Lone ball up table - a lesson learned

Steve Lipsky

Steve Lipsky

On quest for perfect 14.1
Silver Member
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v16449478ae36wpQC

Here is video of a rack I run during one of my recent games. After the secondary break shot which leads off the tape, the 1 ball travels just slightly up table. I have a little angle on it, and opt to save it for later. My thinking was that it's not too far uptable and could even be used in some key ball combinations. I also immediately saw a nice pattern to start solving the rest of the rack, and pretty quickly decide to forgo this ball. It is a mistake.

With around 4 or 5 balls left on the table, you see the difficult position the presence of this ball creates for me. It doesn't work well in any of the more familiar end patterns that these last balls would provide. And even more importantly, look how it makes me miss position on the 3 from the 8 (when we are down to 5 balls on the table). The 1 is basically right in the way of where I would ideally want to bridge for the 3. So... in an effort to avoid having an awkward shot on the 3, I miss position entirely on it and things begin to get silly quickly.

Now... I am not putting this up to debate my pattern before these last balls - pattern analysis is important and it has its place, but the purpose of this thread is to demonstrate two things:

1) Get rid of these pointless balls as soon as you can, especially if the opportunity lands in your lap like it did mine right at the start.

2) Video can really help you learn from your own mistakes - it's been invaluable for me so far.

Straight pool is such a funny game... of course I know the general rule to remove lone balls way uptable as soon as possible, but in viewing this video, I've learned that balls just past mid-table fit into the same category. I will try not to make this mistake again.

- Steve
 
Thank you for sharing this thought Steve, I too have found myself in this position many times where I too assumed it would not be a difficult ball and the easier path appeared to be to leave it, only to have it come back and bite me as well. I am working on trying NOT to do this but still tend to leave it to take an easy path way to often, working on it though.

Kev
 
Thanks for the two small videos you just put up!

I agree 100 % with what you said about how valuable it is to learn from taping yourself. I have been taping myself now and then for 6 months, and I still see things I need to improve, bad habits I have to get rid off etc.

6 months ago I made runs of 20 "all the time". After I started to join this subforum more + take time to study runs of the best players + tape ad do notes of my own runs, I have doubled the runs, and now I run 40s for almost every hour I am playing straight pool.

So, for all of you who haven't started taping - go ahead, start now, you won't regret!

I also like to watch 14-1 runs of players that are not pros, so keep uploading them. I actually learn as much of watching amateurs play, and try to figure out what they should have done, instead of watching the pros.
 
This goes back to what Danny Harriman and I refer to as "Half Table Patterns". Every so often I may choose to leave a ball down-table if I believe it will serve a purpose. More times than not, I will get in a situation as you did in this rack. Like you, I would rather not have to burn up that much mental energy. I'd rather get rid of those balls early (the 1 was available to you immediately after the secondary break shot - you did look at it, but the 7/9 blocking the pocket grabbed your attention). Once those balls are gone, I don't have to worry about having to go back downtable to pick off the stragglers. That's less cue ball movement, less to think about, and it conserves my energy and concentration.

I watched your secondary break shot a few times. You contacted that 13 on the top-side. Not sure if that was what you were going for or not. You stroked the shot kind of quick with your elbow, which resulted in the cue ball hitting high on the 13, going into the 1 full (also watch your bridge arm tense up - I miss a lot of break balls doing that - so I have had to work real hard on not flinching like you did on that shot - that's not a criticism, just food for thought and passing on something that has helped me improve tremendously - I had a spell where I was missing a lot of break balls - that very obvious flaw in my mechanics was the culprit).

Lately I've also been working on keeping everything above the side pockets, getting rid of everything downtable as soon as possible and primarily working with half of the table. I have a tendency to leave those balls downtable and I forget about them until I find myself with that same look on my face that you had when you got to the 8 ball. lol - I work on this by placing 2 spare shafts across the table (just below the side pockets) - if the cue ball contacts those shafts, it counts as a scratch - if a ball contacts the shafts, I spot them. It really helps me out with my cue ball control and tight position.

Good recovery. I love the videos you have done so far! Keep it up!
:thumbup:
 
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thanks for the vid. I had a similar situation last night, and completely overlooked it.

I suppose I should start taping my own practice as well.
 
Blackjack said:
I watched your secondary break shot a few times. You contacted that 13 on the top-side. Not sure if that was what you were going for or not. You stroked the shot kind of quick with your elbow, which resulted in the cue ball hitting high on the 13, going into the 1 full (also watch your bridge arm tense up - I miss a lot of break balls doing that - so I have had to work real hard on not flinching like you did on that shot - that's not a criticism, just food for thought and passing on something that has helped me improve tremendously - I had a spell where I was missing a lot of break balls - that very obvious flaw in my mechanics was the culprit).
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Thanks David. The elbow thing is something I do on certain shots, and you're right, I have to pay more attention to it and keep it to a minimum. It serves no purpose and is therefore at best extraneous and at worst problematic. Thanks for noticing it and reminding me to keep it in check.

As to the rest of this paragraph, maybe I'm misunderstanding... It sounds like you're implying I didn't go into the balls the way I wanted, or the way I should have, but the results would suggest a very effective secondary break, would it not?

Thanks again... I really appreciate the input, as always!

- Steve
 
Steve Lipsky said:
Thanks David. The elbow thing is something I do on certain shots, and you're right, I have to pay more attention to it and keep it to a minimum. It serves no purpose and is therefore at best extraneous and at worst problematic. Thanks for noticing it and reminding me to keep it in check.

As to the rest of this paragraph, maybe I'm misunderstanding... It sounds like you're implying I didn't go into the balls the way I wanted, or the way I should have, but the results would suggest a very effective secondary break, would it not?

Thanks again... I really appreciate the input, as always!

- Steve
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Not implying that at all, you got a great result and an excellent clearance - it just looked like you didn't stroke the shot as well as you wanted to (which is why I double checked your mechanics to see anything that was wrong) - it worked well for you. I just went back to see HOW the one ball got down table, and I saw that it was because you grazed the top of the 13. I'm a believer that there is always room for improvement, if you thought I was being picky or criticizing you, I apologize.

You have to realize, I'm just a hard ass - it's how I was brought up in this game- later today I'll send you some of the evaluations that I have done on myself and how I pick at everything - as hard as I am on myself, its a wonder I haven't slashed my wrists yet. lol
 
I like your style a lot. I notice your tip comes straight to the cloth as you come through the ball. Of course, I know this should happen naturally; however, I see your angle-of-attack into the cloth is a little steeper. Can you comment?

Hopkins always told me to hit down on the CB slightly on every shot to control the rock; I wonder if that's why you do it.
 
Not sure when I started doing it, but I did notice it a few years ago. If it's good enough for Mr. Hopkins, it's good enough for me! ;)

- Steve
 
many thanks for a lesson Steve!

(btw as soon as you managed to videotape yourself at last I learnt you are a leftie. Funny enough, Roy Steffensen and myself also are :) Is that a tendency)
 
Vahmurka said:
many thanks for a lesson Steve!

(btw as soon as you managed to videotape yourself at last I learnt you are a leftie. Funny enough, Roy Steffensen and myself also are :) Is that a tendency)
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The best individuals are normally lefties ;)

Diego Maradona, Mike Sigel, Thomas Engert, Charlie Chaplin, Tom Cruise, Bruce Willis and the list goes on and on :D

I am however only shooting pool left-handed. I am writing with my right hand, and when using the mechanical bridge I am playing with my right hand. (So more often than not I just switch hand instead of using the mechanical bridge.)

I only know of three players in the world that change hand when using the mechanical bridge, and that is Mike Sigel, Roberto Gomez and me.
 
Roy Steffensen said:
I only know of three players in the world that change hand when using the mechanical bridge, and that is Mike Sigel, Roberto Gomez and me.
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add another from snooker. I can't tell 100% sure now, but it could be Hamilton. Only one thing I'm sure of is that such a pro exists :)
 
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