How many of you can beat the 9-ball ghost?

Can you beat the 9 ball ghost race to 9? (be honest)

  • Yes, most of the time

    Votes: 38 20.3%
  • Yes, 50% of the time

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • Occasionally, maybe 20% to 30%

    Votes: 49 26.2%
  • Once in a blue moon

    Votes: 47 25.1%
  • Never

    Votes: 23 12.3%

  • Total voters
    187
I was being showed on saturday how to make the 9 on the break. If I can get consistent at that, I'll never lose to the ghost again MWWWWWWAAAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
 
Cameron Smith said:
I was being showed on saturday how to make the 9 on the break. If I can get consistent at that, I'll never lose to the ghost again MWWWWWWAAAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

If you take one of the balls behind the wing ball, and move it "out" just a little tiny bit and break from the same side you can get a pretty ridiculous % of 9 ball breaks.. I dunno that I'd ever call it "consistent" though. (Incidentally I didn't do this with my ridiculous breaking streak noted above, that was purely luck)

DJ
 
Yesterday I beat the 9-ball ghost 9-2 (didn't take BIH after 4 breaks) then won the first two against the ten ball ghost then had to leave. I was on, breaking like a maniac. Its usually closer with the 9-ball and never played the 10 ball a full set. I squeaked by those first two racks.

Eric. A.
 
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I rack balls said:
Yesterday I beat the 9-ball ghost 9-2 (didn't take BIH after 4 breaks) then won the first two against the ten ball ghost then had to leave. I was on, breaking like a maniac. Its usually closer with the 9-ball and never played the 10 ball a full set. I squeaked by those first two racks.

Eric. A.

Eric A You must be one HELL of a 9 ball player! :) Beating the ghost like a redheaded step child so bad that on the 4th game you abandoned the BIH is strong to say the least. 1st off Congragulations on your victory, it's certainly not the easiest thing to do in the world, and I think if I played a set like that I'd probably put my cues away and retire from playing pool knowing that I went out on the top of my game.

(I don't think I was ever destined to be that good at pool though.. some have the gift, I'm not one of them)

Any chance that you can beat the ghost again but video it? Or are you in southern California?

I'll give ya 100 bucks if ya show me. I'm NOT even asking for action here. I'm telling ya I'll give you a 100 bucks if you show me an unedited video tape of you killing the ghost and not taking BIH on even a few of the racks. :)

(Again the tone is hard to read in text, if I was standing in front of you you'd realize I'm NOT DOUBTING, I believe you beat the ghost.)

Just willing to pay 100 bucks to have that tape in my video collection. :)

Gives me something to watch and aspire to be that good someday. :)

DJ
 
Hah well I usually don't play that well but I was owning the ghost that day. But I have been working on my break lately and it has really been paying off, I think that is key. I don't have a video camera but I am going to try and borrow a friends. I wanted to post a video back when all the people decided to make their own but could't get one. Ill see what I can do in the next few weeks, I am in school and pool is taking a back seat right now. Oh and I didn't mean I didn't take BIH the lasst five racks I meant I didn't in four of the racks during the set :-)

Eric. A.
 
Solartje said:
weird post. some say u need to be a C to beat the ghosts, other say u need to be a A/short stop.

Well, the equipment obviously makes a huge difference, but I think another issue is that there is some confusion about what a B player is. Maybe someone could come up with a translation from Q-Skill or one of the other skill-rating games to the ABC rating to show what score range you need to be in to be considered a C or B player. Actually, it seems like I saw a post like that somewhere, but I don't have time to search for it right now.

My guess is that there are some of us who have ourselves overrated, but, contrary to popular belief, it may not the ones who say they can beat the ghost. I'm talking about the people who think they are B players (or want to think that), but they get tortured by the ghost, so they say that there's no way a B player can beat the ghost.

Well, assuming standard conditions (and by standard I just mean none of this trip-shimmed, rattlesnake hide for felt, three-pockets plugged up with rolls of Charmin, gotta bank every third ball standing on one leg BS), and with bih after the break, I do pretty well against the ghost. And, on what I would call generous equipment (stock GCIV w/860, for example), I do very well against the ghost. I do not, however, consider myself an A player by any means. I know people who are A players; they consistently play above my speed, and, while they might occasionally beat a pro in a tournament, they're probably not supposed to. Maybe ABC ratings are different in different parts of the country, but around here you have to play really damn good to be considered an A player. I don't know, it's possible that I have myself underrated, but I think it's far more likely that these letter ranges have been expanded (especially the B range) way beyond their intended bounds by those of us who don't know, or just don't want to admit, that we are actually C, or even D, players.

Either way, it would definitely be nice to see some sort of rating system translator laid out by someone in the know. My apologies if this has already been done, but please post a link to it if you are aware of an existing one.

Good luck!
 
Well, I played the ghost for the first time last week and lost 9-5.
It ain't as easy as I thought it would be but I'm going to keep at it.
 
would you pay others in this thread $100 to post a video of them beating the ghost?
 
uwate said:
would you pay others in this thread $100 to post a video of them beating the ghost?

Uwate, I probably would've up until yesterday night.. My g/f comes home and calls me telling me there was an incident with the dog. I come home to find all the downstairs blinds "shredded" with blood on them, and apparently all the windows were shut downstairs. There was one open upstairs. Something spooked my relatively mellow and calm 6 year old dog to the point that she thought the best move was knocking a screen off and jumping out an upstairs window. Needless to say she's limping, one of her finger nails is pretty much gone, and the Vet bill (depending on if she broke anything or not) is probably going to diminish my gambling fun for awhile. :( I still dunno WTF happened?

DJ
 
CaptainJR said:
I was evidently completely wrong about the caliber of players on this forum. Or, not talking ball in hand makes a bigger difference than I thought. (not)

So this pole is saying that 60 percent of the people on here can beat the ghost 20 to 30 percent of the time or better! That's pretty darn impressive! LOL
This wasn't a complete sample, though. If you can beat the ghost once in a blue moon (e.g., me) or better, then you might respond. A lot of people who can't ever beat the ghost probably choose not to respond. So the poll doesn't really tell us much about the portion of AZBers who can beat the ghost.
Cory
 
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There was no doubt in my mind that this was going to happen. Reminds me of the old RSB/ASP days. "I can run 4 racks"... "Yea well I can run six racks, you are only a B player if you can run 4"... But when you meet up with them in a pool hall you find out that they meant balls not racks. And after it was all said and done they had 1000 excuses on why they did not play their normal speed (what they ate, not enough sleep, the drive was long, hungover, drunk, etc...) I have played in many leagues and tournaments across this great country of ours and I gotta say as a cross cut guage that I am ranked a B player and could not hold a candle to the ghost but I can beat an A player in most pool halls around 30 percent of the time. Unless 35 % of you are in hiding during these tounaments I have not seen you enter the ones I play in.

In all my years of posting I have only met a couple of people that can back up what they boast. And they swear that they cannot hold their own in a pro event. What it really breaks down to is if you can do it... do it! The IPT is looking for a few good men/women!

JV
 
Anyone want to sponsor me and pay my entry into an IPT qualifier LOL! I did break and run 7/15 racks on a valley box yesteray! haha dare to dream.

Eric.
 
Practised this morning, played the ghost a bit, had the following scores - taking BIH after the break

lost 11 - 6
lost 11 - 8
lost 11 - 4

Didnt feel like I was playing great, but quite happy wqith the 11 - 8.

I dont count combos, I avoid them, just helps my mental game if I run out.
 
PlynSets said:
[...]Something spooked my relatively mellow and calm 6 year old dog to the point that she thought the best move was knocking a screen off and jumping out an upstairs window. [...] I still dunno WTF happened?

DJ

Maybe the ghost came by looking for some action and freaked your dog out. :eek: Hehe.

Seriously though, sorry to hear that man. Sucks when a pet gets injured. I hope the vet bills turn out much cheaper than expected and hope she gets better quickly.
 
I can only beat the ghost about every 3rd or fourth attempt so based on that I can't beat it in a race to 9. I do like doing the drill but I'd rather try and beat a real live 3 dimensional human being instead though.
 
Just lost tot he ghost again today, lost miserably, 11-4, 11-4, 11-5..
Kinda makes you want to play 4 ball, lol
 
PlynSets said:
Pete, thanks for the compliment on my game. I think there's alot of guys around here that could hand me my arse pretty handedly, but just becuase someone can play better doesn't necesarrily mean they "know" more, and or understand handicapping better... Something that's often overlooked on this website is just becuase someone plays better it DOESN'T give them more credibillity then anyone else in my opinion.

DJ

A guy around DC told me after Andam came through and robbed everybody (all but one?) giving most everybody the 6 ball that players can't gamble out of their class, and can't "see" above their class. He explained saying that it didn't matter how big a ball spot Andam gave up to these guys because he was in a completely different class above them. And they can't recognize the things that make him that much better than them. They think if they just play a little better they'll have a chance, when in fact, they don't even know what they should be trying to do.

I thought that was interesting, and often true. But I can't beat 6-ball right now, so who cares what I think? lol

unknownpro
 
Cory in DC said:
CaptainJR said:
Originally Posted by CaptainJR
I was evidently completely wrong about the caliber of players on this forum. Or, not talking ball in hand makes a bigger difference than I thought. (not)

So this pole is saying that 60 percent of the people on here can beat the ghost 20 to 30 percent of the time or better! That's pretty darn impressive! LOL


This wasn't a complete sample, though. If you can beat the ghost once in a blue moon (e.g., me) or better, then you might respond. A lot of people who can't ever beat the ghost probably choose not to respond. So the poll doesn't really tell us much about the portion of AZBers who can beat the ghost.
Cory


Your right, percentage doesn't mean anything cause everyone wouldn't answer. But still there are 114 people above that indicated they do it 20% of the time or better. That is really good. I've beaten the ghost a couple times but I'm sure it has ever been in a race to 9. In this longer race I'm sure I would goof it up some where along the way. LOL. Beating the ghost in a race to 9 takes some very good play. I would say a minimum of 6 GREAT brakes. I keep forgetting that they seem to be talking about taking BIH after the brake here though. I should try it that way a couple of times.
 
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