Holding the cue ball - Looking for tips

elvicash

elvicash

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
When you are straight in it is real easy to stop the cue ball and stay close to the cueball via the stop shot. When the angle increases it become tougher to keep the cueball near the object ball location. A player that can hold the rock with some angle has a powerful tool in his toolbag.

I want to enhance my ability to hold the rock better and I am looking for tips and techniques to improve these shots.
 
elvicash said:
When you are straight in it is real easy to stop the cue ball and stay close to the cueball via the stop shot. When the angle increases it become tougher to keep the cueball near the object ball location. A player that can hold the rock with some angle has a powerful tool in his toolbag.

I want to enhance my ability to hold the rock better and I am looking for tips and techniques to improve these shots.
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a lot of that's going to depend on the angle you're dealing with. sometimes there's nothing you can do. what kind of shot are we talking about? if the CB is going into the rail after the shot it may be a little easier but there's still only so much you can do
 
If the angle is not too severe you can can hit a stop shot with a little english opposite the angle you have. This will only work if the angle is not too severe and it also requires a good touch. A stun shot is sometimes your best option if the object ball is close enough to pocket with a slow speed.
 
IMO, it is a good exercise to start straight in, both within 1" of the rail. Then, shoot stop shots, moving the obj ball progressively away from the rail. first, it will be a stop, then you will cheat the pocket, then throw with outside english, then bounce off the other side rail with varying speed, draw and english to get it back where it came from. I find this excellent 9 ball practice, because it seems to me that this shot comes up a lot in 9-ball.

As the angle gets steeper, you can do the Efren shot sending it 2 rails and back to you with various english to get it perfect. I call it the Efren shot as he does this 2 railer when most players would draw to the other side rail and english back to position, or play a different shot. He seems to go both side first with inside and end first with outside better than anyone!
 
Throw shots, pocket cheating, stopper balls and even short rail banks are all critical to holding the ball IMO.

A great practice routine I use is to place all 15 balls in the middle of the table in a loose random circular cloud roughly 1.5 foot in diameter. Place the cueball directly in the middle and try to sink all 15 balls without driving the cue ball to a rail.
 
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elvicash said:
When you are straight in it is real easy to stop the cue ball and stay close to the cueball via the stop shot. When the angle increases it become tougher to keep the cueball near the object ball location. A player that can hold the rock with some angle has a powerful tool in his toolbag.

I want to enhance my ability to hold the rock better and I am looking for tips and techniques to improve these shots.
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Conditions make a big difference in the success rate. A more humid atmosphere and slower cloth help.

You can hold up minor angle shots a little with some subtle manipulation - all of them work better than trying to slow-roll the shot if the OB has much distance to travel.

Soft draw is the most common. You have to hit it as soft as possible without losing the draw. This is strictly a touch shot.

The other way is to aim fat on the shot, hit it with low outside and throw the OB into the pocket. The throw allows you to aim fuller, thus putting more stopping power on the cue ball. Aim fatter than you think and spin the CB a lot while not using much forward speed. If it sounds difficult to get right, it is. This shot is far outside and about 1/2 tip low.

These shots involve very subtle touch and have to be practiced. It's also risky trying to get cute with the shot and risk missing when other options might be available. The cue ball can only be manipulated a small amount this way, but often that's all you need.

Chris
 
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using english to throw the ob will help you hold the ball on almost straight in shots....its a matter of feel though....practice makes perfect:thumbup:
 
elvicash said:
When you are straight in it is real easy to stop the cue ball and stay close to the cueball via the stop shot. When the angle increases it become tougher to keep the cueball near the object ball location. A player that can hold the rock with some angle has a powerful tool in his toolbag.

I want to enhance my ability to hold the rock better and I am looking for tips and techniques to improve these shots.
Click to expand...
For info and advice on this topic, see:

Enjoy,
Dave
 
Thanks for all of the great replies. I am familiar with various techniques such as
picking the pocket location to hit the cue ball as thick as possible
throwing with slight low outside english
slight high inside english

I am trying to improve on holding the cue ball I have always been one to go to a rail and out and I want to have short cue travel after contact and minimize my use of the rails. For the past few weeks I have been doing Rempe Brainwash drills spread 15 balls randomly none too close to a rail and run out without touching a rail. I have really started seeing patterns better and started to work on my holding the cue ball, I will continue ot work on holding the rock.
 
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