Hey, thanks, that was great. It was probably quite a bit of work for you and hopefully it will pay off. Wasn't expecting a full running commentary but that's what we got and it was helpful. Didn't alter my perceptions too much but it did confirm some things for me.
I'm going to make some general observations and then go thru the whole run focusing on specific situations.
You mentioned throughout that your speed was off and it was a little bit. But bad speed was a relatively small problem in this and your other runs.
Getting close to rails is definitely a problem but some of that was due to a bad angle on the preceding shot and/or traveling a good distance for position. Fix some other things and that will become a more isolated problem.
Another area to address is getting close. The importance of getting close cannot be stressed enough. It makes the shot easier but the added and maybe more important benefit is that it allows for more precision and flexibility. You're more able to use all of the pocket to generate different cut angles and it's especially helpful when trying to bump a ball(or avoid bumping a ball) or hit a very precise spot in a cluster.
Another thing I noticed is that you may have a slight misconception in regards to throwing balls. Maximum throw is achieved by hitting middle CB on the vertical axis, rolling or otherwise.
I'll tell you what I think the main things are that are impeding your progress.
Shot selection
Better CB direction
Shot selection
Proper angles
Shot selection
Less travel and less speed
Shot selection
Precise tip placement and stroke refinement- they go hand in hand
And lest I forget, shot selection
Great shot selection will help make the other things mentioned easier to achieve and more precise.
One thought about english. Most people use too much english. You seem to use very little and may have to expand that at times for more creative position play.
So all of the above is basically my viewpoint of where your at. It's all just general stuff but I'll add some detail when going thru the run. Hope it's not too critical, as I said, you've got real good potential from what I see. Just need to make some adjustments. My feeling is you've been stuck for awhile now but are really dedicated to breaking thru.
Let's start at 0:50. When shooting the ball in the side make sure to stop dead. This allows for a stop shot on the 1 which leaves you closer and with a better angle on the ball in the side. This let's you get more precise position on the 6.
In this situation I think I would have used the 1 as the key ball. Stop on the ball in the side, maybe coming back and to the right slightly to get an angle to shoot the 6. Slide to the left a foot or so and get basically on the same line that a stop shot on the 1 would have provided. Note that when you slide down off the 6 you want to travel about a foot but you have a margin of error (MOE) of 4-6" which is huge when traveling a foot. The next 2 shots now give you perfect angles to the BS without crossing zones. Whenever possible go across position zones sooner rather than later because if you miss you have more options for recovery. When you enter zones correctly you've now taken direction out of the equation and to a certain extent speed is also less of a factor. Best of both worlds.
People might think I'm nitpicking here and I am to a certain extent but it's meant to illustrate principles and promote a thought process.
The BS you had, while not bad, did pose some problems. The thickness of the hit on the OB restricted CB speed into the rack. There were also scratch possibilities in the bottom right, left side, top left; or being up table somewhere. Of course all of this depended on exactly where you hit the top ball and where you hit the CB on the vertical axis (VA). 8" or so to the right improves it immensely. It could then be hit with follow. Better speed into the rack and very unlikely to scratch or be up table. However, you executed it well, the balls were open and you had a shot.
In fact this was a nice rack with no problems with the exception of getting the CB thru those 2 balls when shooting the 7. After that you had a lot of options. Then it's just a matter of staying in control. Staying in control means every variable is taken into consideration at all times whenever possible.
One big problem I have when trying to determine what I would do in these racks is I'm unable to determine exact angles from the video. So what I describe at times may not be entirely feasible.
The 1st thing I see here is that the 6 ball is an almost perfect breakshot. Can I preserve it for the next rack? I see 2 possible ways to do it, 1 depends on the exact configuration of the balls in the little 4 ball cluster (will the 13 contact the 6 when it caroms off the ball below it?) and 1 doesn't. I don't want to shoot the 4 because it may be my insurance ball if I choose option #2 for preserving the 6.
My focus would 1st be on the what I think is the 5?/9 combo. I can't tell from the vid how on it is. If it's reasonably easy then I can shoot it and avoid hitting the 6. I think it's a little off so my focus switches to the 1 ball. Does the angle on the 1 allow me to draw above the 10(?) and obtain a good angle to go into the cluster. If both of these options aren't available then of course the 6 becomes the obvious secondary BS.
As with many other things besides pool the key to success often resides in the details. Again, what I'm trying to convey here is a thought process. I think of it as the straight pool mindset. Right now you're still somewhat in 9B mode. The 9B mindset doesn't really promote and rely on creativity as well as the SP mindset does.
What you decided to do was ok, shoot the 4,15 and get back up top and break the balls. No problem with that. Unfortunately you hit the 4 which I doubt you're going to do very often.
Now take a look at your position at 4:30. You were focused on rebreaking the balls (which is good) but you didn't notice you had a perfect opportunity to get rid of that ball up table. That ball had very little value. It was alone, wasn't near a pocket and once you did break the cluster all the rest of the balls were going to be below the side pockets, nowhere near it. Fairly easy shot, natural 2 rail position route back to the center of the table. Sometimes you'd want to leave balls up table but rarely when they're alone and that far from a pocket. Doesn't seem that big a deal but I can't tell you how many times they came back to haunt me till I learned to take them out when the opportunity is there.
When you broke with the 6 you did get a little unlucky and it was a struggle from there to get to any kind of BS. That happens and you did well and were able to continue. There were a couple ways you could have gone that would have resulted in a better BS but this is getting very long so let's skip that for now.
Considering the poor quality of the BS you had you got exceptional results. Shooting the 9 next is obviously correct. But how? This is where you need to interject a little more thought into what's going to happen. Again in this rack I see a great BS ball in almost the same position as the 6 was last rack. Can it be preserved? Almost certainly it can, much more than the 6 could have. If that's the goal it tells me what to do with the 9. You intended to draw when shooting the 9 but didn't get much draw. If you had results would probably have been better but the downside is that the high quality BS would be gone.
That points me in a different direction. What if I follow, what happens? Well, I definitely save the BS, open the balls somewhat and should have shots down below the rack. What else? There'll probably still be a few balls clustered in the left area of the rack. Can anything be done about that? I think so. Not by following however.
What I would do here is modulate my tip position on the VA and speed to have the CB clip the edge of the 3 and then continue into the 4. This should open all of the balls, leave shots and maybe produce a couple BS on the left as a bonus. We've now accomplished multiple objectives with 1 shot.
All this started with the goal of saving that BS. That led to not just opening the balls but doing it in a very specific way. We've controlled the balls instead of them controlling us or leaving it to fate. Or at least we've tried to.
Well this was fairly long and drawn out so I'll stop here. More next time. Hope it's been helpful. A few final thoughts.
This last rack was a pretty good situation for demonstrating the thought process and degree of control required by this game.
It all starts with goals. They lead you to better shot selection and to getting the most you can out of each shot. They help by having you see or consider options beyond the obvious.
Goals are constantly changing and/or being reevaluated throughout each rack. I guess that should be obvious but when I watch people play what I often see demonstrates no clear goals or attempts to accomplish them. They were running in the 30-50 ball range 2 yrs. ago and are still doing the same.
In a large majority of these cases this is likely due not to a lack of physical prowess but more because of failure to expand thought processes and imagination.
I'm not being critical here. There's a lot of time, effort and desire required to play really good pool. The big drawback for most people is simply the fact that life gets in the way
Your knowledge of this game is so exstensive! Im sure the OP is taking your advice and applying it. I enjoy reading your comments and trying to figure out how your mind is thinking!! Cant wait to practice more!