One Pocket: Did you go kicking and screaming as you learned it?

KoolKat9Lives

KoolKat9Lives

Taught 'em all I know
Silver Member
I want to love her. I really do.

At times she's ... enticing.

Sometimes I feel her magic. Yet sometimes ... it's her quizzical WTF-ness that makes me scream.


Who's responsible for this mascacism?



KK9 <-- needs the 9-6 is all
 
Can't say, I haven't learned it yet . . .

maybe in another 20-30 years of trying!

Hu

KoolKat9Lives said:
I want to love her. I really do.

At times she's ... enticing.

Sometimes I feel her magic. Yet sometimes ... it's her quizzical WTF-ness that makes me scream.


Who's responsible for this mascacism?



KK9 <-- needs the 9-6 is all
Click to expand...
 
KoolKat9Lives said:
I want to love her. I really do.

At times she's ... enticing.

Sometimes I feel her magic. Yet sometimes ... it's her quizzical WTF-ness that makes me scream.


Who's responsible for this mascacism?



KK9 <-- needs the 9-6 is all
Click to expand...

yep!!!!!!!! i just don't move good enough for this game. i lose every game i don't go 8 and out
 
KoolKat9Lives said:
I want to love her. I really do.

At times she's ... enticing.

Sometimes I feel her magic. Yet sometimes ... it's her quizzical WTF-ness that makes me scream.


Who's responsible for this mascacism?



KK9 <-- needs the 9-6 is all
Click to expand...

You just haven't seen the true beauty of the game yet. Once you do, you'll be hooked for life. Open your mind when you play One Pocket, allow yourself to see the big picture. One Pocket is free form pool, anything goes.

Seriously Matt, once you get a good grasp of the basics, it will begin to seem a lot easier. If you can leave the cue ball near your opponents pocket, he will have far less options and more than likely have to shoot a defensive shot. If you put a ball or two NEAR your hole and put the cue ball on the other side of the pack, you have made a good offensive shot.

If you can maneuver a couple of balls close to your pocket and put your opponent on the end rail, once again he is on the defensive. The end rail is your friend! Leave the cue ball there as often as you can. You do NOT have to bank every ball at your hole. Sometimes close is better! Learn to play pocket speed on whatever table you are on.

Okay that's about enough for now. Next time you're in L.A. we'll have lesson number two. :smile:
 
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I once felt like you feel. But I persisted and grew to really love the game. The turning point for me was to realize that there is a correct or "best" shot every single time. It took me some time to get over the..."why don't I just keep moving the balls up table in any ol' way until I get a shot" mode. I never knew what to really do during that part of the game where nothing you did seemed to hurt or help. That aspect of the game was boring for me. However, I soon understood that even the most routine shot can have a huge impact on the game.

As you study and really learn the shots and their resulting impact, I think you will grow to love the strategy as I do. It really is alot like chess in that each move is critical toward winning the game. I now strive to hit the "perfect" shot no matter the circumstance....as Nick Varner always used to say, "always have a plan".
 
that is all there is to one pocket

Salamander said:
I once felt like you feel. But I persisted and grew to really love the game. The turning point for me was to realize that there is a correct or "best" shot every single time. It took me some time to get over the..."why don't I just keep moving the balls up table in any ol' way until I get a shot" mode. I never knew what to really do during that part of the game where nothing you did seemed to hurt or help. That aspect of the game was boring for me. However, I soon understood that even the most routine shot can have a huge impact on the game.

As you study and really learn the shots and their resulting impact, I think you will grow to love the strategy as I do. It really is alot like chess in that each move is critical toward winning the game. I now strive to hit the "perfect" shot no matter the circumstance....as Nick Varner always used to say, "always have a plan".
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Copy Varner or Efren. Play just like they do and you will be a monster! :D :D :D

It took Varner and I think Gabe Owens fifteen minutes to do something with the last two balls on the table in a match I watched awhile back. The amazing thing is that there wasn't a lot of wasted time in that fifteen minutes and every shot by either player had meaning and purpose. Anybody that didn't understand one pocket would probably be bored stiff. I was as into it as any battle I have seen on a pool table.

Efren '06 at the DCC is so ridiculously sick that if you play one pocket you have to have that DVD just to understand what is possible.

Hu
 
I just finished playing a 24 hr session of 1 hole,played him 26 hrs 4 days before that.I was never a 1 hole player and it can be a night mare for someone who never played the game. I am giving a guy 10-8 and since 1 hole is almost all he ever plays he out moves me and i have to depend on offence to win. The hardest thing for a 9 ball player is to keep from shooting at flyers. I'll have to say i have really learned alot about the moving part since this guy moves good but his offense is not that strong.All i can really say is i wish i would have taken the game up when i first started playing.I couldn't remeber all the times in the past when i would beat someone playing 9 ball that would offer to play 1 hole,but i had to decline. I will pay someone to teach me the game right now!
 
exoldschoolpro said:
I just finished playing a 24 hr session of 1 hole,played him 26 hrs 4 days before that.I was never a 1 hole player and it can be a night mare for someone who never played the game. I am giving a guy 10-8 and since 1 hole is almost all he ever plays he out moves me and i have to depend on offence to win. The hardest thing for a 9 ball player is to keep from shooting at flyers. I'll have to say i have really learned alot about the moving part since this guy moves good but his offense is not that strong.All i can really say is i wish i would have taken the game up when i first started playing.I couldn't remeber all the times in the past when i would beat someone playing 9 ball that would offer to play 1 hole,but i had to decline. I will pay someone to teach me the game right now!
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where do you live? I;m always looking for a practice partner, and I can play a little one pocket.

G.
 
KoolKat9Lives said:
I want to love her. I really do.

At times she's ... enticing.

Sometimes I feel her magic. Yet sometimes ... it's her quizzical WTF-ness that makes me scream.


Who's responsible for this mascacism?



KK9 <-- needs the 9-6 is all
Click to expand...


All "inductees" feel the same way :-) I was playing in a small 1pocket tournament and drew an outstanding 9ball player. He's an amazing banker and shot very, very straight. But, I was able to out move him and eventually won. Later he tells me he had only been playing 1pocket for about four years and hated it. I told him that he should stick with it and eventually he'd come to love the game.

So why is it that the game is so universally reviled by new players, when it's the one game that allows you to be so creative? Personally, I think it might be that these newer 1pocket players haven't developed the precision to take full advantage of their defensive opportunities -- something every single player who takes on the task of learning 1pocket has to go through.

And, as you develop as a 1pocket player, it isn't just a matter of leaving the cue ball safe. It's: leaving it safe, frozen to a rail; safe, frozen to a ball that leaves nothing but a sellout; a safe, with a free shot at your pocket thrown in; a safe, that clears out your opponent's side; a safe, that moves one, two, or three balls to your side; a safe, that blocks your opponent's banking lane; a safe, that kicks a ball towards your hole; well, you get it. Playing a beautiful safety can win you games more easily than pocketing difficult shots. But your game must be of sufficient maturity to not only see the opportunities, you must also be able to execute. Most of the shots that will completely put your opponent "in jail" require very precise cue ball speed and placement. And as your skill and experience grows, I think properly executing these shots becomes every bit as satisfying as pocketing balls.

I think you'll know you've arrived as a 1pocket player when you pass up a relatively easy shot, to instead freeze your opponent to the back of a ball and make a sellout a high probability. There's nothing boring about manufacturing a game-winning shot that brings your opponent to his knees :-)

Lou Figueroa
 
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One Pocket is no small undertaking, according to our good friend Grady Matthews, and he's right. It combines many of the attributes of the other games such as shot making, banking, safety play, offensive and defensive strategies, and is the only game I know of where each player has at least one turn at the table.
I also believe that one day One Pocket will be at the top of the cue sports in popularity. More, and more young players are taking up the game, not only in my area, but around the country as well.
It's a great game. Learn it. You'll thank me and Grady later. :)
 
Salamander said:
I once felt like you feel. But I persisted and grew to really love the game. The turning point for me was to realize that there is a correct or "best" shot every single time. It took me some time to get over the..."why don't I just keep moving the balls up table in any ol' way until I get a shot" mode. I never knew what to really do during that part of the game where nothing you did seemed to hurt or help. That aspect of the game was boring for me. However, I soon understood that even the most routine shot can have a huge impact on the game.

As you study and really learn the shots and their resulting impact, I think you will grow to love the strategy as I do. It really is alot like chess in that each move is critical toward winning the game. I now strive to hit the "perfect" shot no matter the circumstance....as Nick Varner always used to say, "always have a plan".
Click to expand...


Well said. Ya know words sometimes can't explain things properly, and when they do a good job of conveying a message, lots of times people don't hear the words well enough to take advantage of what was just said.

Salamander, has just explained very well (IMO) why most people learning the game don't enjoy it, and he's explained how to start enjoying it.
 
Tramp Steamer said:
One Pocket is no small undertaking, according to our good friend Grady Matthews, and he's right. It combines many of the attributes of the other games such as shot making, banking, safety play, offensive and defensive strategies, and is the only game I know of where each player has at least one turn at the table.
I also believe that one day One Pocket will be at the top of the cue sports in popularity. More, and more young players are taking up the game, not only in my area, but around the country as well.
It's a great game. Learn it. You'll thank me and Grady later. :)
Click to expand...

Think it is like a Game of Chess, on a Pool Table.
 
exoldschoolpro said:
I just finished playing a 24 hr session of 1 hole,played him 26 hrs 4 days before that.I was never a 1 hole player and it can be a night mare for someone who never played the game. I am giving a guy 10-8 and since 1 hole is almost all he ever plays he out moves me and i have to depend on offence to win. The hardest thing for a 9 ball player is to keep from shooting at flyers. I'll have to say i have really learned alot about the moving part since this guy moves good but his offense is not that strong.All i can really say is i wish i would have taken the game up when i first started playing.I couldn't remeber all the times in the past when i would beat someone playing 9 ball that would offer to play 1 hole,but i had to decline. I will pay someone to teach me the game right now!
Click to expand...

Come to L.A. and I guarantee to make you a better player in a short time. And I mean MUCH improved!

If I could still run balls, I would still be a very good player. But my offense has gone to pot the last 10-15 years or so. More from lack of play than anything else. But I haven't forgotten the moves. :wink:
 
Thanks for the great replies gents. I've played @ 35 games so far and I'm now competing fairly well, straight up, with some pretty established one holers. I still have some moments of ineptitude, but not too often.

The more I play, the more I see the correct shot and the less helpless frustration comes about. It's just a b1tch getting past the 'WTF am I supposed to f'g do now, why am I playing this cursed game' stage.

Seeing a great safe and moving the CB to an exact spot in jail is a great feeling. Playing rotation or straight pool afterwards with new skills formed in one hole is truly a huge tool in the cabinet as well. Thanks again for the encouragement and great advice.


KK9 <-- getting over it and getting on with it, watch out Frosty! :wink:
 
Thanks 3andstop, it took me losing $20/game over a few years to come to my senses.

3andstop said:
Well said. Ya know words sometimes can't explain things properly, and when they do a good job of conveying a message, lots of times people don't hear the words well enough to take advantage of what was just said.

Salamander, has just explained very well (IMO) why most people learning the game don't enjoy it, and he's explained how to start enjoying it.
Click to expand...
 
Salamander said:
...as Nick Varner always used to say, "always have a plan".
Click to expand...

If someone asks you why you did that (a shot or inning), you should be able to answer them. You should always have a reason or plan, even if it's wrong - your shots should be purposeful, even if it's just to survive that inning.

Have fun with the best pocket billiard game on the planet - 3-cushion is the best cue sport when played right in my opinion.

Dave
 
KoolKat9Lives said:
KK9 <-- getting over it and getting on with it, watch out Frosty! :wink:
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Uh, wrong forum, KK9. Challenges should be posted in the Action Room. :grin-square:

I have very limited experience with 1P. I'm still in that "Why didn't I foresee this is how the layout would turn out" stage. This usually occurs right after I've sold the farm. :mad: I probably enjoy watching 1P streams on the internet more than other games because I learn so much from good commentary. The recent HT event was a great example. I learn more about 1P watching a race to 2 than I usually learn about 9 Ball watching a race to 100.
 
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