8-ball Success! Keeping opponent from snookering you

[Billy_Bob]

My best friend (good player) and I have been playing 8-ball regularly for several years. At first I lost every game. Then I got to where I could make most of my shots. So he learned to leave me without a shot and he got to be quite good at this.

Now I have learned how to keep him from leaving me without a shot. That is to leave most or all of my balls on the table until I can runout.

I have been doing this lately and I can see it is frustrating him. He will not have a good shot and will look for a way to leave me bad, but he can't! I have balls all over the place. Shots everywhere.

This is like a chess game between me and him over time. So I wonder what he will come up with to counter my latest strategy?

 

[sharandrew]

you are on the right track. you are learning just like a chess player would .........keep up the good work

 

[Andrew Manning]

My best friend (good player) and I have been playing 8-ball regularly for several years. At first I lost every game. Then I got to where I could make most of my shots. So he learned to leave me without a shot and he got to be quite good at this.

Now I have learned how to keep him from leaving me without a shot. That is to leave most or all of my balls on the table until I can runout.

I have been doing this lately and I can see it is frustrating him. He will not have a good shot and will look for a way to leave me bad, but he can't! I have balls all over the place. Shots everywhere.

This is like a chess game between me and him over time. So I wonder what he will come up with to counter my latest strategy?

He'll learn to be more careful with his cluster control, and then you'll have to do the same. If your opponent is past a certain level, and you're not at the table, you need to make sure he doesn't have a shot (which is very difficult but not impossible if all his balls are on the table), or you need to make sure his balls are laying so ugly that he can't run out.

If the balls are all open, the game of 8-ball turns into "run out or lose" against really good players. If the balls are tied up, don't open them for your opponent. Only open them if you're going to keep control of the table. The chess match often comes down to who's going to be at the table when the problems are resolved and running out becomes feasible.

And a lot of matches at that level are decided on failed run outs. It's one thing to say "only run out when you can" but it's quite another thing to actually do it. Against a good enough player, you can't afford to pass up on a chance to run out, and you also can't afford to try to run out and fail. That's a fine line to walk.

-Andrew

 

[lewdo26]

Against a good enough player, you can't afford to pass up on a chance to run out, and you also can't afford to try to run out and fail. That's a fine line to walk.

-Andrew

Good post. It should also be added that passing on a run out does not mean passing on a run out when all your balls are in the clear. It means a situation where you can break them up before your opponent does, and then proceed to run out.

 

[Andrew Manning]

Good post. It should also be added that passing on a run out does not mean passing on a run out when all your balls are in the clear. It means a situation where you can break them up before your opponent does, and then proceed to run out.

Very true. You have to be familiar with your game to a level where you can look at how the balls lie and decide accurately whether or not you can run, including whatever break-outs will be involved.

-Andrew