First off, this is my first post to the forum after being a long time reader/lurker.
I played pool from age 14 till my early 20's as a fun hobby, no money, won a couple really, really small time tournaments and then life interrupted. So I'm not a new pool player, rather I'm one that spent about 8 years away from the table. I recently started playing again and now that I'm sort of back to the old me, I have the same question I had back then:
I can get position, in fact I'm better at controlling the cue ball sometimes than making the shots when they get super tricky. Pretty good knowledge of English, draw, and follow. However, when I watch pool on television or online, the announcers seem to know about 95% of the time the exact path and layout the shooter will take while running the table. I, on the other hand, look at it like "I'd follow that into the rail" and the player draws back for it...but the commentators knew that the player would draw.
I know it's a long question, but how do you "learn" the "best" way to get position on the ball (lets say in rotation or nine ball) or in 8 ball, how do they know which way the guy will run out? I've wondered this for probably 13 years.
I've spent many hours playing, and I'm a decent pool player as far as executing the shot or the game, but I feel like I'd be better if I could choose the "best" plan for a given layout.
Thanks in advance for answering my long, drawn out question.
Frank
I played pool from age 14 till my early 20's as a fun hobby, no money, won a couple really, really small time tournaments and then life interrupted. So I'm not a new pool player, rather I'm one that spent about 8 years away from the table. I recently started playing again and now that I'm sort of back to the old me, I have the same question I had back then:
I can get position, in fact I'm better at controlling the cue ball sometimes than making the shots when they get super tricky. Pretty good knowledge of English, draw, and follow. However, when I watch pool on television or online, the announcers seem to know about 95% of the time the exact path and layout the shooter will take while running the table. I, on the other hand, look at it like "I'd follow that into the rail" and the player draws back for it...but the commentators knew that the player would draw.
I know it's a long question, but how do you "learn" the "best" way to get position on the ball (lets say in rotation or nine ball) or in 8 ball, how do they know which way the guy will run out? I've wondered this for probably 13 years.
I've spent many hours playing, and I'm a decent pool player as far as executing the shot or the game, but I feel like I'd be better if I could choose the "best" plan for a given layout.
Thanks in advance for answering my long, drawn out question.
Frank