How much does equipment matter, and what's the minimum to be legit?

Clean balls, fast cloth and tight racking make the most difference in my opinion. The big concern is how much the balls open from any given break.
 
it'd be nice if it turns out the clean equipment makes a big difference. I'll try everyone's advice and maybe I'll be able to report what helped the most.

PS: Neitzsche roffles!
 
860 is not the cloth for playing straight pool, 760 is. Racks don't open up very well on 860 for continued ball making. The 860 tour blue isn't as bad as the 860 green, but 760 is the best for ease of spreading out the rack with slight cue ball contact. I've played 14.1 for more than 30 years, but when Simonis came out with the 860, it almost killed my interest in playing 14.1.

Glen
 
I'm almost glad to read that cuz I always felt like when I try controlled breaks they hardly open, and if I hit it hard enough to open them I end up sitting on the head rail. I don't get to play on 760 much, but it sounds like it might make a big difference.

The thing is, do you know of pool halls where everything is 760? What's the cost difference for a 9 footer? We have only one 760 table, and it's sort of the owner's pet table and nobody else can touch it. He tried a deal for a while where people could pay an annual fee to play on it, and in return he keeps it up perfectly and keeps it in 760, but that hasn't really panned out. What can a player do to convince his room owner to go with 760? Or is it just a waste of time because teenagers and drunks will just tear it up and he's just throwing away money?
 
CreeDo said:
I'm almost glad to read that cuz I always felt like when I try controlled breaks they hardly open, and if I hit it hard enough to open them I end up sitting on the head rail. I don't get to play on 760 much, but it sounds like it might make a big difference.

The thing is, do you know of pool halls where everything is 760? What's the cost difference for a 9 footer? We have only one 760 table, and it's sort of the owner's pet table and nobody else can touch it. He tried a deal for a while where people could pay an annual fee to play on it, and in return he keeps it up perfectly and keeps it in 760, but that hasn't really panned out. What can a player do to convince his room owner to go with 760? Or is it just a waste of time because teenagers and drunks will just tear it up and he's just throwing away money?
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As a former room owner I can tell you that your chances of getting a room owner to cover all the tables with 760 are slim to none--and Slim left town. While 860 is a little slower than 760 (not enough to make straight pool not worth playing on it IMHO), it is much more durable. Furthermore, I would suspect that in 99.9% of the rooms in the country, the percentage of customers who play straight pool regularly is so small that it just wouldn't make a positive difference to most of the clientele who will be banging around playing 8-ball and 9-ball. In fact, changing to 760 will likely bring about loud complaints from bangers who will say the cloth is too fast for them and they can't control the cue ball. The tables that I have seen where 760 was installed have generally been reserved for straights and one pocket, and this seems to be a wise move on the part of any poolroom owner.

I really don't think that playing straight pool on 860 should be a huge problem. After all, to the best of my knowledge, the cloth used during the great straight pool era was significantly slower than the 760 or the 860. For that reason, classic straight pool players tended to break out a few balls on the break shot rather than splatter it open, and then they would use secondary break shots to move other balls out of the rack area.

On the question of when to use draw and follow on the break shot, allow me to pass on some advice that I picked up in a post a couple months ago. The poster (whose name I don't remember) said that George Mikulas, the great NYC straight pool player, taught him that if the tangent line from the break ball goes to the bottom half of a ball in the rack, you should generally use draw to back the cue ball up to the center of the table. If, on the other hand, the tangent line points to the top half of the said ball in the stack, you should use some follow to prevent the ball from going too far uptable. For the middle of the object ball, your choice will largely depend on the angle at which you are going into the rack. Obviously, this advice refers to your standard side of the rack break shot.

I've been using this imparted knowledge for the last couple months and it has immensely improved my control of the cue ball off the break. I am almost never left without a shot after the break these days, and I owe it to George Mikulas and the poster who passed on this wonderful tidbit.
 
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That's some excellent advice :D I always wondered what the secret was... thanks.

Yeah, I came to figure out that the problem isn't really that the tables are too slow, the speed is fine. I think there are some problems where stuff sticks to the rack because the balls and table are dirty, and there are little divots everywhere near the rack area that cause the cueball to settle into place. It probably wouldn't stop a pro from running 100 but it seems to stop me from running 30. Anyway I guess we're lucky to have the one 760 table even though hardly anyone gets to play on it. Thanks again for the useful info =)
 
Two other items to consider...

Are you hitting your break shots with too much speed? Many breaks are not really designed to splatter the stack wide open, but instead to just peel off 4-7 balls or so then work on a secondary break shot. One symptom for this disease is often getting more than 2 balls or the cue ball past the center pockets... the table for good 14-1 often looks like weak 8-ball players broke the rack. Another symptom of hitting breaks too hard may be excessive clusters on the rail. I found Grady Mathew's Accu-Stats video "Key Balls, Break Shots" really useful in demonstrating the goals, cuing, English, and speed for each of the major types of breaks.

I got the impression from an earlier post you may be hitting them too hard in general... do you find yourself bumping balls accidentally and creating clusters? Possibly George Fels advice #1 is "I just know you are hitting them too hard..." With the right fullish angles and very little cueball movement, you can surgically pick apart racks with great control. Key balls well selected and ending in stop shot patterns ensure you get the right angle and distance on the break shots... rather than ending up with thinner hits at distance that makes any shooting percentage drop.

Last item for the bookshelf: Though I like George Fel's books and recommend them, if there were only one straight pool book you could own, I found Capelle's "play your best straight pool" is comprensive and insightful. Haven't found the Babe Cranfield book yet.
 
JoeW said:
Jack Maden wrote "There is nothing (well almost nothing) better than being in the ZONE playing pool. I think it is the attraction that keeps us coming back."

Exactly, the "Zone" = hypnosis and you can learn to get in the zone. Unfortunately, most players think it is something that happens to them and not something that they can induce. It is something that can be learned and called upon at will if (and that is a big IF) the person takes the time to learn. It is like learning to ride a bicycle, it takes time and each person uses their own technique. One way to learn it is to think of other things that make you “zone out” such as reading or a good movie. Then you consciously try to use the same type of concentration.

When I am “hypnotizing” someone I have them intensely focus on the sound of my soothing monotonous voice and perhaps stare at a crack on the ceiling to tire their eyes. The conscious mind gets bored and looks for other stimulation which can be provided with visual cues such as imaging sitting by a pond on a nice day with flowers all around and birds singing. The mind begins to drift and focus on all the pretty sights.

But we do not need other people to learn to get into this state we can do it using our own method. Shooting a repetitive shot until it is automatic and the person is getting bored. Then gently (that is the trick) moving to more interesting visually stimulating shots and the mind loses interest in everything but making balls. Practice this many times and the mind will quickly learn to skip the boring part and get to the fun. To stay in the state, don’t think about anything but the beauty of the play and let yourself simply enjoy the movements of your body and the balls on the table.

Of course eventually we miss a shot and have to go and sit down. But one does not have to completely leave the zone if we keep that focused concentration on the table, nice shots we did make and simply wait. If it is a “long” wait then you drop out of the zone and have to “work” to get back into it.

The interesting thing here is that I have taught many people when several sessions were needed to allow themselves to “instantly” drop into an altered state of consciousness. All that is needed is a trigger. I tell them, when they are in an altered state, that if I raise my hand with the palm towards them, when they are awake, that they will immediately drop to an altered state. It works just about every time if the person is willing.

An individual who has learned “self hypnosis” or how to “zone out” can use the same technique. That is, when I make the first shot and it goes into the pocket I will immediately zone out. Of course it must be practiced and it is easier for some people than for others. It seems that people who perceive a need these techniques find them easier to learn.

I am hijacking this thread so I’ll stop here. My apologies to all who were not interested.
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Joe,

no hijack here - I credit the work I did with Ryan Elliot (author of Overcoming Contenderosis) as one of the best investments I ever made in my life. Ryan is a good friend of mine, and I highly recommend hypnosis for anyone that wishes to overcome certain obstacles in their game and their mindset.
 
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