It Worked, But What Would You Have Done?

[shinyballs]

I had this setup in league the other night, played the safety and locked the cue up against the 8. What would you have done in this situation, go for the breakout off the 2? I won the game because the other player tried to bank across and double kissed. The cue ended up locked up against the 8 about where the 5 lays. I was thinking he could possibly thin the 8 and leave it in front of my remaining balls, cue ball up table.

CueTable Help

 

[av84fun]

I had this setup in league the other night, played the safety and locked the cue up against the 8. What would you have done in this situation, go for the breakout off the 2? I won the game because the other player tried to bank across and double kissed. The cue ended up locked up against the 8 about where the 5 lays. I was thinking he could possibly thin the 8 and leave it in front of my remaining balls, cue ball up table.

CueTable Help

I don't play much 8 Ball and don't know what your particular rules are but the better move IMHO would have been to just roll up on the 2 which would have left the opponent with little or NO access to the 8.

Assuming he has to hit the 8 and there is a 3 foul rule, you just shoot a second stop shot or roll up so now he HAS to try to clip the 8 or lose which would be a sell out either way.

Forgive me if I don't know your rules but I wouldn't have given him ANY shot on the 8.

Regards,
Jim

 

[Bob Jewett]

... the other player tried to bank across and double kissed. The cue ended up locked up against the 8 about where the 5 lays. ...

Did the cue ball go clear across the table and come back to freeze on the 8 or did neither ball move much on your opponent's shot? If the latter, the shot was almost surely a foul.

 

[Nick B]

Clip the 5 and slide down rail. Now the 5 & 8 are separated and lined up. Assuming he misses 8 you bump and separate 8 from 5. Once you get ball in hand your done. Even if he makes a good hit on 8 you in command.

CueTable Help

 

[PIRANHA]

Right Call

 

[Andrew Manning]

I had this setup in league the other night, played the safety and locked the cue up against the 8. What would you have done in this situation, go for the breakout off the 2? I won the game because the other player tried to bank across and double kissed. The cue ended up locked up against the 8 about where the 5 lays. I was thinking he could possibly thin the 8 and leave it in front of my remaining balls, cue ball up table.

I'd probably go for this instead, separating the balls out and going for the safety behind the two. In situations where the opponent is on the 8, but it's tied up with one of my balls, I always look to break them open and play safe on the same shot. The opponent has virtually no way to win from here without making an extremely difficult kick shot on the 8.

CueTable Help

-Andrew

 

[Double-Dave]

I would play safe off the two, hitting it almost full and with a little draw.
I'd try to leave the two mid-table and the cueball fairly close to the 5.
That way either your opponent breaks out the 5 for you and you'll have postion on the two.
Or if he misses the balls, you have ball in hand on the two in the side and breakout the 5/8 cluster from there,
or if necessary play another safety.

gr. Dave

 

[okinawa77]

Why give your opponent a chance to hit the 8? You play a safety to get BIH. Here is what I would have done:

CueTable Help

 

[klockdoc]

Bob, I think he was running 2 statements together with the shot and the final position of the 8. Two separate occurances. He won after the guy missed the bank and the cue landed there after his safe shot.

Personally, I like the play you left. There is nothing more frustrating, IMO, than being left frozen to a ball that you cannot cut/fuzz/bank or do anything with. In your case, whereas the cue was frozen to the outside of the ball, the only options you gave him was to TRY to fuzz it and leave you down table. You still have balls in front the pocket for your return shot.

At the angle he had going into the eight, he didn't have many options.

Hooking behind the 2 leaves your opponent a chance to kick at the eight. With a shallow angle going down and back, he is almost assured of a good hit and possibly blocking the pocket.

The only other option I see is Nick B suggestion with hooking him behind the 5 and the following up with his suggestion afterwards.

 

[thyme3421]

I haven't read the other replies yet... but this is what I would do. take BIH, and then play safe on the 5 until my opponant gets frustrated/tired of safeties, in turn breaking out the 5/8... and then, I win.

CueTable Help

 

[Russ Chewning]

I think any shot that does not allow a straight on hit of the 8 wins.

Being afraid of how your opponent ends up after he kicks the 8 is, as Freddie puts it, "Seeing Monsters in Your Cornflakes".

Play safe on the 2 and make sure he can't see the 8, and make sure you leave the 2 reasonably near a pocket, and it's nearly impossible to lose.

Solids should win here about 95% of the time. The other 5%, you played a so-so safety, and stripes made a circus kick and got lucky with the leave.

Russ

 

[Billy_Bob]

I always say if I am not 100% sure I can make a shot, then best to play a safety if it is possible and easy. And I say the first to break up a cluster like this loses!

So good playing!

So far as what I would have done, if playing for "fun" and I didn't care if I won or not, I would have gone for a breakout. If playing in a tournament situation, then safety.

 

[Jude Rosenstock]

Bob, I think he was running 2 statements together with the shot and the final position of the 8. Two separate occurances. He won after the guy missed the bank and the cue landed there after his safe shot.

Personally, I like the play you left. There is nothing more frustrating, IMO, than being left frozen to a ball that you cannot cut/fuzz/bank or do anything with. In your case, whereas the cue was frozen to the outside of the ball, the only options you gave him was to TRY to fuzz it and leave you down table. You still have balls in front the pocket for your return shot.

At the angle he had going into the eight, he didn't have many options.

Hooking behind the 2 leaves your opponent a chance to kick at the eight. With a shallow angle going down and back, he is almost assured of a good hit and possibly blocking the pocket.

The only other option I see is Nick B suggestion with hooking him behind the 5 and the following up with his suggestion afterwards.

I was about to say the same thing! Seriously, this is a perfectly fine play. In fact, I like it more than the suggested alternatives. The only thing I probably do different is placement of the 5-ball. I'd probably try to leave it near the upper-left pocket if I can afford to. The fact is, if he's frozen to that 8-ball, he has ZERO options AND you've broken up the only thing preventing you from winning on your next opportunity.

Nice shot and nice thinking.