One Pocket Shots/Questions, Grady or Freddy your opinions?

cuetechasaurus

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I never see good players move this ball (the 1ball) when it lays like this. Is there a particular reason why? The cueball and one ball are both frozen to the rail, and your pocket is "A". I have yet to see a good player attempt to move this ball in the early game when the situation comes up.

CueTable Help



I was practicing it today, and I found what I thought was a fairly good shot to play with it, using draw with a little inside english:

CueTable Help



Sometimes the 1ball catches the point of your opponents pocket and goes straight into your hole. After shooting it 10 times, not once did it catch the point and stay in or near my opponents pocket.

Any thoughts on why nobody plays this shot?

I also found another shot for a different situation for the early game. It's a double kiss shot, and it works fairly well. I made the shot in my hole a few times. Most people like to hit it straight on and 2 rail it out of there and into the stack, hoping to send something towards their hole. I like this shot better- you clip the 1ball with extreme inside english, and you double kiss it back towards your hole, and the cueball ends up safe most of the time:

CueTable Help



The blue line is where the cueball usually ends up afterwards. Again, any thoughts on this?

edit: there is a glitch on the last diagram, the green line is supposed to be pointed towards your pocket.
 
In the first one, I like shooting the one ball but with outside english, sending the cue ball down to the end rail. I would try to leave the cue ball straight in and a long ways away from the only ball that will go in my opponent's pocket.
The double kiss shot you laid out is almost exactly the famous "Jersey Red" shot. However, the cue ball cannot end up in the stack if you strike the shot correctly. It goes up the side rail.
 
Grady said:
In the first one, I like shooting the one ball but with outside english, sending the cue ball down to the end rail. I would try to leave the cue ball straight in and a long ways away from the only ball that will go in my opponent's pocket.
The double kiss shot you laid out is almost exactly the famous "Jersey Red" shot. However, the cue ball cannot end up in the stack if you strike the shot correctly. It goes up the side rail.

Thanks so much for the input Grady, you probably have more knowledge about this game than any man alive, Efren included. On the Jersey Red shot, it would go towards the stack if I kissed it more on the top side, and the object ball would hit the end rail first and then bounce towards my pocket. If I made it in my pocket, then I noticed it would go up the rail like you said.

One more question, depending on the table, if you were in an end game situation, and you had the first diagram shot (the 1ball) where both the cueball and object ball are frozen to the rail and straight in, would you try to bank the ball into the point, and back to your hole, or is it too risky to try? My friend showed me how to aim for it, and I'm sure you know this already, but for those that dont, is you actually ignore the object ball, and aim the cueball towards the point of the pocket, and sometimes the object ball goes right into the point and banks into your pocket. If you need 1 ball and your opponent needs a bunch, and you have no risk of selling out anything but a bank (the rest of the balls are up table so the most your opponent can get if you sell out is 1 ball), is that a wise shot to take? Thanks again for your input Grady.
 
It's how I usually play it

Grady said:
In the first one, I like shooting the one ball but with outside english, sending the cue ball down to the end rail. I would try to leave the cue ball straight in and a long ways away from the only ball that will go in my opponent's pocket.
The double kiss shot you laid out is almost exactly the famous "Jersey Red" shot. However, the cue ball cannot end up in the stack if you strike the shot correctly. It goes up the side rail.

I agree (for once, ha ha) with Grady. It's a simple, effective way to play the shot and if you leave the guy straight in it becomes a strong move. A paraplegic could execute it, why would you want to try something else?

the Beard
 
cuetechasaurus said:
I never see good players move this ball (the 1ball) when it lays like this. Is there a particular reason why? The cueball and one ball are both frozen to the rail, and your pocket is "A". I have yet to see a good player attempt to move this ball in the early game when the situation comes up.

CueTable Help



I was practicing it today, and I found what I thought was a fairly good shot to play with it, using draw with a little inside english:

CueTable Help



Sometimes the 1ball catches the point of your opponents pocket and goes straight into your hole. After shooting it 10 times, not once did it catch the point and stay in or near my opponents pocket.

Any thoughts on why nobody plays this shot?

I also found another shot for a different situation for the early game. It's a double kiss shot, and it works fairly well. I made the shot in my hole a few times. Most people like to hit it straight on and 2 rail it out of there and into the stack, hoping to send something towards their hole. I like this shot better- you clip the 1ball with extreme inside english, and you double kiss it back towards your hole, and the cueball ends up safe most of the time:

CueTable Help



The blue line is where the cueball usually ends up afterwards. Again, any thoughts on this?

edit: there is a glitch on the last diagram, the green line is supposed to be pointed towards your pocket.


Speaking to your first shot diagram.....Yep, 2-railing the 1 ball in spots like this is always a good/the right shot....Most, but not all experienced 1 pocket players would see and make this shot choice.....But the way you have it laid out on the table in this instance, I would shoot it slightly differently than how Grady suggested.....

......Yes, 2-rail the 1 ball into the bottom of the stack, but, by going down table with the cueball, my opponent subsequently will be able to see the balls that end up near my pocket and will very possibly be able to remove them.......Instead of going down table with the cue ball, I would try and achieve even more with the shot by playing the cueball to carom fully into the 12 ball ( the angle in this wei layout allows this ).....By doing this I get rid of my opponents best ball ( the 12 ball ), and, with a full hit on the 12, the cueball has a good chance of sticking right there, with my opponent snookered behind the rack, hiding from him the balls that are near my pocket.
 
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cuetechasaurus said:
One more question, depending on the table, if you were in an end game situation, and you had the first diagram shot (the 1ball) where both the cueball and object ball are frozen to the rail and straight in, would you try to bank the ball into the point, and back to your hole, or is it too risky to try? My friend showed me how to aim for it, and I'm sure you know this already, but for those that dont, is you actually ignore the object ball, and aim the cueball towards the point of the pocket, and sometimes the object ball goes right into the point and banks into your pocket. If you need 1 ball and your opponent needs a bunch, and you have no risk of selling out anything but a bank (the rest of the balls are up table so the most your opponent can get if you sell out is 1 ball), is that a wise shot to take? Thanks again for your input Grady.

Not a wise shot in my opinion based on the score you mentioned. If the score were reversed and your opponent needs one and you need a bunch then it may be worth the risk especially if it will allow you to run more balls. (Anytime you don't catch the point you are going to leave an easy bank for your opponent and even if you catch the point you could still leave an easy bank.)

It is a good shot to play off the point and back to your hole in the first diagram especially if you have practiced the shot a lot.
 
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