dear diary: a 14.1 journey to nowhere

[qolbrand]

this will be longer than most of you want to read. if youre one of those folks just back out now cuz it aint gonna get better for ya.

heres todays practice. 02/23/2026:

(edit: i accidently cut out a miss where im underneath the 8 and try to shoot it in the side)

not great.

here is my progress thus far, based on my post history. starts off shiny and optimistic, and just a few months shy of four years later, my high run is basically the same. i think i might be on a goose chase!

12/2025

another year goes by without a new high run for me. i do feel like i understand the game a little better, but i was running more 20+s when i played “wrong”

i think with most things they get worse before they get better.

i dont mind hard work but after 3 years i am actually getting worse, and i’m forced to ask myself if maybe theres something else i should be putting my time in to.

i play this game for the process and not the results but at what point do i just kind of realize that this game is not for me?

maybe i need to use straight pool as more of a tune up tool or something. i think the years of beatdowns and defeats are just finally catching up to me where being terrible at the game is starting to outweigh the joy of learning from it.

thoughts?

05/2025, the last time i shot well

29 again. Tied my high run. Shoulda got back up. shot it anyway. its been a couple years now trying to get into rack 3

07/2024 i remember this nightmarishly and i’m glad its over

there is a lot of that going on. im constantly thinking about my feet and my approach and my stroke already, as ive mentioned here. im familiar with the process though so misses arent bothering me as much, just trying to learn from them.

07/2024 after getting some really good advice in the high run thread

i have experimented with many different styles over the past couple years in my quest for 3 racks. I have tried the mario he approach where you walk the table on every ball. I have tried the jayson shaw approach where you black out and fire through the first rack in 2 minutes to get it out of the way. i have tried playing take-5 to get better at end patterns.

the fact is my cueball sucks and i miss really easy balls. A lot. there is a breakdown somewhere. at times i feel like i dont understand even the simplest principles of pool and throw my hands up, saying “at least im having fun.” Pool is pretty much the only thing that gets me out of the house though, so i put a lot of energy into not getting too frustrated with it.

you are absolutely correct, i need to put more thought in mid rack to optimize my chances for a good end pattern. I generally look for my break ball, look for a key ball, throw a dart at a potential k2 and then take it 3 balls at a time.

I feel like my mind works really fast and so its easy for me to go with my gut in a sort of tunnel vision. for example in the first rack, even though i get down immediately on the 6 i knew i was shooting 6-3-11-8-1. I did not however take the time to think about if those balls might benefit me later in the rack. i think that is my biggest takeaway from this and i do believe it will help me going forward, so thank you.

Its possible im chasing the wrong ghost. maybe i shouldnt be trying so hard for 3 racks and instead need to focus my energy on my broken process. i guess 14.1 is as good a drill as any to work on mechanics. See you when i see you, 42.

04/2024

New high run today, by a ball. 29.

super scragly, coming up well short on the break ball and getting stuck, followed with a hilarious fluke where i was trying a multi ball combo that got kicked up to a short rail bank into the called pocket.

The 28 i ran last year was cleaner but i guess this is better since i actually made the second break ball. Missed the stack by a hair and then missed the full rack corner ball. Oh well, heres hopin it doesnt take me another year to get a shot at the second break ball.

02/2024

ran 26 today. Missed the initial break ball and kept playing. Secondary break ball was wild

12/2023

ran 27 today. My HR is 28 so im both excited and disappointed. I left myself long and straight in on the key ball and missed it, but if i had made it i would have been great on the break ball. I reracked and shot the break ball anyway and missed it too lol

07/2022

after being stuck at 15 for almost a year, i finally got into the second rack today and made it to 28. some pretty good rolls helped me out along the way. i had a plan for the end of the rack but i blew the easy pattern, so i was playing to shoot the break ball into the side (which i've never ever tried... going to practice those). rolled too far forward on the key ball and tried to shoot it into the top corner and rattled it. i woulda been pretty stuck even if it had fell.

needless to say i am absolutely over the moon. i've been really down on myself and my pool game lately and to reach my stated goal of 28 the very first time i got into the second rack makes me feel like there's still hope for me yet.

my next goal is to get a 28 on film where the tag isn't sticking up out of the back of my shirt

its funny to go back through the time machine like this. i think my conclusion is that i’m either not smart enough or too impatient to play this game well.

if any of you watched the video of todays practice, AND made it this far through my Dear Diary, i’d be curious to hear your thoughts on why i can’t progress.

a user recently said that i “dont think about my cueball” which doesnt really seem possible but after watching todays practice i can kinda see where hes coming from haha. I control that thing like shit sometimes.

believe it or not this is not a pity party as much as it is a desperate attempt to cling to a reason to keep playing this game even though i’m terrible at it.

to the roasters, have at it

edit: if its helpful, my fargo is 445 w robustness of 14

 

[Bob Jewett]

Suggestion: make a 2.25-inch paper target and put it exactly where you want the cue ball to finish. Do that even if the cue ball is going to hit another ball.

 

[qolbrand]

Suggestion: make a 2.25-inch paper target and put it exactly where you want the cue ball to finish. Do that even if the cue ball is going to hit another ball.

i’ll give it a shot

 

[DynoDan]

Typically, there is just so much mental acuity that can be mustered. I often must concentrate so intensely on pocketing a complicated combo, I just completely forget about the CB. I guess it must be a subconscious ‘precedence’ issue, since after all, if the shot is missed, serendipitously bad CB position could only help (?).

 

[qolbrand]

Typically, there is just so much mental acuity that can be mustered. I often must concentrate so intensely on pocketing a complicated combo, I just completely forget about the CB. I guess it must be a subconscious ‘precedence’ issue, since after all, if the shot is missed, serendipitously bad CB position could only help (?).

for me i think theres a disconnect between where i want the cue ball to go and what i am actually capable of getting it to do.

pool

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if you go back and watch the videos i was putting up 3 years ago, you can see that i have made some improvements.

what a tangled web we weave

 

[DynoDan]

for me i think theres a disconnect between where i want the cue ball to go and what i am actually capable of getting it to do.

pool

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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if you go back and watch the videos i was putting up 3 years ago, you can see that i have made some improvements.

what a tangled web we weave

Bob’s recommendation makes sense. I have a bad habit of targeting merely an ‘area’ (‘you can’t get there if you don’t know where you’re going‘).
‘Area only’ position often leaves you on the wrong side of the ball. Always aiming for a specific spot makes it easier to get good position on all the following balls.

 

[dquarasr]

for me i think theres a disconnect between where i want the cue ball to go and what i am actually capable of getting it to do.

pool

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

youtube.com

if you go back and watch the videos i was putting up 3 years ago, you can see that i have made some improvements.

what a tangled web we weave

for me i think theres a disconnect between where i want the cue ball to go and what i am actually capable of getting it to do.

It’s very possible. It might also possible that you may be expecting the CB to go to a spot that no one can get to, or has a super low chance of success getting there.

I am starting to understand better the difference between where I want the CB to go and what is physically possible. Sometimes the angle simply doesn’t allow the CB to go to a spot no matter how it is struck.

Understanding this has helped me to make better choices.

 

[sparkle84]

It’s very possible. It might also possible that you may be expecting the CB to go to a spot that no one can get to, or has a super low chance of success getting there.

I am starting to understand better the difference between where I want the CB to go and what is physically possible. Sometimes the angle simply doesn’t allow the CB to go to a spot no matter how it is struck.

Understanding this has helped me to make better choices.

People should frame this and put it on the wall next to their table.

 

[DynoDan]

People should frame this and put it on the wall next to their table.

Another one for framing:
Sometimes when down on a shot, I get an instinctive sense that I’m looking at an unavoidable scratch or a bank that will kiss. 90% of the time when I ignore that instinct, I live to regret it!

 

[qolbrand]

still havent tried the paper trick. maybe im afraid of watching it back. that probably says more about my issue here than anything.

getting through more end patterns lately. missing a lot of k2s trying to get perfect on my break ball though. even still, the end of one rack and beginning of another are seeming slightly more commonplace even if my run numbers show zero improvement.

heres a 23 from 5 days ago. i have no idea what happened on that 5 ball. i was trying to draw back to get straighter on the 8 frozen to the rail and used the 5 to bail me out so i guess i was still mentally thinking about my mistake maybe? like i said i dont know.

 

[Straightpool_99]

still havent tried the paper trick. maybe im afraid of watching it back. that probably says more about my issue here than anything.

getting through more end patterns lately. missing a lot of k2s trying to get perfect on my break ball though. even still, the end of one rack and beginning of another are seeming slightly more commonplace even if my run numbers show zero improvement.

heres a 23 from 5 days ago. i have no idea what happened on that 5 ball. i was trying to draw back to get straighter on the 8 frozen to the rail and used the 5 to bail me out so i guess i was still mentally thinking about my mistake maybe? like i said i dont know.

There is a nice pattern in the second rack from this point. 12-4-14-5-3-7-2-13-11-8 That is in the minimum cueball movement school of 14.1. I'd set up the table and try this one and see if you like it. It's in the line of thinking of someone like Mike Sigel, who preferred to clean up one area at the time. The 4 and 14 are interchangeable.

There are multiple end patterns here, though. 14-5-8 is a nice one, also. Try to set that one up too, and see if you like that sort of end ball sequence. It comes up over and over again.

 

[qolbrand]

only time i got to rack 2 today. i had to leave for work anyway so the ending isnt quite as dramatic as it seems haha

tried to minimize cue ball movement. Came up short bouncing out for the 1 ball and missed position from the bank to roll the key ball in the side. came up short bouncing out again. Somehow made the ultra thin break ball and then just dogged one from the rail to keep going.

used my tip today instead of bobs paper idea to point to where i wanted the cue ball (earlier in the session). it helped. I used to do that a lot playing 8 ball when i was younger. Now i have the advantage of watching it back to see how close i was. Thanks bob.

 

[Straightpool_99]

only time i got to rack 2 today. i had to leave for work anyway so the ending isnt quite as dramatic as it seems haha

tried to minimize cue ball movement. Came up short bouncing out for the 1 ball and missed position from the bank to roll the key ball in the side. came up short bouncing out again. Somehow made the ultra thin break ball and then just dogged one from the rail to keep going.

used my tip today instead of bobs paper idea to point to where i wanted the cue ball (earlier in the session). it helped. I used to do that a lot playing 8 ball when i was younger. Now i have the advantage of watching it back to see how close i was. Thanks bob.

You move the cue ball quite well and pocket balls well. It was a somewhat difficult rack to get through with no really good keyball candidates. And you got through it quite cleanly without bumping too many balls. Also, kudos for getting the problem ball early. The 3 was also a problem ball, btw, but it was tougher to see why it was a problem until later. I think you realized why the 3 wasn't really a good keyball. Your plan was solid, but the 3 was just too difficult a choice, well done for still getting through it.

Whenever I have a bit of a mess down in the rack area in which some balls go and others don't I usually start cleaning up there before I do anything else. After the first shot, I'd go down and do some cleaning up in the rack area. As for key balls, I'd either try to make one, or I'd maybe settle for the 14 as a breaker and maybe the 13 and 11 as key balls or key to the key.

Or maybe I'd have used the 15 for a key ball, if I'd bumped it like you did and then got with the 9 as a breaker. That was a clever little shot you played when you bumped that, too bad you didn't take advantage, however that plan had the problem of not having a perfekt ktk. Some times you just have to get through a rack and there is no really obvious solution.

 

[qolbrand]

You move the cue ball quite well and pocket balls well. It was a somewhat difficult rack to get through with no really good keyball candidates. And you got through it quite cleanly without bumping too many balls.

thanks, thats motivating to hear.

here’s a condensed version of yesterdays heartaches.

roll off got me on the 11 at the end. gotta remember to keep the cue ball just above that speed.

 

[Straightpool_99]

thanks, thats motivating to hear.

here’s a condensed version of yesterdays heartaches.

roll off got me on the 11 at the end. gotta remember to keep the cue ball just above that speed.

I'm going to introduce you to a concept called an "insurance ball", you may allready know it, but here it goes: Whenever you break up a cluster, it's a good thing to keep a ball near a pocket, such that if you get stuck up against a ball, you could still easily pocket it. Usually then, it will be on the side you are shooting the shot from. When you chose to break the cluster using the 4 ball, you should have kept the 1 as an insurance ball. This concept is of special importance when breaking the cluster from underneath, as it is very easy to end up with no shot or end up having to shoot over balls etc. The challenging bit here is getting on the 4 without using the 1, which is why I don't think it was the right play in this instance. I'd stay above the ball to give myself some margin of error, even if it gives less power to breaking the cluster.

There is also another way to go which has much less challenging position play and it's removing the 5 (and whatever balls you need to get on it). And then using the 14 to get on the 3 IF IT GOES INTO THE RIGHT CORNER (if not disregard). You will almost automatically make a new breakball, breaking the cluster at the right speed. If you play it right you will have shots to shoot up table. You won't have an insurance ball per se, but it's less critical when breaking from the side. Also, since the ball you are using to break is inside the cluster, you will have a lot more control over how the balls spread out, than you did with the 4.

There is a 3. option that might be better than the other two, because it lets you keep your breakballs and lets you attack the cluster early. Also you can probably pick the cluster off cleanly if you shoot the 6 ball off first. So there are two potential ways to use it to attack the cluster using the 6.

 

[qolbrand]

I'm going to introduce you to a concept called an "insurance ball", you may allready know it, but here it goes: Whenever you break up a cluster, it's a good thing to keep a ball near a pocket, such that if you get stuck up against a ball, you could still easily pocket it. Usually then, it will be on the side you are shooting the shot from. When you chose to break the cluster using the 4 ball, you should have kept the 1 as an insurance ball. This concept is of special importance when breaking the cluster from underneath, as it is very easy to end up with no shot or end up having to shoot over balls etc. The challenging bit here is getting on the 4 without using the 1, which is why I don't think it was the right play in this instance. I'd stay above the ball to give myself some margin of error, even if it gives less power to breaking the cluster.

There is also another way to go which has much less challenging position play and it's removing the 5 (and whatever balls you need to get on it). And then using the 14 to get on the 3 IF IT GOES INTO THE RIGHT CORNER (if not disregard). You will almost automatically make a new breakball, breaking the cluster at the right speed. If you play it right you will have shots to shoot up table. You won't have an insurance ball per se, but it's less critical when breaking from the side. Also, since the ball you are using to break is inside the cluster, you will have a lot more control over how the balls spread out, than you did with the 4.

There is a 3. option that might be better than the other two, because it lets you keep your breakballs and lets you attack the cluster early. Also you can probably pick the cluster off cleanly if you shoot the 6 ball off first. So there are two potential ways to use it to attack the cluster using the 6.View attachment 892855
View attachment 892843View attachment 892844

this might have been an even worse idea, but i believe my intention on the 9 was not to roll forward so far and break the stack with the 8 using the balls uptable (and maybe the 1) for insurance.

but, as so many of my racks often go, i find myself scrambling to find a new pattern. I’m going to take what you’ve said into account. Thanks for taking the time pal