1. dont miss - but since thats out of the universe
2. if you are honest with yourself you'll ask yourself if you take some chances on a shot, hoping to end up over here or there. point is if you are "taking chances" to make something happen - stop. play safe (the general rule though is if the safety is as tough as the shot go for the shot.
3. admittedly you are not a consistent break and run player, but you sound confident enough that you can run 4, maybe 5 balls regularly, therefore that's when you make your move to win. when there are fewer balls on the table you are less likely to be able to manage a great safety when you need it most. so play your safe shots early on, go for your runs later. now that is based on the premise that you are not selling out the whole rack.
4. since you may be able to regularly run 3,4,5 balls then think ahead. dont tie up the balls that may be the few that you can run later in the rack.
5. nine ball is a game of angles and patterns. great players already have a whole rack plan in mind when they hit the table. if the plan is to run you can bet they have a pattern in mind. they visualize where each ball is going before the first stroke. sometimes they get out of shape, then they stop rethink the pattern, get down and play. the angles are what make the pattern predictable, the speed is what makes you able to get onto the correct side of the ball to move onto the next one, and next one, etc.
6. throw out three balls. shoot them in any order but choose the pattern before your first stroke and shoot that pattern. if you can do that at least 5 times, 10 is better. then throw out the three balls and now do the same thing only shoot the balls in numerical order but sticking to your visualized pattern. when yo can do that at least 5 times in a row, throw out four balls. dont go beyond that. believe me your game will elevate quickly if you can maintain pattern control with just that few balls. and why is that? b/c in a match all your looking to do is get yourself at the table when you know there are few enough balls that you can see at least two to three ahead. and make the run.
6. quick example: say there are five balls on the table and control is turned over to you. you see that you can easlily make the first two, but are not sure how to get to the third. well make one then look at the pattern again. you see that you can make the next ball but still not sure you can get a good angle on the one after that. shoot the second ball but this time bear in mind that instead of shooting to pocket that difficult ball, shoot to get in a place where a safety becomes the easier shot on that difficult ball. ok. change scenario. you look at the five balls they are all open, no clusters to break out, nothing in your way. look for the three ball pattern of the first three balls. make one and now look at the pattern for the next three (remember your only looking at four now b/c you made one). make the second ball. now look at the next remaining three. by this time you will have in mind a pattern that your are capable of doing.
7, all this is also based on the fact that you dont miss when you shouldnt and that is the nature of this game. i have seen just recently some champions some very simple shots. get over it, they do.
8. do not let your cue ball fly around. maintain control
9. practice, practice, practice. nothing difficult . just practice some simple straight shots use follow, use draw, use center ball, the idea is to move the cue to a place you have chosen and make the straight shot
10. if you are a big fan of lots of english, stop. 12 oclock, 6 oclock, and up and down that straight line will allow you to be more accurate. you dont need english to make a cut shot. stop with all the english. this is difficult discipline for an unseasoned player whose used to using 3 oclcock and 9 oclock or some other outside english. get your basic game under control.
lastly be flexible. all this is dynamic and changes as we shoot.
i know it's a book but i hope you gain something from the reading.
). Maybe 1 game out of 10 they don't do this? I think there are a lot of 9-ball players in the world that play this well. One of them, I was told, has won national-level tournaments in the US and Europe years ago. One pocket, though, not 9-ball (I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse:grin
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