interested in this scratch. (The players would call it an "in-off" but they don't talk good.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5aPiUXCw-s


Pump the brakes "Kemosobe." That might be the "Unluckiest scratch ever" that you've ever seen on youtube. Hell, I once saw a guy pick up a cue ball and crack his opponent on the head with it over a disputed scratch/foul shot in Meridian, Ms.

Granted, all of the participants were powered by good old fashioned Michelob.

Back then, all fouls were behind the line, none of this new age ball-in-hand crap.

It's one of my fondest pool hall memories. The good ole days.
:thumbup:

Sloop John B
 
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pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
I think he was trying to draw off the pack to the cushion with reverse for the blue or a balk colour (look how low he was aiming at the CB). At that pace, no way he was playing for the black. He totally mis-hit the CB though as it acquired a follow rather than a draw (he wouldn’t have jacked up had he meant to follow it).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The problem was not follow...the ball was air born....how I see it.
 
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