How did you learn 14.1?

sjm said:
This is a drill for experts, Lou, and I agree that it's good for developing one's skills. In this thread, however, a newbie to straight pool whose high run is 14 is asking for advice.
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It's very hard I tried many times yesterday and only a few times got to double digits

But it'll go into my regular practice routine from now on
 
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Hey, OP here, I got to the second break today!! Set up the break ball and positioned the cue ball, racked, psyched myself up to concentrate on sinking the break ball and let the rack take care of itself, MADE the break ball...and then the cue ball went off about three balls in the bunch and followed the break ball into the corner pocket! 😫

You know what they say: Oh well. At least my high run is now 15.

Another time I got to the last three balls with the break ball and key ball positioned well, but missed position somewhat on the fourth-to-last shot, so getting on the key ball turned out to be beyond my skills. I knew it was. I had a shot (severe angle plus two rails), I could see it working, and I took my time preparing, but I missed the shot, plus, overran position a bit. SO CLOSE I could taste it.

Every time I rack I say to myself: keep going, be patient. Even a long hike is one step at a time and you'll never get there if you don't keep walking.

pool hall-small.jpg
 
Mike the Beginner said:
Hey, OP here, I got to the second break today!! Set up the break ball and positioned the cue ball, racked, psyched myself up to concentrate on sinking the break ball and let the rack take care of itself, MADE the break ball...and then the cue ball went off the bunch and followed the break ball into the corner pocket! 😫

You know what they say: Oh well. At least my high run is now 15.

Another time I got to the last three balls with the break ball and key ball positioned well, but missed position somewhat on the fourth-to-last shot, so getting on the key ball turned out to be beyond my skills. I knew it was. I had a shot (severe angle plus two rails), I could see it working, and I took my time preparing, but I missed the shot, plus, overran position a bit. SO CLOSE I could taste it.

Every time I rack I say to myself: keep going and be patient. Even a long hike is one step at a time.

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Hell ya
 
Saw motion picture ' The Hustler' as a small shaver liked to see the break shots Mosconi hit where cue ball contacts the stack and then moves back and into the stack i.e. force follow true de stack. Then lost touch wasting time on 9 ball pro tour (watching players argue bout the rack while the few that were present - walked out). Then moved to Wisconsin and was around some great players at cue nique - classy room in Madison. Saw how Carter, Doby, made the game look easy. They played the amateurs 150 - no count and from then I really was drawn to the 14.1 re rack. The rest is History.
 
Honestly, the best way to get better is to play someone else that also wants to learn. As you're both shooting, bounce ideas and strategies off of each other. A second set of eyes away from the table sees patterns that you might miss when you're too close to the action.
 
Jim Rempe- How to run a 100 balls, Mike SIgel-Straight Pool VHS tape. Audio Tape: Pool the Players Way by Wade Crane. All from the 1989-1995.
 
Mike the Beginner said:
I've been trying 14.1 for the past two days and not doing very well.

How did you learn 14.1? Did you rack and then shoot till you miss? Or did you keep going despite misses?

It seems like all I do is rack the balls! I've racked about 60 times and my high "run" is 14 so far. I keep getting trapped, run a bit too far, or suddenly miss a shot I can make 9 times out of 10.

I did keep going despite misses a few times but then didn't do a good job of leaving the break ball.

Telling on myself: once when I DID leave a good break ball, I unthinkingly collected it to go into the rack! Dumba*s.

Thanks in advance.
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I learned playing 10 cent a pointrace to 50
 
Here are some tips I posted previously on the 14.1 forum:

An introduction to straight pool patterns: The most valuable ball in straightpool

I have played straightpool for many years, and have made a special effort to try to understand patterns. I wanted to make a youtube video on this subject, but I've put that project on ice for the moment. So I decided to start out with this post. If it's popular, I'll make more. The ball I'm...
forums.azbilliards.com
 
sjm said:
Actually, no. I never saw Jerry attend anything other than the WPBA Brunswick New York Classic, a women's nine ball event contested at the Amsterdam Billiard Club in New York City from about 1994-2001. Jerry didn't live far from Amsterdam at the time.
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He stood way in the background for the Finals at the year 2000 US Open beautifully stage by Blass Billiards (loved the red carpeting and the sent-from-England highly-angled bleacher seating was incredible for spectating). I was there every day of the tournament, having traveled down from VT and staying in a budget hotel. Took the train down from Albany.

Arnaldo
 
arnaldo said:
He stood way in the background for the Finals at the year 2000 US Open beautifully stage by Blass Billiards (loved the red carpeting and the sent-from-England highly-angled bleacher seating was incredible for spectating). I was there every day of the tournament, having traveled down from VT and staying in a budget hotel. Took the train down from Albany.

Arnaldo
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I was there every day for that event and yes, it was excellent. Never saw Jerry, but I guess he was there.
 
Here are some things to keep in mind learning straight pool.

Center ball can be your best friend and English can be your worst enemy.
So rely on the former a little more and only use the latter when necessary.

Try to deal with clusters early trying to separate the balls rather than scatter.
Always map at least 3-4 shots ahead; better players are more likely 5-6 shots.

Select your break shot, or the shot you’ll use, by the time half the table is cleared.
Stop shots and follow shots can accomplish more than draw but that’s still helpful.

Don’t power your stroke to get shape because you’ll usually wind up with what you
don’t want. Instead, follow through on your stroke a little further and a little bit faster.

Respect the 30 & 90 degree rules and position becomes easier. Resist the urge to be
greedy on a rack breakout shot and rely on medium speed. And remember to chalk.
 
Howdy All;

I started in June of 61, it was old school all the way, sit and watch, sit and watch, try what I'd seen.
Players would give me a "lesson" for .25 or .50 cents a game, Had to deliver a lot of papers to get
more lessons.

hank
 
Matt_24 said:
Great question! When I was a teenager there was an older gentleman who always commandeered the front gold crown, and played straight pool. And he was a good B player. And would run 30s or more quite often. He LOVED straight pool. I remember he played with an old Captain Hook MEUCCI.....and from tons of daily use, and "cleaning" with a green scouring pad, the shaft had become needle thin. He must have been 6ft 6", a big man with giant hands. Could have been an NFL player...and it was a sight to watch him stretch out over that pool table. Lots of different guys would get on there to play him. He also played some 9 ball and a lot of 9 ball ring games and was often the winner. It took a player to beat him. I watched him and/or played him quite often. It wasn't until I had gone away to the Air Force and came back years later, I was able to hang with and sometimes beat him. That felt like a real accomplishment. When I was a teenager, he'd often be in the middle of a game and call me over, handing me a wad of cash and the keys to his black mercedes. I forget what model, but it was an 80s model (which I still think looked the best) with a shiny black paint job, and tan leather interior. He'd ask me to go fill up his gas tank, or go get the oil changed for him and keep $20 or something for myself. So...a teenager got to drive a shiny MERCEDES around, and make an easy $20. I loved it! He was very proud of me when I joined the Air Force. I never knew him outside of the pool room, but I'm sure he's passed away by now.

Anyhow, he taught me how to keep score with the various markers, the rules of the game (which I still get confused about some of the weirder rules when something strange comes into play), and just general strategy. I also started watching a TON of accu-stats tapes back then, watching the greats like the Miz, and Varner, and Sigel play straight pool. Now all of that is FREE on YOUTUBE. People are so lucky. We had to pay $40 a piece or more back in the day for VHS tapes of these great matches and were happy to do so.

Here is how you practice....set up a break shot. Try all kinds of variations and englishes. Make the break shot, splash the rack, and shoot with the intention of running 100. If you miss....start over.

Edited to add what STU advised. If you are SUPER NEW....just throw 15 out and learn how to run those out. When you get competent at that....work on setting up break shots, etc.
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one thing i love about this forum is all the old memories that get written in vivid detail. i’m sure the guys that get mentioned (wherever they are) would be smiling if they knew people from all over are reliving and enjoying past memories thought to be long forgotten.
 
lfigueroa said:
I forget where I picked this up but a great exercise to improve your 14.1 is to spread out all 15 balls, leaving them all separated and reasonably off the rails (like maybe 6"), and running them without hitting a rail.

Lou Figueroa
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Thank you for this, Lou. I've been doing this a lot and I find it fun, for one thing, and it's really improving my position play and my touch. And even my draw shot. I'm only running all 15 about 1 out of 5 starts, but with most starts I get pretty deep before missing or getting out of position. It's also improving my consistency because I know I need to make everything I shoot at. Also, it's restoring my confidence which got wrecked trying to practice straight pool. The next step for me will be taking what I'm learning with this drill into the straight pool racks.

Very useful drill! Thanks for the suggestion.

--MtB
 
David in FL said:
I grew up watching Frank (Sailor) Stellman play in his room in Racine, Wisconsin.

One table was separated from the rest and was reserved for 100 ball runners only. I‘d sit on the rail and watch for hours.

Never got any good at the game, but I‘ve always been in awe of those who are.
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Good for you...
 
mino said:
one thing i love about this forum is all the old memories that get written in vivid detail. i’m sure the guys that get mentioned (wherever they are) would be smiling if they knew people from all over are reliving and enjoying past memories thought to be long forgotten.
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YES, Bless you for that, Guy
 
Dan Harriman said:
Saw motion picture ' The Hustler' as a small shaver liked to see the break shots Mosconi hit where cue ball contacts the stack and then moves back and into the stack i.e. force follow true de stack. Then lost touch wasting time on 9 ball pro tour (watching players argue bout the rack while the few that were present - walked out). Then moved to Wisconsin and was around some great players at cue nique - classy room in Madison. Saw how Carter, Doby, made the game look easy. They played the amateurs 150 - no count and from then I really was drawn to the 14.1 re rack. The rest is History.
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I remember when I was working in a family billiard center in Long Beach, Ca. Willie came for our grand opening and did an exhibition. I was going to make a point of watching him do the force follow... Then I was working and Didn’t get to watch him, to many people. Someone ask me later if I got to watch Willie and I said no I think that I'm just as good as he is anyway... That was in the early sixties seems like yesterday... I use to think that I was as good as anyone, My dad loved the games and thought me well... I was five and one half years old and he was a trained boxer, heavy weight. Snooker table, put his thumb on the end rail and said hit... This I could do and then when I got good enough and fast enough to hit, He never said a word, There was blood on the snooker table and he never smacked my ear again and put tears in my eyes, He could teach well... And helped to teach a world champion ( His name was Laverne Roach from Plainview, Texas. He got killed in a fight in Fort Worth and changed boxing rules forever.... Guy
 
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