8 ball- moving a tied up ball, i always make it worse, AND still tied up?

J

judochoke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
my bar is back open, two nice valley tables. everyone just plays 8 ball, no nine ball, no gambling, just a cool place to play pool. so now that im playing more 8 ball, whats the best way to unlock a problem ball? seems like everytime say i run 4 or 5 or even 6 balls, and then i try to unlock my problem ball, i make a shot, and the ball rolls and spins, and ends up being tied up again!!!!!! so baseically i have wasted a shot. i have even shot three times at a problem ball.

is it best to just try to get the ball somewhere out in the open? or try to get it near a pocket? 9 times out of ten i shoot and the ball ends up being locked up again. very frustrating

of coarse i know that the rule of thumb is to attack problems balls first, but what if i can see a good pattern, with balls connected. do i give up those connected balls to work on the problem ball??? the older guys i play with have played for many years i would imagine on valleys, so they are very good players. i normally dont get to many chances with these guys. whats the best way to unlock problems balls? thanks, judo
 
Patrick Johnson

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
Since you probably can't hit a problem ball/cluster very precisely, speed becomes more important. What speed is likely to produce good results from this angle regardless of exactly where you hit the target?

pj
chgo
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
judochoke said:
Slow speed no spin???
Click to expand...
Spin without hitting a cushion with the spinning ball is more or less irrelevant. It is not cue ball spin that spreads object balls apart. It is where you hit the cluster and how hard.

If you are hitting the cluster so hard that the balls travel to be near other balls, then maybe hitting the cluster softer is better.

Exactly where you hit a cluster is very important. For some clusters, you are guaranteed a trapped cue ball unless you avoid certain approaches. You probably don't have enough control yet to hit a certain side of a certain ball unless the cluster is close by, but you need to develop that skill. Try repeatedly breaking the same cluster -- like one you had in a real game.
 
BC21

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
Bob Jewett said:
Most amateurs break clusters too hard.
Click to expand...

Exactly. And too often balls that don't need broken out end up getting rearranged, usually creating more trouble. I see it all the time. Many times a ball looks like it's in a bad place within a cluster, but it has an open pocket, and all you have to do is get position on it. Going for the "break out" on a ball that doesn't need to be broken out can easily create trouble in an otherwise runable rack.
 
BilliardsAbout

BilliardsAbout

BondFanEvents.com
Silver Member
judochoke said:
my bar is back open, two nice valley tables. everyone just plays 8 ball, no nine ball, no gambling, just a cool place to play pool. so now that im playing more 8 ball, whats the best way to unlock a problem ball? seems like everytime say i run 4 or 5 or even 6 balls, and then i try to unlock my problem ball, i make a shot, and the ball rolls and spins, and ends up being tied up again!!!!!! so baseically i have wasted a shot. i have even shot three times at a problem ball.

is it best to just try to get the ball somewhere out in the open? or try to get it near a pocket? 9 times out of ten i shoot and the ball ends up being locked up again. very frustrating

of coarse i know that the rule of thumb is to attack problems balls first, but what if i can see a good pattern, with balls connected. do i give up those connected balls to work on the problem ball??? the older guys i play with have played for many years i would imagine on valleys, so they are very good players. i normally dont get to many chances with these guys. whats the best way to unlock problems balls? thanks, judo
Click to expand...

1) Set up clusters for practice and determine before you shoot where EVERY ball in the cluster will go, learn which balls move and which stay

2) Have a several shot plan, starting with a good safety, so you have ball-in-hand to better control the problem ball(s)

3) Look for a second safety, like taking ball-in-hand to bury the c.b. in the cluster while releasing the trouble ball
 
S

sparkle84

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
judochoke said:
my bar is back open, two nice valley tables. everyone just plays 8 ball, no nine ball, no gambling, just a cool place to play pool. so now that im playing more 8 ball, whats the best way to unlock a problem ball? seems like everytime say i run 4 or 5 or even 6 balls, and then i try to unlock my problem ball, i make a shot, and the ball rolls and spins, and ends up being tied up again!!!!!! so baseically i have wasted a shot. i have even shot three times at a problem ball.

is it best to just try to get the ball somewhere out in the open? or try to get it near a pocket? 9 times out of ten i shoot and the ball ends up being locked up again. very frustrating

of coarse i know that the rule of thumb is to attack problems balls first, but what if i can see a good pattern, with balls connected. do i give up those connected balls to work on the problem ball??? the older guys i play with have played for many years i would imagine on valleys, so they are very good players. i normally dont get to many chances with these guys. whats the best way to unlock problems balls? thanks, judo
Click to expand...


Yes, absolutely. A question for you. Is your goal to win the game?
Because if you're playing 8 Ball against any reasonably competent opponent an almost foolproof way to lose is to take 5 or 6 of your balls off the table and then miss.
Make an effort to deal with the problem asap even if you have to try a low percentage play and fail.
If you turn the table over to them with still a lot of traffic then at times they'll run 5 or 6 and miss and then it's you with a huge advantage and you should win a lot of those games.
Of course, in the meantime, work on your skills and understanding of the way the balls work so you can be more successful
dealing with problems.
 
F

FranCrimi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Sometimes it's not a bad idea to let your opponent deal with the cluster instead of you if his are mixed in with yours. Depending on the table layout, it might be the best way to go. If it's just yours alone in the cluster, then you will have to deal with it somehow.
 
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