patterns & position drill

berlowmj2

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have been throwing 3 balls & cb out randomly & trying to decide pattern & execute position to make them.

Am I on the right track?
 
Its the drill that never ends...yes it goes on and on my friends lol

there's nothing wrong with that....

remember the 3 ball rule is that you don't shoot the 1 ball untill you know where 3 ball is going and so on.

so basically that leaves you with 3 sets of 3 in 9 ball

i also do drills similar to what you do sometimes but I usually place 4 or 5 balls so I have more to get around....every ball i make i randomly throw another out....so the drill and pattern never runs out.
 
berlowmj2...Here's a little bit better way. Throw out any three balls; take bih on the first one (shoot them in numerical order). You MUST get a 30 degree cut or less on the other two balls, or the run doesn't count (meaning if you leave yourself a thin cut, the run is no good). This is better, imo, than the random thing you're doing.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

I have been throwing 3 balls & cb out randomly & trying to decide pattern & execute position to make them.

Am I on the right track?
 
I have to agree with scott lee. In addition when you master three at a time then add three more. Continue this practice until I see you play professionally.

Additionally instead of throwing the balls out. Rack em and break em. This way you get to practice your break as well.
 
I have been throwing 3 balls & cb out randomly & trying to decide pattern & execute position to make them.

Am I on the right track?

You're on the right track.

If you mark the three balls with hole re-enforcements, you can shoot them in different sequences (there are six of them) and for different pockets. There are a lot of possibilities to try, and you should try them all.

You will find that some patterns are much easier and some much harder. Ask yourself why the easier ways were easier, and the hard ones harder. You will soon see the easier patterns quickly and you will be running more balls.
 
thank you

berlowmj2...Here's a little bit better way. Throw out any three balls; take bih on the first one (shoot them in numerical order). You MUST get a 30 degree cut or less on the other two balls, or the run doesn't count (meaning if you leave yourself a thin cut, the run is no good). This is better, imo, than the random thing you're doing.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Tried it tonight.
 
Since the break shot is the most important shot you should rack 9 balls - break like you would in a game - remove all but the three highest - you might be surprised at some of the leaves you will get - take ball in hand and run the three - play the ghost - get three ahead then start all over - only this time remove all but the last four - (if you pocket the nine spot it or count it as a win) - whenever you get three ahead - you add 1 more ball - like climbing a ladder.
 
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maldito...I don't know why people believe this nonsense...I disagree that the break is the most important shot. The stop shot is the most important shot to master. It is the cornerstone to any understanding of how to maneuver the CB around the table accurately. Without mastery of this knowledge, the break won't mean squat, because you won't be able to run out. Jerry Briesath taught me the drill I described to the OP 25 years ago, and it remains one of the best ways to practice position play even today.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Since the break shot is the most important shot you should rack 9 balls - break like you would in a game - remove all but the three highest - you might be surprised at some of the leaves you will get - take ball in hand and run the three - play the ghost - get three ahead then start all over - only this time remove all but the last four - (if you pocket the nine spot it or count it as a win) - whenever you get three ahead - you add 1 more ball - like climbing a ladder.
 
maldito...I don't know why people believe this nonsense...I disagree that the break is the most important shot. The stop shot is the most important shot to master. It is the cornerstone to any understanding of how to maneuver the CB around the table accurately. Without mastery of this knowledge, the break won't mean squat, because you won't be able to run out. Jerry Briesath taught me the drill I described to the OP 25 years ago, and it remains one of the best ways to practice position play even today.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

I Kind of figured that I should have said for 9 ball after I posted - but if you are a 9 ball player you will get a better random spread breaking a full rack and you will get practice on the break shot - If you don't belive the break is that important then throw the balls out.
 
Since the break shot is the most important shot you should rack 9 balls - break like you would in a game - remove all but the three highest - you might be surprised at some of the leaves you will get - take ball in hand and run the three - play the ghost - get three ahead then start all over - only this time remove all but the last four - (if you pocket the nine spot it or count it as a win) - whenever you get three ahead - you add 1 more ball - like climbing a ladder.

Sounds like a great exercise to help me close out my 9-ball games.

maldito...I don't know why people believe this nonsense...I disagree that the break is the most important shot. The stop shot is the most important shot to master. It is the cornerstone to any understanding of how to maneuver the CB around the table accurately. Without mastery of this knowledge, the break won't mean squat, because you won't be able to run out. Jerry Briesath taught me the drill I described to the OP 25 years ago, and it remains one of the best ways to practice position play even today.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Scott, that makes perfect sense. I'll be using both exercises. Do you have any other stop shot drills that you might recommend?
 
The way I practice is to throw out 3 balls on the table. remember their location. Then I'll take ball in hand behind the head string and run then. Set them back up to where they were and take ball in hand behind the foot string and run them again. I'll set them up a 3rd time with cueball center table and run them a third time. If I complete all three without missing I'll add a fourth ball. When I miss, then I go down one ball and start again, never going under 3 balls.
 
9-ball break h as nothing to do with drill or position-play.
To work on your break-shot is something you could and should do after you strenghtened your fundamentals. If you already can say, that you have solid fundamentals, and you re able to make a straight stroke (some guys say, you just need to have a straight stroke *grin*). Then you usualy begin to think how to improve your game- then things like pre-shot routine becomes more and more important. And if you can say about yourself, that you worked out all these things, which usualy takes much time-then you could think about special training on a break-shot.
If you re not able to make straight shot, and even if you re not able to *know* what the cueball does......what does a break-shot would be? I m sure that if you can t control a *simple* (sorry Scott, i call it simple here^^) stop-shot, you ll never be able to make a good break-shot.

lg
Ingo
 
Bert Kinister has a video on that. He puts 4 balls at random in 1/2 of the table not touching a rail. The object is to to use BIH and find a pattern that will allow you to shoot all 4 in with only using stop shots or as little of CB movement as possible.
 
i have been doing almost the same drill with this exception. i try to run out 10 times with 3 balls, if i do this i add a ball, then try to run 4 balls, keep adding a ball as long as you are running out. if i miss i go back to 3 balls. i have went from struggling with 3 to making it half way trhough 5. this has help my overall play quite a bit.

Scott, i like the added condition of no cuts over 30 degrees. i will try it this weekend.

Mike
 
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