9-ball giving up the wild 7 or wild 8 and the break is a common handicap I have been giving on 7' diamond bar boxes.
So I started keeping a notebook on sets that I played. Who I played, handicaps I gave up, the end-score, value of set etc. Here are some of my observations.
I found the two most reliable ways to ensure the person I was playing lost by a significant margin were the following.
1. Switch to ten ball - Most average level players (think apa 6-8 in 9-ball) cannot deal with the congestion caused by ten ball on the bar trap.
2. Switch to a nine footer - Most of the players in my area play on the bar tables. I'll even offer a bigger spot if they are willing to play on the larger tables. The distance combined with the weaker break shot is absolutely suffocating for players not adjusted to these conditions.
3. The break in ten ball I've found is not much of a handicap...and for the lower end of the spectrum is actually a disadvantage. Players in this range do not know how to break ten ball and will sell out quite often off the break. Any money balls in a ten ball rack if well placed are virtually impossible to make. In short, the wild 8 in this case is more like the call 8 because the rack is so difficult to deal with.
Safety play in ten ball is much more important. Half the time I will just shoot the spot ball also on a push after the break making it an even game.
Of the three I would say switching to ten ball seemed to be the easiest to pull off since most lower level players (in my experience) don't understand why that "one little extra ball" makes such a huge difference in the play of the game. Switching to ten ball also seemed to increase the win margin by a significant percentage (40% or more) and more like 75% if I was giving up the break. I didn't always break down if I played on a nine footer or a barbox, but most of the play was on a barbox. On the big tables I think spotting the other player the break was a much larger advantage for me than it was for them. I think in all the sets I played I saw the ten ball or the money ball go twice off the break.
This is based on a sampling of probably 30-40 sets over the last year. I can't say I got a lot of repeat customers for ten ball, but the results were favorable. I'm not even all that great of a nine-ball/ten-ball player, but against players that are weaker than me it seems that ten ball is crippling and takes a huge amount of luck out of the game.
So I started keeping a notebook on sets that I played. Who I played, handicaps I gave up, the end-score, value of set etc. Here are some of my observations.
I found the two most reliable ways to ensure the person I was playing lost by a significant margin were the following.
1. Switch to ten ball - Most average level players (think apa 6-8 in 9-ball) cannot deal with the congestion caused by ten ball on the bar trap.
2. Switch to a nine footer - Most of the players in my area play on the bar tables. I'll even offer a bigger spot if they are willing to play on the larger tables. The distance combined with the weaker break shot is absolutely suffocating for players not adjusted to these conditions.
3. The break in ten ball I've found is not much of a handicap...and for the lower end of the spectrum is actually a disadvantage. Players in this range do not know how to break ten ball and will sell out quite often off the break. Any money balls in a ten ball rack if well placed are virtually impossible to make. In short, the wild 8 in this case is more like the call 8 because the rack is so difficult to deal with.
Safety play in ten ball is much more important. Half the time I will just shoot the spot ball also on a push after the break making it an even game.
Of the three I would say switching to ten ball seemed to be the easiest to pull off since most lower level players (in my experience) don't understand why that "one little extra ball" makes such a huge difference in the play of the game. Switching to ten ball also seemed to increase the win margin by a significant percentage (40% or more) and more like 75% if I was giving up the break. I didn't always break down if I played on a nine footer or a barbox, but most of the play was on a barbox. On the big tables I think spotting the other player the break was a much larger advantage for me than it was for them. I think in all the sets I played I saw the ten ball or the money ball go twice off the break.
This is based on a sampling of probably 30-40 sets over the last year. I can't say I got a lot of repeat customers for ten ball, but the results were favorable. I'm not even all that great of a nine-ball/ten-ball player, but against players that are weaker than me it seems that ten ball is crippling and takes a huge amount of luck out of the game.