Sorry, typo on my part. Looks like you're correct, Sean. I must have been thinking foot rail, but typed head rail.
Let's see your super shots
- Thread starter mullyman
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Sorry, typo on my part. Looks like you're correct, Sean. I must have been thinking foot rail, but typed head rail.
Off the point... nothing but net!
Game is 8-ball, end of league season, last match of the night, winner of this rack determines who the first place team is (with a big difference in prize money between first & second place). I had just broke and ran out the solids, and after pocketing my last solid and getting position on the 8-ball into the side pocket, the cue ball slightly bumped the 8 ball into rail as shown, basically locking it out of any direct shot into any pocket.
I love to play the points of pockets; I don't know why. Point shots fascinate me, and have done so ever since my earliest pool-playing days. Anyway, my whole team gasps with horror when this happened to the 8-ball. I didn't even flinch -- I called the 8-ball into the top-left corner pocket, and played the cue ball off the side pocket point:
There was silence for about five solid seconds -- you could hear a pin drop! Then the celebration began when it sunk in what had just happened.
I have a few more point shots like this that I'd done, but not with as lucid details as this one, for obvious reasons (the "chips are down" reasons).
I did do a nice off-the-point, into the stack, pocketing a combo-carom shot in a game of One Pocket recently that I'll see if I can draw-up and post.
-Sean
Game is 8-ball, end of league season, last match of the night, winner of this rack determines who the first place team is (with a big difference in prize money between first & second place). I had just broke and ran out the solids, and after pocketing my last solid and getting position on the 8-ball into the side pocket, the cue ball slightly bumped the 8 ball into rail as shown, basically locking it out of any direct shot into any pocket.
I love to play the points of pockets; I don't know why. Point shots fascinate me, and have done so ever since my earliest pool-playing days. Anyway, my whole team gasps with horror when this happened to the 8-ball. I didn't even flinch -- I called the 8-ball into the top-left corner pocket, and played the cue ball off the side pocket point:
There was silence for about five solid seconds -- you could hear a pin drop! Then the celebration began when it sunk in what had just happened.
I have a few more point shots like this that I'd done, but not with as lucid details as this one, for obvious reasons (the "chips are down" reasons).
I did do a nice off-the-point, into the stack, pocketing a combo-carom shot in a game of One Pocket recently that I'll see if I can draw-up and post.
-Sean
Damn Sean, that's a gutsy shot into the point like that. I'm impressed.
Here ya go:
Best Shot I've Ever Made. This was actually a shot on a 1 ball and there was no pocket for it. It was the very first shot in a gambling match and I went for it thinking if I jump this 1 ball over this ball and get shape, this guy will never even get out the gate. I hit it just like I wanted and even spun off the rail for perfect shape. When I looked over expecting to see a deer-in-the-headlights expression, he was talking to someone and didn't even see the shot.
AHHHHHH, I GET IT NOW! Nice work! 
8-Ball
I had solids and failed to get shape on the last ball.
Nothing fancy here. I couldn't draw or follow three rails because of the 14 ball.
I had solids and failed to get shape on the last ball.
Nothing fancy here. I couldn't draw or follow three rails because of the 14 ball.
> In this first shot,my opponent miscues unexpectedly,and not only misses but ties the 8 up playing last pocket 8-ball for cash. The 8 is almost wired but not frozen. I call the kick to the corner,expecting to just lag the 8 towards the pocket where the cue ball is,and called it clean. I split the pocket.
On this one,my opponent misses a one-rail kick at the 8 after a position error. This is the finals of a one-rack bar tournament,but I have to win 2 games,double elim. My opponent asks to play for all of it,making it 130 with the small added money. I get out.
Here,I'm playing for a little cheese with a guy that approached me as if he thought he was robbing me. My idea on this shot was to shoot at it as if I'm cutting it in to the right corner,but not make it,and using the extreme inside spin to just get down close to the 9 and leave him tough. I wound up with this instead. He paid me off and QUIT. Tommy D.
On this one,my opponent misses a one-rail kick at the 8 after a position error. This is the finals of a one-rack bar tournament,but I have to win 2 games,double elim. My opponent asks to play for all of it,making it 130 with the small added money. I get out.
Here,I'm playing for a little cheese with a guy that approached me as if he thought he was robbing me. My idea on this shot was to shoot at it as if I'm cutting it in to the right corner,but not make it,and using the extreme inside spin to just get down close to the 9 and leave him tough. I wound up with this instead. He paid me off and QUIT. Tommy D.
This was for the team championship at the McDermott Team open in Las Vegas, early 1990's. We needed this game to win. I bumped a ball and ended up with this shot on the one ball. Shape on the 8 didn't seem possible and there was no bank.
I knew the shot and had done it before, but not with this much on the line. I elevated and hit this shot with as much left as I could get. It was rail first low left. The one ball went into the corner and I got perfect shape. The room went nuts and we came back with a huge win.
I knew the shot and had done it before, but not with this much on the line. I elevated and hit this shot with as much left as I could get. It was rail first low left. The one ball went into the corner and I got perfect shape. The room went nuts and we came back with a huge win.
I was gambling with Flyboy on a bar table with a big ball in the 1970's. We were playing 9 ball. The old big heavy cue ball would scratch in the corner or the side cutting the 7, but the cross bank was available, Unfortunately, there would be a kiss unless I could bend the cue ball. So I loaded up with inside draw. The draw bent the cue ball and the right english carried it three rails.
Somehow I pulled this shot off, and Flyboy unscrewed. It was a monster shot - in fact, the people who saw it called it "the Godzilla shot". I tried this shot later when some railbirds asked me how I did it, but I've never been able to duplicate it.
Somehow I pulled this shot off, and Flyboy unscrewed. It was a monster shot - in fact, the people who saw it called it "the Godzilla shot". I tried this shot later when some railbirds asked me how I did it, but I've never been able to duplicate it.
This was a position shot. Forgive me because I honestly have no idea how the other balls were laid out buy the only chance I had was to sneak into that window between the 4-5. I loaded it up with inside and the cue ball went 3 rails and stopped exactly where I needed it to. Of course I played it off like I could do that anytime I wanted to but I know I got extremely fortunate. Seriously, one inch to either side and I wouldn't have had a shot on the 3. You know, I may have even lost that game, I don't remember. All I remember is I put that cue ball there like it was on a string.
MULLY
MULLY
Another "off the point, nothing but net!" shot
Thanks 9BallMarksman! That was it -- the chips were down, and I *had* to do something. Needless to say, I was steaming inside that I hit my last solid ball a wee bit too hard, to have the cue bump into the 8-ball like that, sending it butting up against the cushion near the side pocket like that. At that point, there was no safety (other than the "white flag" technique of intentionally scratching by shooting into one of your opponent's balls to push it into another one, thereby tying it up). I wasn't going to do that. I don't know, it just seemed obvious to me to use the point shot, because it's one of those bizarre shots I like to practice when I'm bored. Boy, did the fruits of that boredom come in handy that night!
Here's another point shot -- this being the One Pocket combo-carom shot mentioned in my previous post that I made the other night. In alternate break format, my opponent breaks, and leaves me with this (his pocket is upper left, my pocket is lower left). Normally, in a One Pocket break, you strive to freeze the cue ball against the long cushion on your opponents side of the table. But the cue ball bounced off the rail, and left me with some space to have some good cueing action. Being a straight pool player, I immediately saw the combo-carom (straight pool teaches you to see these things in the stack). But how do I get on the other side of the stack to hit it? The side pocket point! I often practice shooting the cue ball from this position, and trying to make it scratch into the corner pocket underneath me. This shot was really no different. Just a center ball hit, aiming just a smidgeon to the left of the pocket point (I'm talking a HAIR), and that cue ball rocketed back into the stack at the point shown, hitting that combo dead in the face, and the 4-ball at the far end of the combo caroming off that 5-ball into my pocket. The resulting chaos from hitting that combo spread that stack nicely towards my pocket, keeping the cue ball on my opponent pocket's side, and I just had a turkey shoot of 7 more balls into my pocket for the 8-and-out.
Some consider point shots to be odd avant garde type shots, but they're amazingly useful when you have them in your shot kit. Your opponents never see 'em, and never consider 'em when they safe you. You pull one of these out on said opponent, and it really wipes them out, confidence-wise.
If I think of more, I'll post 'em.
-Sean
Thanks 9BallMarksman! That was it -- the chips were down, and I *had* to do something. Needless to say, I was steaming inside that I hit my last solid ball a wee bit too hard, to have the cue bump into the 8-ball like that, sending it butting up against the cushion near the side pocket like that. At that point, there was no safety (other than the "white flag" technique of intentionally scratching by shooting into one of your opponent's balls to push it into another one, thereby tying it up). I wasn't going to do that. I don't know, it just seemed obvious to me to use the point shot, because it's one of those bizarre shots I like to practice when I'm bored. Boy, did the fruits of that boredom come in handy that night!
Here's another point shot -- this being the One Pocket combo-carom shot mentioned in my previous post that I made the other night. In alternate break format, my opponent breaks, and leaves me with this (his pocket is upper left, my pocket is lower left). Normally, in a One Pocket break, you strive to freeze the cue ball against the long cushion on your opponents side of the table. But the cue ball bounced off the rail, and left me with some space to have some good cueing action. Being a straight pool player, I immediately saw the combo-carom (straight pool teaches you to see these things in the stack). But how do I get on the other side of the stack to hit it? The side pocket point! I often practice shooting the cue ball from this position, and trying to make it scratch into the corner pocket underneath me. This shot was really no different. Just a center ball hit, aiming just a smidgeon to the left of the pocket point (I'm talking a HAIR), and that cue ball rocketed back into the stack at the point shown, hitting that combo dead in the face, and the 4-ball at the far end of the combo caroming off that 5-ball into my pocket. The resulting chaos from hitting that combo spread that stack nicely towards my pocket, keeping the cue ball on my opponent pocket's side, and I just had a turkey shoot of 7 more balls into my pocket for the 8-and-out.
Some consider point shots to be odd avant garde type shots, but they're amazingly useful when you have them in your shot kit. Your opponents never see 'em, and never consider 'em when they safe you. You pull one of these out on said opponent, and it really wipes them out, confidence-wise.
If I think of more, I'll post 'em.
-Sean
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That's so cool! i'm not sure if i'd unscrew or keep going to try to see what else you'd do