Essential skills to work on for 8 ball

C

captainkoons

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have the opportunity to play barbox 8 ball with someone who no longer is willing to hand over his money to me playing 9 ball on much bigger slower tables (we usually play on a sloowwwwwwww 9 ft table @ the local legion) little did he know I have one that plays harder and is nearly as slow in my basement. :D.

I don't play 8 ball barbox except when I end up at a pub and want to hustle a few drinks.

Are there any exceptional drills or books that really stand out amongst the others to improve ones 8 ball barbox game? I know due to the ease of making balls on barbox it will come down to crucial safety play and breaking out clusters for the run out. I can put the time in but I want to spend my time and coins wisely.

Speaking of which, if anyone has any resources for learning skills on 8 ball barbox specifically I'd like to finaggle with you to acquire them. Shoot me a PM.

Cheers,
Ryan
 
Breaking clusters? Working in tight quarters? Playing safeties on multiple balls?
Straight pool, my friends. Straight. Pool.
Seriously though, I firmly believe that learning to run balls in 14.1 is the best thing you can do for you 8-ball game.
 
Again this is barbox, I do play a bit of straight pool on larger tables usually 8-9ft where running into clusters is far less of an issue. I suppose I could play barbox 14.1, a drill I do employ for practicing the break out is one on Joe Tuckers website where he plays for position on a sheet of paper up table and makes a bit of a cue shot on an object ball at the opposite rail, you work on bringing the cueball to different areas after whatever given amount of shots.

Thing that urks me about 14.1 locally is, not a lot of people play for actual money. A race to 125 for $20 is garbage when I can find action all day for 9 ball to my hearts content. So I only play when I I have friends who play. I come from a small city and our billiards community isn't very big, the 14.1 community is nearly non existent. let's put it this way, on more than one occasion I've had a person come up and show me how to rack the balls properly, picking up my break ball to rack all 15 together.

Perhaps a purest 14.1 where you deal with clusters minimally ie. break out a few balls at a time would be better for dealing with the clusters on a barbox. I try to cut a ball into the corner pockets where the rack is and hit the rack with as much speed as possible and usually come up with a fairly open table.

Do you know of any resources for learning 8 ball bar box safety play? I tend to play 8 ball as aggressively as possible as the safety play has to be pretty bang up as there's too many options vs rotation.
 
8 ball bible is specifically for bar table 8 ball. Pocketing is easier. Position is harder. Little room with 15 balls on a small table..
Best advice, if you cannot run 8, do not run 6. You do not want to clear off the table then miss. You leave any easy table for your opponent.
 
^ That's rule #1, I've been told that since I started playing pool. I was like well how the hell do I win if I can't make more than 3 balls in a row. Little did I know, I thought they were just bullies.

Yeah that's how I play both 8 and 9 ball, if I don't see a safety to get ball in hand down the road in 9 I will duck early on and hope something develops in my favor, ie. opponent opens the balls up and misses or in 8 I'll duck and if my opponent gets off, there's far less chance of him getting out with all my balls still on the table or blocking a pocket.

Unfortunately this guy is actually a strong player I have his number in 9 ball but he plays barbox league weekly and it's his game of choice, so I can't really count on him starting a run and not finishing. At a pub when I want a drink I usually poorly duck or miss and let my opponent start their run.

Thanks everyone!
 
captainkoons said:
^ That's rule #1, I've been told that since I started playing pool. I was like well how the hell do I win if I can't make more than 3 balls in a row. Little did I know, I thought they were just bullies.

Yeah that's how I play both 8 and 9 ball, if I don't see a safety to get ball in hand down the road in 9 I will duck early on and hope something develops in my favor, ie. opponent opens the balls up and misses or in 8 I'll duck and if my opponent gets off, there's far less chance of him getting out with all my balls still on the table or blocking a pocket.

Unfortunately this guy is actually a strong player I have his number in 9 ball but he plays barbox league weekly and it's his game of choice, so I can't really count on him starting a run and not finishing. At a pub when I want a drink I usually poorly duck or miss and let my opponent start their run.

Thanks everyone!
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Pretend you are playing One Pocket till the balls are open enough to run out, then
pretend you are playing Straight Pool.

Next.

Dale
 
Potting balls on a crowded barbox is not "easier" than potting balls on a big, slow table with 9 or fewer balls on the table.

So, step one is to forget that false belief. It'll cost you if you think it is easier. The clutter makes it harder most times to pot any ball.

Speed is the big difference between 9 and 8 ball. Shoot softer in 8 ball.

If you can't runout, dirty out.

If it don't look pretty, shoot it dirty.

If it don't make sense, play defense.

When in doubt, dirty out.


Then, when your opportunity comes, runout, ala 9-ball.

Jeff Livingston
 
8-ball safety play

captainkoons said:
Again this is barbox, I do play a bit of straight pool on larger tables usually 8-9ft where running into clusters is far less of an issue. I suppose I could play barbox 14.1, a drill I do employ for practicing the break out is one on Joe Tuckers website where he plays for position on a sheet of paper up table and makes a bit of a cue shot on an object ball at the opposite rail, you work on bringing the cueball to different areas after whatever given amount of shots.

Thing that urks me about 14.1 locally is, not a lot of people play for actual money. A race to 125 for $20 is garbage when I can find action all day for 9 ball to my hearts content. So I only play when I I have friends who play. I come from a small city and our billiards community isn't very big, the 14.1 community is nearly non existent. let's put it this way, on more than one occasion I've had a person come up and show me how to rack the balls properly, picking up my break ball to rack all 15 together.

Perhaps a purest 14.1 where you deal with clusters minimally ie. break out a few balls at a time would be better for dealing with the clusters on a barbox. I try to cut a ball into the corner pockets where the rack is and hit the rack with as much speed as possible and usually come up with a fairly open table.

Do you know of any resources for learning 8 ball bar box safety play? I tend to play 8 ball as aggressively as possible as the safety play has to be pretty bang up as there's too many options vs rotation.
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I currently have a series, "Fifty Game-Winning 8-ball Safety Shots", in Pool & Billiard magazine. Two problems and solutions each month...currently about half way through the series.

I also teach these safety moves as a three hour course, if you're anywhere near Gainesville, Florida.
 
**The winner of the game is very largely determined on the outcome of the break.
The balls will bank very differently on bar box vs 9 foot.
It is overwhelmingly better to play any guaranteed position to be able to see the object ball and on the right side albeit further away then try to get closer and risk being hooked or wrong angle.
Don't be on the wrong angle for a side shot.
 
Thanks everyone keep the info coming!

I completely agree with the bank shots being far far different. I'm uncertain what sort of table we will be playing on do valley and dynamo normally play the same? A place I go to quite often has dynamo and the owner will unlock it for me.
 
well in General, barbox pool and 9ft pool differ in the way you move the cueball around the table and the ease whith which you cheat the pocket. Cheating the pocket on a barbox is much easier. It is better to put less distance on the cue ball on a barbox. Practice the drill where you are not allowed to hit a rail. This is a good way to improve your barbox game when you only have a 9ft to practice on. The drill with the huge circle of balls in the center of the table is a great start. You have to make all 15 balls in the circle without hitting a rail. Great drill for holding the cue ball.
 
GoBilliards said:
well in General, barbox pool and 9ft pool differ in the way you move the cueball around the table and the ease whith which you cheat the pocket. Cheating the pocket on a barbox is much easier. (snip).
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re bolded:

Not for the side pockets it isn't! Diamonds/Bruns/ etc. have buckets for the sides but Valley's are tinier than most any 9 footer.

fwiw,

Jeff Livingston
 
don't come to the table unless you have a plan. In 8 ball you have to deal with a lot more traffic, clusters, etc. Formulate a plan at the outset of each game. Assess the table: Identify problem balls, and come up with a plan that will eliminate problems for yourself and hopefully cause problems for your opponent. Always attack problems early in the game, so that if things don't work out and you have to end your inning, at least theres still some traffic that your opponent has to work through. Identify a key ball that will get you easy position on the 8 ball, and work backwards from there. If you can identify an executable pattern that can win you the game; GO FOR IT!! Otherwise, attack those problems to put yourself in a better position for the next inning. Think of your balls left on the table as pawns on a chessboard or soldiers on a battlefield. As those pawns get removed, your odds of winning in later innings diminish. Don't make any balls until your ready to run out.
 
Some other things I'd add about bar box 8 ball.

The punch stroke is your friend. You should find most of your shots in 8 ball, on a bar box, don't require moving the ball up and down the table but instead, require precise, short distance CB positioning (as has been mentioned, similar to 14.1). I've seen some pretty durn good 8 ball players use a short punch stroke to play the majority of their shots on a bar box. It's even true for a 9 footer but not to quite the same extent.

Address your trouble balls as early as possible. As has been mentioned, don't run 6 when you can't run 8.

Try to avoid side pocket shots on a bar box as much as possible. The corner pockets are typically very, very forgiving. The side pockets are not.

If you don't have a relatively high speed break shot, the second ball break is typically the way to go. You get on a bar box with slow cloth and dirty balls that are different sizes, making a tight rack very difficult, it can often be very challenging to sink a ball off a head ball break more than a third of the time.
 
nobcitypool said:
Address your trouble balls as early as possible. As has been mentioned, don't run 6 when you can't run 8.
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I just want to reiterate this. The very best players run out in 8-ball all the time, but your typical good local players very rarely run out. Maybe 15% of the time.

I played in an 8-ball tournament recently and the majority of the games went like this: Break, run 5 or 6 balls, miss, other player runs out. The majority of games were LOST by the player that started making balls first, usually the breaker. There's a huge difference between being good enough to run out when both groups are out on the table, and being able to run out when the table is clear.

The lesson from this is to go after your trouble balls, not just early, but IMMEDIATELY. Pick the group with the least trouble on your first shot, and on your second shot take care of your trouble. Do it in one shot if possible. In all likelihood your opponent will be cocky enough to try to run balls but not good enough to finish.

In my experience, taking care of your trouble immediately is the secret to league-level 8-ball.
 
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thanks for all the responses guys.

I'm actually not sure how strong of an 8 ball player this guy is, I can definitely out shoot, out safety, and out kick him in 9 ball. I have a funny feeling he wouldn't be so eager to challenge me to 8 ball barbox if he didn't think he was going to win.

I'm going to be going to play some barbox tonight for a couple hours.
 
captainkoons said:
thanks for all the responses guys.

I'm actually not sure how strong of an 8 ball player this guy is, I can definitely out shoot, out safety, and out kick him in 9 ball. I have a funny feeling he wouldn't be so eager to challenge me to 8 ball barbox if he didn't think he was going to win.

I'm going to be going to play some barbox tonight for a couple hours.
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Some people just play games differently. I consistently lose to people in 9 that I can beat in 8. Played a couple of friends a little bit ago, both were running out left and right. We switched it up to 8 and flipped it around.

Sounds like you already know what the differences are, for the most part. Incorporating that into your game and playing the strategy is the important part.
 
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