Finally! The elusive "100" on a diamond.

teedotaj

teedotaj

teedot oohhhhhh
Silver Member
berniep said:
A big thank you for all your feedback.

If I'd known how much genuine fraternal 14.1 support was on this forum.....I might stop playing that stupid 1 pocket game.......and.......be running more 100's:D.

Thanks again.

Bernie.
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those one pocket guys do get fraternal too about their game :p

congrats! :) I gotta break 30 still :(
 
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berniep

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Steve Lipsky said:
"Cognrats Bernie! That is a very special achievement. Was it a tough shot that you missed? Was the table open?"
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Steve Lipsky said:
Steve, I'm a little embarrassed at the shot I missed.....I struggled horribly on the last 4 balls before the break ball but somehow managed to get just right on the key ball....straight in easy......I guess I got a little comfortable after focusing hard for 45 mins......I'm still mad at myself, but it will hopefully serve as a good lesson learned.......never take the simple shots for granted.

"I think you'd have to clarify what you mean by getting lucky for a run to continue. There's always some degree of luck on break shots, and very often, a few millimeters can result in having a shot or not having a shot."

You're right, I should have been a little clearer......there is no doubt that a high percentage of break shots can result in a run stopper. I should have specified the example of having to shoot a shot where you are forced to let the cueball run simply because you did'nt quite get the shape needed.

Quite often, at my level, when I look back at why a decent run comes to an end, it is inevitably the result of getting just a little lazy, thinking that approx position is ok, when in fact that inch or two has cost me positional control. I believe the top players realize the importance of this aspect of the game.

I appreciate your insight.

Thanks. Bernie.
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berniep

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
SpiderWebComm said:
Great run, Bernie!

I don't think Thorsten is an errorless guy. In fact, he explodes through clusters with a lot of power. His break shots are normally at full break speed. Guys like Sigel and Hopkins would be closer to errorless when playing well. Thorsten runs balls because he almost never misses and hits the muck hard with tons of spin.

Anyone else care to comment? Am I crazy?
Dave
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Dave, I agree with what you are saying and it got me thinking. This may be another thread that has already been discussed here before, but it begs the question....would you rather attempt a softer break shot that presumably is easier to predict emerging ball paths, knowing that you may have to bump the pack another few times to completely open all balls.......or....take Thorstens' approach of hitting the break with such speed so as to hopefully leave no clusters. Of course Thorstens' style will probably result in more missed break shots than the soften style.

I have been experimenting with Thorstens' style at home and appear to be having a higher run per inning average. (FWIW...I keep a very detailed track of innings/runs/avg over a long period of time).

Have you had any experience with mixing up the different styles?

Thanks. Bernie.
 
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berniep

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
john schmidt said:
doesnt surprise me ,your a awesome player and a nice guy.good job
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Hi John,

We've all got a long way to go to hit your Diamond 294....but it's a start.

"Awesome player.. and ..a nice guy"....is'nt that a pool oxymoron ;)....I think you definitely set the standard for that accolade within your own peer pro group.

I appreciate the kind words.

Thanks. Bernie
 
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Marop

Marop

14.1 - real pool
Silver Member
berniep said:
Hi John,

We've all got a long way to go to hit your Diamond 224...
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Bernie

I guess you have been away from the forum for awhile. John ran 239 and the very next day ran 294 on a Diamond, both on video. We are going to due a voice over soon and the DVD will be available.

Again, great run.

Bill
 
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berniep

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Marop said:
Bernie

I guess you have been away from the forum for awhile. John ran 239 and the very next day ran 294 on a Diamond, both on video. We are going to due a voice over soon and the DVD will be available.

Again, great run.

Bill
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Bill....where have I been? Too much work and not enough 14.1 forum lolligagging:eek:.

John....my apologies for being out of touch.

I suspect that 294 on a Diamond might just stand for quite some time.

Thanks.

Bernie.
 
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sascha

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Marop said:
Bernie

I guess you have been away from the forum for awhile. John ran 239 and the very next day ran 294 on a Diamond, both on video. We are going to due a voice over soon and the DVD will be available.

Again, great run.

Bill
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Can´t wait to watch these ! John, bring some copies to Vegas !
 
CreeDo

CreeDo

Fargo Rating 597
Silver Member
Thorsten's Break

I watched Toasti doing a run of 80 or 90 or so in one of my videos, his break speeds were... roughly speaking... as follows:

1st rack: hard
2nd: medium
3: soft
4,5,6 - all hard

I'm lazy to keep checking but it does look like he favors hard breaks. But it's controlled hard. Nothing came anywhere near scratching. Several of the hard breaks had the CB move a foot and then stop, spinning in place. It looks like he uses a lil outside gearing english on all of them. Only one shot looked a little uncontrolled, the CB flew straight back up table a few inches off the head plate, and bounces back down towards the center. I know he intentionally played that, the only thing is I see that shot fly towards the upper corners. Maybe he's done it enough that he knows he can bring it straight back with no danger.

He definitely decides how hard to hit based on how the ball lies and how much the CB must fight its way out of the rack. In all the cases where he crushes it, the OB is a fair distance from the rack. But he hits softer when it's closer. Maybe crushing it when it's close leads to violent rebounds that have an unpredictable outcome.

When I next practice straight I'm gonna hit 'em hard with a lil outside. It seems to me your percentages of running big numbers (and therefore winning) go up when you hit hard, even if you lose the CB a little. You can get shafted by a bad roll with either style of break so I figure your best bet is to make each rack as open and easy to run as possible.
 
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berniep

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
When I next practice straight I'm gonna hit 'em hard with a lil outside. It seems to me your percentages of running big numbers (and therefore winning) go up when you hit hard said:
Creedo,

Thanks for the feedback. That pretty interesting.

I agree with your observation of hitting a little harder than softer.

Let me know how this works out for you.

Thanks. Bernie.
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14-1StraightMan

14-1StraightMan

High Run 127
Silver Member
Congrats

Berniep, Congrats on the excellent run. You are into another class of players. That is great. I have only played on a Diamond 9' about 6 times and the best that I done was 54 and I am proud of that. I found that the Diamond table that I played on was a super great playing table. Nothing negative about Diamonds in my book.
As for hitting those break shots hard. I do agree, but the angle of the break shot does determine the type of force you can put into your shot.
Some times you just have to pick off balls from that rack piece by piece, like the "Old School" players. That I have so much respect for and love to watch those old matches of.
Anyways, Great run & Congrats again.
 
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jalapus logan

jalapus logan

be all. and supports it to
Silver Member
I am new to straight pool. My knowledge is quite limited in this game. However, it seems to me that a Diamond table is not the table that is most conducive to this game. I think that it just makes it too tough. Any thoughts here? I just get so frustrated when I play the game. Then again, I'm sure that the major source of my frustration is my lack of exposure to the game. In fact, I've never played the game with an actual opponent. Additionally, I've not read any 14.1 books or researched it at all. Having said all that, here are my observations after having tried my hand at it for spell practicing it at home for a couple of weeks.

Firstly, I tend to have better success with a hard break shot. Secondly, after the break shot, I tend to run the balls much better playing super tight position play, using quite a bit of finesse. Thirdly, I am only comfortable playing certain break shots. In fact, I am not at all confident with a break shot using the side pocket.

To clarify, I am playing on a pro cut 9' diamond table. It seems that most of you guys tend to think that this tends to restrict high runs. If this is the case, do you think that I would have better luck learning the game if I could find, say, a 9' gold crown to play on (sadly, this will not be possible in my area - I would have to travel perhaps 75 miles or more to find one).

My high run currently is 39. I think that my 14.1 patters could definately use some improvement. Sadly, as I have sated previously, I don't know anyone locally who has an interest in playing the game - which, of course brings me to this forum. Anyway, any advice to a newcomer ?
 
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berniep

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
jalapus logan said:
I am new to straight pool. My knowledge is quite limited in this game. However, it seems to me that a Diamond table is not the table that is most conducive to this game. I think that it just makes it too tough. Any thoughts here? I just get so frustrated when I play the game. Then again, I'm sure that the major source of my frustration is my lack of exposure to the game. In fact, I've never played the game with an actual opponent. Additionally, I've not read any 14.1 books or researched it at all. Having said all that, here are my observations after having tried my hand at it for spell practicing it at home for a couple of weeks.

Firstly, I tend to have better success with a hard break shot. Secondly, after the break shot, I tend to run the balls much better playing super tight position play, using quite a bit of finesse. Thirdly, I am only comfortable playing certain break shots. In fact, I am not at all confident with a break shot using the side pocket.

To clarify, I am playing on a pro cut 9' diamond table. It seems that most of you guys tend to think that this tends to restrict high runs. If this is the case, do you think that I would have better luck learning the game if I could find, say, a 9' gold crown to play on (sadly, this will not be possible in my area - I would have to travel perhaps 75 miles or more to find one).

My high run currently is 39. I think that my 14.1 patters could definately use some improvement. Sadly, as I have sated previously, I don't know anyone locally who has an interest in playing the game - which, of course brings me to this forum. Anyway, any advice to a newcomer ?
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Jalapus,

Welcome to the 14.1 forum. Glad to see you taking an interest in the game.

I also play most of my 14.1 at home due to general lack of interest in the game at my local poolhall.

My home table, a GC3 with 4 1/4" pockets is definitely tighter than I would like, is most certainly frustrating at times, but it does require a higher level of focus.

When I go to tournament play the pockets are invariably larger so it seems much easier to make higher runs.

I actually prefer to play the game on a Diamond, specifically because I like the speed of the rails.

If you have only been playing the game of a couple of weeks, your high run of 39 is excellent. If you have a chance to check out a few accustats 14.1 matches I think you'll quickly see the preferred patterns.

As a suggestion, to keep things interesting, you may try playing the 14.1 ghost. Try playing a set number of innings and keep track of average balls made per innings.

Good luck!

Bernie.
 
jalapus logan

jalapus logan

be all. and supports it to
Silver Member
berniep said:
Jalapus,

Welcome to the 14.1 forum. Glad to see you taking an interest in the game.

I also play most of my 14.1 at home due to general lack of interest in the game at my local poolhall.

My home table, a GC3 with 4 1/4" pockets is definitely tighter than I would like, is most certainly frustrating at times, but it does require a higher level of focus.

When I go to tournament play the pockets are invariably larger so it seems much easier to make higher runs.

I actually prefer to play the game on a Diamond, specifically because I like the speed of the rails.

If you have only been playing the game of a couple of weeks, your high run of 39 is excellent. If you have a chance to check out a few accustats 14.1 matches I think you'll quickly see the preferred patterns.

As a suggestion, to keep things interesting, you may try playing the 14.1 ghost. Try playing a set number of innings and keep track of average balls made per innings.

Good luck!

Bernie.
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Thanks for the suggestions. I like the idea of playing the ghost. To clarify, when playing the Ghost in 14.1, would I be trying to beat an average score per inning in order to "win"?
 
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berniep

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
jalapus logan said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I like the idea of playing the ghost. To clarify, when playing the Ghost in 14.1, would I be trying to beat an average score per inning in order to "win"?
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Jalapus,

Actually the term "ghost" was not the most accurate.

Each day I play 5 innings to try and beat my previous highest cumulative run, but I do also keep an inning average total to see if my runs are getting higher as time goes on. Of course some days will be lower than before but ideally you see it trending up as you learn more.

Hope this helps.

Bernie.
 
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