How do you start...

Skess said:

when you're just practicing?

Do you set up a break shot to start or just break open a full rack and start playing from there?

Using the the set up breakshot, I've managed to get to 42 once, but typically get into the high 20's.

Just curious how other people do it.

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I ALWAYS begin with one of the standard break-shots. I do this for a number of reasons - It's a shot you should ALWAYS feel comfortable with and it also produces a table-layout that you might typically see in competition. I mean, layouts ARE random but the randomness is confined to certain areas of the table. You rarely get an even spread and typically have more work down-table than up.

I always like to practice the opening break shot for at least 15 minutes, sometimes more if I feel like it.

Then I just practice some traditional safes. From the side and from behind the rack. Speed into the rack with a hair of top and also left or right to get the cue ball to freeze into the object ball.

Then I spend at least 30 minutes on cut shots into the corner pockets from both sides of the table. I've always had problems with these shots and besides, I like practicing them.

The last thing is just pocketing balls in the 'rack half' of the table... that small area of a 4 1/2' x 4 1/2' box that 90% of 14.1 is played.

I place 5 balls in the lower half with 1 ball as the breakshot and another near the side pocket as the keyball. I give myself a challenging shot and go on from there.

TommyT

For 14.1 I start at left side of the rack and do a draw break shot and run as many as I can. When I miss I rerack and move to the follow break shot and run the balls. Then I move tot the back of the rack and do those 4 breaks going both direction, move to the right side for a draw and follow, and finish off with the side pocket break shot on both sides. BTW, if I miss the breakshot, i rerack and shoot it until I make it, then conintue.

But I always start off with a good straight in shot drill. It gets me in stroke quickly.

i start with the X drill to get my stroke in tune.then i practice shots by freezing the cue ball to various parts of the rail..then go on to other drills..

I will normally place the break ball even with the middle of the rack and about 1 diamond out from the long rail. Then I place the cue ball back 1 to 1 1/2 diamonds from the break ball and about the same distance out from the long rail (or maybe a little closer to it). After the break shot I will notice where the cue ball ended up in order to start a run. If I'm not satisfied I will rerack and try hitting the cue ball with a different english.

thinman

Skess said:

I'm certainly not as polished at this game as a lot of people on here are so I appreciate any and all info/help I can get.

The draw/follow break shots you're talking about are from the setups below? What dictates for you which one(draw/follow) you use.

http://CueTable.com/P/?@4ALut4BCYH3...IAUm3JFrl4KDvW3LBrW3MEdV4NBJr3OBqr4PLsh1uAIB@

http://CueTable.com/P/?@3ABTk4BCYH3...IAUm3JFrl4KDvW3LBrW3MEdV4NBJr3OBqr4PLXp1uAIB@

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Give me a minute, I will try and map out most of them using Cuetable and the "multiple pages" feature.

To make my practice session a little more interesting and informative for me, I continue my run after missing to a total score of 200, but I mark on paper the type of shot I missed. Either an A - B - or C shot. The A shot is what I mark after being completely stuck, locked up or way out of line, also a scratch. A B shot is what I mark if I miss either a long shot or a more than my comfortable cut shot, and a C shot is a no brainer that my wife could make (who never plays pool)

This helps me understand my concentration level. I miss more C shots than B shots and lastly A shots. Bottom line is I end up beating myself. This has helped me with what I call understanding my "mini zone". I know, call it crazy but thats what I call it. My mini zone is the feeling I need to reach on each shot before I pull the trigger. If I don't accomplish this feeling of concentration and confidence and clear picture of the outcome, I know I'm setting myself up for a miss. I'm now much more aware that this is one of my primary reasons for missing.

CueTable 5 Pages

OK, I did this quickly, so bare with me on the drawings...and keep in mind I am not the greatest 14.1 player.

Page 1-4 in that order and then reverse them (reversing the English as well, LOL) as you go to the other side of the rack and work your way back up to the top of the rack. Page 5 is the last one I do and I do it from both sides, which ends me back up right where I started. 10 break shots with 10runs following them.

I hope that helps. Others may have a better way of using English on these, but this is how I do them.

3andstop said:

To make my practice session a little more interesting and informative for me, I continue my run after missing to a total score of 200, but I mark on paper the type of shot I missed. Either an A - B - or C shot. The A shot is what I mark after being completely stuck, locked up or way out of line, also a scratch. A B shot is what I mark if I miss either a long shot or a more than my comfortable cut shot, and a C shot is a no brainer that my wife could make (who never plays pool)

This helps me understand my concentration level. I miss more C shots than B shots and lastly A shots. Bottom line is I end up beating myself. This has helped me with what I call understanding my "mini zone". I know, call it crazy but thats what I call it. My mini zone is the feeling I need to reach on each shot before I pull the trigger. If I don't accomplish this feeling of concentration and confidence and clear picture of the outcome, I know I'm setting myself up for a miss. I'm now much more aware that this is one of my primary reasons for missing.

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That's some good stuff there! Nice!

I don't know what "the right way" is, or if one even exists, but I just rack up 14 balls and give myself a break shot to start off.

Jimmy M. said:

I don't know what "the right way" is, or if one even exists, but I just rack up 14 balls and give myself a break shot to start off.

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You're right - just play it.

IMO once you have a solid foundation and understanding of the game and you are able to balance yourself, stroke smoothly and level, stay down, and know and be able to direct the cue ball and pocket balls well, this game becomes primarily a mental battle between you and yourself. I mentioned on one post elsewhere how much I liked the way the Monks book talked about the Id or inner you. Boy that sure a stopper for lots of us.

The catch 22 is you can't develop good concentration without first identifying it by experiencing it, and you can't experience it without understanding what it is. I'm no expert, but I think this is the key to the next level beyond merely advanced play.

To experience it in small individual chunks, that I call my mini zone and then putting them together into a dead stroke is what has to be practiced. The problem with practicing this is that it is not a tangable, physical thing to actually practice.

I've found this dead stroke a few times, and run high 70s, a few 50s. but for the most part I find I'm somehow able to wake myself up in the 20 to 40 ball area. Pisses me off actually

If I screwed up the English on any of that, you guys are welcome to fix them, add to them, or even post some new ones! Maybe we could even build a 14.1 breaking diary out of it? It would be cool to have people constantly adding pages to that and build it into a real helpful too. HMMM?

I"ll start a thread on this and see where it takes us.