A shot in the 14.1 Warmup tournament

[Williebetmore]

An excellent analysis, Willie. I must admit to not being as familiar with this safety as it sounds you are, though of course I do play it from time to time. I have two questions concerning it:

1) Do you aim to hit the 13 exactly full, or maybe 3/4 on the 13, 1/4 on the 3, if that makes sense?

2) Can you really play it as far uptable as the outer edge of your gray triangle? I probably would have considered that too risky, and chickened out going behind the rack.

It's sad how much time I've devoted to this game, and I just haven't taken the time to study this very important safety to an extent it definitely deserves.

And thank you for the replies everyone; they have been very informative!

- Steve

SL,
I actually spent a half hour or so working on it with Danny D. - but of course it was a couple of years ago; so I may be a little off.

Danny D. actually preferred to get to the highest point in the triangle - the point furthest toward the head rail where you could still contact the 13 full (without shaving the ball above it - don't go by the triangle, the diagrams are limited by their size). From this point a little outside English helps keep whitey near the stack, and a LOT of high. Danny definitely plays it a little higher than I feel comfortable with, but it works well from a fairly decent size position zone.

It is surprising how little force is needed if the 13 is frozen to the 6 - we worked on getting the 6 to go to the foot rail, and back out a little bit (if it comes too far back towards the rack, you lose the threat along the bottom rail - however you hit it, you usually have a threat on the far side of the rack unless 2 balls tie up over there). The fuller you shoot the 13, the less force needed to drive the 6 to it's proper resting place. Even a slight gap between the 13 and 6 requires a significantly harder stroke; but just a few trials makes it very easy to judge.

Danny estimated that top-of-the-rack safeties, and safeties played from the bottom of the stack were closer to 50-50 propositions between players of equal skill - the player with greater shotmaking skill or significantly greater safety skills has a definite edge in those battles; but nowhere near as great as in the side-of-the rack beauty.

If you fail to position the 6 ball properly, or if balls tie up on the other side; you have failed, and you are back to a 50-50 proposition. If you fail to get a rail with the 6 - YOU ARE SCREWED (that's why we practice making it hit a rail and bounce back - the balls on the other side of the rack only occasionally make a rail).

I hope sjm will favor us with his corner ball safety (where whitey is fairly even with one of the bottom corner balls). There is also a really cool 3 rail safety that Danny D. showed me (I think sjm also is familiar with it) when the "break ball" is along a long rail on the wrong end of the table.

P.S. - oops, I think I neglected to answer your question. The hit is generally almost completely full, you can favor a slight cut to keep whitey against the stack. Even though it is struck super soft, it is usually with maximum top (not that much of it will be left at impact at such a slow speed, maybe it's psychological).

 

[JoeW]

I think that what you have here is a Rorschach for 14.1. There is no right answer, only your answer. The selection depends on one's style. And therein lies the lesson that you learn about yourself. This information can be used to adjust your style of play as needed.

As a psychologist this is exactly the kind of shot I would look for to help a player make "better" decisions based on their previous win / loss ratio.

As Sean Connery said in one of his movies "Here endith the lesson."

 

[Steve Lipsky]

Thanks Joe! That movie was The Untouchables, btw. It was my friend's high school yearbook quote .

 

[Bob Jewett]

... So... what would you guys have done in this spot?
...

I like the shot you took. I think I'm at least 50% to make the ball (and I think you are better than that) and I agree with your analysis of the chances in a safety battle.

If you are going to play safe, an alternative is to shoot almost straight at the object ball at a speed that banks it two rails to the head spot and freeze the cue ball to the top of the rack. Of course this shot depends on exactly how the ball are sitting. I assume you were playing all fouls, and if not, shame on the tournament management.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... Danny D. actually preferred to get to the highest point in the triangle - the point furthest toward the head rail where you could still contact the 13 full (without shaving the ball above it - don't go by the triangle, the diagrams are limited by their size). ...

I'm most comfortable with the side-of-rack safety shot when I'm shooting almost along the 13-6 line. Try to leave the cue ball frozen to both the 13 and the 3 with soft follow.

 

[mjantti]

If you are going to play safe, an alternative is to shoot almost straight at the object ball at a speed that banks it two rails to the head spot and freeze the cue ball to the top of the rack. Of course this shot depends on exactly how the ball are sitting. I assume you were playing all fouls, and if not, shame on the tournament management.

How about playing a 1pocket shot here, almost straight at the object ball but while leaving the cueball frozen to the side of the rack, play the object ball 3 rails near the lower left foot pocket ?

Anyway, in that particular situation against Thorsten, I would've tried to continue my run as well.

 

[Rod]

Andy, this piece of advice works from a general standpoint. But given the situation I just described, my opponent needs less than 30 balls. You don't have to be a world-beater to get out from there, especially when you start with a wide open table.

There is no way I would play this shot against anyone at B-level or at A-level, for example.

- Steve

Steve, I think you answered your own question. It sounds like you don't like this shot. If so, you'll like it less against a champion. However, if your motive like many others here was take a risky shot just to beat a champion, then sure fire away. If it was based on your chances of safety play, it still doesn't make the shot look any better.

From my standpoint, (if I was shooting), any small error at the ball is magnified at the pocket end. Knowing that, I'd have to take speed off this shot to be successful. I also know that scattering the rack is not necessary. If I think my chances are appx 50-50 then I'm not going to take shot either. That's me though, not you.

Rod

 

[Jimmy M.]

Hey Steve. Although the only time I ever saw you play it was 8-ball on a 7' table in Vegas, from what I know about you, I think you play a smart game of pool and probably do a pretty good job of playing "percentage pool". In this case, it looks to me like you looked at your situation, took all factors into consideration, and made a choice. Had you made it and ran out, there would be nothing to discuss here (other than us all congratulating you on beating the current World 14.1 Champion). You took a risk but, like you factored into your decision, you would be taking a risk by playing safe. You took the offensive option. It's easy for us all to say it was wrong now because you missed. I don't think it was a flier though. It sounds like you weighed out your options and made a calculated decision to go for the shot. You can't do much more than that. Now, had you just jumped up and fired at the ball like a jackass, okay, maybe it was a bad shot then. I don't think that's what you did though.

To put my 2 cents in, if you had any kind of angle to shoot the ball into the side and leave the cue ball below the side pocket to where you had a good angle to just shoot into one of the balls along the side of the rack, sticking the cue ball there (standard shot - you know it), I might have taken that option because, if you hit it well, it's a pretty effective safe. If all you had as an option to play safe was pocketing the ball and sending the cue ball up table then, yeah, it's "safe", but you don't necessarily have a huge advantage going into that safety battle, especially considering who your opponent was. So, again, you weighed out all your options and I don't think you can fault yourself for making a bad decision. You made a decision and, in hindsight, a different decision *MIGHT* have yielded a different result. Had you played the safe by sending the cue ball up table, lost the safety battle from there and, consequently, lost the game, you might have been sick knowing that you DID have a shot to win and didn't take it.

 

[CreeDo]

I'd have played it... it's not a bad cut. It may not be textbook but the 1's facing the fat part of the pocket, you don't need to do a lot with the cue ball... I'm surprised you put yourself at 50% on this shot. It's harder than a straight pool purist wants, but I bet you could do it more like 70%.

 

[Snap9]

Since I am an aggressive player----but somewhat logical with percentages. My option is none of the ones you listed. I would have crossed banked the one oposite side. Cue ball going 3 rails(top rail-->side rail-->bottom rail) at warp speed to break the stack from the bottom. Or play the same shot weak speed in case you miss the cross bank leaving the cue under the stack. A great safety position by the way.

Like I said I am aggressive I would have fired the cross at warp speed.