Disguised Clusters

[CueAndMe]

I was watching this final from the 2015 American 14.1 tournament between Darren Appleton and Thorsten Hohmann (link below), and I found it somewhat amusing what happens to Darren from 57:00 to the end of the rack at 1:03:20. He got through it because, well, he's Darren Appleton, but it's interesting how a layout can be deceiving. From watching Darren's matches, I've admired how careful a player he is, rarely bumping balls he doesn't have to or going into balls without safety valves, and with an emphasis on taking care of problems as soon as possible.

Notice he already had a break shot with the 3-ball, so he didn't have to develop the 15-ball. The 7, 5, 2, 6, 15, 13 don't look like a cluster, but they are. Nothing really has an easy pocket. Playing the 7-ball up table after the 8 or 10 would have fixed it, but would you have seen it as a priority soon enough?

I love this friggin' game.

https://youtu.be/qYyMYI_gXdc?t=57m

 

[Bob Jewett]

...
Notice he already had a break shot with the 3-ball, so he didn't have to develop the 15-ball. The 7, 5, 2, 6, 15, 13 don't look like a cluster, but they are. Nothing really has an easy pocket. Playing the 7-ball up table after the 8 or 10 would have fixed it, but would you have seen it as a priority soon enough?
...

Maybe they weren't sitting quite right, but it looks to me like instead of the 8 ball he could have played the 7 in the side followed by the 2 in the other side and had most of the core problem solved. The cue ball would have moved like six inches.

 

[CueAndMe]

Maybe they weren't sitting quite right, but it looks to me like instead of the 8 ball he could have played the 7 in the side followed by the 2 in the other side and had most of the core problem solved. The cue ball would have moved like six inches.

Right, Bob. That would have taken care of it as well. It's just so comfortable to go to the easiest shot next without considering that we might be suffering for that choice later on. What feels right isn't always right.

 

[alstl]

Maybe they weren't sitting quite right, but it looks to me like instead of the 8 ball he could have played the 7 in the side followed by the 2 in the other side and had most of the core problem solved. The cue ball would have moved like six inches.

That did look like a better solution but he passed up a couple chances to get rid of the 2 so it appeared he was intent on keeping the 7-5-2 as a "key cluster" to get on the 15. The smartest thing was what he did with the 15 because it was a problem and he developed it into a break ball while unlocking the rack at the same time.

 

[CueAndMe]

That did look like a better solution but he passed up a couple chances to get rid of the 2 so it appeared he was intent on keeping the 7-5-2 as a "key cluster" to get on the 15. The smartest thing was what he did with the 15 because it was a problem and he developed it into a break ball while unlocking the rack at the same time.

Maybe he was thinking along those lines, but I think the 7-5-2 are a little too close for comfort as the last 3 balls. And if he's keeping the 15, it's tough to work around it to get the 13 out of the way for the 7 to pass in the lower right corner after the 14 or 3. So the side pocket and upper left corner are the only other options for the 7 and neither are easy to get perfect on.

Which makes me think that bumping into that group as though it were a cluster may have been a little risky but better than trying to carefully work around those balls as they sat.