How Would You Play This 9-Ball Position?

I am ripping the 8 straight in with low left, drawing the cueball to the head rail and over for straight in on the 9.

On very tight pockets, I may cinch the 8 and play safe on the 9 leaving it and the cue ball in the middle of opposite end rails.
 
VIProfessor said:
Yeah, dude! The eight and the cue are dead straight, 1/8 of an inch from the rail!
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Ok, I’ll concede. After rereading the original post an 1/8” off the rail is practically frozen. The graphic doesn’t illustrate the true situation. I guess I’m guilty of seeing what I wanted to see in the pic and not reading or remembering what was written.

If given another choice, I’d play for the 9 ball bank across side.

If I did pay my way down there, I wouldn’t go BUST. :)

Rick <---- first class ticket home.
 
CrownCityCorey said:
I am ripping the 8 straight in with low left, drawing the cueball to the head rail and over for straight in on the 9.
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Warning: This stunt is done by a professional pool player and should not be attempted at home. This may result in serious and irreparable damage to your ego.
 
That was my first inclination, to draw back somewhere near its starting point and cut the 9 in. There is no scratch, so you just need to cinch the 9.

If it is a super tight table and I can't draw on the 8 with a slough stroke, then I would cinch the 8 (with said slough stroke) and bank the 8 in cross side, or if I don't like the bank, then I would play safe.

Seeing how 9 ball is a slop game, I really don't like playing safe on the 9 though. I have seen ridiculous banger shots go in when I thought the percentage was really low to make it after the safe. :(
 
Jimmy M. said:
Since both the cue ball and the object ball are the same distance from the rail, you're really not dead straight in. To be dead straight in, the cue ball would be slighter further from the rail than the object ball.
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This is correct, but keep in mind that the greater the distance is between the cueball and the 8-ball, the less angle there will be, and the less distance between the balls and the side cushion the less angle there will be. The corner pocket gets smaller the closer the balls are to the side cushion. For example, in this case with the distance between the balls and the distance from the 8 to the pocket, if the cueball and the 8-ball were both nearly frozen to the side cushion, I'd consider this a straight-in shot for all practical purposes.

The example is underdescribed, because we don't really know what 'medium-tight' pockets means, or more to the point, how much we can cheat the pocket with speed and still make the 8. 'Medium-tight' should refer to more than just pocket size, but how the pocket accepts the ball on different shots, which is not quite the same thing.

It gets down to rough percentages. Suppose I'm 95% to make the 8 on the firm shot taking the cross-side bank, and 75% to make the bank from there. That makes me ~71% to get out. Now, suppose I'm 85% to make the 8 with draw for a cut on the 9, which I'll then make 85% of the time. I'm ~72% to get out that way.

Another caveat--I'm much more likely to sell out if I miss the cut in the corner, I believe, than if I miss the cross-side bank.
 
In this situation I would just make the 8 and draw the cueball back a couple of feet and take the cut on the 9.
 
Tennesseejoe said:
From the video it looks like you use backhand English. Is this intended?
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I assume you mean on the 9 ball? I use just a small amount of right english, a half tip or so, and hit it firm to keep the cueball from drifting towards the corners and to avoid the tendancy for these shots to "cling". I don't use a backhand technique as far as I know - that's just the way I hit the ball.

Chris
 
Last edited:
Tate!!!!

I must remind myself to never play you any of anything unless I get
gigantic weight. Well done!!!!!!!!!!
Pinocchio
 
Pinocchio said:
I must remind myself to never play you any of anything unless I get
gigantic weight. Well done!!!!!!!!!!
Pinocchio
Click to expand...


I get a lot of practice shooting this kind of garbage because I'm out of line so much!
 
What struck me about this is the position of the 9-ball...Not sure if SJM did that on purpose.

It looks (too me) that the bank is dead on for the side pocket...Roll in the 8 and bank the 9....

Tate will obviously have a different take on this....but under pressure the cuts he was leaving can get pretty touchy....Although it looks like he can handle that type of shot....:)

If you miss the cut shot..you almost always will sell out the rack....If you miss the bank in the side, with any CB control at all you are going to be stuck somewhere around the end rail with a now tough shot in one of the corner pockets.

Move the 9-Ball a little so the bank is not so "dead on" and I don't like the bank anymore.
 
All the posts about this shot shows great incite regarding the knowledge of you AZ'ers. Each of you make such a strong case about how and why you would perform this shot. Probably on any table I would roll whitey up a few inches and drive the 9 in the side pocket. But mostly because I feel the best defense is great offense. But then again, maybe I am a sell out.
 
I have been banking well lately so I'd shoot the 8 in the corner and draw back the cue ball a bit. This way if I don't draw back far enough to cut the 9 in the corner easily I have a "fall back option" of banking the 9 in the same pocket I shot the 8 ball.
 
KY BOY said:
All the posts about this shot shows great incite regarding the knowledge of you AZ'ers. Each of you make such a strong case about how and why you would perform this shot. Probably on any table I would roll whitey up a few inches and drive the 9 in the side pocket. But mostly because I feel the best defense is great offense. But then again, maybe I am a sell out.
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I tried it that way too and had similar results.

I play a lot of players who bank really, really well. They have to shoot banks if that's the shot they are left with, but in 9 ball, they rarely play position to shoot banks unless it is a clear advantage. Same with combination shots - they don't shoot them unless they absolutely have to. I think what happens is you get burned often enough you try to work around these shots if you can.

In a race to 11, I don't think you'll see top players playing position for a bank more than once or twice - and that's even on buckets - if that gives you an indication.

Chris
 
When I look over this position, my first instinct is to use the outside english follow advocated by some of you to get to the long side of the nine. The draw shot scares me, because a) I might miss the eight, and b) if I leave the cue close too close to the rail, a clear danger, the cut on the nine is a shot that I'm not very good at.

My style is to play shape for the bank of the nine in the corner, knowing that it's a two way shot offering very strong defense. Those, I believe, are my percentages. I have a fairly solid pocketing percentage on this shot, quite probably, because I play so many two way banks in to the corner pocket.

I would expect a top pro to play the draw onto the nine and cut it right in.
 
You could always play safe on the 8 by thinning it on the right side with right english on the cue ball. 8 will bounce off the rail a couple inches and cue ends up over by the 9 forcing opponent to play possibly 2 banks for the out. Depending on how my opponent is playing banks, I may put the decision back on him.
 
i am drawing off the eight, shooting the eight to the right side of the pocket, catching the lip of the side pocket with the cueball and land in the middle of the table for the easy nine. if i miss, i lose one game, if i make it my opponent will be furious thinking i got lucky, and it will demoralize him.
 
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