Most racks running balls without touching the rail with CB

Get_A_Grip

Get_A_Grip

Truth Will Set You Free
Silver Member
Just curious what the most consecutive racks anyone has run when doing the drill of spreading the balls out on the table, taking ball in hand -- and running them without letting the cue ball touch a rail.

I just did two racks in a row -- and was really playing great in order to accomplish this. I had great cue ball control and rarely missed position on the ball that I was trying to setup for the next shot.

After finishing the second rack, I thought to myself that as good as I just played those two racks -- I wonder how many people were able to do a lot more racks than two. Has any one run a high number of racks doing this drill?
 
not many. it all depends on the position of the balls. i would bet that if you just threw the balls on the table, left them pretty much where they lie and made sure none were totally tied up or on a rail, i would bet that the odds would be very low to run more than 1.
 
Shortside K said:
get a grip...
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Yeah, I've gotten a grip....and figured that doing more than two would be pretty tough....but since I'm not the greatest player and just did two racks -- I figured that someone out there has had to have done quite a few more...

EDIT: For some perspective -- I have a straight pool tape by Jim Rempe, and I'm pretty sure that he said that an A player should be able to complete a single rack like 50% of the time.
 
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I haven't tried this in a long time. I think the last time, I came up just short to two racks.
 
figure out where your level is,,,take a truly great player,,,and multiply your 2 set by a gadgillion. they will play a table like you've never seen.
 
Neil said:
That's mighty fine shooting! But, I guess it all depends on how the balls are actually sitting. I would assume you have to start with no balls near the rails. I've never tried it.
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Yes, you start by randomly spreading the balls, but with no balls touching, and with no balls too close to the rails.

I know that in the tape with Jim Rempe, he attempts to demonstrate this as practice for straight pool for seeing patterns -- and he said that the first time that he tried it to get it on tape that he didn't do it. But he cleared the rack on his second attempt which was in the video.
 
wow never tried it but i dont think i could do 1 rack on a good night nice shootin
 
It sounds like fun but...

I bet there's no way to do it without having to change your plan a time or three. Also you'd have to move everything off the rails so it's not really random. So the value you get out of it is gonna vary a lot depending on the layout. You might have 15 stop shots one rack and 15 shots that need exactly 4 inches draw here, 1 foot there, etc.

There's a drill I like that works on the idea of controlling your draw carefully and staying on a particular line, it sort of relates because I think you'd have to do a lot of precise distance draw shots to avoid touching a rail. The drill is bert's mighty X. You start in the middle of the X and shoot one of the balls and try to draw perfectly straight back to the center of the table. Then you repeat for all the others. If you get a little out of line, you can still continue, you just have to try to draw to the appropriate line even if you don't make it back to the exact dead center. You get the most out of it by doing 0 practice strokes and doing a definite pause before each stroke. Run 'em in order.

mighty_x.jpg
 
Get_A_Grip said:
Just curious what the most consecutive racks anyone has run when doing the drill of spreading the balls out on the table, taking ball in hand -- and running them without letting the cue ball touch a rail.

I just did two racks in a row -- and was really playing great in order to accomplish this. I had great cue ball control and rarely missed position on the ball that I was trying to setup for the next shot.

After finishing the second rack, I thought to myself that as good as I just played those two racks -- I wonder how many people were able to do a lot more racks than two. Has any one run a high number of racks doing this drill?
Click to expand...
This reminds me of the movie "Tin Cup". Roy McAvoy breaks all his clubs except for his 7 iron during the round. He then asks David Simms (Don Johnson) if he's ever par'd out using a 7 iron. His response is "I've never thought to try".

While I can appreciate not using any rails for a certain drill, it doesn't make any sense to me to try multiple racks, as I have never seen anyone string any racks together and not use the rails. And, since I don't play as much as I used to, I rely on those rails to help me with speed control. In fact, as I've become older, I actually work more on multiple rail shape than I do on trying to use no rails.
 
Gettin older, playing less.

Shawn Armstrong said:
This reminds me of the movie "Tin Cup". Roy McAvoy breaks all his clubs except for his 7 iron during the round. He then asks David Simms (Don Johnson) if he's ever par'd out using a 7 iron. His response is "I've never thought to try".

While I can appreciate not using any rails for a certain drill, it doesn't make any sense to me to try multiple racks, as I have never seen anyone string any racks together and not use the rails. And, since I don't play as much as I used to, I rely on those rails to help me with speed control. In fact, as I've become older, I actually work more on multiple rail shape than I do on trying to use no rails.
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I agree wholeheartedly. Especially with the last part. I've noticed the same thing in my game. I don't have near the speed control I used to have so multiple rails is the way to go for me.
 
Get_A_Grip said:
Just curious what the most consecutive racks anyone has run when doing the drill of spreading the balls out on the table, taking ball in hand -- and running them without letting the cue ball touch a rail....
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In his book on 14.1, Babe Cranfield says that the best example of cue ball control he ever saw was in a run of 60 balls by Ralph Greenleaf. During that run, the cue ball touched the cushion twice. That was in an actual game, not during some kind of practice drill.
 
its a very vague thing to ask how many racks, the real question is how close is the closest ball to the rail, if its 12" then alot more racks can be ran out than if the closest ball to a rail is 4". And witch rails?, the end rails are harder not to hit if a ball is close to them than a side rail because the margine of error is tighter. with specific parameters set up-whitch is possible then a more accurate answere can be achieved.

Its not easy to do and 2 racks is good. How close was the nearest ball to what rail?
 
Fatboy said:
Its not easy to do and 2 racks is good. How close was the nearest ball to what rail?
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Good point, and it was my first though as well. Heck, if a ball was 1/4" from a rail, getting on the thing and making it without a rail touch would seem low probability stuff, regardless of skill level.
I do a couple of no rail drills that also involve the notion of not colliding with other balls in the process - just as challenging.

_Rick
 
I practice with this drill quite a lot. I think the central benefits are pattern recognition, learning to cheat the pocket, MASTERING the stop shot, learning short distance draw and follow with accuracy, forcing the ball along the tangent line with accuracy, etc. These skills come into play in all games. I find that 8-ball is the place where this really helps the most, because it allows you to quickly build a runout pattern that involves simple, predictable position plays.

One concept that is often very difficult for people to grasp is that in practice, the goal is to work on things that you DON'T do well. If you have trouble with speed control, wouldn't it make sense to work on drills that involve speed control? Also, by improving pattern play, you can increase the number of straight in stop shots you have to make, which I think helps out a lot in terms of speed control While I realize stop shots of different lengths, different cloth, etc. all require different speeds, I think most pool players at C level and above have hit enough stop shots that it is fairly automatic.

When I do this drill, I make it so that the balls are spread randomly, but all balls must be at least 6" from the rail. Also, I eliminate any clusters. I take ball in hand on the first shot and run out if I can. I think running a full rack of 15 balls is quite an accomplishment. It means you ahve solid pattern play and a good enough stroke to really stop the ball on command. Two racks is really impressive.

My best run as described above is 59 balls on a medium difficutly 8' Brunswick. This was a REALLY big deal for me. I haven't even come close since, although I haven't tried either!! I usually do this drill until I run 1 rack, and that usually takes a couple of tries.

Keep doing this drill-I think it builds skills that are very usefull regardless of the way you play.

Kerry
 
Fatboy said:
its a very vague thing to ask how many racks, the real question is how close is the closest ball to the rail, if its 12" then alot more racks can be ran out than if the closest ball to a rail is 4". And witch rails?, the end rails are harder not to hit if a ball is close to them than a side rail because the margine of error is tighter. with specific parameters set up-whitch is possible then a more accurate answere can be achieved.

Its not easy to do and 2 racks is good. How close was the nearest ball to what rail?
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I'd say that the closest ball would be about 6 inches. When I start with ball in hand, I always try to start with a ball closest to the rail because of how hard they are to fall on.

I definitely get out of line a few times in a rack....but when I did the drill the other day I realized that I'm automatically playing position on more than one ball at a time. It's great if you can get perfect position on the exact ball you're trying for...but early in the rack, it's just as good usually to play for a zone...so that you can play any number of balls next.

The other day when I did the drill....I got within 3 balls of running a second rack like this...so it's good to see my consistency is good with this drill as well.
 
KMRUNOUT said:
I practice with this drill quite a lot. I think the central benefits are pattern recognition, learning to cheat the pocket, MASTERING the stop shot, learning short distance draw and follow with accuracy, forcing the ball along the tangent line with accuracy, etc. These skills come into play in all games. I find that 8-ball is the place where this really helps the most, because it allows you to quickly build a runout pattern that involves simple, predictable position plays.

One concept that is often very difficult for people to grasp is that in practice, the goal is to work on things that you DON'T do well. If you have trouble with speed control, wouldn't it make sense to work on drills that involve speed control? Also, by improving pattern play, you can increase the number of straight in stop shots you have to make, which I think helps out a lot in terms of speed control While I realize stop shots of different lengths, different cloth, etc. all require different speeds, I think most pool players at C level and above have hit enough stop shots that it is fairly automatic.

When I do this drill, I make it so that the balls are spread randomly, but all balls must be at least 6" from the rail. Also, I eliminate any clusters. I take ball in hand on the first shot and run out if I can. I think running a full rack of 15 balls is quite an accomplishment. It means you ahve solid pattern play and a good enough stroke to really stop the ball on command. Two racks is really impressive.

My best run as described above is 59 balls on a medium difficutly 8' Brunswick. This was a REALLY big deal for me. I haven't even come close since, although I haven't tried either!! I usually do this drill until I run 1 rack, and that usually takes a couple of tries.

Keep doing this drill-I think it builds skills that are very usefull regardless of the way you play.

Kerry
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I bet you shoot a strong game of 8-ball. The one thing about this drill....is if you're shooting all stop-shots, it certainly isn't by accident. To shoot a near perfect rack, you need to master the drag-draw, pinching and holding up the cue ball with english, slow-rolling the CB, etc.
 
if u like that one and want a real challenge try this...

Rack nine ball and break them up...PLay it where it lies and run out in order without hittin a rail...

Now come back and tell me how many racks u did..And if u did any at all dont worry, if i ever try to match up with u im gonna use it against u......
 
racks

Get_A_Grip said:
Just curious what the most consecutive racks anyone has run when doing the drill of spreading the balls out on the table, taking ball in hand -- and running them without letting the cue ball touch a rail.

I just did two racks in a row -- and was really playing great in order to accomplish this. I had great cue ball control and rarely missed position on the ball that I was trying to setup for the next shot.

After finishing the second rack, I thought to myself that as good as I just played those two racks -- I wonder how many people were able to do a lot more racks than two. Has any one run a high number of racks doing this drill?
Click to expand...
can you explain to me how this will help you game?????:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
 
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