Calling the 9-ball question

[Bob Jewett]

... As for wild attempts to pocket the nine ball by hitting the cue ball hard, you can only hope that your opponents play as many of these shots as possible. Such shots may gain from time to time, but it is losing pool.

For Hotel Al it was the right strategy.

Al played in the weekly 9-ball tournament at Executive Billiards in Redwood City, CA, which was the west-coast base for Nick Varner. Al's rating was low enough that he played the top players with a 3-on-6 spot (games on the wire). (Al lived at a nearby long-term hotel.)

Al was one of the few players of his level who realized the correct strategy for him for nine ball. He (and everyone at his level) was incapable of running five balls. There was no point for him to pocket the 1 ball when the 9 was in the vicinity and could be made to come close to 2 or 3 pockets. Al had a good, strong stroke though not very accurate.

If the 9 was impossible to reach from the 1, Al would grudgingly pocket it and try to line up the 2-9 or a carom from the 2 to the 9. The psychological effect on most of his opponents was quite amusing.

One night I drew Al for a 6-3 match. I decided to fight fire with fire. I had played a lot of ring nine ball and under the "best effort to hit" rule, the best strategy is often to get as many balls moving as possible, so my riding skills were already honed. I think I won 6-1 and four of my games were by riding the money. Al was shaking a little at the end.

 

[Jerry R]

They made a call the 9 rule for league and I thought it was silly.
Best part was it had the unintended consequence of being able to pocket a ball and call safe.

Straight in on the 1 ball with no path to the 2 ball. Call the 9 ball and pocket the 1 ball.... Didn't make the 9 ball, go sit down.

 

[Nostroke]

Howdy All;

Has anyone ever heard of a rule for calling the pocket for the 9-ball in 9-Ball? All the
rest being the same. Shoot lowest number etc., etc. Was there ever a time when ???

Have looked through most of the different org's rules and nowadays seems it's all
"Slop" so-to-speak. Just to my thinking that it should be 'called' so it doesn't come off
as if it was just gunned in with zero thought behind it. You can always tell as the look
on the shooters face ( :shocked: ), gives it away.
Example, few weeks ago guy is eyeballin' a combo to drop the 9 in a corner pocket.
Lines up and wham slams it so hard the 9 jumps off the side rail scurries
all 'round the table and after bouncing off of 5 rails slides just as neat as ya please
into the side pocket on the opposite side of the table from the corner he was linein'
up for. Think it took till the next day before he could pry his jaw from off the floor.
Yet, he wins

Thanks for any thoughts.

hank

IMHO-At other than beginner level, where it doesn't matter, it is so rare, it is not worth having that rule. Efren lost a game at the Challenge of Champions by forgetting to call the 9-You play 50 years without having to call it now suddenly you do-Very stupid. He would have lost 2 games except a fan yelled out the 2nd time. Is that worth saving a one in 1000 luck-in (by top pros). How many 9's have u seen lucked in by Efren, SVB etc?

 

[14.1'er]

Here it's call the 9, and it does not count on the break, it gets spoted. You can play a combo or carom, and call the pocket. I like these rules, less $hit wins for the gunners.

 

[iusedtoberich]

I recently went back to my hometown of Philly and gambled for a week. I moved away 10 years ago, when we played wild 9 then.

Now, everyone was playing called 9. It was fooking stupid. I wanted to strangle whoever popularized it. And it seemed everyone had a different set of what to do if you shit the 9 in.

I LOVE SHITTING THE 9 IN. It gives me great joy! Why take that away from the game???

And I'm not talking about pro players. These were all mostly C to B players, and they all wanted to play call 9. It was the new standard for Philly pool. Kill me please.

 

[Michael Andros]

I recently went back to my hometown of Philly and gambled for a week. I moved away 10 years ago, when we played wild 9 then.

Now, everyone was playing called 9. It was fooking stupid. I wanted to strangle whoever popularized it. And it seemed everyone had a different set of what to do if you shit the 9 in.

I LOVE SHITTING THE 9 IN. It gives me great joy! Why take that away from the game???

And I'm not talking about pro players. These were all mostly C to B players, and they all wanted to play call 9. It was the new standard for Philly pool. Kill me please.

It's how "they" play in "tournaments". It's exactly how tex express infiltrated gambling. "It's the 'rules'. We have to play that way.... or they'll take our cues away and send us to bed with no dinner."

I won't mention the "RO" word as it's been covered ad nauseum here. But dang, I miss it.

 

[hang-the-9]

They made a call the 9 rule for league and I thought it was silly.
Best part was it had the unintended consequence of being able to pocket a ball and call safe.

Straight in on the 1 ball with no path to the 2 ball. Call the 9 ball and pocket the 1 ball.... Didn't make the 9 ball, go sit down.

That won't work, if it's call the 9, none of the other balls are a called shot. They messed up the rules if that is what you can do. Called 9 means 1-8 are still wild. If you call the 9 and still make the 1, keep shooting. If there is a called shot game like 10 ball, you can pass the shot back if the shooter makes the ball or another ball in a non-called pocket (assuming he misses the shot, of course if you make the ball you are calling and make a second ball by accident, it's all good). Exactly to prevent someone from messing with the rules by calling the ball in some random pocket and shooting it into another.

Seems they need to get another person to do the rules if this is what happened.

 

[TheBasics]

Nostroke, Howdy;

IMHO-At other than beginner level, where it doesn't matter, it is so rare, it is not worth having that rule. Efren lost a game at the Challenge of Champions by forgetting to call the 9-You play 50 years without having to call it now suddenly you do-Very stupid. He would have lost 2 games except a fan yelled out the 2nd time. Is that worth saving a one in 1000 luck-in (by top pros). How many 9's have u seen lucked in by Efren, SVB etc?

Ya nailed it in your first sentence. These are mostly less than C players, except for a few.
The main purpose is to give them a chance to swing a cue in the weekly VFW (woo-hoo),
tourney. Got one 'young' Lady(94), that's still got a pretty sporty game, even if she's kinda
like Clara Peller in the old Arby's "Where's the Beef?" tv adverts. Just trying to keep
it interesting, fun and folks comin' back to play. Kinda what it's all about ain't it?

Thanks to all who took time to reply.

hank

 

[hang-the-9]

IMHO-At other than beginner level, where it doesn't matter, it is so rare, it is not worth having that rule. Efren lost a game at the Challenge of Champions by forgetting to call the 9-You play 50 years without having to call it now suddenly you do-Very stupid. He would have lost 2 games except a fan yelled out the 2nd time. Is that worth saving a one in 1000 luck-in (by top pros). How many 9's have u seen lucked in by Efren, SVB etc?

Every place that is called shot, you don't actually have to call anything going straight into an obvious pocket unless it's populated with bangers and league players that love to win by technicalities. Sorry, your pocket marker was 1/2 inch away from the allowable distance from the pocket, you lose. If someone starts crap about "it was not obvious to me" they are a nit and very likely would cheat if given the chance. At another event someone shot a 10 ball that was an inch from the pocket and the refs took that shot away from them because it was not "called". Silliness.

I've let called shots go on banks and kicks when it was pretty clear where the ball would go if you hit it well. Players need to have some dignity.

 

[Nostroke]

Every place that is called shot, you don't actually have to call anything going straight into an obvious pocket unless it's populated with bangers and league players that love to win by technicalities. Sorry, your pocket marker was 1/2 inch away from the allowable distance from the pocket, you lose. If someone starts crap about "it was not obvious to me" they are a nit and very likely would cheat if given the chance. At another event someone shot a 10 ball that was an inch from the pocket and the refs took that shot away from them because it was not "called". Silliness.

I've let called shots go on banks and kicks when it was pretty clear where the ball would go if you hit it well. Players need to have some dignity.

Yes pool is not a memory test and in any reffed match, the ref should be able to make the decision as to whether the ball went into the intended pocket. At Mohegan Sun that was not done, leading to the Efren fiasco.

PS-I've also seen a guy scratch on the nine giving his opponent BIH. The guy puts the 9 on the spot says "9 in the corner" and pockets it straight in . The other guy said seriously " You didnt say which corner!" The death penalty isnt severe enough for these guys

 

[Maniac]

Every place that is called shot, you don't actually have to call anything going straight into an obvious pocket unless it's populated with bangers and league players that love to win by technicalities. Sorry, your pocket marker was 1/2 inch away from the allowable distance from the pocket, you lose.

I actually had a nit during an APA 8-ball match take a game away from me one night because I didn't "mark" an 8-ball that was literally hanging in the center of the corner pocket by a speck of chalk. He scratched on his last ball (before the 8) and all I had to do was shoot a stop shot on my last ball into the side pocket and another stop shot on the 8-ball. What disappointed me the most about this nit move was that I had just come back into APA after sitting out a session because I was tired of all the APA bullsh*t. I almost quit league right then on the spot.

Maniac

 

[HawaiianEye]

I actually had a nit during an APA 8-ball match take a game away from me one night because I didn't "mark" an 8-ball that was literally hanging in the center of the corner pocket by a speck of chalk. He scratched on his last ball (before the 8) and all I had to do was shoot a stop shot on my last ball into the side pocket and another stop shot on the 8-ball. What disappointed me the most about this nit move was that I had just come back into APA after sitting out a session because I was tired of all the APA bullsh*t. I almost quit league right then on the spot.

Maniac

I called the pocket in a state tournament once and a "nit" said, "okay" and then as soon as I shot the 8-ball in, he called the ref and said that I didn't "mark the pocket" and I lost that game which was "hill-hill".

I came back from the losers' side and knocked his sorry ass out of the tournament and went on to the finals to lose to a guy who missed the pocket he was shooting for and lucking his ball in to another pocket and then had the 8 straight in. I only had the 8 left to shoot, had he not lucked the ball in.

My luck is all bad luck when it comes to rolls.

 

[Mkindsv]

TAP league requires a called 9...however if you make any other ball and miss the 9 you still get to keep shooting. I think it is the most retarded rule ever.

 

[spartan]

My all-time, hands-down favorite movie to hate. And I LOVE Scorsese. Top 3 directors ever as far as I'm concerned. And one of the worst films ever made, IMHO.

Still one of best Pool movies ever made. It was super cool then. I remember folks mimicking Cruise's moves - turning away while shooting, cue acrobatics.

 

[Paul Schofield]

the best strategy is often to get as many balls moving as possible, so my riding skills were already honed. I think I won 6-1 and four of my games were by riding the money.

There is much skill in "lucking" balls in.

 

[bobu5678]

Call 9 ball

I've played in tournaments where the 9 ball has to be called. In a small local tournament this can be a good rule. If you have low level players, it prevents them from just slopping in the 9 ball, it prevent players from banging a cluster just to see something go.

In the pro's it's a different story, you know exactly where the 9 ball is going.

 

[hang-the-9]

TAP league requires a called 9...however if you make any other ball and miss the 9 you still get to keep shooting. I think it is the most retarded rule ever.

Actually that makes sense. All the other balls are slop, so if you go for the 9 and another ball goes in, it's still a legal shot. Now if it was all called shot, then if you miss the ball you are calling but another goes in, you lose your turn.

I love called 9 rules in handicapped tournaments. The other way you are not only having to fight past giving up games, but also don't have to fight past the guy missing shots and still winning by lucking in a 9. The games given up should be enough. And of course the worse the player is the more chance they have or crapping in the 9 on you.

 

[hang-the-9]

IMHO-At other than beginner level, where it doesn't matter, it is so rare, it is not worth having that rule. Efren lost a game at the Challenge of Champions by forgetting to call the 9-You play 50 years without having to call it now suddenly you do-Very stupid. He would have lost 2 games except a fan yelled out the 2nd time. Is that worth saving a one in 1000 luck-in (by top pros). How many 9's have u seen lucked in by Efren, SVB etc?

I've seen one pro player call the pocket (in 10 ball I think) then try the inside spin rail first shot since he had a tough angle, he totally missed touching the 10, the cueball went 3 rails around and cut the ball in the correct pocket.

While not the 9, I have watched a bunch of Keith McCready matches where he misses a ball but it goes in somewhere else. There was a match between him and Buddy Hall where he did that at least twice, and won because of it.

 

[Maniac]

I've seen one pro player call the pocket (in 10 ball I think) then try the inside spin rail first shot since he had a tough angle, he totally missed touching the 10, the cueball went 3 rails around and cut the ball in the correct pocket.

While not the 9, I have watched a bunch of Keith McCready matches where he misses a ball but it goes in somewhere else. There was a match between him and Buddy Hall where he did that at least twice, and won because of it.

Yeah...and how bad did that suck for Buddy Hall? I bet he was ready to snap his cue in half. Sucks.

Maniac

 

[Nostroke]

I've seen one pro player call the pocket (in 10 ball I think) then try the inside spin rail first shot since he had a tough angle, he totally missed touching the 10, the cueball went 3 rails around and cut the ball in the correct pocket.

While not the 9, I have watched a bunch of Keith McCready matches where he misses a ball but it goes in somewhere else. There was a match between him and Buddy Hall where he did that at least twice, and won because of it.

two matches of the 3000 you have probably seen and only one of them on the money ball-Saving that does not overcome the hundreds of straight-ins that were forgotten to be called imho.