9 ball: how do you improve your safety game ?
> I made up my own rules when I can confronted with this question. I played a variation of 9-ball with a close friend that was hard-core about improvement as well. The rules were that you didn't win the rack until you sucessfully 3-foul your opponent. If an obvious safety wasn't available,you could run out to a spot to where you could play safe,but even if the rack was so wide open that you couldn't play safe,running out only got you the break for the next game. We played a race to 10 3-fouls that way. We even got creative like Corey on the break,using a soft,thin hit and inside spin to come 2 rails out of the corner and into the back of the stack. We eventually carried that to the point of racking the one on the back point or in the row of 2 behind the 9,requiring you to take the 2 rail kick and open the stack up from behind. We also put the one on the corner,and learned the value of the time-honored 14.1 safety where you kick 2 rails,skid off the side of the stack and leave the cue ball up table.
We did this every other day for a month,in addition to playing a race to 21 regular 9-ball. Before long,we had to quit it because we kept kicking out of each other's traps,got too familiar with each other's tendencies,and we'd be playing out 10 and 15 inning safety wars all day long,and only have 2-3 3-fouls each. We got good at playing the common safes,making up our own,and kicking or jumping our way out.
I found out later that the stuff I learned like that was very helpful in One-Pocket,which has a safety style all it's own,not unlike 14.1 and properly played Banks. DO NOT forget to learn how to play safe in those games too. Having to defend against ANY open ball,is much different than just the lowest numbered ball,and the games I mentioned,along with 8-ball,all have their own set of subtle circumstances that may or may not apply in any other game.
Playing 9-ball,my rule of thumb is look for the spot on the table that would be the absolute hardest spot on the table to get a good hit from,and figure out how to get the cue ball,or in some cases the object ball there. These days,you also have to make an extra-special effort to play safe to a spot that offers limited jump-ability.
Distance is your friend too,and never forget that sometimes the best safety is leaving a ball wide open,and stacking the cue ball up on top of a ball,or frozen to the rail,or in another situation that causes your opponent to have to shoot something long distance,while jacked up awkwardly,off the rail with only the top of the ball to work with,bridging off the tips of their fingers,or something else that might cause them to mis-execute due to being physically uncomfortable shooting that way. The pockets have their own role in playing safe,bridging out of one can be rough.
It also helps to have a devious streak,or develop one. Tommy D.
