Is there a way to adjust straight pool for beginners?

pmata814

pmata814

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My brothers and I play a lot of 8 ball; however, I've read that for beginners it's better to play straight pool to help them improve. The problem is we're not good enough to leave a key ball and break a rack while sinking the shot. Not to mention that playing with those clusters of balls left on a soft break would be very frustrating.

We are definitely beginners. We average about 3 ball runs. When I play equal offense by myself my highest run has been 8 balls. Any suggestions? How many points should we play to? And what would be a good solution for the re-rack/break problem?

Thanks in advance.
 
Welcome to the straight-pool world :)
Equal Offense is a good beginning! Try to get *Mastering Pool* from George Fels and *Play your best Straight-Pool* by Phil Capelle - Those 2 books are a *must have* and *must read*.
Further get Videos/DVD s from Grady Matthews "14.1 Straight Pool/Break-Shots and Key-Balls* and for sure get *How to run a Rack* by Jim Rempe.

These 2 books and the 2 DVD s you will love. Nothin boring inside and explained with ton s of knowledge.

And further of course.....watch every straightpool game you could get. There are dozens of good matches from professionals.

I hope you and your brothers enthusiasm will increase with those recommended things.

lg from overseas,

Ingo
 
I definitely recommend the play your best straight pool book, but if you are just starting out with pool it may be a bit more knowledge than you are ready for at the moment.

the best would be to find a straight pool league, even better if aimed at beginners. where are you located at? MNSPA runs a league for beginners and most players have benefited or graduated to other divisions. maybe check at 14and1.com also

a good thing to practice is to set up a break ball, then a key ball and a third ball. They can make a triangle sort of thing. Work on good position play to run up to the break ball. Then add another ball and keep going. if your average run is 3, this could help improve that.

playing scotch double 14.1 is another good way to practice, as times you may concentrate leaving a better position for your partner. i'm not sure altering the rules would be a good idea, as you want to get into the habit of playing straight pool, and positioning the break balls is a HUGE part of the game.

Maybe focus some of the playing time with practice with your brothers, then move into shorter straight pool games (50 pointers).

as far as the soft break thing, (i.e. getting stuck in the rack) that's part of the game as well. usually you don't want to blast it open if there isn't a shot and defensive play is key. if you change the rules to always have an open break, then you are pretty much playing equal offense and not 14.1. getting used to manouvering the cue ball in those close stacks will get you good at safeties. hopefully challenging defense isn't getting boring

good luck and welcome to the wonderful frustrating world of straight pool :D

-Matt
 
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pmata814 said:
My brothers and I play a lot of 8 ball; however, I've read that for beginners it's better to play straight pool to help them improve.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

get john schmidt's 14.1 videos and rempe's videos too. they're terrific. mike segal is another 14.1 master who has an instructional video floating around.

but playing with players with even skills won't keep you sitting for long. just keep working and discuss strategy with your buds as you play. then watch the vids together.
 
what if you used a smaller about of balls, say 10 balls i the rack? that way there's a lot less clusters and its easier to work through a rack and get the general feel for things.
 
Njhustler1 said:
what if you used a smaller about of balls, say 10 balls i the rack? that way there's a lot less clusters and its easier to work through a rack and get the general feel for things.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that is the way to go. Blackjack offered such drill with only 10 balls racked (and break balls with key balls ready in place). You can watch a video of me practising it in a thread "My struggle begins".
 
i wouldnt change it! I think if you want to learn something you have to jump rght into it, but thats just me. When i started playing 14.1 i really didnt care much for it....now i love it.
 
Don't change the game, work on your skills.

Take a lesson or two or get some instructional videos and work on your cue ball control skills. Some of the straight pool videos suggested by others will help you learn patterns.

Don't make the game easier to match your skills. Improve your skills to match the game.

IMHO, straight pool is the best game of all and playing better straight pool will improve your play with all other games. You don't have to be a 100 ball runner to enjoy the game and that is coming from someone who will probably never run 100 balls.
 
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