36 ball run

[9BallJim]

Well it wasn't the best played run and my end patterns weren't the best, but I put together a 36 ball run on video after not recording any video for quite a while due to camcorder problems. I recorded this using the Ustream app on my iPhone 3GS.

I felt that the shot I missed was the right shot to shoot. But the problem was that I didn't roll forward enough to reduce my angle on the 7 and avoid being jacked up over the 14. I had the combo but wanted to save it for after the other rail shot (I believe it was the 4).

I've been struggling getting into the 30s so I still felt pretty good about this run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCBFeNX294M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[alstl]

Thanks for posting the video, nice run.

 

[Fenwick]

I wonder what you see when you watch yourself?

 

[9BallJim]

I wonder what you see when you watch yourself?

I need to loose some weight. Lol

I played for a couple hours really struggling to even get through a rack. So I took a little break and came back to the table and just tried to be more relaxed and not over think anything.

When I watch myself in this video, I see some strategic decisions and position play that I'm pleased with but then I see some rolls that I got that allowed me to continue the run instead of having to shoot a lower percentage shot. I felt that I had reasonable out patterns, but poor shape forced me to play them differently. So on the one hand I was a little frustrated for not playing the patterns the way I intended but then I was relieved that I was able to adapt and get through them.

 

[14-1StraightMan]

36

Enjoyed watching.
First rack: you were going good until you shot that side pocket shot taking the key ball off the table. That all lead to not controling the cue ball.
It looked like you had room to make that 5 ball pass the 9 ball. That was the the correct shot. It looked like you were setting up for that 5 ball shot. If it could not go by the 9, you could of bumped the 5 ball over the shot before. Two shots later, the cue ball traveled around the table bumping into the 14 ball forcing you to shoot one of those two good break balls and bumping one of them (3 ball) way up table.
I'll skip the 2 nd rack for now
Last rack. Played well but when you shot that ball (36) setting yourself for a shot on the ball that was up table on the rail, you left too much angle. With that angle, there was no way that you were going to get on the ball that was on the rail down table. You should of rolled forward slightly on that 36 ball. You would of been flatter on that up table shot. Even if you might of rolled slightly too far, you would of had a easy shot on the 14 ball in the lower right corner with a stop shot & then taking that up table rail shot.
These are all things that you have to look at with each rack.
Maybe, you could play with a good player a short race after your league night. It might pay off in the long run.

 

[9BallJim]

Enjoyed watching.
First rack: you were going good until you shot that side pocket shot taking the key ball off the table. That all lead to not controling the cue ball.
It looked like you had room to make that 5 ball pass the 9 ball. That was the the correct shot. It looked like you were setting up for that 5 ball shot. If it could not go by the 9, you could of bumped the 5 ball over the shot before. Two shots later, the cue ball traveled around the table bumping into the 14 ball forcing you to shoot one of those two good break balls and bumping one of them (3 ball) way up table.
I'll skip the 2 nd rack for now
Last rack. Played well but when you shot that ball (36) setting yourself for a shot on the ball that was up table on the rail, you left too much angle. With that angle, there was no way that you were going to get on the ball that was on the rail down table. You should of rolled forward slightly on that 36 ball. You would of been flatter on that up table shot. Even if you might of rolled slightly too far, you would of had a easy shot on the 14 ball in the lower right corner with a stop shot & then taking that up table rail shot.
These are all things that you have to look at with each rack.
Maybe, you could play with a good player a short race after your league night. It might pay off in the long run.

Thanks for the feedback, Mike.

I was hoping to use the 5, 3 or 9 (the ball I ended up using), in that order of preference, for my break ball. In my opinion, the 1, which was below the 3, was too low for a good break ball. My plan was to draw back from the 6 and land straight on the 9 in the side which would allow me to pick off the 1. Since I was above the 9, I didn't want to take a chance getting tied up with the 3 or 1, so I played the 2 in the side, which as you pointed out, was a great key ball for either the 5, 3 or 9. Although I probably would have used the 4 on the rail as the key if I ended up choosing the 3 as the BB provided I got pretty straight on the 4. When I did play the 5 after the 4, I definitely over hit it and ran into the 14. I guess I was just trying to make sure that I got high enough to play the 1 with the intention of bumping the 3 to around mid table to create a new key ball for the 9, which of course I sent all the way up into the kitchen.

You saw the same thing that I mentioned on the last rack. I just didn't roll down far enough to be straighter on that 7 ball on the rail. I probably should have just shot the combo at that point.

 

[sparkle84]

Maybe, you could play with a good player a short race after your league night. It might pay off in the long run.

Noticed on your profiles that you're both around the Dallas area. Maybe you can get together with 14-1StraightMan for a couple lessons.
Far as the video goes, I watched this one & also the 44 ball run. Noticed a couple of very similar things in both. In each of the 5 full racks it seemed that your CB movement got increasingly greater as the rack went on. It should be the other way around. This is a sure sign of poor shot selection in the early & mid stages of the rack. The other thing is that you need to pay a lot more attention to the type of angles you're getting on shots. It's not that you're getting on the wrong side of the ball per se. But more things like having a 1/2 ball hit when a 3/4 ball hit would have yielded better results going forward. Precise angles are extremely important in 14.1. It's the difference between you controlling the balls or the balls controlling you.
You have fairly good position skills & are not that far off from improving your game quite a bit. But it'll probably take getting with someone who really knows the game to achieve that. They should be able to help greatly with the 2 things I mentioned (shot selection & precise angles) which are both holding you back at the present time.

Good Luck

 

[9BallJim]

Noticed on your profiles that you're both around the Dallas area. Maybe you can get together with 14-1StraightMan for a couple lessons.
Far as the video goes, I watched this one & also the 44 ball run. Noticed a couple of very similar things in both. In each of the 5 full racks it seemed that your CB movement got increasingly greater as the rack went on. It should be the other way around. This is a sure sign of poor shot selection in the early & mid stages of the rack. The other thing is that you need to pay a lot more attention to the type of angles you're getting on shots. It's not that you're getting on the wrong side of the ball per se. But more things like having a 1/2 ball hit when a 3/4 ball hit would have yielded better results going forward. Precise angles are extremely important in 14.1. It's the difference between you controlling the balls or the balls controlling you.
You have fairly good position skills & are not that far off from improving your game quite a bit. But it'll probably take getting with someone who really knows the game to achieve that. They should be able to help greatly with the 2 things I mentioned (shot selection & precise angles) which are both holding you back at the present time.

Good Luck

Thanks for the comments. I agree that I move the cue way too much towards the end of the rack. It's definitely not my intention. I think most of the time it's either like you said poor shot selection early on or poor position. Sometimes I feel that it's my lack of confidence in my pocketing ability that prevents me from shooting the right shot and then of course this snowballs into playing a bad pattern.
You're right about precise angles too. I know when I look at the position I got versus what I wanted, it may significantly affect the next few shots or the rest of the rack.
14-1Straightman and I play in both a 8/9-ball BCAPL league and a 14.1 house league. We actually played a short race to 50 last Thursday after our league match and may try to do the same tomorrow night. Although I desperately need and want more competitive play with guys like Mike outside of league matches, I think I need some one on one lessons even more so. I consider myself a pretty good student of the game watching many pro matches and reading plenty of 14.1 books, so I feel like I know what I should do and I recognize what good pattern play is, it just doesn't seem to follow me to the table as often as I'd like.
Thanks again.

 

[14-1StraightMan]

Lesson

Thanks for the comments. I agree that I move the cue way too much towards the end of the rack. It's definitely not my intention. I think most of the time it's either like you said poor shot selection early on or poor position. Sometimes I feel that it's my lack of confidence in my pocketing ability that prevents me from shooting the right shot and then of course this snowballs into playing a bad pattern.
You're right about precise angles too. I know when I look at the position I got versus what I wanted, it may significantly affect the next few shots or the rest of the rack.
14-1Straightman and I play in both a 8/9-ball BCAPL league and a 14.1 house league. We actually played a short race to 50 last Thursday after our league match and may try to do the same tomorrow night. Although I desperately need and want more competitive play with guys like Mike outside of league matches, I think I need some one on one lessons even more so. I consider myself a pretty good student of the game watching many pro matches and reading plenty of 14.1 books, so I feel like I know what I should do and I recognize what good pattern play is, it just doesn't seem to follow me to the table as often as I'd like.
Thanks again.

Here"s the deal. I gave a lesson to a friend's son trying to help out his behavior problems. I guess there was no helping this kid b/c he committed the worst crime that a person could commit on another human being, which this crime is a famous one in which a book was even written about. I decided never to give lessons again and deal with the stress.

Jim, we can play a short race once in awhile like we did last week. I would be willing to stop you from shooting certain shots and ask you "why" are you taking that shot. Hear what you have to say and then point out what I see. I can talk you through the patterns. What ever you want but if we play a match game then we just need to play.

 

[dmgwalsh]

Here"s the deal. I gave a lesson to a friend's son trying to help out his behavior problems. I guess there was no helping this kid b/c he committed the worst crime that a person could commit on another human being, which this crime is a famous one in which a book was even written about. I decided never to give lessons again and deal with the stress.

Jim, we can play a short race once in awhile like we did last week. I would be willing to stop you from shooting certain shots and ask you "why" are you taking that shot. Hear what you have to say and then point out what I see. I can talk you through the patterns. What ever you want but if we play a match game then we just need to play.

Ed Latimer and I will sometimes play Scotch Doubles. I did it once with Rick Michalec, Sr., too. We just start with a break shot and alternate shots. When it is my turn, I will tell him what I am thinking of doing and he will respond, sometimes with suggestions to do something else. When it is his turn, I'll ask what and why. We will discuss end patterns. Not a bad way to spend your time on the table.

 

[9BallJim]

Ed Latimer and I will sometimes play Scotch Doubles. I did it once with Rick Michalec, Sr., too. We just start with a break shot and alternate shots. When it is my turn, I will tell him what I am thinking of doing and he will respond, sometimes with suggestions to do something else. When it is his turn, I'll ask what and why. We will discuss end patterns. Not a bad way to spend your time on the table.

I was thinking the same thing. I've done Scotch 14.1 before and it is very informative.

 

[dmgwalsh]

Well it wasn't the best played run and my end patterns weren't the best, but I put together a 36 ball run on video after not recording any video for quite a while due to camcorder problems. I recorded this using the Ustream app on my iPhone 3GS.

I felt that the shot I missed was the right shot to shoot. But the problem was that I didn't roll forward enough to reduce my angle on the 7 and avoid being jacked up over the 14. I had the combo but wanted to save it for after the other rail shot (I believe it was the 4).

I've been struggling getting into the 30s so I still felt pretty good about this run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCBFeNX294M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

By the way, I downloaded it last night and watched some of it on my ipad on the way in. I need to make some notes. Haven't look at the others notes yet, but I had some thoughts looking at it.

 

[9BallJim]

2nd rack out pattern

I was looking at the 2nd rack again and boy I really played a terrible out pattern on the second rack.

Around 7:40 when I was playing the 6 to get on the 8 in the side, I got a little above the 8. If I was straight or below, I could have played a stop shot or at least stunned a few inches up and played the 14? in the lower right corner. From there I could have played the 1 then the 4 in the side and then the 7.

Regardless, assuming the 5 was the BB, it seems like the 11 should have been my key ball and the 15? played in the upper right corner should have been my key-to-key ball. So backing up from there, I probably needed to play the 7 or 4 to get on the K2K.

Going back for a minute, even after I played the 8 and then the 1 to go around 3 rails, I should have played the last 6 balls as 4, 14, 7, 15, 11 or 4, 7, 14, 15, 11. I believe the 14 passed the 5.

 

[alstl]

I hesitate to give advice because for one thing I'm not a great player and for another I've heard world champions get criticized for their patterns.

The only thing I would say is you don't have to stick with the pattern you are planning if you get out of line. On your final shot instead of staying with the 7 ball when you were shooting over the 14 you had an easy shot on the 9 and could have come one rail back to the middle of the table to continue the run.

Nice run, I enjoyed it.

 

[wigglybridge]

"The only thing I would say is you don't have to stick with the pattern you are planning if you get out of line. On your final shot instead of staying with the 7 ball when you were shooting over the 14 you had an easy shot on the 9 and could have come one rail back to the middle of the table to continue the run. "

ah, focus; you've always either got too much or not enough.

 

[sparkle84]

I was looking at the 2nd rack again and boy I really played a terrible out pattern on the second rack.

Going back for a minute, even after I played the 8 and then the 1 to go around 3 rails, I should have played the last 6 balls as 4, 14, 7, 15, 11 or 4, 7, 14, 15, 11. I believe the 14 passed the 5.

I usually don't like to get into specifics about in what order certain balls should be played. Not that it's not important because it is. But bad pattern play is often a by product of the way the table layout is viewed & analysed. I'll get back to that but as to the above; 4, 7, 14 is much preferable over 4, 14, 7. However, after the 1 you shot the 15 which in hindsight you think was the wrong shot. Actually it was the correct shot. What you did with the CB off of the 15 was bad but shooting the 15 at that point was definitely the best shot. You basically had five relatively easy stop shots to get close, perfect position on the break ball from there.
Go back & take a look. !5, 11, 4, 7, 14. Not much can go wrong. Each ball leads perfectly to the next with the correct angle & minimal CB movement. Maybe I'm nit picking a little because the pattern you described above is also connect the dots & is very workable. The only reason I like the 14 last over the 11 is because you really can't get a bad angle on the 14 to where you can't easily get on the 5. If you get a little off angle on the 11 ( particularly if you get too far above it ) then getting good on the 5 could be a problem.
Putting aside patterns, I'd be real interested in knowing what your thoughts were right from the beginning of that rack. From the beginning of the run actually. Going back to the 1st rack, after you broke the balls you had 3 very specific problem areas. In order of importance they were the 1, the ball on the left rail right below the side & the 4 on the right rail. A plan to deal with those areas needs to be developed before you even take your 1st shot. You shot 7 straight open, easy shots without doing anything to address those problems. Those open balls have to be used in ways that attack problem areas, as quickly as possible. Often this will entail shooting a shot or trying for position that you're maybe not comfortable with. You mentioned maybe a lack of confidence sometimes may cause you to pass up what you think is the right shot. Shoot it anyway. That's how the uncomfortable becomes comfortable, doing it over & over. Think back to when you 1st started playing pool. Always trying something new & trying to master it. If that process stops happening then stagnation sets in.

Good Luck

 

[9BallJim]

I usually don't like to get into specifics about in what order certain balls should be played. Not that it's not important because it is. But bad pattern play is often a by product of the way the table layout is viewed & analysed. I'll get back to that but as to the above; 4, 7, 14 is much preferable over 4, 14, 7. However, after the 1 you shot the 15 which in hindsight you think was the wrong shot. Actually it was the correct shot. What you did with the CB off of the 15 was bad but shooting the 15 at that point was definitely the best shot. You basically had five relatively easy stop shots to get close, perfect position on the break ball from there.
Go back & take a look. !5, 11, 4, 7, 14. Not much can go wrong. Each ball leads perfectly to the next with the correct angle & minimal CB movement. Maybe I'm nit picking a little because the pattern you described above is also connect the dots & is very workable. The only reason I like the 14 last over the 11 is because you really can't get a bad angle on the 14 to where you can't easily get on the 5. If you get a little off angle on the 11 ( particularly if you get too far above it ) then getting good on the 5 could be a problem.
Putting aside patterns, I'd be real interested in knowing what your thoughts were right from the beginning of that rack. From the beginning of the run actually. Going back to the 1st rack, after you broke the balls you had 3 very specific problem areas. In order of importance they were the 1, the ball on the left rail right below the side & the 4 on the right rail. A plan to deal with those areas needs to be developed before you even take your 1st shot. You shot 7 straight open, easy shots without doing anything to address those problems. Those open balls have to be used in ways that attack problem areas, as quickly as possible. Often this will entail shooting a shot or trying for position that you're maybe not comfortable with. You mentioned maybe a lack of confidence sometimes may cause you to pass up what you think is the right shot. Shoot it anyway. That's how the uncomfortable becomes comfortable, doing it over & over. Think back to when you 1st started playing pool. Always trying something new & trying to master it. If that process stops happening then stagnation sets in.

Good Luck

Thanks again for the insight. I do agree with you that the 4, 7, 14 and your proposed out pattern of 15, 11, 4, 7, 14 reduce the amount of cue travel and focus on precise shape. If the 14 didn't pass the 5, then playing for shape to be straight in or slightly below for the 14 in the side presents similar problems that you pointed out with respect to the 11.

I'll try to describe my thoughts as I played through this run. Not to start off by making excuses but I want to say that I was pretty frustrated at the time I ran this 36. I started off by trying to record a good run and as embarrassing as it is I could not even run a rack and get into a second rack for over two hours. I typically start a practice session with strong focus and concentration and feel like I analyze the rack to the best of my ability, taking the care needed for good planning and execution. Several things contributed to my bad state of mind. First, my break shots almost never open the rack as I would like. I blame this partly on loose racks. I tapped my table because I used to use the Sardo rack. But now I feel I can't get a tight rack with or without it. Everywhere else I play, I get considerably better spreads. Second, I tend to have very poor cue ball control on my break shot. I tend to either draw to much and send the cue flying into the kitchen or bury the cue on the foot rail or side rail. I rarely have my cue ball in the middle of the table after the break with several shots from which to choose. This brings up the next problem which is the lack of shot choices. I'm usually scrambling just to pocket a few balls and get in position for a secondary break shot. This night was particularly bad because all of the above was happening and then I was just butchering shots I should make. To give you a better sense of my skill level, I would say I normally have a run in the mid to high 20s within the first hour or so of play when I play at home. That is disturbing in itself.

Rack 1:
So I was actually pretty pleased with this break shot. I had 5 shots to choose from. I played the 12 to help open the rack using the 11 and 8 as insurance balls. At this point I like the 5 as my BB and the 4 as my KB. The shot only opened a couple balls but felt liked playing the 8 would open the rest, still counting on the 11 as an insurance ball and the 13 as well if I hit the low side of the 7. Now all the balls are open. The only thing I see as a problem is that the 1 blocks the 5 and there is a small window to get shape on the 1. So I felt like getting the 1 off the table was my first priority. Looking at it now I probably should have played the 9 in the side to get on the 1, but instead I decided to clear out some of the balls below the rack. I thought I played good position on the 11, 13, 7, 6. It was over drawing by one ball width that messed up my position on the 9 to get on the 1. I considered for a moment playing the 14 in the side but was a little risky. I definitely didn't like the 10 in the upper left corner. So I had to pick off the 2 and tried to get on the 4 and then the 9 to finally get on the 1. At this point I'm playing for the 5 to be my BB and the 10 as my KB. Once I got flatter than I prefered on the 4 but not straight enough to roll down for the 1, I revised my plan to play for the 5 next and use the 9 as the BB and still use the 10 as the KB. I'm very aware that I'm 10 balls into the rack and still haven't solved the single problem I identified at the beginning of the rack - the 1 ball. I hope to shoot the 4 and get straight or below the 5 to get on the 1. Instead I was above it so I chose to force follow in and out of the corner to get on the 1. I didn't think that I would hit the 14. In fact I thought I would land between the 14 and the 10. But since I hit it so hard, the cue followed the tangent longer and traveled directly toward the foot rail before the follow had a chance to bend it forward and therefore widened the angle out of the corner. I finally had a shot on the 1 and thought I could nudge the 3 up around mid table for a better KB. Instead I drove the 3 way too high but still considered it as an option for a KB. So I planned to play the 14 and come back as I did for the 10, but I really wanted to have the cue travel a little closer to the right rail so I could draw up the long string or follow to the left side rail and get on above the 3. Instead I got lucky by not scratching and pulled off a shot that got me almost straight in on the 3. I figured if I could draw about 2-3 diamonds, I should be good on the 9.

I think by not playing the 9 in the side to get on the 1 as I mentioned earlier made the rack play considerably more difficult.

Rack 2: to be continued...

 

[sparkle84]

I started off by trying to record a good run and as embarrassing as it is I could not even run a rack and get into a second rack for over two hours. I typically start a practice session with strong focus and concentration and feel like I analyze the rack to the best of my ability, taking the care needed for good planning and execution. Several things contributed to my bad state of mind. First, my break shots almost never open the rack as I would like. I blame this partly on loose racks. I tapped my table because I used to use the Sardo rack. But now I feel I can't get a tight rack with or without it. Everywhere else I play, I get considerably better spreads. Second, I tend to have very poor cue ball control on my break shot. I tend to either draw to much and send the cue flying into the kitchen or bury the cue on the foot rail or side rail. I rarely have my cue ball in the middle of the table after the break with several shots from which to choose. This brings up the next problem which is the lack of shot choices. I'm usually scrambling just to pocket a few balls and get in position for a secondary break shot. This night was particularly bad because all of the above was happening and then I was just butchering shots I should make. To give you a better sense of my skill level, I would say I normally have a run in the mid to high 20s within the first hour or so of play when I play at home. That is disturbing in itself.

Just so I don't have to cover old ground (I'm a 1 finger typist) you might want to check some of my other posts to give yourself an idea of my philosophy on 14.1.
You could just post video of you playing for a period of time, including misses. Doesn't necessarily have to be a run.
Might be time to invest in new cloth. I noticed the table seems very slow. You're hitting the balls very hard sometimes without a whole lot of movement. It looks like a combination of the equipment & the way you're stroking the ball.
As to breakshots I noticed when the video 1st started (when your cue was lying on the table) that you had a nice breakshot but then you moved the CB. If you continue getting breakshots with flat angles you'll continue to get subpar results. Where the CB was originally was far superior to where you moved it to.
Regardless, after both breakshots you had the table was very workable. I've only seen you shoot 5 racks but I've got a good grasp of your skill level. Those 5 racks were very consistent in that in the early stages of the rack you're shooting shots that don't allow you to remain in control of the balls.
Rack 1: If we're agreed that the 1 is a problem then go back & rethink the 1st 2 shots you took. I think you'll see right away that in both cases these shots could only congest the area around the 1 even more. You still had plenty of shots & options but from a practical perspective those 2 shots weren't helping to solve a problem, they could only make it worse. Identifying problems & dealing with them quickly are integral to success in 14.1. If you consistently look for ways to do this oftentimes you won't have to choose which shot to take because focusing on solving the problem will in itself dictate which ball to shoot or which position to get. If you make a concerted effort to concentrate on this your view of the table & your choice of shots & position will start to change dramatically. It will lead to mistakes & confusion at 1st but over time will become easier & will lead to much easier racks & bigger runs.
Maybe next time on the table recreate that rack as it existed after the breakshot & try using just 1 ball to get on the 1 as your 2nd shot. I see 2 ways of doing it with no risk.

 

[9BallJim]

Just so I don't have to cover old ground (I'm a 1 finger typist) you might want to check some of my other posts to give yourself an idea of my philosophy on 14.1.
You could just post video of you playing for a period of time, including misses. Doesn't necessarily have to be a run.
Might be time to invest in new cloth. I noticed the table seems very slow. You're hitting the balls very hard sometimes without a whole lot of movement. It looks like a combination of the equipment & the way you're stroking the ball.
As to breakshots I noticed when the video 1st started (when your cue was lying on the table) that you had a nice breakshot but then you moved the CB. If you continue getting breakshots with flat angles you'll continue to get subpar results. Where the CB was originally was far superior to where you moved it to.
Regardless, after both breakshots you had the table was very workable. I've only seen you shoot 5 racks but I've got a good grasp of your skill level. Those 5 racks were very consistent in that in the early stages of the rack you're shooting shots that don't allow you to remain in control of the balls.
Rack 1: If we're agreed that the 1 is a problem then go back & rethink the 1st 2 shots you took. I think you'll see right away that in both cases these shots could only congest the area around the 1 even more. You still had plenty of shots & options but from a practical perspective those 2 shots weren't helping to solve a problem, they could only make it worse. Identifying problems & dealing with them quickly are integral to success in 14.1. If you consistently look for ways to do this oftentimes you won't have to choose which shot to take because focusing on solving the problem will in itself dictate which ball to shoot or which position to get. If you make a concerted effort to concentrate on this your view of the table & your choice of shots & position will start to change dramatically. It will lead to mistakes & confusion at 1st but over time will become easier & will lead to much easier racks & bigger runs.
Maybe next time on the table recreate that rack as it existed after the breakshot & try using just 1 ball to get on the 1 as your 2nd shot. I see 2 ways of doing it with no risk.

I've been thinking about new cloth. It's about three years old. There are no tears in the cloth just some worn tracks from 9-ball breaks and center spot drill tracks. But as I said I think the fact that I tapped it for use with the Sardo rack is responsible for some bad spreads. I vacuum it probably every 4-6 hours of play. So at least it is clean. I was thinking about getting that Simonis X-1 cloth tool. I heard they work well. As for the balls, I have the Aramith Super Pro Cup set and just bought a Diamond ball cleaner. I personally think my cloth should have been pulled tighter. It's Simonis 860, but never seems to play as fast as other tables with 860.

I usually like a slight backward angle on my break shots as you noted above. But I think I scratched or missed like 5 or 6 in a row just like that. So I decided to set up a shallower break shot.

I would guess that the two shots you believe that could have got me position on the 1 are the 8 and the 11. I see your point. By me making secondary break shots in the direction of my problem ball could only make things worse. I would also add that although my secondary break shots didn't necessarily create more congestion, it did take away balls (8 or 11) that could have got me on the 1 but then by also shooting the other balls below the rack took away easy shots to play after the 1.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and analysis. These discussions are always helpful and I believe I have taken away from this thread some good ideas that will help me be a more strategic player.

BTW, I tried to apply more critical thinking in a league match today and won 150-51 in 27 innings. My high run was only 21 but I had good spreads on my breaks and the lack of higher runs we're only due to missing easy shots as opposed to poor planning.