110 ball run by some Russian

Vahmurka

...and I get all da rolls
Silver Member
known as Sergey Nikitin :smile: He is a local pro, a very determined sportsman. Started as an amateur, improved at that level to become the best, then turned pro and had been progressing since. I admire his approach and devotion, he really works hard to reach the level of consistensy that of Stepanov and Chinakhov. I would put Sergey third in my personal rankings of Russian pro players.
Recently Nikitin has been studying straight pool extensively, and already with many runs over 60 under his belt this year (his personal best is 156 but now I can't tell how long ago he made this) - 70ies, some 80ies... This year he said he plays 14.1 with better conscience. He is trying to reach the level of being capable to run a hundred "on demand", at every practise session. And his recent goal was running a hundred on video. Here is the result he achieved last week. That's his first 100 videotaped.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-1m-bPIuY0

The way the run ends, that's a good lesson learnt. More on that after a while, not to turn into a spoiler.
 
known as Sergey Nikitin :smile: He is a local pro, a very determined sportsman. Started as an amateur, improved at that level to become the best, then turned pro and had been progressing since. I admire his approach and devotion, he really works hard to reach the level of consistensy that of Stepanov and Chinakhov. I would put Sergey third in my personal rankings of Russian pro players.
Recently Nikitin has been studying straight pool extensively, and already with many runs over 60 under his belt this year (his personal best is 156 but now I can't tell how long ago he made this) - 70ies, some 80ies... This year he said he plays 14.1 with better conscience. He is trying to reach the level of being capable to run a hundred "on demand", at every practise session. And his recent goal was running a hundred on video. Here is the result he achieved last week. That's his first 100 videotaped.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-1m-bPIuY0

The way the run ends, that's a good lesson learnt. More on that after a while, not to turn into a spoiler.
I think he was a little lucky to get through the second rack.

In the final rack, the only ball with a natural line to get to the final problem pair was the six (I think) and he took it off early when I thought he had other shots.
 
Thumbs Up

Enjoyed it very much. Tell him Congrats & keep up the great work.
Yes he did have some big problems right off the bat with that second rack but he worked it out as well as anyone could have.
Last rack. He was thinking about taking that shot (6 ball) but passed on it. It would of broke those two balls on the bottom rail. Mistake. Then later he picked off the 6 ball that was near those two problem balls, which he needed to break those two up. He should of left it alone until he got the proper angle to break that cluster.
Thanks for posting.
 
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Thanks for sharing !!!!

i dont know why he played to break up those 2 balls that were tied up, doesnt the top one go in the lower left pocket? he had to opportunities where he could of just shot it straight in. maybe i am seeing it wrong !

I learned something from watching this, thanks !

-Steve
 
Thanks for sharing !!!!

i dont know why he played to break up those 2 balls that were tied up, doesnt the top one go in the lower left pocket? he had to opportunities where he could of just shot it straight in. maybe i am seeing it wrong !

I learned something from watching this, thanks !

-Steve
I don't think the ball fit. I think it was just close enough to the rail and the other ball that it couldn't be made.
 
It did not go.

it seemed to me that the top ball went ! would of been nicer to see with a better cam angle !

Stevie, no way did that top ball go. He is a good enough player to just float down to the bottom rail & pick off that top ball. if there was a chance that it could go. He gave it a great try of breaking them up on the shot right before he ended up missing. It was fun to watch b/c I can understand & feel the pain......
 
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thanks for your comments, I will tell Sergey you enjoyed watching his run. After I watched the vid I discussed that final rack problem with him, and he told me he didn't took a chance on that cluster right away because he really didn't care about the run any longer. The primary goal was taping a 100, so he was on "mission completed" mode :) He told me, had it been the beginning of his run, second or third rack, he would have shot the 6 with no delay. I think there was another option with some stripe ball later in the rack, but once he pocketed the 6 he should have started thinking about that immediately.
Steve, the ball did not pass. Sergey always tries to keep things simple and would never choose breaking those balls had he an opportunity to pocket one without that.

There is one rack when he has the only ball available to keep him alive. Funny thing, I usually find myself in similar situations, with only minor difference that I don't have a simple shot at all :(

He's got a 75 next day, and he hesitated whether to keep that ot erase because in one rack he had to shoot 4 or 5 combos :cool: I tried to talk him into keeping the record and sharing it as well, so let's hope he will.
 
smooth and relaxed, but I'm not a huge fan of his patterns.

Patterns? He's an accurate shooter, but his cue ball needs work. He plays straight pool like nine ball, whipping the cue ball all over the place. Shooting difficult shots that are the result of the lack of proper planning during play.

Hope I don't sound snarky. He seems like he would be a high level nine ball player, but he should work with a real straight pool player to learn how to tame that cue ball.

Ginky was a little wild when he started playing straight pool. For years it was the same routine. He offered to play me nine ball and I turned him down (he was MUCH better than me). I offered to play him straight pool, and he always turned me down.

Then one day I walked in and he offered to play me straight pool. I jumped on the offer. Well, it turns out Ginky studied with a couple local straight pool experts (including George Mecula and John Ervalino) and he beat he badly. His cue ball control was already great, but now he had cue ball discipline and the ability to plan the small patterns within the large patterns. He turned into quite the 14.1 terror.

I think this Russian could be a much better player, if he asks some straight pool experts for help in taming his cue ball and planning those patterns.
 
yep. Thanks the long version of what I gleaned. Straight pool played correctly is about precision and, or course great pattern play. Getting the balls off the table is just part of the game.


Patterns? He's an accurate shooter, but his cue ball needs work. He plays straight pool like nine ball, whipping the cue ball all over the place. Shooting difficult shots that are the result of the lack of proper planning during play.

Hope I don't sound snarky. He seems like he would be a high level nine ball player, but he should work with a real straight pool player to learn how to tame that cue ball.

Ginky was a little wild when he started playing straight pool. For years it was the same routine. He offered to play me nine ball and I turned him down (he was MUCH better than me). I offered to play him straight pool, and he always turned me down.

Then one day I walked in and he offered to play me straight pool. I jumped on the offer. Well, it turns out Ginky studied with a couple local straight pool experts (including George Mecula and John Ervalino) and he beat he badly. His cue ball control was already great, but now he had cue ball discipline and the ability to plan the small patterns within the large patterns. He turned into quite the 14.1 terror.

I think this Russian could be a much better player, if he asks some straight pool experts for help in taming his cue ball and planning those patterns.
 
Is that a 9 ft. table? It,s hard too tell, but compared to the cue length it likes like it might be an 8. But on one or the other that's a great run.

Dave Nelson
 
yep that's a 9-footer.
poolmouse, thanks for your review. Little I know about straight pool so far... From my point of view, Nikitin's cue ball control in regard with 14.1 is very good :o Seems like that's compared to mine only. Unfortunately it is very hard to learn good straight pool here because we have zero experienced players who really know this game. Stepanov is good, Chinakhov plays good 14.1 too but I think you would call his game 9 ball style as well. I would never make that call for real, but it might be the most knowledgeable player here in straight pool is myself because I read every source of info, watch tapes, etc. And come here regularly of course, that's invaluable source of advice! Only my execution $ucks big time :frown:
In the beginning of the year Nikitin browsed through Phl Capelle's PYBSP which helped him a lot. So there is noone to learn from. I was hoping to meet Schmidt but he decided not to go to Manila. I met Hohmann twice but never managed to get a lesson. So we are on a long road here, huh.
I will tell Sergey your opinion, he would make some conclusions for good I think.
 
I think he was a little lucky to get through the second rack.

In the final rack, the only ball with a natural line to get to the final problem pair was the six (I think) and he took it off early when I thought he had other shots.

Thanks to our Russian friend for posting that video.

Questions for Bob. He drew the ball several times on shallow break shots. I usually get lousy results when I do that. Am I just not hitting the ball hard enough?

On the below the rack break shot at 12:15 his way worked out but I always try to draw the ball off the corner closest to me. Is one way better than the other?
 
Thanks to our Russian friend for posting that video.

Questions for Bob. He drew the ball several times on shallow break shots. I usually get lousy results when I do that. Am I just not hitting the ball hard enough?

On the below the rack break shot at 12:15 his way worked out but I always try to draw the ball off the corner closest to me. Is one way better than the other?
It depends on the situation. Sometimes you have to draw the cue ball through a cluster -- that is, the cue ball must still have draw after it hits the first ball in the cluster. For shots like that, and maybe for the sort you have trouble with, you have to hit far enough below center to have lots of draw in relation to the speed, but you usually need to hit the ball fairly hard. Of course, it is better to avoid such shots entirely, but some of us make mistakes we need to recover from.
 
new "video record" of 142

Sergey went to play on this table (with pretty generous pockets) with intention to record a 200 run. That's basically his goal now. He almost hit that, setting his new videotaped high run of 142. No wonder - wihle practicing he runs about 70 or 80 almost every time. He feels he improved the way he reads the table and problem solving, so it omstly depends on the break. If it works everything else goes naturally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq9svDoyGi0

Comments are welcome :smile:
 
Nice run. What kind of cues are popular in Russia? Do they use cues from local cuemakers or production?
 
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