14.1 On A 7-Footer

Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
To start with I know very few people play 14.1 on a 7-foot table. That's all I have at the moment, so I use it to practice on. I find it more helpful in position play and shot making than any of the drills. I played mostly 14.1 and 3-cushion in the mid 1950's to the mid 1970's, along with barbox 8-ball at the bar. I had several runs over 100 back then on the 9-footers.

Since playing a lot of 14.1 now on a 7-footer I've come to the conclusion that John Schmidt is not anal (like I thought) about insisting on the table and balls being clean whenever he plays. Nothing magnifies this more than playing 14.1 on a seven-footer. It's bad enough with clean balls and table as far as clusters go. But when the balls just stick together when you try to nudge them apart, it makes it damn near impossible to run very many. In the three or four months that I have the table I have high runs of 42, 44, 43, and 48. My corner pockets are 4 ?" and will rattle out if hit too hard on the opening of the pocket.

I'd like to know 14.1 player's thoughts on how much harder it is to get high runs on a 7-footer. I'd also like to know your high run on a 7-footer (if you ever play 14.1 on one) and how it compares to your high run on a 9-footer. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
To start with I know very few people play 14.1 on a 7-foot table. That's all I have at the moment, so I use it to practice on. I find it more helpful in position play and shot making than any of the drills. I played mostly 14.1 and 3-cushion in the mid 1950's to the mid 1970's, along with barbox 8-ball at the bar. I had several runs over 100 back then on the 9-footers.

Since playing a lot of 14.1 now on a 7-footer I've come to the conclusion that John Schmidt is not anal (like I thought) about insisting on the table and balls being clean whenever he plays. Nothing magnifies this more than playing 14.1 on a seven-footer. It's bad enough with clean balls and table as far as clusters go. But when the balls just stick together when you try to nudge them apart, it makes it damn near impossible to run very many. In the three or four months that I have the table I have high runs of 42, 44, 43, and 48. My corner pockets are 4 ?" and will rattle out if hit too hard on the opening of the pocket.

I'd like to know 14.1 player's thoughts on how much harder it is to get high runs on a 7-footer. I'd also like to know your high run on a 7-footer (if you ever play 14.1 on one) and how it compares to your high run on a 9-footer. Johnnyt
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It is harder on a smaller table and you have to play a little different. When I used to play on a small table I would use different break shots often keeping a side pocket cut as my break shot. You can also use just 10 balls that can be fun.
 
I almost never play on small tables, BUT...I have played a little 14.1 on them. I played $1 a ball and had a few 2 inning games.....maybe a 65 or 70 something in there?

I found it cramped in the begining, and you MUST play good combos, banks, billiards....all things, as you all know, you try to pass on playing on the big tables. The other thing I tried to do was play breakers with thin cuts to give the CB more "weight" hitting the stack. Also at every chance I would push balls up table to open up the rack area ang get some room to move.

It's a good exersize to play on small tables, bt I never like practicing long term on them cause going back to the biggies.....well, they felt HUMUNGO! :)
 
Post this in the straight pool section and you may get more responses. I have never played 14.1 on a seven footer, but play on an eight footer on a regular basis. You do need to keep the balls clean.
 
macguy said:
It is harder on a smaller table and you have to play a little different. When I used to play on a small table I would use different break shots often keeping a side pocket cut as my break shot. You can also use just 10 balls that can be fun.
Click to expand...

10 balls, never thought of that, thanks. I like the side pocket break shot. I use to use it a lot years ago, then I saw John Schmidt used it a lot on his high run DVD's. Thanks again. Johnnyt
 
metallicane said:
Post this in the straight pool section and you may get more responses. I have never played 14.1 on a seven footer, but play on an eight footer on a regular basis. You do need to keep the balls clean.
Click to expand...

Thanksmetal, I did post it there also. Johnnyt
 
metallicane said:
Post this in the straight pool section and you may get more responses. I have never played 14.1 on a seven footer, but play on an eight footer on a regular basis. You do need to keep the balls clean.
Click to expand...

Sorry I did not see it was there too. You are good.
 
Its already been mentioned that you have less space to work with on 7 foot table, but there are also other factors...

1) Your patterns have to be tighter, due to less space. You really have to rely on stop shot patterns to ensure that you don't have the cue ball going everywhere. Too much much cue ball movement means that you will probably run into something unintentionally. Less space makes that a bigger factor IMO.

2) You have to hit your break shots (primary and secondary) a lot more accurately and with much more care and precision. If you blast away the break ball and splatter the rack all over the place, you will possibly end up with very few break ball options. This makes speed control and stroke speed a big part of bar box 14.1.

3) Most 7 footers I have seen have big side pockets - and bigger pockets (generally) - at 4" on the corners this may or may not apply to you - but with larger pockets you increase the chance of scratching off the break. Just something I thought I would toss in there for you to consider.

I love talking to Pat Howey and other players that have stories of playing on the old 5X10's. Pat told me that it was a completely different game because of the break shot angles. When switching from a 7 footer to a 4X8 to a 4.5X9, these angles will always change, and the player will have to adjust.

IMO, the smaller playing surface of a 7 footer makes everything tighter, so everything in your game must be tighter. Good 14.1 is based on knowing the proper sequence and end patterns and how to get into them. Best of luck, and let us know when you're running triple digits!
 
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