Examples of Murphy's Law as it Relates to Pool

C

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
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We all have our favorites - Here are four of my mine:

1) When playing position and knowing that leaving any angle at all will allow you options to get to the next ball and figuring the chances of leaving it straight in are unlikely, unless you absolutely make sure you come up either short or long of straight in, you will most likely end up falling absolutely straight-in on the ball, making it very difficult to get to your next ball.

2) When there is only one possible obstructing ball anywhere in the vicinity that could potentially snooker you from your next ball, if you just assume by law of averages that it won't, you can be sure it will indeed end up snookering you.

3) When you have a relatively tough cut shot on the winning 9-ball, and you get tactical and start thinking if you miss it, make sure you miss it on the pro side and over-cut it at the correct speed, which should leave a long tough shot for your opponent. Invariably, you will over-cut it just ever-so-slightly enough to rattle it in the jaws but leave it hanging in the pocket for your opponent.

4) When you're on the hill in a 9-ball match first and you have an easy run-out but you screw up and give away the game that allows your opponent to get to hill-hill, they will invariably either make the 9-ball on the break or break-and-run the final rack to win the match.
 
Cory in DC

Cory in DC

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ChrisinNC said:
We all have our favorites - Here are four of my mine:

1) When playing position and knowing that leaving any angle at all will allow you options to get to the next ball and figuring the chances of leaving it straight in are unlikely, unless you absolutely make sure you come up either short or long of straight in, you will most likely end up falling absolutely straight-in on the ball, making it very difficult to get to your next ball.

2) When there is only one possible obstructing ball anywhere in the vicinity that could potentially snooker you from your next ball, if you just assume by law of averages that it won't, you can be sure it will indeed end up snookering you.

3) When you have a relatively tough cut shot on the winning 9-ball, and you get tactical and start thinking if you miss it, make sure you miss it on the pro side and over-cut it at the correct speed, which should leave a long tough shot for your opponent. Invariably, you will over-cut it just ever-so-slightly enough to rattle it in the jaws but leave it hanging in the pocket for your opponent.

4) When you're on the hill in a 9-ball match first and you have an easy run-out but you screw up and give away the game that allows your opponent to get to hill-hill, they will invariably either make the 9-ball on the break or break-and-run the final rack to win the match.
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I've always called it the "one pocket scratch": when you think the cue ball couldn't possibly go off the footrail and into the side given the narrow angle. It can. It does. It will.
 
W

woodyosborne

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my casual question to a friend as i sank the 8ball"did you enjoy the game. Cotton?". i then watched the cue ball go and go; 3 rails into a pocket, picking up speed from the table drift(bar box).
 
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GoldCrown

GoldCrown

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When there is no possible way to lose to a certain opponent you will lose.
 
Sealegs50

Sealegs50

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Cory in DC said:
I've always called it the "one pocket scratch": when you think the cue ball couldn't possibly go off the footrail and into the side given the narrow angle. It can. It does. It will.
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My corollary to your rule is that tight pocket tables only make it more difficult for object balls to reach the pocket. Cue balls pass freely no matter how narrow the opening.

My other rule is that "spray and pray": works as a strategy, but only for your opponent.
 
erhino41

erhino41

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Your misinterpreting The concept of Murphy's law. Falling to prepare is preparing to fail. Simply hitting the cue ball in that directing and hoping for the best is the worst way to play this game and you get what you deserve. 99.99% of what the cue ball does is completely in your control.
 
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strmanglr scott

strmanglr scott

All about Focus
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There is no Murphy's law applicable on the table. It's pure physics. There is no question about how the balls will act. They will move and go to exactly where the physics allow them. It's math, an exact science.

Now the player and Murphy's law, that's a whole different story. Ignorance allows Murphy's law to flourish. Nerves comes into play as well.

As a player, yep, the only thing that could go wrong is "x" and sure enough no matter how easy it seems to avoid it, there it is, "x" happened.

I think a big part of it, is about focus. What the mind sees the mind gets. Anyone who's played a simple golf shot over water knows this all too well.
 
JazzyJeff87

JazzyJeff87

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Cory in DC said:
I've always called it the "one pocket scratch": when you think the cue ball couldn't possibly go off the footrail and into the side given the narrow angle. It can. It does. It will.
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Ugh. I hate scratching there. Try to bank a ball with the crazy angle into the side and you hit a point, or even rail. But try to play some instinctive position without fully paying attention and it’s going to go in. I played on an 8’ table a few weeks ago that seemed to have a track from the foot rail right into the side pocket, it was horrible.
 
JessEm

JessEm

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Murphy's law *shouldn't* exist in ANY aspect of life, yet it does...

Moving along.

How many times have we pulled-off an impossible shot and left ourselves perfect as the crowd goes wild, only to miss the next easy shot.

Not so much Murphy's Law, but, some of my best safeties are ones I've played against myself!
 
Black-Balled

Black-Balled

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It is a common occurrence in cycling that when there is something you DON'T want to run over, looking at it it as you approach it will certainly lead right into it.

Humans: not as smart as they thinking they is.

strmanglr scott said:
There is no Murphy's law applicable on the table. It's pure physics. There is no question about how the balls will act. They will move and go to exactly where the physics allow them. It's math, an exact science.

Now the player and Murphy's law, that's a whole different story. Ignorance allows Murphy's law to flourish. Nerves comes into play as well.

As a player, yep, the only thing that could go wrong is "x" and sure enough no matter how easy it seems to avoid it, there it is, "x" happened.

I think a big part of it, is about focus. What the mind sees the mind gets. Anyone who's played a simple golf shot over water knows this all too well.
Click to expand...
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

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erhino41 said:
Your misinterpreting The concept of Murphy's law. Falling to prepare is preparing to fail. Simply hitting the cue ball in that directing and hoping for the best is the worst way to play this game and you get what you deserve. 99.99% of what the cue ball does is completely in your control.
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I'm guessing that you have never played a RAM shot. I think it will open your eyes to an unsuspected aspect of pool.

Music for the RAM shot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTA3aOfrDHA

"Pray and spray" is in fact a workable strategy, but you need to have your opponent worrying about what might happen. It is his concern that causes balls to go in for you. You should have no thought whatsoever in mind when shooting -- just a feeling of power and happiness.
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

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The worst attack of the Murphies I ever had was in a low-stakes nine ball match. I was giving my opponent the safe eight and I like to think I had a slight advantage with that spot. I lost 17 straight games. It was amazing how many times I ended up frozen to the back of the nine when I was supposed to have position on the eight. It was like watching a slow-motion train wreck from inside the train.

As for the one-pocket scratch mentioned above, I saw one this week. The ball came off the end rail half a diamond from the corner pocket and scratched in the side.
 
G

garczar

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Bob Jewett said:
The worst attack of the Murphies I ever had was in a low-stakes nine ball match. I was giving my opponent the safe eight and I like to think I had a slight advantage with that spot. I lost 17 straight games. It was amazing how many times I ended up frozen to the back of the nine when I was supposed to have position on the eight. It was like watching a slow-motion train wreck from inside the train.

As for the one-pocket scratch mentioned above, I saw one this week. The ball came off the end rail half a diamond from the corner pocket and scratched in the side.
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Bob, i had that EXACT same scratch a cupla' weeks ago. I truly didn't think it could go in the side at such a shallow angle. Brutal.
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

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Black-Balled said:
It is a common occurrence in cycling that when there is something you DON'T want to run over, looking at it it as you approach it will certainly lead right into it.

Humans: not as smart as they thinking they is.
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Visualize something and it will happen. That's what humans learn to do. The subconscious takes care of the details. The problem is that the subconscious never hears the, "Please don't!" part. It just hears the, "Run over that hubcap."

Sometimes in a game I realize before I shoot that I've just told myself to run over the hubcap (or scratch in the side). Then I go ahead and shoot without resetting just to see what happens. My subconscious often comes through.
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

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garczar said:
Bob, i had that EXACT same scratch a cupla' weeks ago. I truly didn't think it could go in the side at such a shallow angle. Brutal.
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I think there has to be something wrong with either the ball or the table and it has to be exactly the wrong speed. Maybe it's also the rail groove around the point of the side helping deflect the ball.
 
G

garczar

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Humans don't do well(at all!!) with commands/directions to NOT do something. You always want to DO something. A perfect example is a shot over water in golf. If you think "don't go in the pond" prior to the shot you're like 70-80(or more)% likely to do so. You always want to think in terms of where you DO want the ball to go. Pool is no different.
 
Runner

Runner

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When you're playing two rails around for position, and there's only one
other ball on the table, Murphy's says you'll hit that ball and screw your
position up.:cool:
 
Runner

Runner

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Cory in DC said:
I've always called it the "one pocket scratch": when you think the cue ball couldn't possibly go off the footrail and into the side given the narrow angle. It can. It does. It will.
Click to expand...

THIS^^^ You couldn't EVER make a ball from that sliver of an angle,
but whitey goes right in, like it's got radar.
 
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