How to practice 9-ball ?

B

briskx

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Yo

So i want to get better at 9-ball pool. I wondered what is the best way to practice i.e play at my club for a fewh ours, what is the best way to utilize the time. Just play as if you were playing someone else or are there certain drills? Just want to improve all areas of my game.

I heard something about ghost racks?

thanks for any help
 
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Rack by Rack

All great nine ball players except Earl strikland. played,8,9,10, ball ,straight ,banks ,rotation. There's running balls, and the break and safety play. Can ya play yet? know the fundementals ? not being smart but you need to crawl before you walk. One things for sure a pred,cue will make it a lot easyier for ya mark
 
Just play nine ball but take ball in hand whenever you miss. You will learn position, guaranteed. A pro will control the game whenever you give him ball in hand, so that's where you focus. Good luck.
 
The way I practice is too throw all 9 balls on the table, take ball in hand on the one ball and start my run from that point. If I run to the six and miss I throw all the ball back on the table, take ball in hand again on the one ball and start over. I practice on a 9ft diamond with tight pockets and 860 simonis. I do this for about two hours then start breaking and try to run from where the cue ball stops, if I miss start over.

You will have too find a method that works for you, I fell this works for me. Just keep practicing and don't get flustered, if you do it will get into bad habit. Positive attitude and thinking is the best teacher.

Good luck!:thumbup:
 
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You want to practice to improve your game - so invest in some professional coaching... Find a good coach and you'll learn and improve faster, and a good coach will show you what your game needs.

I hope this helps, well... It seems to work for the top snooker players!
 
I used this when I started, Take three balls and set them up on the foot spot and break them from the head, Mark on the table where they stopped and try to figure out as many was as possible to run those three balls into any and every pocket they will go into and you never miss on those three balls, Then add a fourth and repeat and so on and so forth. Always take ball in hand after the break though. If you get stuck with a certain setup stay with it. This will help you spot different patterns with the exact same layout of balls. Once you get to 9 all the time start back at two or three but do them with banks or kicks then you can progress into just using one pocket....

Jackal
 
Stick to the 3 ball drill (throw 3 balls on the table, run them in rotation with ball in hand on the first shot). Get it to where you can do it VERY consistantly. That is the game in a nutshell. People will throw 9 balls out and work on running them, but if they miss a shot or a position, especially early in the rack, its messing with their head alot worse than it should. It seems like a bigger let down.
You need to be able to think 3 balls ahead for 95% of table layouts.... so focus on that. Cause in a real game situation, when you get to the table you think about the lowest 3 balls. Pocket the shot in front of you.... then guess what, you are back to thinking about the lowest numbered 3 balls.
Chuck
 
Let me premise this by saying that I just got back into pool two years ago and am not a great 9-ball player. I do have two things that I'd like to add, though:

1. There's a guy named Phil Capelle who writes great books. I don't have "Play your best 9 ball" yet, but I do have his books "Play your best pool" and "Play your best 8 ball." His straight pool book is on the way. I'm sure his 9 ball book would be just as good, and I'll get that next.

2. I like to practice sometimes with a progressive "playing the ghost" drill. I start out playing the 3 ball ghost. I break a rack containing the 1-3 balls, give myself ball in hand, and try to run out. If I fail, I do it again. When I do it, I move on to the 4-ball ghost. I stay at a level until I "beat the ghost" and keep moving up. I sometimes get to the six ball ghost. The good players on here can obviously beat the 9 ball ghost frequently, and that's the goal. You can make some stricter versions of my drill, if you want. For instance, don't move up to the next level until you beat the ghost in a race to 5, 10, etc.

Hope that helps,

David
 
Thanks guys

Yeah i can play, I got a Lucasi E7, i can string together balls but not good enough to run out everytime like a pro. It just gets messy becuase usually the balls dont split nicely on the Sam's tables at my club.

Wicked i will try that ghosting. So you break AND then get a ball in hand? Thats quite easy no for like a 3 ball rack?
 
I'm probably the worst at sticking to practice routines, but these are good tests for rotation games. Each will stress your cueball control and creativity if you happen to fall out of line. They are adaptations of the Mississippi 9-ball pattern.

The "easy" one (page 1) may look easy, but you will be surprised how much focus it requires. Page 2 ups the ante a little bit. Pat yourself on the back if you can regularly clear page 3.

CueTable Help



Here's a vid of me running a similar setup. This was shot a year and a half ago and it showed me a lot of stroke problems to cure. You should consider videotaping yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWb22_gzBxc
 
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My routine is similar to others posted above, except that I keep track of my progress. I start with 10 random 3 ball layouts starting with BIH, and write down my best out of ten which will be my average for 3 balls (ex: 8 out of 10 = 80). I do the same for 4, 5, 6, ... 9. In the end I add up all the scores and divide by seven for an overall average for that day. The nice thing is that it takes a good amount of time to run that many racks, which is why I think that it is helping me because I tend to get bored in practice.
I use the same routine for 8-ball except that I run 3 ... 8 and then divide by 6 in the end.
 
1. Practise on your breakshot. The 2 most important shots in 9-ball is the break, then the winning shot when you pocket the 9.

2. Play the Ghost as much as you can.

3. Practise on longshots. Very often you will start your turn at the table with a long shot, after your opponent tried to safe you making distance but failed to hide the balls.

4. Invest in a videocamera and record yourself. Watch it several times, take notes of your position play, shotroutine etc, to find out what to improve. If you have the chance to do this together with a coach improvement is guaranteed.

5. Play better players, and watch better players.
 
HollyWood said:
All great nine ball players except Earl strikland. played,8,9,10, ball ,straight ,banks ,rotation. There's running balls, and the break and safety play. Can ya play yet? know the fundementals ? not being smart but you need to crawl before you walk. One things for sure a pred,cue will make it a lot easyier for ya mark
Click to expand...


I would have to respectfully disagree with your comment about a predator making it easier for you. No stick is going to compensate for a poor stroke. I don't buy into a low deflection shaft makes you play better. Fact is, after time you can easily adjust for the amount of deflection your particular cue has. I've played with all the low deflection shafts and I can shoot just as good with them as I can with a good old maple shaft.

If want to get better, please do not just throw nine balls on the table and try to runout. Start by mastering the fundamentals!

1.) Practice straight in shots. Corner to corner, distance about 3-4 feet. Practice stop shots, draw, and follow

2.) Practice 30, 45, 60 degree cut shots. First, learn how to pocket the ball using center ball hit only. Once you get this down, try adding only draw and follow and observe. Then move on to outside and inside english.

3.) Practice your break! This is the most important shot in 9 ball!

Good luck!

-Phillip
 
I'll tell you about a little game to play, that will let you walk fast as you learn to run.

Try Short-Rack 8-Ball (4 stripes, 4 solids & the 8-Ball, racked like 9-Ball).

This will give you some Break Shot practice, cue ball control on the snap & a run of 4 balls max, after you succeed in the Break Shot.

This is a fast paced game & a good hustle for someone that can't break.
 
HollyWood said:
All great nine ball players except Earl strikland. played,8,9,10, ball ,straight ,banks ,rotation. There's running balls, and the break and safety play. Can ya play yet? know the fundementals ? not being smart but you need to crawl before you walk. One things for sure a pred,cue will make it a lot easyier for ya mark
Click to expand...
For some reason Earl is viewed strictly as a 9-ball player. I don't understand how he became so one-dimensional.

I'd like to see your face when you read that he has a high run of 408 balls in straight pool. Don't believe me?

http://hermund.ardalen.com/straightpoolhighruns.htm
 
tap tap tap........

Roy Steffensen said:
1. Practise on your breakshot. The 2 most important shots in 9-ball is the break, then the winning shot when you pocket the 9.

2. Play the Ghost as much as you can.

3. Practise on longshots. Very often you will start your turn at the table with a long shot, after your opponent tried to safe you making distance but failed to hide the balls.

4. Invest in a videocamera and record yourself. Watch it several times, take notes of your position play, shotroutine etc, to find out what to improve. If you have the chance to do this together with a coach improvement is guaranteed.

5. Play better players, and watch better players.
Click to expand...

#2....#2.....#2.....#2..... PLAY THE GHOST!!!!!!!!!!! KEEP RECORDS!!!

Start with 3 ball, after you beat it 10 times (race to 10 games) move to 4, then 5, 6 and on down the line...... Play at a level one higher than is comfortable to win-don't quit until you win 1 race. The game will show you where your weaknesses are....take note of weaknesses and practice them. Keep your records .....it will help you to see the progress, and give you the confidence that you can succeed.

When you are bored with that .....just as a relief and addition to it....work on some ball path drills and positional drills and get them down.

Get started...................there's a whole world of knowledge to learn! :)

td
 
Big Dave said:
You want to practice to improve your game - so invest in some professional coaching... Find a good coach and you'll learn and improve faster, and a good coach will show you what your game needs.

I hope this helps, well... It seems to work for the top snooker players!
Click to expand...


Dave has hit the nail on the head. This is very good advice and will save you a lot of practice time. :thumbup:
 
Tap, tap, tap! Amen! :thumbup:

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

pip9ball said:
I would have to respectfully disagree with your comment about a predator making it easier for you. No stick is going to compensate for a poor stroke. I don't buy into a low deflection shaft makes you play better. Fact is, after time you can easily adjust for the amount of deflection your particular cue has. I've played with all the low deflection shafts and I can shoot just as good with them as I can with a good old maple shaft.

-Phillip
Click to expand...
 
Roy Steffensen said:
1. Practise on your breakshot. The 2 most important shots in 9-ball is the break, then the winning shot when you pocket the 9.

2. Play the Ghost as much as you can.

3. Practise on longshots. Very often you will start your turn at the table with a long shot, after your opponent tried to safe you making distance but failed to hide the balls.


.
Click to expand...


I agree completely with roy on this point. especially the first 2. Break alot, a good break makes things alot easier (i.e no clusters) and play the ghost alot. Ive been doing those two alot lately and im noticing the difference.

and I always warm up with some long shots. makes the close ones that much easier and when you face them in a game theyre not intimidating.
 
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