Best Shot to Gauge Skill

I used to call it the line following drill, I was playing with the LEGO robotics kit for class at school and the pool table was a perfect simulation for the Ice Station Zebra Drone.

Place the cue ball on the raill one one diamond up, place 3 balls in a straight line at least a diamond apart.
I call it controlled transfer. You strike through the cue ball and precisely through the multiball combo.

After you get 3 balls, try for more than 3 and vary space between balls.

Its called Ice Station Zebra because that is a solid training routine in center ball precision strikes.
The only thing worth locating the center of is the polar tips of the Earth. And no human wants that work long term as in more than 5 years.

Theoretically it could be used to train AI to shoot satellites out of space from Earth. Or a test of cue ball control transfer along a line.

The goal is to hit the combo and pocket the last ball.
 
Been wondering about this thread. Seems to me, a single shot will display how that particular shot was hit. Granted you could infer a lot about the shooter, unless you can't.

For personal purposes, you might gain insight, ideally what's wrong or lacking if anything. At least in that context you won't be stalling. Unless that's your problem.

OTOH...
 
James Briscoe said:
10 Stop shots in a row. Gives a pretty good picture of someone’s skill level
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Stroke maybe; as well as maybe other fundamental plusses and minuses. Doing 10 stops in a row would tell the doer a lot more. Depends what the doer makes of it. And then what? 6, 7, 8 hundreds hit good long stop shots. Few can stick 'em consistently. You could find 5s and 4s that can hit a long stop shot. Certainly doesn't indicate anything regarding their respective levels. And what of those that can consistently stick 'em? What's their rating?
 
My friend does a pretty cool 3 rail draw and make a ball that's hanging in the pocket. That's pretty tough.
 
Hang cue ball in corner pocket and shoot 5 ball off center spot in opposite corner. Shoot all the colors in the same corner without a miss, then do it without touching a rail. (Snooker table)


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jeagle64 said:
Hang cue ball in corner pocket and shoot 5 ball off center spot in opposite corner. Shoot all the colors in the same corner without a miss, then do it without touching a rail. (Snooker table)


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CB in the corner pocket, OB on the blue spot and make both balls in the far corner. Try that with your eyes closed or one handed. That'll tell you how good stance/stroke is.
 
How about the olde' CB on top of the rail, max english kick the frozen OB of the opposite short rail.... Maybe add some draw and a few rails...
 
I have used this shot from time to time to find out how much pool knowledge/skill a person has.....IMO a fairly decent barometer in most cases......If they know how to make the shot...chances are they have been around the block.....If they don't.....chances are they are talking out their posterior.

2 balls froze together to the rail...1 ball froze to the back ball but off the rail.

 
George the Greek said:
CB in the corner pocket, OB on the blue spot and make both balls in the far corner. Try that with your eyes closed or one handed. That'll tell you how good stance/stroke is.
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Barry Stark mentions watching Ding do that ten times in a row, but with his eyes open, and with both hands.
 
ShootingArts said:
One shot, one time, spot to spot without scratching might be my choice. Preferably with twenty bucks bet on that one shot. No second tries, nobody else trying the same shot, no way to get your money back if you miss that one shot.

I don't really care if they pocket the shot. Most bar room players are better than 30% on that shot, maybe as high as 50% although not with twenty bucks on the line. What I want to see is the player's actions around the table, how comfortable he is shooting this shot, and how far the cue ball misses the other corner pocket. How close the cue ball comes to scratching is the part of the shot I will be watching. Shooting for center pocket with the object ball and hitting center cue ball gives the best chance of pocketing the object ball and the cue ball will hit just short of the other corner pocket and two corners back out.

Many very solid shooters hit with just a touch of draw so an inch or two shorter of the corner pocket by the cue ball might be a warning too. Six inches or more is a scared shooter taking away some of the chance of making the object ball to protect the cue ball that a strong player already knows doesn't need protecting.

Exceptions to everything but with one shot to learn all I can about a player this would be my choice. I'll be watching him from the time he walks towards his cue and I may have some strong tells before he picks up his cue. He is going to chalk before this one shot for twenty bucks although he doesn't need to. How does he chalk? His own chalk or house chalk? How does he approach the table? Stance and stroke? How hard does he hit this shot?

A gambler might send out very mixed signals trying to look like a banger. That is a huge warning in itself. Their skill level should be roughly equal in all of the tasks surrounding shooting pool. I have rated the player fairly closely before they hit the cue ball. The shot itself is mostly confirmation of what I already know.

Hu
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Hu, you're giving away the store, pal!!
As an old roadie, those tips you just tossed out cost me time and money to learn.
Back in the day, unless you knew a player or had friends that were, getting info like that was like, well, pulling teeth!!😂 Lol
Seriously, newbies!!
Today's game is better by far in that regard. Help is a just a button away.
Old heads like me didn't concern ourselves with the future of this game - at that point in time. IE: introducing young players to insure longevity of the sport.
More like "go away kid. You're bothering me!!"🤣
We were too busy paying the bills with it. Lol.
This games been good to me - and many others. Paying for my home and sending both my daughters thru college.
Lots of time away from home was the only drawback.
Oh, and there was a distinct divide amongst tournament players and ourselves. To put it mildly, we had no love for each other. ☠️✌️
 
Mensabum said:
Hu, you're giving away the store, pal!!
As an old roadie, those tips you just tossed out cost me time and money to learn.
Back in the day, unless you knew a player or had friends that were, getting info like that was like, well, pulling teeth!!😂 Lol
Seriously, newbies!!
Today's game is better by far in that regard. Help is a just a button away.
Old heads like me didn't concern ourselves with the future of this game - at that point in time. IE: introducing young players to insure longevity of the sport.
More like "go away kid. You're bothering me!!"🤣
We were too busy paying the bills with it. Lol.
This games been good to me - and many others. Paying for my home and sending both my daughters thru college.
Lots of time away from home was the only drawback.
Oh, and there was a distinct divide amongst tournament players and ourselves. To put it mildly, we had no love for each other. ☠️✌️
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Yeah, what I talk about in my old age was sometimes, usually, closely held information when we were young. Education came hard and costly. I spent hundreds of hours in one guy's hall and he started parting with a little information. I did get a kick out of him when somebody tried to buy lessons. He felt like they were trying to buy his knowledge cheap and I can still hear his growl, "I'll give them all the lessons they want, ten a game nine ball." That put him easily making as much in an hour as people on minimum wage made in a week.

Li'l Joe Villalpando put out some great DVD's. I bought the first two and I couldn't decide between "WOW what a deal!" and being mad. Seventy bucks worth of DVD gave away what I took most of five years to learn!

I think most of the old hustles like the spot shot would work again. They are so old people have forgotten about them.

Talking about putting your daughters through college off a pool table reminds me, I put myself through college. I am here to tell you it was a long damned three weeks! I had been out of school about four years. In that time I had gotten a PhD as my friend Terry Ardeno calls it, a pool hall degree. I wasn't student material anymore.

Hu
 
BRKNRUN said:
I have used this shot from time to time to find out how much pool knowledge/skill a person has.....IMO a fairly decent barometer in most cases......If they know how to make the shot...chances are they have been around the block.....If they don't.....chances are they are talking out their posterior.

2 balls froze together to the rail...1 ball froze to the back ball but off the rail.
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Kind of surprised not one person jumped all over this......Obviously I am not a professional content creator....but I did make a better video of the shot to show what normally happens when you shoot the shot and then the shot being made.....

9ball and 2ball froze to the rail (froze together) and the 1 ball off the rail about 1/3 or 1/2 ball and froze to the 2.....make the 9ball in the corner.

I know that there has to be a few of you that know how this shot is made........Some of you may be laughing falling out of your chair knowing that there are some that have set it up on their home table and tried it every way from Sunday and are scratching their head on how the heck it can be done.
 
BRKNRUN said:
Kind of surprised not one person jumped all over this......Obviously I am not a professional content creator....but I did make a better video of the shot to show what normally happens when you shoot the shot and then the shot being made.....

9ball and 2ball froze to the rail (froze together) and the 1 ball off the rail about 1/3 or 1/2 ball and froze to the 2.....make the 9ball in the corner.

I know that there has to be a few of you that know how this shot is made........Some of you may be laughing falling out of your chair knowing that there are some that have set it up on their home table and tried it every way from Sunday and are scratching their head on how the heck it can be done.
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Can’t speak for anyone else, but I didn’t respond because a) your camera angle sucked on the setup 😂, and b) a trick shot with a “secret setup” doesn’t seem like a great test of skill.

SPOILER ALERT

But since you persisted, my guess would be to reduce friction at the contact point between the two balls frozen together on the cushion, either with a bit of saliva or nose grease applied with a finger, to reduce the CIT that drives the 9 ball into the rail a bit. Ideally without anyone noticing if you’re doing it as a prop bet.

A bit of nose grease worked for me just now.
 
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