intermediate players: who many times can you run 6 balls in rotation ?

judochoke said:
I love this drill, (I guess its a drill). just throw 6 random balls on the table and start with ball in hand, and shoot in rotation. sometime I only get one rack, sometimes two or three.
I think my best in 6 in a row before a mistake In position.

just wondering how my fellow intermediate brothers do in this drill:)
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Pretty much playing the ghost, and a good way to test ability. To be able to run out 6 or so balls most of the time you need to be a B player, to B+.

For D and C players you would do this with 3 balls to learn to play position for more than one ball ahead.

Once someone can run out 5 or more balls often, with proper position, they are no longer a "C" player, C+ and up. Which is why I laugh when I see so called C players pretty much run out racks in handicapped events and I wonder who is the idiot that let them play as a C.
 
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book collector said:
It depends on the intermediates level ,
C level I would guess 4 out of 10 would be about right.
It would be fun to get some real solid data on it though.
The thing I notice with weaker players is not that they can't pocket balls , they just play themselves out of position so far, they have an almost unmakeable shot by about the 4th consecutive ball
i guess thats what makes a D into a C ,
They play position into the larger areas and are coming toward the next ball , not going past the face of it.
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This position play ability is one of the things I look for to see if a player is a D/C or B/A. If a guy runs out a rack and they are out of line half the shots, they may be a C and got lucky, if they run a rack and they are out of line on maybe one shot, at least a B-.

If you run out 6 balls or even 5 but are in position on every shot or close to it, you are not a C player anymore.

C players should not be able to do 6 ball runs 40% of the time, maybe 25%. A C is just a level over a person just past a beginner that can make 1-2 balls (D player), no way can a C, one level over that, do 6. C players are in the 4 ball range, 3/4/5 C- to C+. If we call C players those that can almost run out a 9 ball rack if they make 2 balls on the break, what do we call a B or an A?
 
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hang-the-9 said:
This position play ability is one of the things I look for to see if a player is a D/C or B/A. If a guy runs out a rack and they are out of line half the shots, they may be a C and got lucky, if they run a rack and they are out of line on maybe one shot, at least a B-.

If you run out 6 balls or even 5 but are in position on every shot or close to it, you are not a C player anymore.

C players should not be able to do 6 ball runs 40% of the time, maybe 25%. A C is just a level over a person just past a beginner that can make 1-2 balls (D player), no way can a C, one level over that, do 6. C players are in the 4 ball range, 3/4/5 C- to C+. If we call C players those that can almost run out a 9 ball rack if they make 2 balls on the break, what do we call a B or an A?
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I don't have a scientific method of rating them.
I have seen a couple of charts that attempted to rate players, they seemed to rate them lower than I did also.
The problem is ,they try to squeeze 100 levels of abilty into 6 or 8 brackets. Lets say Orcollo or Shane are the best nine ball players in the world. They would be Super Pro
Then there are 10 guys they can't give anything to or they will be the underdog.
Then there are 50 guys they can give the last 2 but not the 8 , and on and on .
There are guys they can give the 7 ball to, who I would rate middle Pro level.
Then a whole other animal comes into play if gambling , you have to factor in, if the guy can fade a big bet or not.
Many cannot, especially if it is their own money.
Also, Some guys just can't play tournaments.
I think it's the hustler in them saying , "this is bad for business."
The only reason I ever even thought about it was for gambling purposes, there it is not a bad thing, if you tend to overrate the opponent, and underrate yourself , because the reverse is what keeps most gamblers broke.
 
hang-the-9 said:
This position play ability is one of the things I look for to see if a player is a D/C or B/A. If a guy runs out a rack and they are out of line half the shots, they may be a C and got lucky, if they run a rack and they are out of line on maybe one shot, at least a B-.

If you run out 6 balls or even 5 but are in position on every shot or close to it, you are not a C player anymore.

C players should not be able to do 6 ball runs 40% of the time, maybe 25%. A C is just a level over a person just past a beginner that can make 1-2 balls (D player), no way can a C, one level over that, do 6. C players are in the 4 ball range, 3/4/5 C- to C+. If we call C players those that can almost run out a 9 ball rack if they make 2 balls on the break, what do we call a B or an A?
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Well that just makes me an "F" player... Working on "F+" LOL
 
I just started playing again a month and a half ago after a 24 yr lay off.
Right now I can run 6 balls about 50% of the time. Speed is the last thing coming back at this point. So my shape after a while seems to get worse the more balls into the run I get. Not all the time but I would say this is the biggest problem at this moment. Other than missing easy balls where I am concentrating more on the leave than making.
 
book collector said:
I don't have a scientific method of rating them.
I have seen a couple of charts that attempted to rate players, they seemed to rate them lower than I did also.
The problem is ,they try to squeeze 100 levels of abilty into 6 or 8 brackets. Lets say Orcollo or Shane are the best nine ball players in the world. They would be Super Pro
Then there are 10 guys they can't give anything to or they will be the underdog.
Then there are 50 guys they can give the last 2 but not the 8 , and on and on .
There are guys they can give the 7 ball to, who I would rate middle Pro level.
Then a whole other animal comes into play if gambling , you have to factor in, if the guy can fade a big bet or not.
Many cannot, especially if it is their own money.
Also, Some guys just can't play tournaments.
I think it's the hustler in them saying , "this is bad for business."
The only reason I ever even thought about it was for gambling purposes, there it is not a bad thing, if you tend to overrate the opponent, and underrate yourself , because the reverse is what keeps most gamblers broke.
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Doing this type of drill does not take into account an opponent, or even breaking and running out ability, and it is made for lower levels not Pro or even A+ levels. A good player that knows the game can pick up a player's skill level pretty accurately in 3-4 shots, up till they get to the A levels, then it will take a bit of time. If you watch a very good player shoot a rack, you can rank them as a very good player. But you will need to watch a race to 9 to see how good.
 
Been playing again a year and a half or so after a 4 year layoff. 9' gold crown, magic rack, race to 7. The first break left a tricky rack and I blew my shape then proceeded to win the next 7 games. I figured it would be something like that. I'm usually even money against the 9 ball ghost on my table but tried this because it gets me breaking more often and that's the weakest part of my game. I don't think my break was ever very good but it was sure better than the one I have now.
 
It depends as I've been really spotty since coming back. One day I would maul the 9 ball ghost on a 9 foot Diamond with 4.25" pockets and then not run a rack for weeks. I'm on the edge of getting my stroke back, but it's not there yet.

Right now it definitely depends with 6. Tomorrow it could be 10, but it also might be 1
 
I used to have a 7' table and I would throw up 6 balls on the table where they would all go and I would run them out in order. I was about 80-90% to run them out. I would quit after I ran 10 racks in a row.

I could beat the 7 ball ghost quite easily on this table, I was not a favorite on the 9 ball ghost.


I am a B player in tournaments in the area.
 
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