In November and December, 2018, John Schmidt spent a few weeks on 14.1 high-run attempts, with all the attempts being videoed. The highest he achieved was 434. Since this is apparently the highest run on any video, I felt some documentation and stats on the run might be appropriate.
The video can be seen here:
■ Date of run -- December 3, 2018
■ Location -- Easy Street Billiards, Monterey, CA.
■ Equipment (If anyone has different or additional information on this, please let me know)
Note -- It appeared to me that the balls were racked for this run at the opposite end of the table from what is normally the foot of that table. When I refer below to head or foot, it means in the table orientation used for the run. References to "left" and "right" sides of the table are as the player looks from the head of the table to the foot.
■ Start of run -- With his choice of starting shots, John placed the OB to the left of the rack and the CB about a diamond above it.
■ End of run -- On the break shot for the 32nd rack, John made the OB to the left of the rack, but the CB scratched in the left head pocket. It did this by making a strange massé-like turn as it neared the pocket. John reported later that the turn was caused or helped by a small piece of chalk on the table.
■ Number of balls pocketed in each pocket
■ Break shots -- For the initial break shot in each rack, the OB was to the left of the rack area 15 times (including the final fouled break), to the right 15 times, and behind the rack twice. All 32 break shots were into foot pockets. For all but two of the break shots, the CB went directly into the rack of balls from the OB; for the other two break shots, it hit the side rail before going into the pack. One of the break shots was with cue ball in hand behind the head string, as John had left it in the rack area intentionally.
■ Number of shots -- The 434 balls were made on 425 shots. Two balls were made on a break shot 7 times and 2 balls were made on each of 2 other shots.
■ Combos, caroms, banks -- 11 balls were made on combination shots, 1 ball was made on a combination into a carom, and no balls were made on bank shots.
■ Bridges, extensions, alternate hand -- John played a few shots (3?, thanks, wigglybridge) with a cue extension and two shots left handed. I don't remember any shots with a bridge (let me know if you see any).
■ Pace of play -- From striking the first break shot to pocketing the 434th ball (i.e., excluding racking for Rack 32 and the final failed break shot), the elapsed time was about 2 hours 5½ minutes. This is just over 4 minutes per rack, or 3½ balls per minute or 17.3 sec. per ball. The first 14 racks averaged 3.0 minutes per rack; the last 17 racks averaged 4.9 minutes per rack. The elapsed time included racking and one timeout of about 2¼ minutes in Rack 31.
The video can be seen here:
■ Date of run -- December 3, 2018
■ Location -- Easy Street Billiards, Monterey, CA.
■ Equipment (If anyone has different or additional information on this, please let me know)
- A drop-pocket Rebco 9-foot table with corner-pocket mouths of approximately 5"
- Simonis 760 cloth (green), with a heater under the table at least part of the time
- Super Aramith Pro balls with a measles cue ball
- Wooden triangle rack (with a designated racker)
- Predator P3 Red cue with a 12.4mm REVO shaft (per poster of the video)
Note -- It appeared to me that the balls were racked for this run at the opposite end of the table from what is normally the foot of that table. When I refer below to head or foot, it means in the table orientation used for the run. References to "left" and "right" sides of the table are as the player looks from the head of the table to the foot.
■ Start of run -- With his choice of starting shots, John placed the OB to the left of the rack and the CB about a diamond above it.
■ End of run -- On the break shot for the 32nd rack, John made the OB to the left of the rack, but the CB scratched in the left head pocket. It did this by making a strange massé-like turn as it neared the pocket. John reported later that the turn was caused or helped by a small piece of chalk on the table.
■ Number of balls pocketed in each pocket
Foot pockets
- Left -- 141 (32.5%)
- Right -- 185 (42.6%)
- Total -- 326 (75.1%)
Side pockets
- Left -- 30 (6.9%)
- Right -- 34 (7.8%)
- Total -- 64 (14.7%)
Head pockets
- Left -- 22 (5.1%)
- Right -- 22 (5.1%)
- Total -- 44 (10.1%)
• The most balls pocketed in the foot pockets in one rack was 13 (twice); the fewest was 7 (once).
• The most balls pocketed in the side pockets in one rack was 4 (twice); the fewest was 0 (twice).
• The most balls pocketed in the head pockets in one rack was 5 (twice); the fewest was 0 (7 times).
• The average number of balls per rack (for the 31 completed racks) pocketed in the foot, side, and head pockets was, respectively, 10.5, 2.1, and 1.4.
■ Break shots -- For the initial break shot in each rack, the OB was to the left of the rack area 15 times (including the final fouled break), to the right 15 times, and behind the rack twice. All 32 break shots were into foot pockets. For all but two of the break shots, the CB went directly into the rack of balls from the OB; for the other two break shots, it hit the side rail before going into the pack. One of the break shots was with cue ball in hand behind the head string, as John had left it in the rack area intentionally.
■ Number of shots -- The 434 balls were made on 425 shots. Two balls were made on a break shot 7 times and 2 balls were made on each of 2 other shots.
■ Combos, caroms, banks -- 11 balls were made on combination shots, 1 ball was made on a combination into a carom, and no balls were made on bank shots.
■ Bridges, extensions, alternate hand -- John played a few shots (3?, thanks, wigglybridge) with a cue extension and two shots left handed. I don't remember any shots with a bridge (let me know if you see any).
■ Pace of play -- From striking the first break shot to pocketing the 434th ball (i.e., excluding racking for Rack 32 and the final failed break shot), the elapsed time was about 2 hours 5½ minutes. This is just over 4 minutes per rack, or 3½ balls per minute or 17.3 sec. per ball. The first 14 racks averaged 3.0 minutes per rack; the last 17 racks averaged 4.9 minutes per rack. The elapsed time included racking and one timeout of about 2¼ minutes in Rack 31.
Last edited: