Help on saftey......
- Thread starter vijesh
- Start date
Phil Cappele's "Play your best pool" and "Play your best nine-ball" books have excellent sections on safety play.
I like to practice safeties with fewer balls on the table. Throw only the first four balls out on the table and try to execute a safety on the lowest numbered ball. If you fail, set it up and try again, or try another safety. Another good exercise is with just the cueball and two other balls: try to hide the cueball from one ball behind the other. This exercise really addresses cueball placement in general as much as safety play, but is still helpful.
Safety play as an aspect of pool is a hugely varied topic. It can include spotting obvious safeties you should go for, such as freezing against a blocking ball, or cover advanced techniques such as kick-safes. The easiest way to gain an understanding is to watch good players. Watch some safety battles on youtube or any accu-stats vids, set up the shots you like, and try to execute them. MOre importantly, try to understand what the player is thinking, why they chose that shot, and if you don't know see if you can ask a better player.
I like to practice safeties with fewer balls on the table. Throw only the first four balls out on the table and try to execute a safety on the lowest numbered ball. If you fail, set it up and try again, or try another safety. Another good exercise is with just the cueball and two other balls: try to hide the cueball from one ball behind the other. This exercise really addresses cueball placement in general as much as safety play, but is still helpful.
Safety play as an aspect of pool is a hugely varied topic. It can include spotting obvious safeties you should go for, such as freezing against a blocking ball, or cover advanced techniques such as kick-safes. The easiest way to gain an understanding is to watch good players. Watch some safety battles on youtube or any accu-stats vids, set up the shots you like, and try to execute them. MOre importantly, try to understand what the player is thinking, why they chose that shot, and if you don't know see if you can ask a better player.
vijesh said:
Take up 1 pocket. If you're already playing, then play for more.
Cory
Master control of the cue ball.
Practice safeties by getting the cue ball to rest, frozen or near frozen to a ball and/or rail.
Str8 Pool is another game that has a lot of safety play.
1P is a wonderful game. It's hard to find people to play it, but some old farts play it exclusively. Find one of those guys and play'em. Even if it costs you a little money, it is usually worth it. Most of the time, they'll play for free because there's no one to play with, and will help show you tips about the game. I was lucky to play a guy at Shoreline Billiards. He showed me a lot, and when I got good at it. I noticed he started playing some really awesome shots. I watched and learned.
I sure would like to find someone in Austin to play some 1P. I refuse to play 1P, solo. Like in the game of Str8 pool, it is better for you to have an opponent. Otherwise, you just knock balls around. By having an opponent, you will play better because if you leave an open shot, it will cost you...big time.
Practice safeties by getting the cue ball to rest, frozen or near frozen to a ball and/or rail.
Str8 Pool is another game that has a lot of safety play.
1P is a wonderful game. It's hard to find people to play it, but some old farts play it exclusively. Find one of those guys and play'em. Even if it costs you a little money, it is usually worth it. Most of the time, they'll play for free because there's no one to play with, and will help show you tips about the game. I was lucky to play a guy at Shoreline Billiards. He showed me a lot, and when I got good at it. I noticed he started playing some really awesome shots. I watched and learned.
I sure would like to find someone in Austin to play some 1P. I refuse to play 1P, solo. Like in the game of Str8 pool, it is better for you to have an opponent. Otherwise, you just knock balls around. By having an opponent, you will play better because if you leave an open shot, it will cost you...big time.
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henho said:
I also think this is a good exercise and one that I find really enjoyable. You need to control both the cue ball and the object ball, but it is surprisingly easy to do once you have practiced it a bit.
I like to make make half-ball hits where possible, since it helps when having to judge the speed and direction of both balls.
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There are some great articles and safety drills at this site:
http://www.billiardsdigest.com/instruction/
http://www.billiardsdigest.com/instruction/
Vijesh:vijesh said:
All the replies you've received thus far have great info. The only thing I want to add is game-specific:
8-Ball:
* R. Givens' "8-Ball Bible" is CHOCK FULL of safety play, including teaching you how to spot the difference between going for the run-out or not going for the run-out, how to use "barricades" (clusters of balls that are more or less "in a line") to your advantage, etc. This work is really an eye-opening read.
One Pocket:
* Billy Incardona's "One Pocket Instructional" is easy to watch, and he's got a great presentation style. Billy covers safety play during a significant portion of this DVD.
* Cliff Joyner's 3-DVD series, "Killer One Pocket" (with Wade Crane as special guest) has some great stuff, albeit it can be a little challenging to watch at times. (There are spots that kinda drag on or could use some work in the presentation style to make it more interesting.) Significant portions of this 3-DVD series are devoted to safety play.
9-Ball:
* Buddy Hall's "9-Ball Instructional" DVD comes highly recommended as well (the previous posts in this thread are testament to this fact). Buddy's one of the best *combined* pool pros -and- instructors on the scene. What's great about Buddy is that he reiterates and summarizes key points -- he doesn't just gloss over them. That's the mark of an insightful mind and a great instructive style.
Hope this is helpful!
-Sean
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ha ha ha
Learn how to spell it first. Safety not Saftey
Learn how to spell it first. Safety not Saftey
may be too much pool up lately.... anyways thanks for the input guys.....Another exercise I do occasionally that comes in handy during real games: practice caroming off a ball and leaving the cueball frozen to the opposite rail. This is an extremely common maneuver and is not glorious by any means, but by putting distance between the balls and forcing your opponent to take a risky shot you will tilt the odds in your favor. This can be a progressive drill by steadily adding more intervening balls onto the table, necessitating more difficult routes.
Remember the common wisdom too, if the shot and the safety are of equal difficulty go for the shot.
Remember the common wisdom too, if the shot and the safety are of equal difficulty go for the shot.
When I learned this, my saftey game got 1000x better.
Fairly straight forward. You want to hide the cue ball behind the "blocker ball" so you find a line from where you want the cueball to end up to the object ball. The gray balls represents the action the cueball will take after contact.
Once you understand where the cue ball is going, you just have to work on your speed.
Fairly straight forward. You want to hide the cue ball behind the "blocker ball" so you find a line from where you want the cueball to end up to the object ball. The gray balls represents the action the cueball will take after contact.
Once you understand where the cue ball is going, you just have to work on your speed.
Depends on what you want to learn...
If you want some great ideas on when to play what type of safety then you have no farther to look than TAR. Go buy a few of the matches. You will learn so much from watching that level of play. Then you can practince what you see with help from the books.
If you want some great ideas on when to play what type of safety then you have no farther to look than TAR. Go buy a few of the matches. You will learn so much from watching that level of play. Then you can practince what you see with help from the books.