If you had to play a game of 9 ball for your life...
- Thread starter fan-tum
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fan-tum said:
I would run out, son.
fan-tum said:
Nope. Nearly all safeties are subject to getting turned around on you.
Who am I playing? It might not make a difference if I play a safety.fan-tum said:
It's a percentage game. You play the highest odds of winning based on your skill level and your opponent's skill level. Sometimes you run out. Sometimes you lock up.
And if you can't run 3 balls for your life, well, your safety game probably sucks as well. Either way, you are TOAST.
-td
This is a very interesting question.
I don"t know if this helps in your question but i have a rule that i stick to and it works for me. If the shot and the safety are of equal difficulty.... I always shoot the shot over the safety.
not life but close
I never played for my life but I once played a single game of bar table eight ball for pretty much everything I had accumulated in life to that point. It was a very tidy sum even in that day's dollars. easily six figures in today's dollars. I did know the other player and his game well since we played almost every night.
I won the lag and figured I was halfway home. I broke soft breaking out a few balls but leaving some nasty clusters. I waited to see if he would sacrifice a shot to break up the main cluster or find a ball to pocket while strongly attacking the pack. When he didn't I knew I was 90% of the way home because I knew I had better cue ball control than he did.
Just for your information, that bar table eight ball game took at least twenty to thirty minutes to play, seemed like forever. Neither of us were inclined to stick our neck out very far and risk everything on one inning. However playing in a tournament the other player is usually much more willing to gamble losing a game so too conservative of play on your part will usually cause the other player to break open the game. Giving him safety after safety to look at the odds are pretty good that when he does go offensive he will make it work.
Having said that, most people banger to pro go offensive when they should be playing a safety far more often than they play a safety when they should be playing an offensive shot. It is the innate nature of a competitor to want to have their destiny in their own hands not the other person's. Very hard to play a safety when you know if the other person makes a ball the rest of the out is laying there.
Hu
fan-tum said:
I never played for my life but I once played a single game of bar table eight ball for pretty much everything I had accumulated in life to that point. It was a very tidy sum even in that day's dollars. easily six figures in today's dollars. I did know the other player and his game well since we played almost every night.
I won the lag and figured I was halfway home. I broke soft breaking out a few balls but leaving some nasty clusters. I waited to see if he would sacrifice a shot to break up the main cluster or find a ball to pocket while strongly attacking the pack. When he didn't I knew I was 90% of the way home because I knew I had better cue ball control than he did.
Just for your information, that bar table eight ball game took at least twenty to thirty minutes to play, seemed like forever. Neither of us were inclined to stick our neck out very far and risk everything on one inning. However playing in a tournament the other player is usually much more willing to gamble losing a game so too conservative of play on your part will usually cause the other player to break open the game. Giving him safety after safety to look at the odds are pretty good that when he does go offensive he will make it work.
Having said that, most people banger to pro go offensive when they should be playing a safety far more often than they play a safety when they should be playing an offensive shot. It is the innate nature of a competitor to want to have their destiny in their own hands not the other person's. Very hard to play a safety when you know if the other person makes a ball the rest of the out is laying there.
Hu
bullshooter69 said:
Can't argue with that. I like to think of myself as a percentage player. I don't mind playing safeties at all. When I first started playing pool Gary Spaeth told me, and I'll never forget this, playing a good safety is just as demanding as making a hard shot. So yeah, it takes skill to make good shots and positions but it also takes skill to play good safes. Any up and coming players would benefit from working on playing safeties. But, as bullshooter said above, if they're equal you might as well go for it.
MULLY
i'd probably dog my brains out! but if i'm going down i'm going down swinging. i'd shoot at everything i figured i was 70% to make
fan-tum said:
So if your life was on the line you would turn the table and your life over to your opponent and what , hope he doesn't kill you with it ?
Interesting.
If I play weaker opponents who are still capable of finishing a nicely spread rack, I'm going to play safeties and two way shots a lot if things don't roll my way or if my position play sucks that night. In a 50:50 situation I'll go for offense, but try to make it a two way shot if possible.
Same if the guys are just slightly above my speed.
If I play way better guys than me, then a simple safety might not be good enough. I'll be more agressive because guys that are better play better safeties than me and kick real well too. Playing these runout machines is a great learning experience. On a pushout shot you need to be especially careful. Pushing out to anything other than a jump or kick usually results in a lost rack.
Same if the guys are just slightly above my speed.
If I play way better guys than me, then a simple safety might not be good enough. I'll be more agressive because guys that are better play better safeties than me and kick real well too. Playing these runout machines is a great learning experience. On a pushout shot you need to be especially careful. Pushing out to anything other than a jump or kick usually results in a lost rack.
My theory has always been to play MY GAME.....shot choice depends nothing on the other guy....even if it's Efren. I have to pick the shot that will give me the biggest chance to win with the skills I HAVE. IMO if you start choosing shots based on the other guys skills you are already playing out of your own control.
also, the jump cue has dramatically changed the safety game. Being able to pull out the crutch and jump a full ball 1/2" away changes EVERYTHING. Can you tell I"m not a big fan of jumping?....with the full cue...no problem, thats difficult!
bring on 10ball with no crutches!
also, the jump cue has dramatically changed the safety game. Being able to pull out the crutch and jump a full ball 1/2" away changes EVERYTHING. Can you tell I"m not a big fan of jumping?....with the full cue...no problem, thats difficult!
bring on 10ball with no crutches!
do you really?
Gerry,
Do you really totally ignore the other player? Just as one example, what is a safety is very dependent on the other player. If he has a jump cue and knows how to use it is just one example. How do they kick and bank? My idea of what a safety is changes radically depending on who I am playing. What is a safety for a "C" or "B" nine ball player is a duck he has shot hundreds of times for a top one pocket player.
I play mostly my game but it is tempered a bit by the other player. If they make it obvious they have no faith in their ability to make a shot they will see a lot of that type for example.
Hu
Gerry,
Do you really totally ignore the other player? Just as one example, what is a safety is very dependent on the other player. If he has a jump cue and knows how to use it is just one example. How do they kick and bank? My idea of what a safety is changes radically depending on who I am playing. What is a safety for a "C" or "B" nine ball player is a duck he has shot hundreds of times for a top one pocket player.
I play mostly my game but it is tempered a bit by the other player. If they make it obvious they have no faith in their ability to make a shot they will see a lot of that type for example.
Hu
Gerry said:My theory has always been to play MY GAME.....shot choice depends nothing on the other guy....even if it's Efren. I have to pick the shot that will give me the biggest chance to win with the skills I HAVE. IMO if you start choosing shots based on the other guys skills you are already playing out of your own control.
also, the jump cue has dramatically changed the safety game. Being able to pull out the crutch and jump a full ball 1/2" away changes EVERYTHING. Can you tell I"m not a big fan of jumping?....with the full cue...no problem, thats difficult!
bring on 10ball with no crutches!
If I had to play 9-ball for my life... I would put a pistol barrel in my mouth.. and flip a coin and pull the trigger if it came up heads..
most people in most games break 50/50
if you want to play pool...
why are you playing 9-ball?
if you want to gamble at 9-ball.. why don't you just save time and flip a coin
most people in most games break 50/50
if you want to play pool...
why are you playing 9-ball?
if you want to gamble at 9-ball.. why don't you just save time and flip a coin