Efren got lucky... Why not me?

[Ralph Kramden]

Watching some of the matches that Efren has played got me to thinking about why he is so lucky.

When someone asks him how he made such a spectacular shot, his reply always seems to be, "I got lucky". Some of the "lucky" shots may just happen to go in, but they are planned ahead.

I set up a lot of the shots that he did and can do some of them after a few tries. The thing is that he seems to see the tough shots to get out of trouble and can usually execute them.

I was practicing a couple of these shots with a friend, trying to see who could make it first. Afterwards I thought of a practice game that might be both enjoyable and benificial. I'll call the game 'LUCKY'.

The game would be played like Bank Pool and scored the same way, a race to 8 points.

The object of the game would be to to pocket 8 balls before your opponent.

No balls could be made straight in and only called balls would count for a point. (this would not allow slop)

Balls could be banked, combinations played, caroms off other balls, caroms using the cueball, draw shots into other balls or the cueball rail first.

Any balls pocketed other than the called ball would be spotted immediately. Scratches would be ball in hand and no point if a called ball was pocketed.

I think playing a game like this would help to see those shots that could get you get out of trouble in other games. IMO

Would anyone like to give it a go to see if it's something benificial?

Efren got lucky... Why not me?

 

[sodapopd]

Ralph Kramden
I was practicing a couple of these shots with a friend, trying to see who could make it first. Afterwards I thought of a practice game that might be both enjoyable and benificial. I'll call the game 'LUCKY'.

The game would be played like Bank Pool and scored the same way, a race to 8 points.

The object of the game would be to to pocket 8 balls before your opponent.

No balls could be made straight in and only called balls would count for a point. (this would not allow slop)

Balls could be banked, combinations played, caroms off other balls, caroms using the cueball, draw shots into other balls or the cueball rail first.

Any balls pocketed other than the called ball would be spotted immediately. Scratches would be ball in hand and no point if a called ball was pocketed.

We(Alaska peeps)used to have a tournament called "Honolulu". it was played pretty much the way you described. No straight in
shots allowed, banks, "real" kicks, combos or caroms are how you score points. The rules can be found in the BCA hand book.
Quite a interesting game, all kinds of offensive shots to be made...

I couldn't find the rules on the BCA site, but this link should give you a pretty good overview of the game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu_(billiards)

 

[Franky]

I used to play a game like this with three attempts per person per turn. The first shooter per round picks the shot. Winner of the round starts the following round. Tie goes to the previous winner. Play to 15 points or something.

This allowed you to score multiple points per inning assuming that a different scoring path was used for each successful attempt. Here's an example, the requirement is that you have to pocket balls, side pocket ball first. Three scoring paths are shown.

CueTable Help

 

[Ralph Kramden]

We(Alaska peeps)used to have a tournament called "Honolulu". it was played pretty much the way you described. No straight in
shots allowed, banks, "real" kicks, combos or caroms are how you score points. The rules can be found in the BCA hand book.
Quite a interesting game, all kinds of offensive shots to be made...

I couldn't find the rules on the BCA site, but this link should give you a pretty good overview of the game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu_(billiards)

You are right. The game called "Honolulu" is, except for penalties, the exact same game. I hate it when I try to reinvent the wheel.

I think this would be a great game to start thinking about shots that you normally would not attempt. My combination, kiss and carom shots have greatly improved. This is no game to try for position play or safeties but can help in making those 'lucky' shots when you think you have nothing.