Game That Teaches The Most Skills?

If 9 ball or 10 ball is your answer than certainly 15 ball rotation especially phillipino style must be better.

If 2 players never played one pocket would you rather stake the straight pool player or the 9 ball player playing it for the first time?

14.1..............

FeelDaShot said:

9-ball is my answer. Or 10-ball since they are basically the same game.

Reasoning:
1. 9-ball is very easy to practice alone vs the ghost.
2. As far as shot making and positioning goes, 9-ball requires the most skill to master. If you master 9-ball you should be able to be decent at the other games.
3. One pocket is the most versatile but it's so specialized that it wouldn't prepare you very well for other games. It's very difficult to practice alone. You won't be shooting many shots in 1-pocket so your shot making skills will take a long time to improve. The pace of 1-pocket is so uniquely slow that it would be hard to adapt to other games.
4. 3 cushion is also way too specialized for the skills to transfer over to other games. Even the table and balls are different than the other games.

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1) No it's not! Just play 3-ball, while you're at it...
2) NO, it does NOT! Play Rotation, THAT takes skill!
3) I am going to make a post about why one-pocket is BAD...
4) Yea, because you haven't build yourself from the small games, starting with Freegame, that's why.

If you think learning 9-ball or 10-ball is the game that sets the tone, you will learn wrong! How do I know this? Because it happened to me! I started on 8-ball and that is not a game you start with... period! As you get more involved in pocket billiards, you realize that getting good at 8-ball, by itself, will not make you a better player. It always has been 14.1 Continuous. When I got into 14.1 Continuous, 14 years after I started, I realized how much greater I got in many other games. With that said, it was my BIGGEST regret never starting and learning 14.1 properly. When I played 8-ball, I always feared the last ball. After playing 14.1 many times, that 8-ball was just a ball like all others.

ALL of you who think One-Pocket is the game that teaches skills....

... are fooling yourselves.

Here's why:
Say that you want to teach a beginner how to play pool. Do you want to teach that beginner how to break the rack on one side while all the other balls are on another side, making sure that your opponent doesn't have a chance at making a ball on his/her shot?
Do you want your beginner to learn to shoot on one pocket only? ...to bank long shots? ...to make immediate combinations, kisses, caroms, and/or billiard shots? Do you want to over-complicate that beginner on the strategy of playing certain balls and sacrificing others so that it can have an advantage?
One-Pocket is best left for those who have advanced themselves from many other games; it's the chess of billiards. It's like teaching your child, who is just learning basic arithmetic, to jump him into doing Calculus 2. It's pointless.

If you all damn well want to teach your beginner student how to play one-pocket, then get them to build up on the following criteria:
14.1 Continuous (no question about it), Carom Billiards (From Freegame, then to Balkline [47.2 & 71.2], and Cushion Caroms [One Cushion]), and then Bank Pool.

Even then, that path is hard to pull off.
With that said, you're welcome for offering you that piece of unsolicited advice.

Patrick Johnson said:

That's not what people are addressing - it's which game is the most comprehensive for practicing, not best for teaching beginners. Maybe you're saying they're the same?

pj
chgo

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Title of thread is "Game that teaches the most skills".

I looked into 1 pocket. That sure isn't much of a spectator sport. It's like watching paint dry; unless you already love 1 pocket yourself.

14.1 is a better game, imho.

But 6,7,9, or 10 ball are even more to my liking.

8 ball because lots of people play it. It's a sucker's game, imho. The better player will win, 85% of the time.

Patrick Johnson said:

That's not what people are addressing - it's which game is the most comprehensive for practicing, not best for teaching beginners. Maybe you're saying they're the same?

pj
chgo

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Also OP should define “practice”. Practice by yourself or with other players? 1 pocket would not be the game to practice by yourself while other games are much easier played or practiced as a single player.


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I love practicing 1 pocket by myself lol. I’ve done pretty well so far playing decent 1p players just by watching matches and spending a lot of time studying all the options and trying stuff while I’m practicing. I can do it for hours.

But I definitely wouldn’t try to get a beginner doing it they would probably just quit.

The answer is simple: Straight rotation, as played in the Phillipines.

1. The game has a Power break, which translates well to many other games.

2. The game has kicks, banks, combos, caroms and any other shot that comes up in other games. More importantly, you are rewarded for shooting these shots! You can argue that all of these shots are present in 9/10 ball, but the fact of the matter is, since you have to run out at these games to win, that it often doesn't pay to shoot them. A 10 ball match between non-pros, often turn into a total safety snoozefest.

3. In other games, safeties are given so much value because of the ball in hand anywhere rules. Not so in rotation. You need to be able to kick well and shoot big shots to win at this game. You can't just roll in two easy balls and play safe, then expect to win easily. It's not how the game works.

4. The game has 15 balls on the table and you have to run them in rotation. This means playing around and into clusters, with control. Filipinos play every game well, because of this.

5. The only thing not taught by rotation is pattern play (in the meaning of shot selection). You can't choose which ball to shoot so you lose out on a bit of 8ball and straight pool strategy. Usually the good players are quick to pick up on that skill, anyway, but that is an acutal lack in skills taught by rotation played exclusively.

6. The fact that the game does not have called shots, is a strength! It teaches the player to play two- or even Three-way shots, to be creative. This is a skill that may be lacking in players who play exclusively with call-shot type games.


One Pocket is not a candidate. Many of the standard shots in one-Pocket are highly specialized and do not translate well to other games. Much of the knowledge is negative, meaning knowing which shots to avoid. At the highest Level, you can't be ducking shots in any other game. You have to shoot to win. One Pocket is a game for the mature player, who has knowledge from other games. It's not a teacher of shots, other than the specialized ones.

Patrick Johnson said:

I’d probably agree if I knew how they play it there.

pj
chgo

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There are some very minor differences, but for all intents and purposes, it's the same as the original game. You can make Your opponent shoot a spot-shot on a foul for instance. I don't think that's in the original rules, but it rarely comes up anyway.

Patrick Johnson said:

Given most of the responses here, I'm hearing that a combination of 14.1 and 1 Pocket is the sweet spot for practicing most important skills. I think what those lack is the longer and harder shots/shape you're forced to try in rotation games.

pj
chgo

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Not necessarily. Both games involve situations where you must come with a big shot that can win you the game, or sell out. Anyone who plays either at a high level will take on a monster from time to time.

KMRUNOUT


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It’s one pocket. The most difficult game of them all. There is a reason for that. It includes ALL disciplines. But you can’t practice alone. It’s like playing chess alone. You need a counter pert.

1-1 pocket requires a touch
2-requires excellent safety play
3-requires banking skills.
4-requires a stroke. After long waits.

What other game requires this?

Straight pool banking is the kiss of death.

Nothing else to say on this subject. You just need someone to practice with.


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Patrick Johnson said:

That's not what people are addressing - it's which game is the most comprehensive for practicing, not best for teaching beginners. Maybe you're saying they're the same?

pj
chgo

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AS AN EXAMPLE.....

Maybe you need to read my comment, again!

ThinSlice said:

It’s one pocket. The most difficult game of them all. There is a reason for that. It includes ALL disciplines. But you can’t practice alone. It’s like playing chess alone. You need a counter pert.

1-1 pocket requires a touch
2-requires excellent safety play
3-requires banking skills.
4-requires a stroke. After long waits.

What other game requires this?

Straight pool banking is the kiss of death.

Nothing else to say on this subject. You just need someone to practice with.


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No...
Do your history on how one-pocket originated. Mark my words, that game was a hustler's game.

SlickRick_PCS said:

No...
Do your history on how one-pocket originated. Mark my words, that game was a hustler's game.

Click to expand...

But so what if it was? I’ll agree it’s not the best game to practice if that was all you could practice but in real life practicing 1 pocket helps tremendously with everything else.

I got 3rd in a 9 ball tourney last sat, partially helped by a few banks that are common in 1P. It’s a great game, the best in my opinion.

And anyone who thinks you can’t practice alone you should really try. Don’t short yourself, play as if it’s totally real and put yourself in the worst possible positions, and then see what you can do to respond.