View attachment 718413
Hill-Hill at a tourney this weekend:
The 8 ended up in the jaws off the break, and because APA I had to take what I made (solid). I had no balls at the head of the table after the break to try and get the 8 ball out of the pocket, and unluckily for me, after my opponents first shot, he gets really lucky and my 3 ball ends up frozen to the 8 ball...now I am really screwed.
Twice I tried bunting balls toward the head rail, in hopes of setting up a shot into the corner to get the 8-3 out. Each time his dang 13 hooked me from doing that. (anything above the 13 likely doesn't go and/or knocks the 8 in).
His 13 could have bumped the 8 out as he pocketed it. He missed a few shots, I made a few while trying to lock him up for a BIH, but he made some good kicks and I couldn't get him locked up. Anyway, the table ends up like the above picture. with my shot. WWYD?
Once you got this point, you were pretty much lost. Your post seems to indicate you shot at least twice after the 3 ball got froze on the 8. If you pocketed any solids during those two innings, that is the entire reason you lost this game. Not because he kicked well.
When a ball ends up this bad and you still have a few balls on the table, you have to stop, take a breath, and really analyze what the core problem is for both of you, and think about what each player should be doing to solve the problem. Then, you do everything in your power to sabotage your opponent's plan. (Or what your opponent's plan SHOULD be..) Note: Nowhere in that synopsis did you see the words "try to run all the way out".
In the earlier parts of this rack, your opponent's problem is to break out the 8. As soon as that becomes his problem, your entire job is to remove any balls he might use to break out that 8, EVEN if that requires shooting his ball in, and taking a foul. If your opponent has no balls in the area to break out the 8, then you can't lose "yet". In that circumstance, every ball he pockets is one step closer to either them losing, or you forcing the rerack.
Now, as far as the technical problem of YOU getting the 3 ball out.. Pretty much the ONLY reliable way to do this is with ball in hand, which, every ball you pocket after the 3 got tied up, lessens the chances of you getting ball jn hand, because you have fewer and fewer balls to hide him behind. lessens the chance of you actually getting ball in hand.. I would not even try breaking the three out with any other ball. That's suicide.
The idea that you immediately jump to the idea of "trying to move balls up table to have something to break out the 3", is completely the wrong thinking. First, to reliably break out the 3 that way, you'd have to be shooting a shot that follows a VERY specific tangent line, and even if you DO manage to fall on that tangent line, you have a good chance of double kissing it and leaving it close to the 8, unmakeable, but breaking out the 8 for your opponent.
To summarize, earlier in the rack, after the 3/8 got tied up, you had two basic options to either win, or force a rerack. Both require you to STOP POCKETING YOUR BALLS.
Winning -
1. Remove your opponent's balls from the area of the 8 to stop any possibility of them getting lucky on the breakout, then if you manage to do that, you NOW have to get ball in hand, THEN you place the cue ball behind the 3 and shoot it very softly into the rail, so it bounces out and blocks your opponent from seeing any of their balls. And you need to try to freeze the cue ball to the 3 when it bounces back out. Thsn, if you get ball in hand again, you squeeze the cue ball in between the 3 and 8, and start nudging the ball down the rail until you get a makeable shot. All in all, trying to win here would probably require you to get ball in hand multiple times in a row.
2. OR... As soon as your opponent tied the 3 up, you now switch your goal from winning, to getting a solid wedged in between the rail and the 3 on the left side of the pocket, making any attempt to break it out MUCH more difficult. Then, you just stop making balls. If your opponent figures out your plan and intentionally fouls to try to nudge one of the balls out, then you use your ball in hand to nudge them back together.
