I found my perfect training game

Sharivari

Sharivari

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
During a training session with one of my students, he was playing against the ghost in 9 Ball. I've noticed, that this wasn't ideal for him. He was constantly racking the balls, then playing one or two shots and got more and more frustrated. I thought that there must be a better way to practice or test your game. So I came up with something I call

Extended Ghost

There is no winning or losing a rack anymore - you will get points. per rack. The more balls you make, the more points you obviously get. One ball equals one point. There are rewards for not taking ball in hand (+1 point), and even for running the whole table (double your points). So you are able to make 100 points in total, when playing five racks.

You are allowed to remove any ball on the table after the break. This means you need to have a healthy self-assessment, know your own capabilities and learn to play the percentages. Which and how many balls you remove can be a very tactical decision. Of course, the don't count as points.

If you can accomplish to run the whole table, you will double your points for this rack. This raises the pressure on the money ball. For example the last shot can decide, whether you're getting 20 points... or just 9 points. So we also have pressure and mental game involved in this game.

There is even a rating table that gives you an A to D rating.

ExtendedGhost.jpg


This is perfect to track your development over time. To see me performing one game, and for more information on the rules, check the video:

 
Interesting! It's like the 'one-pool' tournaments rules, with a few tweaks.
I like the idea of allowing the removal of balls to make it a bit easier for entry level amateurs.

(y)
 
Sharivari said:
During a training session with one of my students, he was playing against the ghost in 9 Ball. I've noticed, that this wasn't ideal for him. He was constantly racking the balls, then playing one or two shots and got more and more frustrated. I thought that there must be a better way to practice or test your game. So I came up with something I call

Extended Ghost

There is no winning or losing a rack anymore - you will get points. per rack. The more balls you make, the more points you obviously get. One ball equals one point. There are rewards for not taking ball in hand (+1 point), and even for running the whole table (double your points). So you are able to make 100 points in total, when playing five racks.

You are allowed to remove any ball on the table after the break. This means you need to have a healthy self-assessment, know your own capabilities and learn to play the percentages. Which and how many balls you remove can be a very tactical decision. Of course, the don't count as points.

If you can accomplish to run the whole table, you will double your points for this rack. This raises the pressure on the money ball. For example the last shot can decide, whether you're getting 20 points... or just 9 points. So we also have pressure and mental game involved in this game.

There is even a rating table that gives you an A to D rating.

This is perfect to track your development over time. To see me performing one game, and for more information on the rules, check the video:
Click to expand...

I love it! I think this is a brilliant training game and I can't wait to get to the table to give it a try.

I'm glad that I watched the video because I had one thing wrong. My impression was that you could remove a ball (singular) from the table after the break, but you did remove two balls from one table, sacrificing up to four potential points. But clearly the priority has to be on getting out to get the x2 multiplier for that rack.
 
DieselPete said:
I love it! I think this is a brilliant training game and I can't wait to get to the table to give it a try.
Click to expand...
I'll definitely give this a go as well.

Now if we could just figure out a way to include safety play into a Ghost challenge, it may just be a decent way to practice actual game play.
 
I don't play rotation ever, but I'll try to give this a go tonight.
 
Sharivari said:
During a training session with one of my students, he was playing against the ghost in 9 Ball. I've noticed, that this wasn't ideal for him. He was constantly racking the balls, then playing one or two shots and got more and more frustrated. I thought that there must be a better way to practice or test your game. So I came up with something I call

Extended Ghost

There is no winning or losing a rack anymore - you will get points. per rack. The more balls you make, the more points you obviously get. One ball equals one point. There are rewards for not taking ball in hand (+1 point), and even for running the whole table (double your points). So you are able to make 100 points in total, when playing five racks.

You are allowed to remove any ball on the table after the break. This means you need to have a healthy self-assessment, know your own capabilities and learn to play the percentages. Which and how many balls you remove can be a very tactical decision. Of course, the don't count as points.

If you can accomplish to run the whole table, you will double your points for this rack. This raises the pressure on the money ball. For example the last shot can decide, whether you're getting 20 points... or just 9 points. So we also have pressure and mental game involved in this game.

There is even a rating table that gives you an A to D rating.

View attachment 597141

This is perfect to track your development over time. To see me performing one game, and for more information on the rules, check the video:
Click to expand...

Good job Sarivari! FYI, I just added a link to your video on the "playing the ghost" rating drills resource page.
 
As well as testing your physical skills, I like the mental decisions to balance when to gamble on a difficult ball and when to take the safe approach by removing difficult balls to ensure you can definitely run the table (for the multiplier). The game seems to encourage the discipline in shot selection of effective players. And to teach how many ('easy') balls you can reliably run.
I like it.

I didn't know Sharivari used this forum, but I've seen your videos on youtube. I like your work!
 
I like this concept, I have been doing something similar (just counting wins/loss and not points). However one variation I do is that I can take ball in hand once per rack at anytime (it doesn't need to be right after the break).

Your scoring system to keep track of improvement works well with that concept.
 
This was a test to see how strong a player was, although I think the original was done with 10 ball, running 10 racks. Or I should say a similar scoring system was used https://billiards.colostate.edu/faq/rating/10-ball/

Break, take ball in hand, do it 10 times total # of balls you made.

For newer players I tell them not to bother practicing with 9 balls, start with 3, creates less confusion about position and balls getting in the way.

Of course very few listen and never get better, just moving balls around randomly without any goals or being able to learn position lanes.

Another nice game for weaker players to see improvement is Bowliards. 10 ball rack but played about like straight pool with ball in hand behind the line after the break, you get a second try at the rack after a miss to get a "spare". It's a bit easier since you can shoot any ball not in rotation and gets you a solid average number of balls made per rack.
 
hang-the-9 said:
For newer players I tell them not to bother practicing with 9 balls, start with 3, creates less confusion about position and balls getting in the way.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Or practice basic eight ball patterns like this:

Toss out the stripes and the eight ball and try to run them out, always trying to plan three shots ahead. If you run out, add a solid as a blocker and do it again. If you run out, try two blocker balls. If you can run through several racks and have three or more blocker balls, you are doing well.

The big thing, like you are suggesting with three balls, is being legitimate in thinking, "I am going 12, 14, 11... now 14, 11, 10... now 11, 10, 9..."

Beginners need a lot more time just pocketing and simpler patterns before we are throwing attempted break and run 9-ball at them.

But for good to great players, I reiterate that I love this drill.
 
The_JV said:
I'll definitely give this a go as well.

Now if we could just figure out a way to include safety play into a Ghost challenge, it may just be a decent way to practice actual game play.
Click to expand...

You can actually adjust the rules that way. Let's say you are in a tough position and prefer a safety shot. Play it successfully, with a full cover: you get 3 extra points. Play a containing safety, and you get 1 extra point. That way you are able to get rewarded for good - and better safety play.
 
Very nice and well-conceived idea.

Another approach is a progression. The late Jimmy Fusco once suggested starting with the five ball ghost playing races to five. Jimmy said if you won five sets in a row, you should advance to playing the six ball ghost, and once you won five sets in a row doing that you should try the seven ball ghost, etc. Similarly, if you lost five in a row, he suggested you should revert to the previous ghost game. You never got out of your element this way and it kept you motivated to reach the next stage.
 
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