2022 AZ Billiards Straight Pool Challenge!

peppersauce said:
Thanks for the kind words. The truth is, I tried really hard to break 50 a few years ago and failed. Some people would say things like, “You look like you should be putting up bigger numbers.” But after a lot of effort I came to the conclusion that I’m just not good enough at 14.1, and might never crack 50. This was actually the first time I’ve played 14.1 in a couple of years. I look at this 50 as a milestone, but also a fluke. Things came together just right and I was lucky to get there.
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I'd say your pocketing and position play seems good enough to put up higher numbers. Your patterns could use some improvement but I think this is easier to learn, then the other two. And rest is dedication and keeping on trying :)

I would mostly have a goal of running about 400 (total) balls in a practice session and often giving up after 150-200 balls if my game was off and I seemed to not being able to put up some runs. Watching Jayson Shaw play 2600 balls a day teached me a big important lesson. Just showing up and putting in time and effort goes a long way.

Jayson ran 100s like I run racks (nice analagy if I think about it, 7.14 hundreds would be 7.14 racks for me and that would be my goal of 100 balls :)). Seems easy to stay motivated, if you are running that good.

But Strickland made a big impression on me. He had huge time intervals, where he wasn't able to run over 50 balls. Seemed very mortal, giving the fact that I already managed to run 56 and 47 this year. And he still managed to come up with like 7 150+ runs and 2 200+ runs in a week.
As Shuddy put it nicely in his post: when he missed, he didn't even falter. He pulled the balls out of the pockets, picked up his cue, and started again.
 
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peppersauce said:
50 ball run this morning. My first ever!

Actually 51, but ended with a scratch after I hooked myself. When I broke the 4th rack I knew there were enough loose balls to get 50 without breaking anything up. Once I knew I was going to get there though, I thought, might as well try and get things open and see if I can keep rolling. But I got nervous and hit the breakout like a donkey and hooked myself. 🤦‍♂️

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Kanzzo already shown up with his positive comment to your "first 50"- and hell yeah- i know that this "first time" feels good :-)

I see it also the same way as Kanzzo did-- your potting is good.
Kanzzo said, that your position is good also- but I would like to go a bit further :-) with a critic:

To me it seems, that you play kind of careless- means, that you not really plan several balls apart- once you REALLY do that, you ll have always options, and many many less hard shots :-)

Rythm imo also not bad- but take your time after the break- what you defintiley are not doing, is to "walk the table" and gettin your perspective from each side of the table. Very important!
So my advice would be: Really plan EXACT position. Fine position play is a big factor for makin high runs. And then you ll be a consistant 40-50 ball runner sooner as you would think.

Take care and have a smooth stroke peppersauce :-)
 
Ratta said:
Kanzzo already shown up with his positive comment to your "first 50"- and hell yeah- i know that this "first time" feels good :)

I see it also the same way as Kanzzo did-- your potting is good.
Kanzzo said, that your position is good also- but I would like to go a bit further :) with a critic:

To me it seems, that you play kind of careless- means, that you not really plan several balls apart- once you REALLY do that, you ll have always options, and many many less hard shots :)

Rythm imo also not bad- but take your time after the break- what you defintiley are not doing, is to "walk the table" and gettin your perspective from each side of the table. Very important!
So my advice would be: Really plan EXACT position. Fine position play is a big factor for makin high runs. And then you ll be a consistant 40-50 ball runner sooner as you would think.

Take care and have a smooth stroke peppersauce :)
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Thank you. Straight pool is hard, lol. I know you’re right about my patterns and not taking the time to plan things exactly. But I really still don’t even know what I’m looking at. I don’t know what to plan or how. 14.1 is like a language I don’t speak. Seems like it just breaks my rhythm when I try and think about those things and I end up missing easy shots. I was just trying to come up with the best plan I’m capable of and not throw myself off my rhythm. There were too many times in that short run where all I had was one option, and I know that shouldn’t be the case.
 
peppersauce said:
But I really still don’t even know what I’m looking at. I don’t know what to plan or how. 14.1 is like a language I don’t speak.
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It takes time. But the path is:
find the problems and look for fastest most safe way to solve these problems.

From lerning theory perspective always testing yourself and having immidiate feedback are the fastest ways to improve.

Using these principles for straight pool patterns I would pause a video (of a great player running straight pool) after the break and think (testing), what are the problems and what would be the next 3-4 shots. How would I proceed? Then getting immidiate feedback watching the player play these few shots. Coming back to the layout after the break and see if I would remember the patterns (30 seconds later, few hours later, after a day, a week, a month).

After a while the 14.1 language becomes more and more familiar.

Biggest problems to look for are (in this order):
- balls that are still clustered,
- balls in front of a pocket that block the path for over balls,
- balls that go only in one pocket,
- balls on the rail.
- lonely balls on the other end of the table
- balls under the triangle
- creating a break ball if needed or not running into break ball if one is available

if you go into balls or clusters it's always great if you have easy insurance balls. Sometimes some gamble is needed. If one shot can solve multiple of the above problems at once, it is probably a good choice. If shooting a little more difficult shot solves big problems with one shot (instead of using 3-4 balls to get position for easier shot) it's probably better to use this more difficult shot instead of waiting, or you risk running out of options. This is why great players will shoot more difficult combinations sometimes or balls up table. You make your life a lot easier, if you have still 6-7 balls left when your endgame starts instead of solving a problem with the last option available.

If you find a way to deal with the problems fast, when you are done after 7-8 shots and have 6 balls for the end pattern that go everywhere. When you start planning backwards from break ball, key ball, key to key ball etc and look for a way as easy as possible to land perfectly on your break ball.

And last thing is to know, what happens to CB after hitting break ball and hitting the break shot with authority (like the ball owns you money).

and repeat...
 
The father of Alex G. said:
Hi everyone! I want to post a break of as little as 12 points. However, the break was made by a 5-year old kid, my son. The break was made in a game after I missed my shot to break the triangle.

This kid progresses fast, so I hope that by the end of the competition I could post some more good breaks for him.

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Seriously talented kid you’ve got there. My son is 6 and can’t make a solid hit on the CB! Keep us posted on his progress please.
 
The father of Alex G. said:
Hi everyone! I want to post a break of as little as 12 points. However, the break was made by a 5-year old kid, my son. The break was made in a game after I missed my shot to break the triangle.

This kid progresses fast, so I hope that by the end of the competition I could post some more good breaks for him.

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Wow, your boy is amazing! How long has he been playing? Welcome to AZB both of you.
 
had the nicest 14.1 training session so far (in my life) :oops:

no record runs but nice position, great control on CB, even on break balls, 180 points in 10 innings (for someone with a high run of 56)

1
26
33
1
25
1
48
1
16
28

On my own calculations these numbers say, won't have to wait long for a 70...

here is the 48 ball run from this session:

 
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I practiced for about 3 hours and ran 63 twice. I mostly missed on the first rack. I got them on video but I think I can do better. I want to run 100 someday.


Sent from my iPad using AzBilliards Forums
 
Played for 30 minutes and had to quit out of frustration. Never got into the third rack, scratched in three of my first break shots, and couldn’t control my cue ball.
 
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