How would you play these?

alstl

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
First...



Link to video

https://youtu.be/PY2SUU_jZzc?t=5226

Second...



Link to video


https://youtu.be/PY2SUU_jZzc?t=4588


The reason I post these is partly because I'm stuck in a chair extremely bored following surgery with nothing else to do - and because of an earlier thread regarding side pocket break shots.

And, one other interesting shot from the same video...

https://youtu.be/PY2SUU_jZzc?t=1172

Irving was well past his prime and I'm sure he was frustrated by his own play and while his ability to run balls isn't what it used to be it is still interesting to follow his thought process.
 
Well, for the first, the final 3 want to be 3-6-10. One way is 2 in the side, follow to the end rail and out for the 14. An alternative is 3-6 at the end which will take a little more travel or a good angle when you play the 6. For that, 10-2 (upper left) would be a start.

For the second, I think 13 with soft draw and then 3 with right follow is easiest.

I posted the above without looking at the videos. After looking at the video, I think for the second shot I really like less cut than Irv had on the 3 so I would have played the 13 with draw or at least stun. It looked like Irv was in trouble with the break angle he got from his shot but he slid it right in. The way Crane played it no side spin was needed for the 3. At the time of the tournament Crane was 73.
 
Diagram 1... 2 in the side, come off of top rail.... 14 in corner, 3 down in the corner, the 6 in the lower left corner and 10 in the side.

Diagram 2.... 13 lower corner, cut the 3 in corner come off the rail or two rails to get on the 2 ball.

Now I will go look at the videos.
 
I agreed with the other comments. There is one other nice option available in your first diagram that gives a simple position on the break ball. Shoot the 10 as a stop shot. There is room to shoot the 6 with high follow for natural position off the foot rail to the 14. Shoot the 14 and draw to the 3 for an easy set up on the 2.

As diagrammed, I think this is as easy as the other way suggested and provides a slightly easier path to the key ball. However, in seeing the video, Crane's cue ball is close enough to the rail that a stop shot might require jacking up, which I wouldn't do.
 
Dan White said:
I agreed with the other comments. There is one other nice option available in your first diagram that gives a simple position on the break ball. Shoot the 10 as a stop shot. There is room to shoot the 6 with high follow for natural position off the foot rail to the 14. Shoot the 14 and draw to the 3 for an easy set up on the 2.

As diagrammed, I think this is as easy as the other way suggested and provides a slightly easier path to the key ball. However, in seeing the video, Crane's cue ball is close enough to the rail that a stop shot might require jacking up, which I wouldn't do.
Click to expand...


That is the way I saw it, too. If the stop shot looks easy enough, I would follow your path and I prefer the last 3 as the 14, 3, 2.
 
Same really…

#1: Exact same order as Irving's (the guy really knew what he was doing). Alternatively, and that is only if I get out of line immediately after shooting the 2 into the middle pocket, the 6 could serve as the key ball (Mike Sigel's favorite key ball, going two rails to the center of the table). That is one reason why starting with the 2 is fool-proof, the other being that the 10 is missable shooting off a rail - at least to me (not going to say I'll miss it all that often, but once in a while, so it's out of the question in Straight Pool - "Never shoot a shot you could miss", as Jim Rempe tends to put it).

#2: Same order again, except Irving gets awfully close to his work (I tend to make the cue ball hit the second rail quarter to half a diamond farther from the break ball, and in turn make the cue bounce off less - but I'm short, and this makes it easier for me to reach).

#3: Awesome! Speechless… Seriously, I'm not sure I'd dare reverse the cue ball off two rails the way Irving does because I'm afraid it might glance off one of those balls and scratch or end up anywhere… Having said that, upon closer inspection, there was no way he could put too much reverse English on the cue ball and scratch off the other side of that "cluster" (which really isn't a cluster: once he shot the combo, he could have have played position on that ball closest to the left foot corner pocket - although that may have been what he had in mind all along). Also, there's a possible scratch two rails into the middle pocket shooting the combo without side spin, seriously limiting one's choices there). Too bad we can't ask him whether he actually considered all this, or simply went by instinct (which to a player of his calibre is pretty much the same thing anyhow: seen that, done that…).

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
 
Last edited:
Bob Jewett said:
[…] The way Crane played it no side spin was needed for the 3. […]
Click to expand...

It does looks to me as if he shot that with some center right (or low right, hard to tell from this perspective) to compensate for the friction/throw? I might have shot this with inside English and follow, merely shaving the paint off the ball…

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
 
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