My 9 ball game ...from one extreme to the other

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hope i dont make this too long.

I am an apa 6 in 9 ball...5 in 8 ball. Last session was bad in 9 ball but this session is terrible. Downright embarrassing. 2 wins ...8 losses. Some losses are blowouts to 5's and even a couple 4's. My shooting is ok...breaks are what is costing me.

Take a couole weeks ago in tri cuos for example. I win the toss and break dry. My opponet who is a 6 also runs 7 balls and i pocket the 8 and 9. Next rack i break and a ball pushes the cue ball into a side pocket. My opponent runs 6 balls. I run out. Next rack i break and make a ball but am hooked. He runs the table and then has a break and run. I lost 17-3. Friggin embarrassing

Last friday i was down 26-9 to another 6. I manage to make a semblance of a comeback losing 46-39...in effect i scored 30 to his 20 in a losing effort. That tells me i can shoot on par with opponents the same skill level..

So i practiced nothing but my break until the pool room closed ...after watching a few videos on you tube.

So last night i face another 6 . i won 15-5....breaking every rack but one and having pretty good success with my break.. So i leave and co to another venue 10 minutes away to play on my other team...long story how that came about.

Well i play the last match and they throw a 3. The match was just plumb embarrassing. I lost 16-4. Break was not working....you just cannot get a skill level 3 or lower to provide a decent rack. If that was not bad enough she slopped 2 thirds of her points in by hitting every hard shot at warp speed...if the object ball did not fall something else did.. And when she missed...of course i was locked up tighter than fort knox. Her team mates were laughing and she was damn near jumping up and down at the end of each slop shot. I just stood leaning against the wall.shaking my head. I was glad when she put me out of my misery. Of course i had to have a team mate rag me saying its funny how you beat 7 and 8 's and then have a 3 put the smack down on you. Glad i didnt rib our 8 after he lost to a 2 last week.

After contemplating all day i am going to get a magic rack and insist every low level player use it when playing me.

Going to keep working on my 9 ball break. Cant complain at all about 8 ball. I am 9 and 2 . of course there is always room for improvement there also.
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How the hell do you remember all of this in detail?

I go home and analyze my matches and make mental notes..live alone so no distractions.:D

Kind oc remember what i want to and delete everything so my mind is not cluttered if that makes sense..

Funny story about memorizing things. Some years ago i walk into a bar with a girl who was my room mate at the time. We ask these 2 girls if we coukd join their table since it was crowded that night. They said sure. Well one of those girls was playing pool and i put up quarters and waited my turn. My room mate and the other girl started talking and it hit me. Hey i know yall !. She said i dont think so cause we are not from around here.

I replied i know where yall are from. The other girl just sat down and is told that i claim to know them . she also stated she doubted i knew them. I proceed to tell the one her name which she had not given yet....described her truck....named what town she lived in....what bussiness she owned ..told her i met her in this same bar a year earlier and that she had just came fdom the orpheum theater watching a show.

These 2 girls were flabergasted that i could remember all these details from meeting them once a year and had hung out with them for a couple hours . one said i must have a photographic memory. I said no...sometimes i cant remember what i ate thst morning. Was not going to admit one was hot and i had the hots for her but she didnt swing that way if you know what i mean. Not model hot. Just had the total package...looks...body....personality..intelligent from what i could gather and pretty decent at pool. Never could get her out of my mind. Just a case of remebering what you want to remember.
 

worktheknight

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Sometimes, when things seem to be going south, you have
to play safe and get a couple of ball in hands, otherwise, in
my opinion, you start to press and give energy to opponents.
If I can't outshoot em, I certainly am going to try and out smart
em.
 

Icon of Sin

I can't fold, I need gold. I re-up and reload...
Silver Member
After contemplating all day i am going to get a magic rack and insist every low level player use it when playing me.

That's not going to work... and if it does you are going to have a bad time.

First, you will have to teach them to use it. There is more to it then just setting balls on it and walking away.

Second, you are going to need to hope the ball set is ok and the ball are capable of freezing in a random order. It only works when you have a decent ball set. I have 2 sets of older centennials that wont freeze up on a template rack. This happens more often then you would think. This is why you don't see them used at random in poolhalls and weekly tournaments all over the place. Of the 4 ball sets I have, only 1 set freezes up decently on random racking.

Third, you are going to make the break easy for them also. So on top of giving a 3 a 21 ball spot, you are going to help them make balls on the break too.

When I shot league I used to take it as serious as you, and it ****ing sucked. I quit league 9 years ago and play considerably better players now and have an instant potential return on my money, as opposed to donating every week to the Vegas pipe dream.

Playing the better players, makes you bear down and focus more. They know how to rack, you can even stipulate your own rules (rack your own, 9ball snaps spot up is how I play). You can ask for weight if you need it, etc.

I'm not saying go out and quit league and start gambling, but you are trying to take it serious with a bunch of people who will be a SL3 for decades. They just don't care. You can't make them care. They will never understand that a tight rack is better. They will never understand about the different gaps in a rack. They will never care enough to give you a good rack. Hell you have a better chance of them purposefully giving you a bad rack rather then giving you a good one.

If you can't beat em, join em. Make league your "**** it" night. Go out, hang with your friends/teammates. Try you best but don't take it so seriously. Most of those players only shoot on their league match and that is it.

Just my .02. See my disclaimer below.
 
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ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I don’t know about insisting on a magic rack, but in any tournament match or league match situation, The breaker certainly should always have the right to inspect the rack and if they see balls are not frozen, to ask to have them re-racked. I’m not a league player, but I don’t think that is an unreasonable request. If they are unable to provide a relatively tight rack as possibly, I see no reason why the breaker should not be allowed to tighten the rack themselves, as long as they don’t change the order of the balls.

A loose rack resulting in a poor spread of the balls leads to a very messy game which under the rules should not be allowed to happen when it is not the fault of the breaker, but the racker giving a loose rack..
 
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cubswin

Just call me Joe...
Silver Member
Magic rack would cause a argument here. League is designed for bad players, and supposed to be fun. Personally I enjoy singles Napa league, but apa had too much drama and obviously meant to keep players at lower skill levels.

Breaking takes work on different tables and how balls are racked. Figuring out the changes is part of the fun.
 

gregnice37

Bar Banger, Cue Collector
Silver Member
Well since half the places still aren't open here in NJ and no bars are open on the inside yet, I'm assuming you guys are wearing masks while shooting.

Maybe it's hindering your game, I know it would buy the crap outta me.
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
That's not going to work... and if it does you are going to have a bad time.

First, you will have to teach them to use it. There is more to it then just setting balls on it and walking away.

Second, you are going to need to hope the ball set is ok and the ball are capable of freezing in a random order. It only works when you have a decent ball set. I have 2 sets of older centennials that wont freeze up on a template rack. This happens more often then you would think. This is why you don't see them used at random in poolhalls and weekly tournaments all over the place. Of the 4 ball sets I have, only 1 set freezes up decently on random racking.

Third, you are going to make the break easy for them also. So on top of giving a 3 a 21 ball spot, you are going to help them make balls on the break too.

When I shot league I used to take it as serious as you, and it ****ing sucked. I quit league 9 years ago and play considerably better players now and have an instant potential return on my money, as opposed to donating every week to the Vegas pipe dream.

Playing the better players, makes you bear down and focus more. They know how to rack, you can even stipulate your own rules (rack your own, 9ball snaps spot up is how I play). You can ask for weight if you need it, etc.

I'm not saying go out and quit league and start gambling, but you are trying to take it serious with a bunch of people who will be a SL3 for decades. They just don't care. You can't make them care. They will never understand that a tight rack is better. They will never understand about the different gaps in a rack. They will never care enough to give you a good rack. Hell you have a better chance of them purposefully giving you a bad rack rather then giving you a good one.

If you can't beat em, join em. Make league your "**** it" night. Go out, hang with your friends/teammates. Try you best but don't take it so seriously. Most of those players only shoot on their league match and that is it.

Just my .02. See my disclaimer below.

You make some valid points. As far as the magic rack helping them...wwll usually lower level players dont break against me very often. She broke once and made 2 on the break. Doubt if she coukd do better than that with the magic rack.

Contrary to what i posted....which seems i take apa very seriously i dont....unless its playoffs or higher.

I dont like losing but of course nobody does. I have learned to take my lumps and really dont lose sleep over a loss....i just hate lop sided losses...particularly against lower levels.. And i hate losing to cocky lower level players also. A couple weeks ago in 9 ball i faced a 4. Gotta give him credit ...a damn good 4. About halfway through the match i noticed him walking over to his scorekeeper and looked at the scoresheet. He went over to a team mate grinning ear to ear saying he was kicking that 6's ass. So i went over to my scorekeeper and looked...hardly ever do that during a match. Sure enough he was ahead 26-24 in. 31-36 race. Well that ticked me off and i caught a gear and also played a bunch of safes. When it was over i had won 46-30 with him needing just one point. I had scored 22 to his 4 after looking at the scoresheet. He came uo grinning and said...i almost beat you...i replied...i almost let you. That grin disapeared lol. If he hadnt said what he did he probably would have beat me. He just lit a fire under me so i guess it shows i dont take it serious a lot of times but again...i dont like embarrassing losses.
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Well since half the places still aren't open here in NJ and no bars are open on the inside yet, I'm assuming you guys are wearing masks while shooting.

Maybe it's hindering your game, I know it would buy the crap outta me.

I play in 2 different pool halls. Like anything new it takes some getting used to masks. One pool hall is strict on masks and even takes every ones temperature upon entering. The other place is a lil more lenient. I am 5 -0 in 8 ball at the place that requires masks so i guess its safe to say its not hindering my game too much.
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Magic rack would cause a argument here. League is designed for bad players, and supposed to be fun. Personally I enjoy singles Napa league, but apa had too much drama and obviously meant to keep players at lower skill levels.

Breaking takes work on different tables and how balls are racked. Figuring out the changes is part of the fun.

Our by laws allow mavic racks but rules stipulate both players have to agree on using it and it has to be available for your opponent to use also.yea i know some tables react different than others but i do think a magic rack would speed things up over using plastic racks that never get balls tight and a magic rack would get them tighter easier for loeer level players than a loose plastic rack.
 

asbani

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Even though I didn’t see you play but here is what I can tell you for sure, it’s not the break.

Try to play more consistently at your level, then improve from there, being consistent is key.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

lawlist

Registered
I would recommend trying to have more fun while playing with others, whether it be in a league or just practicing. It has been 25+ years since I have played with anyone better than me (which isn't hard to find, I just haven't played with anyone except for my 80-year-old mother while on a 5-day vacation during Thanksgiving break). Back in the day, it used to be okay for the person breaking to inspect the racked balls and ask for a re-rack if there was a problem with it. If it were me (and there was nothing too important on the match, like a chocolate milk on the line or something of similar importance), I would probably let most every rack go unchallenged unless the front ball was not touching any other ball. And, even then, I might not challenge it if I thought that it was unintentional. Other than being in stroke, which probably cannot happen unless playing a minimum of an hour a day (every day), there is a certain level of concentration required. There is a maxed-out level of concentration ("concentration beyond concentration" is the term I use to describe it) that can virtually double my ball making and shape abilities (or at least there used to be back in the day); however, I never really had fun when it became so important to make a ball -- it's certainly not relaxing by any stretch of the imagination.
 
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ceebee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Bad Luck in Break Shot...

Get yourself a BreakRAK, it won't be long before your problems are over... it's been around for 19.5 years.....

You can also get a copy of the GREAT Break Shot book to learn about the Break Shot
 

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hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hope i dont make this too long.

I am an apa 6 in 9 ball...5 in 8 ball. Last session was bad in 9 ball but this session is terrible. Downright embarrassing. 2 wins ...8 losses. Some losses are blowouts to 5's and even a couple 4's. My shooting is ok...breaks are what is costing me.
--- snip---

At this lever you are going to be inconsistent. If you were not then you'd be higher level. If you were worse you'd mess up more, if you were better you'd mess up less. As a mid level player you are going to make mistakes for some games and less mistakes in others. I've seen players your level miss 3 easy shots in a row and then run out a rack 10 minutes later. You can't do anything about what the opponent does, that has nothing to do with your skill, past them not knowing how to rack. But that's why I don't play in leagues often, not worth the headache of playing on bad equipment and having to explain every other day what a foul is or how to rack properly. I just play in tournaments and in groups I know that have at least a level of play near mine or better, a lot less headaches that way.

A pro (I think it was double J) said leagues are not good for pool players learning to play since they try to teach you to win before knowing how to play. I like how the european tours do it, at least they used to, they have levels of events, to get to the top events you need to play at a certain level and go up through the lower level events, you play with players at your skill level instead of mixing some banger with a guy that can run 3 racks like our leagues do.
 
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alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In my very brief APA "career" I won my first 3 matches and they raised me from a 4 to a 5 after my first match. 5 to a 6 after my second match. Retired undefeated.

It seems to me if you are 2-8 over your last 10 matches your handicap should be dropped.
 
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