14.1 break shot

[supergreenman]

I was shooting some straight pool last night and my opponent left me 2 balls on the 2 table, one sitting in a pocket and the other in a rack area. I shot the duck and tried to bump the ball in the rack to manufacture a break and missed.

It was spotted on the head string and I attempted this break shot. It worked not too bad except I scratched.

http://CueTable.com/P/?@1AADV4BCYH3...PNCI1UADV1UBUi4UGIN4Uadf4Uadf3kNCI1kADG1kadi@

How would you play this shot? Would you pocket the ball then play safe? or is there another break shot you'd try. I'm somewhat new at this game and there isn't too many people around that play it, in fact I've never seen anybody other than myself and the people I've played playing it, and we're just learning.

 

[cuetable]

I was shooting some straight pool last night and my opponent left me 2 balls on the 2 table, one sitting in a pocket and the other in a rack area. I shot the duck and tried to bump the ball in the rack to manufacture a break and missed.

It was spotted on the head string and I attempted this break shot. It worked not too bad except I scratched.

http://CueTable.com/P/?@1AADV4BCYH3...PNCI1UADV1UBUi4UGIN4Uadf4Uadf3kNCI1kADG1kadi@

How would you play this shot? Would you pocket the ball then play safe? or is there another break shot you'd try. I'm somewhat new at this game and there isn't too many people around that play it, in fact I've never seen anybody other than myself and the people I've played playing it, and we're just learning.

Hi:

You might want to check on this thread started by williebetmore which has a very similar situation from yours. Many straight pool experts have offered their insights to it.

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=50100

 

[Bob Jewett]

... It was spotted on the head string and I attempted this break shot. It worked not too bad except I scratched....

There are two standard break shots for when the object ball is spotted on the head spot. The first is like a spot shot (half-ball hit) and the cue ball goes two cushions (head, side) to the side of the rack. Usually the cue ball slides down the side of the rack to end by the foot rail while a couple of balls come out of the bottom of the rack to leave a secondary break shot.

The second way is to leave the cue ball by the side rail half way between a side pocket and the head string. This is about a half-ball shot also. Play it with outside follow, and the cue ball hits just above the side pocket, and the spin takes it to hit the two head balls of the rack, and the cue ball goes to the side rail and spins out to the center of the table. This is the way Irving Crane played the shot. He often decided on this shot with several balls left on the table.

 

[supergreenman]

Hi:

You might want to check on this thread started by williebetmore which is a very similar situation from yours. Many straight pool experts have offer their insights to it.

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=50100

I suppose I should have done a search, thanks for the link, within a couple of posts Steve Lipsky provided me with an answer to the "should I play safe" part of my question.

I did choose the agressive shot because my opponent is much better than me.

 

[Jude Rosenstock]

I suppose I should have done a search, thanks for the link, within a couple of posts Steve Lipsky provided me with an answer to the "should I play safe" part of my question.

I did choose the agressive shot because my opponent is much better than me.

There are a lot of "dead-shots" in a standard straight-pool rack. It's always a fun topic and your bank-carom kinda falls into that catagory. Caroming off the rack is nothing new. However, to a degree, it's trivial knowledge. They're novelties. Many of these shots carry a success-rate that is significantly lower than your other options.

There are situations where you may want to consider them but you want these situations to be optimal. In otherwords, if you are going to carom off the rack, you want to be shooting directly at that object-ball from a short distance. You don't want to bank it the length of the table into an already improbable carom.

 

[supergreenman]

There are a lot of "dead-shots" in a standard straight-pool rack. It's always a fun topic and your bank-carom kinda falls into that catagory. Caroming off the rack is nothing new. However, to a degree, it's trivial knowledge. They're novelties. Many of these shots carry a success-rate that is significantly lower than your other options.

There are situations where you may want to consider them but you want these situations to be optimal. In otherwords, if you are going to carom off the rack, you want to be shooting directly at that object-ball from a short distance. You don't want to bank it the length of the table into an already improbable carom.

Ok Jude, from where I was, what would you do? (while chewing on raisins of course).

I admit I'm inexperienced with 14.1 which is why I started the thread, I wanted to find out what more experienced players would have shot given the same layout (for what ever reason)

 

[duckie]

I would call a safe and pocket the 9 ball........it then goes to the head spot and your opponent now has the joy of deciding what to do.

This has been done to me many a time......

 

[Bob Jewett]

Ok Jude, from where I was, what would you do? (while chewing on raisins of course).

I admit I'm inexperienced with 14.1 which is why I started the thread, I wanted to find out what more experienced players would have shot given the same layout (for what ever reason)

I don't know what Jude would have done but you had the ideal angle to play the spotted ball directly into the head pocket and go two rails to the side of the rack. This is what most top players would shoot in that situation. Whether it's right for you is a different matter. If you miss too full, you have the chance that the object ball will go two rails into the rack.

Duckie's suggestion is what a lot of players around here do -- pocket it and call safe. I think a better shot is to pocket it for a point and then play safe on the 14-ball rack. If you get to the right place to play it, a return safe is very hard.

 

[jimmyg]

Many years ago, when I was lucky enough to play straight pool daily, I would play the two rail break shot with the tendency to play it slightly long, so that if I missed the pack on the way down I would catch it three rails behind the rack.

Jim

 

[Mike_Mason]

Play safe??

If you are a good player, by all means pocket the spot shot and bring the cue ball down to the lower side of the rack to break open a few balls to continue the high run...but...

If you can't do that consistently, play safe. Hit the 10-ball a little left of center to send it to the bottom rail, and the cue ball sticks to the pack...leaving your opponent with nowhere to go...

 

[supergreenman]

I don't know what Jude would have done but you had the ideal angle to play the spotted ball directly into the head pocket and go two rails to the side of the rack. This is what most top players would shoot in that situation. Whether it's right for you is a different matter. If you miss too full, you have the chance that the object ball will go two rails into the rack.

This sounds like the simplist solution to me.

 

[Jude Rosenstock]

This sounds like the simplist solution to me.

It is and it's very correct. Straight pool is a pocketer's game. You NEVER want to leave the table on a miss, especially one that opens up the rack. Whenever you play a low-probability shot, you need to weigh-out the risk and reward. If you're up 99-1, going to 100 and your opponent has proven that running 1 ball in a row is a problem, by all means, do whatever you like.

If the score is 98 to 98, you may want to consider:

1. Calling safe and pocketing the ball
2. Pocketing the ball and then playing safe.
3. Pocketing the ball, go two rails into the stack and continue your run.

All three I would consider to be in the realm of correct-play. In a mid-game scenario, I would definitely go with option 3.


If you want the opinion of a true straight-pool guru, I would strongly recommend doing a search for posts by Steve Lipsky. He is one of azbilliards' best writers and straight-pool players (combined, there is no better).