One-Pocket Strategy Question

Aaron_S said:
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I am increasingly of the opinion that this game requires more skill, knowlege, creativity, and patience than any other game I know of

Aaron
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Aaron, glad to see you've 'seen the light' ^_^ As to your advice question.....Your two choices are to thin balls and leave your opponent at your A spot on the rail as you did ( not a bad choice at all with this layout ) , or to more prudently send the balls up-table.......Of all of the opinions/answers that you've had, I say refer back to Bill Porters answer.....As Bill inferred - answers are not always 'black or white' - your course of action here can depend on how important this game is to you......To use myself as an example: With the ball layout that you gave, and a 6 to 1 lead, If I'm just playing some friendly $10-$30 a game in my local poolroom, I'll probably do what you did and go thin off of the balls to the bottom rail......But, if I'm playing for $200 a game, or I'm playing in the Derby City One Pocket tournament, then I'm sending the balls up-table.


Ghost
 
Aaron_S said:
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I'm definitely lacking in the patience dept., but I'm finding that as my knowledge increases, so does my patience.

Aaron
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To improve my patience I do a drill ( Vagabond`s Drill)that is created by me.Once a week I do this drill.I get on to the street in my car during peak hours like at 7:30 in the morning.The goal is to reach my destination of 10-15 miles driving in the right lane and not changing the lane even if I have a guy haulling the chickens in a 1950s pick up truck going at a speed of 15 miles an hour in front of me.Once I can achieve this goal I then will do this drill twice a week.At this time I am doing only once a week.I did not move to twice a week because I am still getting tempted to change the lanes when I have a 40 year old single mom with 2 children driving a chevy chevet at a speed of 27miles an hour.Eventhough I have not been changing the lane in this situation I consider myself that I have not attained the goal because I have been having those thoughts of changing the lines.I want to be free of such thoughts to consider myself attaining the goals. cheers:cool:
 
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vagabond said:
To improve my patience I do a drill ( Vagabond`s Drill)that is created by me.Once a week I do this drill.I get on to the street in my car during peak hours like at 7:30 in the morning.The goal is to reach my destination of 10-15 miles driving in the right lane and not changing the lane even if I have a guy haulling the chickens in a 1950s pick up truck going at a speed of 15 miles an hour in front of me.Once I can achieve this goal I then will do this drill twice a week.At this time I am doing only once a week.I did not move to twice a week because I am still getting tempted to change the lanes when I have a 40 year old single mom with 2 children driving a chevy chevet at a speed of 27miles an hour.Eventhough I have not been changing the lane in this situation I consider myself that I have not attained the goal because I have been having those thoughts of changing the lines.I want to be free of such thoughts to consider myself attaining the goals. cheers:cool:
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Hey Vagabond, I admire you for your patience drill, and so I came up with a few more for you that you might like.....

….. #1. On the way home when you stop at the grocery store, always choose only the longest line to wait in ( preferably with some senior citizen ladies in it ), and resist the temptation of the shorter lines......#2. Go into the AZbilliards archives and read every post that ‘fast Larry’ ever made......#3. And finally, become a Chicago Cubs baseball fan - Cubs fans have been patiently waiting since 1908 to get back to the World Series and you can wait patiently along with them......^_^
 
1 Pocket Ghost said:
Hey Vagabond, I admire you for your patience drill, and so I came up with a few more for you that you might like.....

….. #1. On the way home when you stop at the grocery store, always choose only the longest line to wait in ( preferably with some senior citizen ladies in it ), and resist the temptation of the shorter lines......#2. Go into the AZbilliards archives and read every post that ‘fast Larry’ ever made......#3. And finally, become a Chicago Cubs baseball fan - Cubs fans have been patiently waiting since 1908 to get back to the World Series and you can wait patiently along with them......^_^
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If you're really ambitious, you can find a grocery store that has a senior citizen discount day, and try to do all of your weeks shopping. Last time I stumbled upon that scene, I needed two items, and I was in the store for 45 minutes - it really improved my 1-pocket game.
 
Between the new job and the new wife, Angel has not been playing much. He did come in the other day and donate a modest amount to me. George R hasn't been in much either, but I hear that he came in yesterday and George T ran over him. (George T is hitting the ball very well right now) How have you been hitting them? And when are you gonna be in town again?
 
?????????

With a big lead a couple of insurance balls are always good. The closest thing you have is a ball infront of you side pocket. A ball infront of your side has cost many a player a sure win. You definitely have the best of it but you could make it a lot better by shooting a simple combination an tying up a couple of balls near the corner on your side the table. Frustrating your opponent is a big part of the game moving the balls closer to the side rail can only help. Desperate people make bad decisions.
 
desert1pocket said:
Between the new job and the new wife, Angel has not been playing much. He did come in the other day and donate a modest amount to me. George R hasn't been in much either, but I hear that he came in yesterday and George T ran over him. (George T is hitting the ball very well right now) How have you been hitting them? And when are you gonna be in town again?
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Thanks for the info.Angel`s marriage is news to me.George T has always been a steady player.If u beat Angel u must be a dam good player.
I have been playing good for a old man like me.I do not have any plans to be there soon.I am old and feeble and I cut down on all my travelling.cheers:cool:
 
vagabond said:
Thanks for the info.Angel`s marriage is news to me.George T has always been a steady player.If u beat Angel u must be a dam good player.
I have been playing good for a old man like me.I do not have any plans to be there soon.I am old and feeble and I cut down on all my travelling.cheers:cool:
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I am a terrible player, but I do know how to use a large ego to my advantage. ;) You know how easy it is to get Angel to give up the world. Don't try that "must be a dam good player" sh*t with me, you still need to give up some weight if you ever do happen through town again. I don't buy the "old and feeble" for a second. lol :D
 
be agressive

I think you need to win the game quickly. Moving the balls up table is a waste of time.
I would bank the 9 down to the end rail and back.
Use High left and send the cueball between the 3 and 4 to the top rail and rest it on the end rail.
You then have your opponent in a no win situation.
 
bstroud said:
I think you need to win the game quickly. Moving the balls up table is a waste of time.
I would bank the 9 down to the end rail and back.
Use High left and send the cueball between the 3 and 4 to the top rail and rest it on the end rail.
You then have your opponent in a no win situation.
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You can`t be the cue maker Billy stroud who was a pro player.I am wondering whether the shot you recommended can be executed.The shot u described is very difficult to execute even with 100% precision.:cool:
 
????????bstroud????????

Surely you jest. That shot is not there probably you would pocket the 5 ball moving the nine in front of opponets hole.
 
bstroud said:
I think you need to win the game quickly. Moving the balls up table is a waste of time.
I would bank the 9 down to the end rail and back.
Use High left and send the cueball between the 3 and 4 to the top rail and rest it on the end rail.
You then have your opponent in a no win situation.
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Wow, that would be a killer shot if you could get the 9 to avoid the 5 and nudge the 11/2 into more favorable positions. That's going to be pretty low % for me, though, having to be so precise while twisting the cb pretty hard. It reminds me of the type of shot that Efren will occasionally shoot, though. You know, the ones that make the commentators say "Did you see what he just did? That's incredible!" lol. Great shot, but it definitely requires surgical precision.
 
????????

Year before last I believe at DCC Efren lost a match to a big man out of Cal
I believe his name was John????????? Anyway he needed one ball the guy from Cal. needed 6. Efren tried a tough shot made a little error his opponent makes 4, moves one toward his hole and the first thing you know Efren is eliminated. If i was going to get a little crazy here I would bank the 4 ball 2 in the corner but play it long where you come in the back door an break up your two ball cluster. It's not that hard to execute an cueball control no problem. I would lay off that shot though you've
got money in the bank if you are patient.
Pinocchio
 
Aaron_S said:
Wow, that would be a killer shot if you could get the 9 to avoid the 5 and nudge the 11/2 into more favorable positions. That's going to be pretty low % for me, though, having to be so precise while twisting the cb pretty hard. It reminds me of the type of shot that Efren will occasionally shoot, though. You know, the ones that make the commentators say "Did you see what he just did? That's incredible!" lol. Great shot, but it definitely requires surgical precision.
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Aaron,

Ignore bstroud's advice. He is shooting straight up in the air on this shot. For the following reasons.

In order to get the cue ball to go to the side rail and then to the end rail, you have to strike the 9 ball with speed that will cause it to go probably 2 1/2 table lengths, possibly harder.

Hitting it that speed, you could EASILY hit it a little bad, hit a ball, and carom something over to your opponents side of the table. Combine that with the fact that you don't HAVE to get close to the end rail with the cue ball, and this is a recipe for disaster.

bstroud, I'll make you an offer.. Let's meet sometime and play out this position. You got 6 balls and I got 1. We'll play this position as many times as you want, but you have to play the shot you suggested. I'll take 2 to 1 on the money (hey! I'm down 5 balls here!), and I guarantee you'll hate it.

I'm sure HillBilly shoots a lot straighter than bstroud, and I'd be willing to bet he'd say "Not with a gun to my head."

I think pretty much all the good players on here agree on the initial safety shot, and then moving balls down table. I don't think bstroud plays One Pocket, or if he does, he's never played a good player.

Ever.

If this kind of position came up in a game between us, I'd pay him a token amount to shoot this shot.

Russ
 
Russ Chewning said:
The other is to softly roll into the 11, making sure your opponent can ONLY see the 11, and separating those two balls. Leaving no threat near your pocket makes it extremely risky leaving your opponent at either end of the table. There are ALL SORTS of cute little shots that can get your opponent back into the game from this position. Once you separate the 11 and that other ball, he is gonna nick the 11 and play safe, starting the process of moving the balls uptable. You want to FORCE your opponent to help you move the balls uptable, man...

Russ
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This is the correct advice. Consider: You have the better position and the lead, and you want to play this shot taking into account both factors. The way you diagrammed it, I don't see a very good shot to get uptable without doing damage to your position, so I think the best shot is to disturb the cluster with the 11 ball and move the cue ball back to your opponent's side. Like Russ says, you don't need to make anything happen here, he does, and you need to force him to do that now, while you hold the positional advantage. If he wants to send everything uptable then so be it, that's just going to favor you as well.

But that cluster has to be disturbed, and immediately. believe me, if you leave it where it is it's going to kill you for this entire game.
 
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