Advice for new 14.1 player?

[kollegedave]

In my opinion the books and videos begin to make sense after you have gained a certain level of experience and proficiency.

My advice would simply be to play a lot of 14.1 for now, books and videos later.

This is good advice above.

I would add that when I started playing straight pool (I am not as accomplished as some of the guys here, but I am not helpless) I found that the game was forcing me to learn ALL of the cue ball in order to get more ideal angles when running into clusters (see SJMs comments).

I have found that picking up my pace of shooting helps me. There is some merit to playing fast...for me. My top three runs (42, on three instances) all occurred relatively quickly.

Also, when I started, I was always nervous about getting a break ball, so I would SLAM the pack during my break shot. There might be times for this, but I have learned that break shots are easier to manufacture than I originally thought. If you run the balls smart and have a little cluster left in the stack, and you break that cluster at the correct speed (not very hard) with an insurance ball waiting, VERY often a break ball comes out of that.

I hope this helps.

kollegedave

 

[poolmouse]

Unlike 8-ball or 9-ball, 14.1 runs don't "end".

As long as you don't miss.

 

[gibson]

Another one of the skills overlooked in clearing clusters or finding a shot when you lose position is the carom shot being able to carom the cueball accurately will get you out of a lot of tough spots.

 

[poolmouse]

Another one of the skills overlooked in clearing clusters or finding a shot when you lose position is the carom shot being able to carom the cueball accurately will get you out of a lot of tough spots.

The smarter and within your means you play, the less you'll need to worry about tough spots.


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[Pushout]

By all means, avail yourself of Phil Capelle's book/DVD combination "Break Shot Patterns". Phil does a great job of providing examples of the last four or five balls in a rack with video of great players performing them.

 

[calboy8686]

All of what these guys are saying is very true. 14.1 is EVERY GAME YOU KNOW all rolled into ONE. 14.1 is the grandfather of the rest. It will take you a lifetime to learn, but should not take you too long with your 9 Ball knowledge. Look at 14.1 as 8 Ball that you can shoot any ball at any time.

A good rule of thumb is to have an escape route to safe or to have an insurance ball/balls that you create when you start opening the rack. You don't need to smash balls either a medium/firm center ball hit is what you need at the most. Like 1 Pocket.... CB position is everything to allow you to keep going, but NONE of the safeties will work.

Practice by racking the balls and taking the head ball off and putting it 2 balls from the center of the rack and the CB on the same line 2 diamonds up. Make the object ball and run as many as you can after. When you miss..... rerack same thing as before and repeat. Once you get through the rack, rack the balls and continue from where the loose ball is.

Try playing 5 groups of 3 balls.

Clear paths and rails to pockets, try not to play combos or banks unless ABSOLUTELY needed, and break up clusters ASAP.

 

[canadave]

The folks replying here are much more experienced than I am, for sure, and have given great advice. I'll just add two things I think are crucial 14.1 skills that need to be learned, more so than in other pool variants perhaps:

1. Being able to discern carom shots in the bunch of balls that are usually still part of the rack in the early stages of a rack (I think someone already mentioned this, actually). Especially coming from 9-ball, this is something you probably won't have run into too often. I find this the most fascinating aspect of 14.1--trying to see if there's a way to hit the cue into a "mess o' balls" and get a shot that is makeable even with your eyes closed due to the caroms involved.

2. Safety play. I think this is a highly underrated 14.1 skill, and can make or break a game. I personally have won and lost games due to poor safeties made at a late stage by myself or my opponent. It's tough sometimes, with so many balls on the table that can be shot at (unlike 8-ball or 9-ball), to come up with a shot that truly gives your opponent something extremely hard to work with.