Barbox Drills

Harvywallbanger

Harvywallbanger

Josh Eisert
Silver Member
Hi Keith. I chatted with you a few times a few years back at the Derby City Classic. I even went to the liquer store and got you some beer while you were playing a match. Two years in a row. LOL Anyways I quite playing and sold my table. Recently a pool hall opened in my home town so now I have the itch again. I really want to take it as far as I can go this time. The problem is I need a table but untill I can afford one its 75 cents a pop on the barbox's. Plus since its getting nice out no one is ever in there to play so its just me and the table. I am a fairly decent run out player and at 75 cents a pop I could go through well over $10 every hour or so if I am shooting racks. So my question is do you know of any good drills to practice(besides safes) that won't run a whole through my wallet. One I have been doing is just shooting long straight in shots while blocking the pocket significantly with an object ball. This keeps the balls on the table longer especially when I make it so tight I can only pocket about 1 out of 4. Do you have any that would help my game and keep the balls out there longer. Thanks and anything you have to offer would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Anyone else feel free to add some good money saving drills as well. I never practiced on a coin opp before. I always practiced at home and the only time I played in a pool hall was to compete not play by myself. All the things I like to practice drains me dry. :(
 
You could always ask the roomowner if he can put you on time (like he would for a 9 footer) and then open the table for you. Sometimes, owners will do that because they're making money either way.
 
Well he don't own the tables. Its a 50/50 split with the provider so I don't know if he would. Hell, he even puts quarters in when we play.:( I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask though. I'm by far his best customer. Thanks for the advice.:)
 
Coin-Op Practice

This may be one of the reasons I've gotten pretty good at banking. The easiest thing to do to save $ is to just keep banking back to yourself, whether it be table-length or short banks. Being bored and broke helped me learn a lot about banking with spin - set up the cue ball and object ball straight on towards the far rail and see how much spin you can get on it to bank it back to a corner. If you can find a table with a bad pocket (balls don't always roll down inside), then you've got yourself what I like to call a "practice" pocket. You can also practice difficult/long combos, in which accuracy is greatly needed.
 
Yeah that sounds good. I could always use the help on my banks and combos anyways. Maybe this will be a good time to practice them untill I get another table. I could even "tighten" the pocket with another object ball.:p

Another thing I do is just set up an object ball about 2 foot or so from the end rail. I then place my cue ball a good ways from the object ball and hit it straight into the rail and try to get the object ball to come back and hit the cue ball dead in the face. You have to be hitting pretty straight to do this but how much it helps me I have no idea.:rolleyes: Try placing the object ball in the middle of the table and the cue ball just a few inches from the end rail and see if you can get it to come straight back and hit the cue ball dead on. This is kind of an alternative to shooting a long straight shot but about 100x more difficult.
 
hey

you could also just play a few games of one pocket against yourself. I also just hit the cue ball around the table to learn kicking better.
 
I might be more inclined to try the straight-on-and-back shot, but the 2 tables I like to play on in my local bar have a little table roll - what's worse is the one I like most now has more roll. :(

I never thought about the 1P thing. Although, I'm not sure how much longer that rack would really last as opposed to shooting out 8-ball by myself. I watched a 1P match the other day and I was almost apalled(sp?) at the lack on banks.. I was thinking I would've been out long ago with a couple of easy banks to set things up here and there.

The idea of making a pocket smaller by putting another ball in front of it is not a bad idea.. until you get the hang of using it for caroming. Any time I see an extra ball near a pocket I just see more opportunities. This is another instance of being able to use spin transfer to help out a shot when caroming.

If you do mess around with spin transfer on your banks, maybe try out the following:
1) See how straight on into the rail you can hit and see how much spin you can throw onto the target ball
2) See if you can pull off an angled bank shot using spin to deaden the angle (hitting at an angle to the short rail and see if you can bank it back in almost a straight line) - also, check to see if attempting to bank it back more parallel to the rail might give you a slightly larger pocket angle to work with (might be better on a barbox since you can use the rails more without rattling)
3) Check the difference of top/bottom spin when banking

Also for banking, using short banks into the corner, set up the target ball almost the same distance from the short and long rails and work on the speed/english necessary to avoid a double hit with the cue ball.

Don't ask me about straight on shots, I haven't a clue! :p

Another very important thing about using spin transfer is that you must keep an eye on the cue ball to see what the leave effect is - I can't tell you how many times I had changed my bank with spin only to neglect the change it had on my leave. :eek:
 
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The burt Kinister tapes? I'm just looking for drills that don't cost an arm and a leg to practice. I wan't to play at least a couple hours a day. I was actually wanting drills that would work on my ball speed while pocketing shots but...I guess I'll use this time to work on my banks and hard combos like Bank suggested. I can always work on my ball speed while playing someone I guess.
 
id be curious to see what other people have to say about this...

have you ever pushed the balls in after putting your quarters in and the lever thing gets kinda stuck. one time this happened, but i had like 6 balls still out on the table. i left that lever thing stuck and was just playing 9 ball practice with those 6 balls and they would come out where the cue ball comes out. not sure if i just got lucky or if this is a common thing, lol.
 
enzo said:
id be curious to see what other people have to say about this...

have you ever pushed the balls in after putting your quarters in and the lever thing gets kinda stuck. one time this happened, but i had like 6 balls still out on the table. i left that lever thing stuck and was just playing 9 ball practice with those 6 balls and they would come out where the cue ball comes out. not sure if i just got lucky or if this is a common thing, lol.
Click to expand...

I think depending on the table there are tricks to get around paying, lol. At one college you if you can push in your dollar just enough that it will trigger the balls to be released, but not enough that you can't pull the dollar back out.

At the Ottawa University there are a couple tables that you can push your quarters in enough that it will open the door to release the balls, and if you leave your quarters in that position the door will remain open and you can get balls back after being pocketed.

I was never good at the doing the latter, so when I was broke I would take cue balls from other tables, leaving one object ball unpocketed so that the cue balls would be returned if pocketed, and I would play billiards. My carom shots improved dramatically due to my financial woes.
 
A little different drill

I like the suggestions above. Here's a little different drill for those that don't shoot on 7ft'ers often. I like to work on clusters and not getting tangled in clusters. This little drill takes some time from a planning perspective.

1) Place the first OB on the foot spot
2) Toss a second OB out on the table
3) Place a 2 or 3 ball cluster somewhere on the table
4) Take BIH on the first OB

The objective is to shoot the first OB to gain position on the 2nd OB, and make the 2nd OB while breaking out the cluster. Once done, leave the CB where it is and place another OB on the foot spot, pick one of the broken out balls to be the second OB, and setup another cluster. Great for 8-ball.
 
I'm suprised no one mentioned:

Figure out what cue ball return mechanism they are using(ie magnetic, weighted, sized, whatever), then order 2-3 of those CB's from a dealer. Now you'll have a couple balls(or heck you could steal the CB from other tables if not many are there) that will all return when potted.

Granted if its oversized or heavy you won't get as accurate results, but if its magnetic then you can can practice for a long time just by using the extra CB's.

Take that a step further(and this would work with both oversized/heavy cb's), and just block the pocket(in the center) with the extra cueball...

Now hit the regular object balls with the regular cue ball, and anytime you're about to sink an object ball, it will knock in the dupe cueball and hang in the pocket, allowing you to reset the cueball and keep hitting the OB's around without fear of losing them.


You'd have to work this out with the owner I'd guess as you wouldnt want to not spend any money, but if he is willing I'd bet this would be a good way to extend practice sessions...(course if he is willing just put a small cardboard box or something in each pocket, and just be sure to put in XX amount of money per hour)
 
As a kid my brother and our friends and I would use ashtrays to keep the balls from going down. It didn't make us popular with the owner of the place, but it did extend our playing time.
 
Find a spot that has time tables instead of coin op. Join a league. Find someone to play with loser pays. Hit the Joint when it's busy and don't lose.

Other than that if you can't open the table or block the pocket drops what other options do you have, because in all drills that are practised the purpose is to pocket the ball, if it's not droping when due you know it's a made shot or a missed shot.

Just my .02 cents worth.

Black Cat:cool:
 
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