Banks Banks I hate Banks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jay helfert]

I just dont know what it is but banks are my absloute worst enemy when running out, they're always a run killer for me. and the worst part about it is that i love playing one pocket and can usually get a good 4-5 run going but then i have to bank. maybe its just a mental thing at this point but who knows any systems or advice would be much appericated

To be a good One Pocket player, you MUST be able to bank balls! Some good advice here, Freddie does have some great support material for guys like you. My suggestion would be to start with the easiest cross corner bank and work on it until you've got it. Work your way up from there. Do the same thing with the easiest cross side bank etc. Most banks you shoot will be one railers. It's easy to control the cue ball on these shots. It can only go one way, so it's all about speed.

Remember this, Banks is the purest pool game there is. You can't luck a ball in at Banks! Think about it before you hate on Banks. Good luck!

P.S. If you ever come out to L.A. I'll show you a few things that are guaranteed to help you. Years ago, Tang Hoa couldn't make a bank to save his life. I changed all that over the course of an intensive two weeks of training. He became a better than average banker and went on to the finals of the U.S. Open that year. True story!

 

[SpiderWebComm]

Ya what good is making the damn thing without having shape

1 ball at a time theory here. If I "win" a ball...regardless where I'm at... I'm either making another one or sticking someone to the short rail.

 

[ShootingArts]

ah, I see says the blind man!

Ya i guess i should rephrase my title to i love when my banks go in lol, to me theres nothing better then ripping a bank with some sick draw or some nasty high right or left and to my neighbor with the beautiful avatar ive been playing for about 7yrs now and never had such a problem with banks until i joined these damn leagues on the bar tables. like i said earlier i love to play one hole on the 9footer but since ive been playing on these little tables ive just been off and cant make an adjustment to either table now. ive been pretty lucky to grow up around a lot of great player like Joe henry, Ronnie wiseman, adam smith to name a few. so ive seen this game played at a very high level and have seen how horribly easy it CAN look at times

Sounds like your problem isn't banking in itself, you are getting killed trying to make the adjustments between the big table and the bar tables with different cushions and cue balls. I have been playing a little bar table lately and have a similar problem. I'm banking pretty fair but my straight back kicks aren't working. Several issues here. One is the balls do come off of the rails differently. Another issue is that you may be using two or three different cue balls that play substantially differently.

A huge issue that I had seen and didn't really think about until I read about it also is that often the table mechanics move cushions from place to place on bar tables. They have a garbage can full of freshly recovered cushions and they just pull the cushions off of bar tables and swap them. Faster at the location but as a result all of the cushions are mixed together. Old, new, faster, slower, all on one table. You have to learn how every rail plays on a bar table. Without time to do that you have to keep the shots simple and really focus on nailing even straight back banks dead center always using a medium to firm stroke. The slow speed advice from big tables will make you crazy with the roll off on many bar tables.

Trying to adapt to all of this often throws your big table game off as you unconsciously take your adaptations back to the big table. How do I know this? Let's just say I don't need a t-shirt to remind me!

Best advice I can give you about playing on a bar table is to slide your fingers around the cushion lips and where they join the rails for obvious headaches and hit the cue ball around the table for a few minutes testing cushions before playing if possible. I think your problem is more likely adjusting to bar tables and accepting what is reasonable on them than banks. KISS on bar tables, save most of the fancy stuff for the big table. At least that works best for me. If I play the same bar table long enough to get the feel for that particular table then I get a little fancier.

Hu