How Would You Play This? 9-ball

Jude Rosenstock

Jude Rosenstock

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A buddy of mine had a scenario similar to this the other day. He landed with pretty much ideal shape on the 4-ball with plenty of options to get out of the rack. However, a poor decision quickly landed him in trouble and he ended up miscuing in an attempt to do an uncomfortable shot and giving me ball-in-hand.

I guess there are a lot of ways to go about getting out here and figured it'd be fun to ponder through them. Any thoughts?

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Play the 4 into the corner. Come off the rail and bring the cue back to the middle of the table. Play the 5 and go 3 rails between the 6 and 8. Easy shots on 8 in side and 9 in corner.
 
Like this:

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Position on the 6 is sort of the key, but even if you blow it, recovery options abound. With the 9 where it is, if you don't have a makeable shot on the 6, hiding the CB behind the 9 is a good back-up option.

-Andrew
 
Aren't there really only two options - which side of the 6 to play to? They both even need about the same cue ball position:

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pj
chgo
 
Last edited:
Patrick Johnson said:
Aren't there really only two options - which side of the 6 to play to?



pj
chgo
Click to expand...


Well, I guess you can break it down into two questions -

1. Draw or follow on the 5 ball
2. Based on your decision for 1., where do you want/need to be?

Also, I think it's important to mention, what areas of the table are you favoring? Would you rather fall flat on the 5, have a sharper angle? Is the angle VERY important or do you want to get close? What if you're a lefty?
 
Neil said:
Might as well cover the option that few will see first. Shoot the 4 in the corner, coming out to middle table with the cb. Study the 5 for at least a minute, letting your opponent think you don't know what you are doing.;)

Then, shoot the 5 in the corner, and bring the cb around 3 rails to make the 8 in the side on the same shot. The cb should carom off the 8 to about where it is shown now.

Now study the 6 for another minute. Maybe make the comment that you dont think you can cut it in from there.;)

Then 2 rail bank the 6 into the edge of the 9. The 6 will carom off the 9 and go across table into the corner, while the 9 goes up in the corner where the 5 was.

Then, and this is important, jump up and down a few times and comment on how lucky you were. After your opponent is done puking, he will probably ask to raise the stakes!:D
Click to expand...


I understand you're a good player. My point in posting this was to go over a routine but slightly challenging layout. This is a layout that is often mishandled by amateur players and to make matters worse, can turn the table dramatically if the player fails to execute. A good player such as yourself has concerns regarding speed of the table, favoring a particular angle because he can't assume perfect position every time. I was hoping for some insight from other capable players.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
I understand you're a good player. My point in posting this was to go over a routine but slightly challenging layout. This is a layout that is often mishandled by amateur players and to make matters worse, can turn the table dramatically if the player fails to execute. A good player such as yourself has concerns regarding speed of the table, favoring a particular angle because he can't assume perfect position every time. I was hoping for some insight from other capable players.
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You can count me in as one of those amateurs. Looking at this layout, I'd say I'd run out of here only about 50% of the time. The main reason why I don't run out? Falling flat on the 5. I'm a righty and falling flat would leave the cueball in a really awkward position for me. I would either have to stretch or use a bridge, neither of which I like and mostly likely not have a good leave on the 6.

This layout is one of those deceptively tricky ones for me at least...
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
Well, I guess you can break it down into two questions -

1. Draw or follow on the 5 ball
2. Based on your decision for 1., where do you want/need to be?

Also, I think it's important to mention, what areas of the table are you favoring? Would you rather fall flat on the 5, have a sharper angle? Is the angle VERY important or do you want to get close? What if you're a lefty?
Click to expand...

I want to be about where I show the A/B cue balls: not too flat on the 5 because in either case I have to cross the table.

I favor the 3-railer, but only because of potential tie-ups with the 9 going the other way.

I think it's also worth mentioning that I don't want to get too flat on the 6 (the danger of that is minimized by getting some angle on the 5).

I'm left handed but tall, so mid-table is good for me.

pj
chgo
 
The only thing I would worry about here is getting too thin on the 6ball to hold for the 8 in the side. The side the 8 is next to is really the only available pocket, and going up and down table on the 6 makes the shot much more missable.
 
the420trooper said:
The only thing I would worry about here is getting too thin on the 6ball to hold for the 8 in the side. The side the 8 is next to is really the only available pocket, and going up and down table on the 6 makes the shot much more missable.
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That's an interesting thing to say. Do you know how to use the diagram tool? You should diagram the acceptable position zone for the 6 and 8.
 
I personally like center table here off the 4 and the 3 railer with right english to get on the 6. you'll almost always have a good angle on the 6 that way unless you chicken out and understroke it. Being left handed the shot on the 5 would play easy for me.
 
Neil said:
So, I first have to pick a spot that I can reach comfortably.
Click to expand...

This small sentence is really big. Way too many players don't think about this and play for shape that they can't possibly reach. If you have a decent angle but are stretched out or forced to use the bridge your percentages on getting out will drop considerably.
 
Jude- I ran the table just as Andrew Manning did in my head and on the table. Regarding the comment about the postion from the 5 to the 6 and being too flat off the 5 - As long as it wasn't nearly straight-in, I was still able to get position on the 6 by using more "right" and a little less "top" to spin around for postion.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
That's an interesting thing to say. Do you know how to use the diagram tool? You should diagram the acceptable position zone for the 6 and 8.
Click to expand...

I don't know how to use cuetable, but I will learn for the next discussion. My optimal position for the 6 ball is right where the 4 ball was, maybe a bit straighter.

The original location of the cue ball, if you were shooting the 6, is too steep to hold, imo. You could end up below the 8, with no shot in the side, or a surefire scratch playing it to the top left corner.
 
Draw the cue ball to the middle of the table. Shoot the 5 in and draw the cue ball 2 rails. then shoot and top. Shoot and stop.
 
The first shot is really the most crucial shot...Over run your position or come up short and the out gets tough.

I would expect 10 out of 10 pros would play position for a 3 rail shot.

Ideally I would want to be center table from side to side and about 1 diamond past the side pocket.

You already noted this was an approximation of position, but based on exactly how far off the rail the 5-ball is plays a key role in how hard it is to get around 3 rails.

If the 5 is stuck to the rail you can get away with being a bit flatter...

It appears the 5 is well off the rail, so getting the correct angle to "easily" get around three rails gets a bit more important.

If the 5 gets too far off the rail, now I start looking at the possibility of staying shallow off of the 4 and following into the end rail and spinning it two rails out that way....(or a draw shot)

Another huge factor is equipment....speed of cloth (rails actually), how tight are the pockets...how dirty or clean the balls are...and even the type of CB being used.

Heck on brand new cloth with shiny clean balls I may not like the three rail...

I can say it looks real easy from the angle on the 4 to NOT get enough on it to draw it out far enough for an "easy" three railer..the shorter you fall the more stroke you need to get around three rials.

I will say that although not ideal...a fun shot to hit IF you fall short and land just right is to put a solid follow stroke on the CB with insided english where the CB hits the side rail then the end rails and comes staight up table for a shot on the 6.....(takes a fairly good stoke)
 
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