3-foul wins

T

Travis Bickle

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Nothing worse than losing on 3 fouls, I think. I remember well how disgusted I felt a few months ago when I lost a cheap set that way, hill-hill. I wanted to rake the balls not just off the table, but right down street and into the harbor.

Anyway, tonight in a local tourney I three-fouled a guy 3 TIMES in a race to 7. He felt sick, I felt kinda almost guilty. Then again I was giving him the 6 and there aren't too many people I can beat that way.

That was the semi ... in the final I was getting the 6, and I must've taken 4 or 5 shots. Blew 2 outs, but this guy from Florida (who people in Brooklyn might want to keep an eye out for) just couldn't miss anything. It would've been an Accustats .900. Did he get out of line once? Can't recall. What did I say about savers? I take it back!
 
Travis Bickle said:
Nothing worse than losing on 3 fouls, I think. I remember well how disgusted I felt a few months ago when I lost a cheap set that way, hill-hill. I wanted to rake the balls not just off the table, but right down street and into the harbor.

Anyway, tonight in a local tourney I three-fouled a guy 3 TIMES in a race to 7. He felt sick, I felt kinda almost guilty. Then again I was giving him the 6 and there aren't too many people I can beat that way.

That was the semi ... in the final I was getting the 6, and I must've taken 4 or 5 shots. Blew 2 outs, but this guy from Florida (who people in Brooklyn might want to keep an eye out for) just couldn't miss anything. It would've been an Accustats .900. Did he get out of line once? Can't recall. What did I say about savers? I take it back!
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Brooklyn? I'm curious who you're talking about. As for the 3-foul rule, personally, I hate to see it abused but there are situations where it's definitely called for. It should be noted that the purpose of the rule is to keep the game offensive, not as a backdoor way of winning. However, I understand that at certain levels, this is the way the game is played. If you feel that this is a vulnerability in your game, you should see it as a message that it's time to work on your kicking. Put a well-executed 3 rail kick on a guy and see if he tries to safe you out again!
 
3 foul story

3 times in a race to 7... LOL. Im embarassed to say that I 3 fouled someone 6 times in a race to 8. The other two games i safed to set up a 9 ball combo... I gave this girl 5 games to 8 and was having a rough day. She told me i was lucky the last time i beat her. And she started acting all cocky when she ran 6 balls to have me down 6-0 before i do anything. So i got upset and just tried to lock her up so i can catch stroke. But I noticed she didnt kick great, so I beat her the brutal way. She didnt talk to me for about 3 months, I didnt care, i won like 250 for that tourney i remember... :D
 
The only thing I dislike about 3-foul is when a good player keeps doing it to a really bad player who can't kick. I remember a few years ago there was a very sweet 18 year old girl who just started playing pool, she was like a D minus, couldn't make a ball to save her life, but she played in the handicapped 9-ball tourneys just to donate her money I guess, she never won a match in all of the tourneys she played. The last one she played in this guy who is an A player 3-fouled her 5 of 7 games, she had no idea how to kick a ball. She was visibly upset and everyone who heard about it was pretty disgusted. The tournament director told the guy if he ever did anything like that again he would be barred from tournaments there. The poor girl never showed up to play a tournament there again :(
 
Now after reading that post by low english i feel bad... I should clear this up... the girl i played shot pretty damn sporty. Could stroke a ball, safe decent, and was a high C player. She was a sandbagger in my opinion tho. I've never done anything like that again by the way. i did it thinking, "I need ball in hand to catch a stroke," which is something i was always taught. You gotta remember, 5 to 8 is a TON of weight to someone who can run 3-4 balls consistently on tight pockets. Funny thing is, the next time i played her about 5 months later, she kicked like a DEMON. She told me i motivated her to work on her kicks...she took lessons and improved a lot.
 
MexPoolPlyr said:
She told me i motivated her to work on her kicks...she took lessons and improved a lot.
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See, this is exactly what I mean. Yes, it sucks to lose, especially in such fashion but every time you do lose, it should be a message that there's something that needs to be addressed. When you get fouled out, the message is as plain as day. You need to work on kicking.

However, I will also note that if you are consistently looking for ways to 3-foul your opponent, I'd recommend working on your run-outs. Obviously, you're not terribly confident in your ability and against better kickers, this will become a serious issue. I can honestly count the number of times I've 3-fouled someone in the past year because it's really very rare to get ball-in-hand twice and not have a way to get out. I really have to be forced into it OR there needs to be something near full-proof.

There are times when it's appropriate to play your opponent but if your goal is to be a better player, understand that your strategy should be applicable in all situations. It is the underlying problem with having previous knowledge of your opponents strengths and weaknesses which is inevitable in most tournaments but it's important to understand that these are isolated circumstances that simply won't work if you have any plans on taking your game outside the local poolroom.
 
I've heard of people doing that to people who can't play. I think that sucks if the person can't run 2 balls and doesn't even know what kicking means lol.

I've seen some very clever 3-fouls done before, like if you have your opponent on 2 and the low ball is tied up in a big cluster and you take an intentional foul to knock another ball in the cluster, then the person on 2 fouls has ball in hand but no way to make a legal hit. I've seen that done two or three times, it's like checkmate basically. Another one I like was done to me but I got out of it. I was on 2 fouls and the low ball was right by a corner pocket. My opponent put the cueball behind the ball and hit it soft, corner hooking me. Luckily I knew how to use the titty to hit the object ball, and I actually safed him back when I hit it and ran out the rack after he sold out. My friend Bill was sitting there watching and he said "These kids are gettin too smart" lol.
 
LastTwo said:
I've heard of people doing that to people who can't play. I think that sucks if the person can't run 2 balls and doesn't even know what kicking means lol.

I've seen some very clever 3-fouls done before, like if you have your opponent on 2 and the low ball is tied up in a big cluster and you take an intentional foul to knock another ball in the cluster, then the person on 2 fouls has ball in hand but no way to make a legal hit. I've seen that done two or three times, it's like checkmate basically. Another one I like was done to me but I got out of it. I was on 2 fouls and the low ball was right by a corner pocket. My opponent put the cueball behind the ball and hit it soft, corner hooking me. Luckily I knew how to use the titty to hit the object ball, and I actually safed him back when I hit it and ran out the rack after he sold out. My friend Bill was sitting there watching and he said "These kids are gettin too smart" lol.
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I actually pulled off that safety against a player around my level. It was unbelieveable. He actually tied up the 1 deliberately on the first foul and simply didn't see it coming until he had ball-in-hand with no place to put the cue-ball. The only unfortunate thing is you can only pull that move once in a room. People have a knack for telling stories like that.
 
Lol last two... u know who im talking about... u were there. Your absolutely right Jude, to become a better player you need to run out. Ther have been situations where i have an option of a makeable shot or easy safe, i safed and my opponent got lucky and ran out. Like my dad says, if you pocket the balls and run out, it dont matter who you play, you'll win. Three fouls is a great rule for many situations, safety battles are really fun and i look to it as a serious challenge. The safety battle of my life is having Efren on two fouls. I put him in jail twice. I swear i had a good chance to 3 foul him, but there were only 4 balls left. It wouldve been the highlight of my short career. :D Needless to say he played incredible and drilled me 11-2 :eek:
 
MexPoolPlyr said:
Lol last two... u know who im talking about... u were there. Your absolutely right Jude, to become a better player you need to run out. Ther have been situations where i have an option of a makeable shot or easy safe, i safed and my opponent got lucky and ran out. Like my dad says, if you pocket the balls and run out, it dont matter who you play, you'll win. Three fouls is a great rule for many situations, safety battles are really fun and i look to it as a serious challenge. The safety battle of my life is having Efren on two fouls. I put him in jail twice. I swear i had a good chance to 3 foul him, but there were only 4 balls left. It wouldve been the highlight of my short career. :D Needless to say he played incredible and drilled me 11-2 :eek:
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Getting Efren on 3 would be even more impressive than actually beating him in a race to 11. I mean, Efren loses from time to time but he never gets fouled out!
 
yea i know. I swear i had a good chance to do it. It was at the Bike, a 500 entry to try and mess around like that... now way, my dad woulda killed me.lol. It was the 3rd game i think, I screwed up the first two games really bad, ran out to the 8, made it and scractched 2 games in a row. I dogged it really bad, only my second major tourney so i was really nervous. Then i finally won the 4th game. I have it on dvd so I have proof! But then again, it was effy, he probably woulda gone 4 rails and back cut the ball and run out. As it is he played near flawless, I didnt wanna get him mad too! :p
 
MexPoolPlyr said:
yea i know. I swear i had a good chance to do it. It was at the Bike, a 500 entry to try and mess around like that... now way, my dad woulda killed me.lol. It was the 3rd game i think, I screwed up the first two games really bad, ran out to the 8, made it and scractched 2 games in a row. I dogged it really bad, only my second major tourney so i was really nervous. Then i finally won the 4th game. I have it on dvd so I have proof! But then again, it was effy, he probably woulda gone 4 rails and back cut the ball and run out. As it is he played near flawless, I didnt wanna get him mad too! :p
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Totally understandable. I lost to Nick Varner in my first major event. We got into a safety battle in the first game and he just took off from there. He ran a 6-pack and ended up beating me 10-0. To this day, I swear there was little I could do to change the outcome. The man was just unstoppable.
 
Wow, thats a tough matchup for your first major tourney. Nick can definitely run some racks. Those big pockets on the tournament tables suddenly turned into snooker pockets when it was your turn!!! Right??? I couldnt believe the pressure! But it was the best spent 500 of my life. Most people said what the hell i was doin paying 500 entry for a tournament I have no chance of making any money in. (actually my dad paid) But hey, those are memories you'll never forget. Money comes and goes, but not the opportunity to play the worlds greatest players. Now my game has been improving and I credit it to playing tougher players and lots of hard work on my behalf.
 
Travis Bickle said:
Blew 2 outs, but this guy from Florida (who people in Brooklyn might want to keep an eye out for) just couldn't miss anything. It would've been an Accustats .900. Did he get out of line once? Can't recall. What did I say about savers? I take it back!
Click to expand...

This guy from Florida peaked my interest because we had someone in the Boston area for a while who left that played jam up.
His nickname was Florida Bob(Not real original but what the heck) and this guy was REAL good.
I played him in a finals once and he ran out the set on me.
Nice guy, who claims that back in Florida he was gambling with someone he didn't know. He winds up winning and someone tells him later that he just beat David Howard.

I'd be curious to know if it's the same guy.

Regards,
Dave
 
DDKoop said:
This guy from Florida peaked my interest because we had someone in the Boston area for a while who left that played jam up.
His nickname was Florida Bob(Not real original but what the heck) and this guy was REAL good.
I played him in a finals once and he ran out the set on me.
Nice guy, who claims that back in Florida he was gambling with someone he didn't know. He winds up winning and someone tells him later that he just beat David Howard.

I'd be curious to know if it's the same guy.

Regards,
Dave
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Guy's name was something like Boone. Middle-aged gent with a nice tan and a mustache. I did NOT attempt to 3-foul him.
 
Travis Bickle said:
Guy's name was something like Boone. Middle-aged gent with a nice tan and a mustache. I did NOT attempt to 3-foul him.
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Sounds exactly like Florida Bob but the name Boone doesn't ring a bell.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
Brooklyn? I'm curious who you're talking about. As for the 3-foul rule, personally, I hate to see it abused but there are situations where it's definitely called for. It should be noted that the purpose of the rule is to keep the game offensive, not as a backdoor way of winning. However, I understand that at certain levels, this is the way the game is played. If you feel that this is a vulnerability in your game, you should see it as a message that it's time to work on your kicking. Put a well-executed 3 rail kick on a guy and see if he tries to safe you out again!
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Jude, I may well be wrong, but I never really looked at the rule as having that purpose. Just thought it gave you an option when you've got an ugly table and no real chance at a runout. I wasn't passing up chances to run out, if that's what you mean ... there were clusters, balls tied up.

Think you've got to prove, or make the other guy prove, early on, that you can at least kick a little, right? And, in any game, if somebody's got a glaring weakness, you've got to go after that. Like in tennis, sometimes you find a guy who can't do anything with a drop shot, or hit a decent overhead, or a second serve. Yeah, I guess this guy couldn't kick ... believe he made a hit maybe twice out of a dozen. I'm sure he'll work on it

My first tournament match was a couple of years ago, at Masters, and I had this A+ rated guy trying to 3-foul me. But after I kicked out of jail a few times, he gave up on that. Then he played like total crap and I ended up winning the match, lol.
 
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LastTwo said:
I've heard of people doing that to people who can't play. I think that sucks if the person can't run 2 balls and doesn't even know what kicking means lol.

I've seen some very clever 3-fouls done before, like if you have your opponent on 2 and the low ball is tied up in a big cluster and you take an intentional foul to knock another ball in the cluster, then the person on 2 fouls has ball in hand but no way to make a legal hit. (snip).
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Perfect time for a well-aimed jump shot, with a lot of loft.

More seriously (though that was a serious, but low odds, idea), I wouldn't often try to 3-foul a C- or D player. However, I have always found it oddly satisfying to 3-foul a better player.

Cory
 
Travis Bickle said:
Jude, I may well be wrong, but I never really looked at the rule as having that purpose. Just thought it gave you an option when you've got an ugly table and no real chance at a runout. I wasn't passing up chances to run out, if that's what you mean ... there were clusters, balls tied up.

Think you've got to prove, or make the other guy prove, early on, that you can at least kick a little, right? And, in any game, if somebody's got a glaring weakness, you've got to go after that. Like in tennis, sometimes you find a guy who can't do anything with a drop shot, or hit a decent overhead, or a second serve. Yeah, I guess this guy couldn't kick ... believe he made a hit maybe twice out of a dozen. I'm sure he'll work on it

My first tournament match was a couple of years ago, at Masters, and I had this A+ rated guy trying to 3-foul me. But after I kicked out of jail a few times, he gave up on that. Then he played like total crap and I ended up winning the match, lol.
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The rule is there to promote progression. It's so that one player doesn't spend each turn at the table trying to tie things up. Much like the 3-foul rule in straight pool, it's there to keep a limit to the nonsense and to resume pocketing balls.

Your analogy to tennis is somewhat flawed. See, in tennis, you are always playing to your opponent's strengths and weaknesses. That's inherent. In fact, most sports will fall under that catagory. Pool is a bit different. If I break, make a ball and get post on the one, it really doesn't matter who's in the chair. I'm playing the table, not the person. The sooner you see pool this way, the better.

Play to your strengths and weaknesses and forget your opponent. I know that this strategy may work for you today but the attitude I'm trying to relay to you is going to make you stronger in the long run. How is this going to prepare you for matches against stronger players?
 
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