High 5 - Progressive practice

[Ralph Kramden]

How many times can you run out a 9 ball rack?

When practicing I sometimes will start out by taking 4 balls off the table after the break, leaving the 5 highest numbered balls.
If a ball pockets on the break I pull the 3 lowest balls, but still leave 5 balls and try to run out.

Edit: I start out with ball in hand after the break.

If I run out the 5 balls, on the following rack I leave the 6 highest numbered balls on the table.
If I don't run out the 5 highest, I leave 4 balls on the table after breaking the balls in the next rack.

I add a ball each time I run out, and take another ball off each time I don't.

I keep adding and subtracting balls until I run the table with all 9 balls.

Has anyone practiced using the high 5 balls and progressively adding a ball to them?

 

[mikepage]

This (except I don't start from the break) is the progressive 9-ball drill that I describe starting at 3:00 in the video below.

What I think pople should REALLY try is the 9-ball Peter drill, which starts at 6:00 in the same video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJuctXa5BEw

These drills go much faster and you get more in if you don't rack and start from a break.

How many times can you run out a 9 ball rack?

When practicing I sometimes will start out by taking 4 balls off the table after the break, leaving the 5 highest numbered balls.
If a ball pockets on the break I pull the 3 lowest balls but still leave 5 balls and try to run out.

If I run out the 5 balls, I leave the 6 highest numbered balls on the table on the following rack.
If I don't run out the 5 highest I leave 4 balls on the table after breaking next rack.

I add a ball each time I run out and take another ball off each time I don't.

I keep adding and subtracting balls until I run the table with all 9 balls.

Has anyone practiced using the high 5 balls and progressively adding a ball to them?

 

[iusedtoberich]

I practice like this once in a while. I do it like Mike does, and throw balls on the table rather than breaking. The best I ended up at after about an hour of play was 8 balls. That's not my true average though, as I think I was shooting over my head that day.

One day about 6 months ago I took a very close look at my game. I did this "throwing balls on the table drill" 10 times each with 2 balls, 3 balls, then 4, then 5, all the way to 9. (That is 80 attempts total). I kept detailed records of why the run ended:

1. Missed shot that I should have made
2. Missed shot that was very difficult
3. Got stuck behind a ball
4. Scratched


What I discovered was the root cause of each inning ending was predominately poor position. It was the cause of items 2,3,and 4. I always thought my shotmaking was my limiting factor in my overall level, but doing this proved to me it was my position.

 

[TheNewSharkster]

I was doing this drill (without breaking. Throwing out random balls) last night. I really enjoyed it. I think in about an hours time I had hit in more balls than I do with most other drills! Good stuff.

 

[Ralph Kramden]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJuctXa5BEw

These drills go much faster and you get more in if you don't rack and start from a break.

I rack the balls to practice my break shot. It only takes a second or two to pull the 4 lowest numbered balls.
I edited my original post. I take ball in hand after the break.

Mike - Thanks for the video link. I couldn't find your Progressive practice - Part 2 video.

 

[Steve C]

Progressive Nine Ball

How many times can you run out a 9 ball rack?

When practicing I sometimes will start out by taking 4 balls off the table after the break, leaving the 5 highest numbered balls.
If a ball pockets on the break I pull the 3 lowest balls, but still leave 5 balls and try to run out.

Has anyone practiced using the high 5 balls and progressively adding a ball to them?

Ralph for what it is worth you might enjoy progressive nine ball in the format described at
www.blackbeltbilliards.net
Just click on the progressive nine ball tab and you can see the rules/guidelines.
Cheers,

 

[Ralph Kramden]

What I think pople should REALLY try is the 9-ball Peter drill, which starts at 6:00 in the same video

At 7:12 in the Peter drill it is mentioned that there is an end game result to the progressive practice.

There are 2 separate races that come together to form an undetermined number.

I know this works, but the time it takes to figure it out the double progressive score by far offsets the time it takes to break the balls.

In the High 5 progressive practice you get to practice your break shot.
The balls lay exactly as spread when playing 9 ball.
It's easy to just pull the low 4 balls instead of looking for which balls to pull.
You progressively pocket each ball up to and including the 9 ball as if actually playing the game.

There is also an easy end game scoreing system with the High 5 practice.

If you progressively run out 5 racks and add one ball each time you will have a score of 35. A perfect score is 5+6+7+8+9 = 35

If you run out the highest 5 balls, you add a ball and leave 6 balls. If you run out the next rack you leave 7....ect.

If you don't run out you are penalized by subtracting a ball in each rack.

Just write down how many balls you pocket in the 5 racks and subtract from 35.

It's not the Peter principle... It's the KISS system.