I really love 14.1, but...

V

veilside81

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
To you experts... Lately I've enjoyed every day more playing 14.1 either alone or with an opponent, but since everybody is saying that playing 14.1 will get you a stronger 9-baller here's a couple of questions/doubts that regards me...

1. While I'm getting better at 14.1 I tend to shoot more often easy shots with not much speed at it.

2. While I'm playing 14.1 it will happen less often than in 9-ball to have to shoot long distance shots.

Well this points to me are leading to:

1. I'm not used to make those " a little harder shots than normal" as I was when playing full time 9-ball.
I'm not letting travel the cueball like I did in 9-ball for long ditances like a 2-rail exit after pocketing a ball thus I'm not that used anymore to manage that kind of speed.

2. This leads to some hesitation when in need to play a long distance shot that I'm not so used to shot anymore..

What do you think about this?
Thanks

Giovanni
ITALY
 
I agree that learning to play 14.1 will improve a players skill level across all games, but only to a certain extent IMO. I can see how the game will increase efficiency in banking, combination, position play, carom shots, pattern play, and overall consistancy. But I agree with you that in the long shot catagory that often comes up in 9 ball it won't help that much, really having to attack a shot from long distances is a practice regiment all in itself.
 
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veilside81 said:
To you experts... Lately I've enjoyed every day more playing 14.1 either alone or with an opponent, but since everybody is saying that playing 14.1 will get you a stronger 9-baller here's a couple of questions/doubts that regards me...

1. While I'm getting better at 14.1 I tend to shoot more often easy shots with not much speed at it.

2. While I'm playing 14.1 it will happen less often than in 9-ball to have to shoot long distance shots.

Well this points to me are leading to:

1. I'm not used to make those " a little harder shots than normal" as I was when playing full time 9-ball.
I'm not letting travel the cueball like I did in 9-ball for long ditances like a 2-rail exit after pocketing a ball thus I'm not that used anymore to manage that kind of speed.

2. This leads to some hesitation when in need to play a long distance shot that I'm not so used to shot anymore..

What do you think about this?
Thanks

Giovanni
ITALY
Click to expand...

Very true. But?
How many balls are you running? You won't play nearly as many long shots, but you have the pressure of making those you do have to keep a good run going. I try not to duck shots that are on the right angle just because of distance and go ahead and fire at them in straight pool just like it was nine ball. Especially break out shots during the rack when you're just practicing. Don't hesitate when you know it's the right shot, just fire at them. The more you play and the more you run the more you'll get used to it. You will likely miss some of them. So what, just start over and run through all those easy balls till you get another tough one and fire that one in.

Playing on really tight tables helps too, because all the shots and position plays are so much tougher that the distance is less intimidating than poor angles.

unknownpro
 
I think people use the old line about "playing 14.1 will improve your pool skill overall, including your other games" to encourage people to play it.
It happens to be true, but it's much truer for some games than for others. The skills of 14.1 don't translate as well to 9b and rotation as they do to 8b and maybe 1p, though 1p is a whole different animal.

One thing about huge 14.1 runs, they almost all involve some long shots, or a bank, or a thin cut, or a 3+ rail position shot at some point. Every time you break the rack, you can end up in a nasty position where you have to do some spectacular shotmaking, and that's definitely related to 9 ball. Check out the opening shot for the racker in a lot of straight pool matches, it's often a 7+ foot cut with the cue ball frozen on the rail.

But overall you're right, it doesn't play the same way.

I think your best reason for playing 14.1 (or any game) is because you enjoy it, not because you feel obligated to use it to train your 9b skills.
In other words, if you're not having fun with it, forget about using it as a 9b practice drill. There are better ways to train 9 ball like the mississippi 9 ball drill or bert kinister's various drills like the rectangle of pain (lol) --> http://home.insightbb.com/~nenenews/kinister/bert_kinister_pool_videos.html
 
Good point...

I'm an old schooler like some here and think that 14.1 is the king of all pool games. I highly recommend that you get proficient at it. It will improve every facet of your game.

However you make a good point about playing straight pool a lot...taking many easy shots...plink plink plink...one after the other...every now and then a tough shot...and lots of safeties...then if you make a quick switch to 9-ball then some of those tough shots that are routine in 9-ball now look tougher than usual.

My advice is to keep playing straight pool. And if you happen to have a major...and I mean major...9-ball event coming up then put the straights away for a while and play 9-ball until the event to work yourself into 9-ball shape...

But by all means go back to the straight pool table...peace

Mike
 
The more straight pool you play, the more you won't feel so tentative on the shots that seem like hangers playing 9-ball, but testers playing straight pool. As far as not practicing the longer shots in straight pool, yeah, if you play the game right, everything works out for you (after the break, etc), and you execute well, you probably won't have many tough shots at all. That all looks good on paper but, more often than not, if you run a bunch of balls, you'll have a few testers in there that could have ended the run.

When I'm playing a lot (I don't remember when that was anymore), and I'm playing a lot of straight pool, I actually start to become more confident in my shot-making ability because I get accustomed to running a bunch of balls (well, more than 9, anyway) and, after while, I just sort of feel like I'm supposed to make everything I shoot at. Steve Lipsky said something on here before that really hit the nail on the head. I'm going to paraphrase here, but he said that when you run a bunch of balls, as the run continues, it starts to get easier and you start to feel like something is going to have to go wrong for your run to end (and, in my case, something always DOES go wrong! Yeehaaaa!). You get into a definite rhythm that I think is good for all games. For me, when I get up to about 70 balls, I definitely get that feeling. If a tester comes up, I start to feel like making it is a formality (of course, it doesn't always work out that way). So to get back to the point, if I'm playing a lot of straight pool (and I'm playing well), I actually feel more confident in my shot-making ability, in any game, and I think it's because I am used to that rhythm of just popping in ball after ball.

If it really concerns you, just incorporate some 9-ball into your practice time. It doesn't have to be just one or the other. :)
 
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