adjusting to a barbox

T

TheProfessor

Gettin schooled
i played my first night of league on Thursday night, and it was a lot of fun. I did pretty well considering it was the first time I have ever played in a league...my handicap is now an 8.2 out of 10. The one thing I had a lot of problems with was adjusting from my nice 8 foot Connelly with decent balls to a barbox with crappy balls. Particularly, it was the cue ball which gave me fits. The thing is heavier than the other balls and it seems to roll forever, which makes position play difficult. Plus, I miscued twice during my matches, and I NEVER miscue at home. One was just awful, it was my last match against the best player on the other team, and I was running out on him. I hit a simple draw shot and I miscued, giving him ball in hand where he proceeded to run out on me. That really pissed me off. Is it the weight of the ball that is causing these miscues? I brought my own chalk and I chalk between every shot.

Anyone else have problems with the barboxes and the crappy weighted cue ball?
 
Aha! This is the essence of playing barroom pool! To succeed, you have to thrive on the challenge of rising above the shortcomings of the equipment.

The best way to play bar pool is to either brutalize the table (meaning to shoot hard or firm and be very confident and direct when you are telling the cueball where to go) or...

Develop your pattern play to perfection, playing very natural position with the cueball (meaning to let the cueball run along routes without trying to alter its path too much... like don't try to draw it back too often). Good patterns will also keep you in the mode of moving the cueball as little as possible for position. Minimal movement in your position play will help you win games.

I switch between methods depending on how fast the felt is (or what my mood is). I prefer slick fast felt so that I can play the natural game... but blasting the balls and overpowering the table sure is fun too!
 
Dirty Balls?

I have played in bars where the balls are so dirty that they almost feel fuzzy! When a lot of grime and dirt builds up on the balls, a lot of funny things can happen--including miscues.

If the balls are really dirty, I will run into the bathroom and at least clean the cue ball with soap and water (unless there is no soap in the dirty bathroom and then just water...lol). The last time that I cleaned the cue ball, though, I swear that after a couple hours of play the cue ball was almost as dirty as before I cleaned it...because the table itself and all of the other balls just transferred the dirt back to the cue ball.
 
thanks for the tips so far. i hate that the league play is on barbox tables, because i practice so well at home and then i can't really use a lot of it during league.
 
TheProfessor said:
thanks for the tips so far. i hate that the league play is on barbox tables, because i practice so well at home and then i can't really use a lot of it during league.
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I cant agree there. I have an 8 ft table at home with tight pockets. I find it extremely valuable when playing on a bar box. Shots seem so much easier on the bar box.
 
TheProfessor said:
i played my first night of league on Thursday night, and it was a lot of fun. I did pretty well considering it was the first time I have ever played in a league...my handicap is now an 8.2 out of 10. The one thing I had a lot of problems with was adjusting from my nice 8 foot Connelly with decent balls to a barbox with crappy balls. Particularly, it was the cue ball which gave me fits. The thing is heavier than the other balls and it seems to roll forever, which makes position play difficult. Plus, I miscued twice during my matches, and I NEVER miscue at home. One was just awful, it was my last match against the best player on the other team, and I was running out on him. I hit a simple draw shot and I miscued, giving him ball in hand where he proceeded to run out on me. That really pissed me off. Is it the weight of the ball that is causing these miscues? I brought my own chalk and I chalk between every shot.

Anyone else have problems with the barboxes and the crappy weighted cue ball?
Click to expand...


One of the most important things I play for on a bar box is to break up my clusters early if it looks like a I have any kind of chance at a run out. As bill said following natural paths is key, The best bar box players try bump balls after they've hit thier object ball with the CB as little as possible.

You should never miss a shot you can see on a bar box. (safe play and strategy exluded)

As for the dirty balls, I try make shape for my next ball to have less of an angle on the cut to cut down on the throw.

the heavy(and larger) cb is just something you have to get used too.
 
I have a lot of experience in this area unfortunately... I learned to play on an 8 foot and 9 foot. I have a really good stroke and can play pretty well on big tables, but bar tables used to kill me. All the tournaments around here are BCA 8 ball tournaments and they would murder me every time. I would try to play with a lot of draw or play three rail shape...and I lost. A lot. The heavier cue ball is hard to draw, and I too miscue a lot more on them. So I started playing much more natural shape, i.e. stun, follow. Never shoot too slow because a lot of bar tables are unlevel, break clusters out early, and remember on a big table you have a big stroke, but on a small table use a small stroke, or you will overstroke and go all over the place.
 
I myself when playing on a true barbox with the big CB, i tend to just hit the CB with hardly any english. And if i do need to use english, i dont use more than one tip in any direction.

That way i am basically just letting the ball roll and go all naturally.



dave
 
TheProfessor said:
i played my first night of league on Thursday night, and it was a lot of fun. I did pretty well considering it was the first time I have ever played in a league...my handicap is now an 8.2 out of 10. The one thing I had a lot of problems with was adjusting from my nice 8 foot Connelly with decent balls to a barbox with crappy balls. Particularly, it was the cue ball which gave me fits. The thing is heavier than the other balls and it seems to roll forever, which makes position play difficult. Plus, I miscued twice during my matches, and I NEVER miscue at home. One was just awful, it was my last match against the best player on the other team, and I was running out on him. I hit a simple draw shot and I miscued, giving him ball in hand where he proceeded to run out on me. That really pissed me off. Is it the weight of the ball that is causing these miscues? I brought my own chalk and I chalk between every shot.

Anyone else have problems with the barboxes and the crappy weighted cue ball?
Click to expand...

I have this same problem, what i tend to do is go about a hour to and half and hour early to get some games in, cause i play on nothing but big tables at home and all my practice is on those tables so its hard to adjust. I agree with the cueball, that baby will roll forever, i really don't use that much english on it just stun shots and i can't really let my stroke out because of the weight. So what i do is adjust my bridge length depending on how fast the cueball rolls and how fast the cushions react. An 8.2 huh nyce, What was your total score, or how to they score. I am a 9.0 now, the tournament is almost here and the team is in second place with nothing but easy matches for the rest of the year thank god lol.
 
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