Plausible shot clock for Straight Pool?

R

raemondo

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi guys,

A friend and I have been trying to shorten our straight pool games. Just last week, we both played a race to 75 that took us 2 hours 45 minutes! We are both C+ / B- players at best and that game had a ton of safeties and we both scored very close to 75.

The bottom line we established were 2 factors: (1) he was playing too defensively like hitting the break balls too soft or not going for shots he should be going for, hence clustering the pack and forcing us to play a ton of safeties. Also (2) I take quite a while to shoot, especially when the runout is iffy, perhaps about 32-45 seconds timed.

We tried to play a "wide-open" game today, which I didn't enjoy because there were many times we could have played a safety but we didn't allow ourselves to do so. I ended up beating him 50-21 and I did this in perhaps 5 innings, with a median shot clock of 32 seconds.

We want to, going forward, establish a shot clock for ourselves when we play and we are trying to find a plausible time frame. We were thinking 30-45 and I know that back in the day some 14.1 tourneys had a 45 second shot clock. What are your opinions on this, and how do you think we should go about it? Comments appreciated!
 
Yes there was a 45 second clock back in the day , but I think it was only at the worlds, and still some matches were very long. Just continue to enjoy the game , lengthly games for your described skill levels is not unusual, only go for shots you know you can make , play safe otherwise , I don't think I would bring along a shot clock if I were you , but just try your best to be reasonable when at the table , shoot within an estimated minute or so. As your skill levels go up you will see the games shorten.
 
selftaut said:
Yes there was a 45 second clock back in the day , but I think it was only at the worlds, and still some matches were very long. Just continue to enjoy the game , lengthly games for your described skill levels is not unusual, only go for shots you know you can make , play safe otherwise , I don't think I would bring along a shot clock if I were you , but just try your best to be reasonable when at the table , shoot within an estimated minute or so. As your skill levels go up you will see the games shorten.
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I think that they used a 45 second shot clock in the previous? U.S. Open 14-1 Championships also, I know that they had it in the 2000 event anyways :)

I think that to be honest, the best way to approach straight pool, is finding a rhythm :), once you start running balls and find your rhythym, you'll find that through time, you'll not need to bother qith a shot clock, because in time, you'll be able to leanr and remember which is the right shot to take, at that time :)

I would recommend trying a 40 second shot clock to get you started and try practicing with that time for about 2 weeks, and then see how it goes :)

I hope that this is of some help and I wish you the best of luck :)
 
raemondo said:
Hi guys,

A friend and I have been trying to shorten our straight pool games. Just last week, we both played a race to 75 that took us 2 hours 45 minutes! We are both C+ / B- players at best and that game had a ton of safeties and we both scored very close to 75.

The bottom line we established were 2 factors: (1) he was playing too defensively like hitting the break balls too soft or not going for shots he should be going for, hence clustering the pack and forcing us to play a ton of safeties. Also (2) I take quite a while to shoot, especially when the runout is iffy, perhaps about 32-45 seconds timed.

We tried to play a "wide-open" game today, which I didn't enjoy because there were many times we could have played a safety but we didn't allow ourselves to do so. I ended up beating him 50-21 and I did this in perhaps 5 innings, with a median shot clock of 32 seconds.

We want to, going forward, establish a shot clock for ourselves when we play and we are trying to find a plausible time frame. We were thinking 30-45 and I know that back in the day some 14.1 tourneys had a 45 second shot clock. What are your opinions on this, and how do you think we should go about it? Comments appreciated!
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I'd say to try the 45 second time limit for a while. There is still plenty of time and it might improve your game.

There's a fellow in our league who drives everyone crazy with the length of time he takes. The Eberle/Hohmann match in the recent world 14.1 is excruciatingly slow. Sometimes 2 or 3 or 4 minutes between shots.
 
dmgwalsh said:
I'd say to try the 45 second time limit for a while. There is still plenty of time and it might improve your game.

There's a fellow in our league who drives everyone crazy with the length of time he takes. The Eberle/Hohmann match in the recent world 14.1 is excruciatingly slow. Sometimes 2 or 3 or 4 minutes between shots.
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I agree with the Eberle / Hohmann match. I know Hohmann to be a pretty quick player, but I can see that he really takes his time in straight pool. I also thought Eberle was slow but when I started timing him when he was crusing, he took 15-25 secs for most of his shots.

My first match with the "fellow in the league" (both of us racing to 80 I believe) took us 3 hours if I can remember....was a ton of safeties and I got him on 3 fouls as well towards the end.
 
My personal opinion is that while you are learning both the game, and the patterns, not to mention the percentage of focus you have to afford shotmaking itself, I would not think rushing yourself a good move at this point.

Shorten the game. Play 30 point games but give yourself the time your internal computer needs to register the correct data and absorb it or in the longrun your hastening the game will only be counter productive.
 
Thanks guys but I don't think we'll play 30 point games anytime soon....I mean we aren't great players but 30 points is a pretty fast game IMO....

Anyhow to post my results, I played 3 sets of 9-ball today with 30sec limits and one extension per rack, and I must say, I was playing a whole lot better! I think this has to do with me having to establish a clear pre-shot routine, concentrate and really focus on the task at hand.

After dinner I played straight pool with another friend of similar speed race to 75, and I'm happy to say that I was pacing myself with a 40second shot clock, and I beat him 75-8 in about 45 minutes! Average run (when I had the chance to be offensive) was about 15 today, so I was very pleased with myself.

Think I might just impose this shot clock on myself for the future.
 
raemondo said:
Hi guys,

A friend and I have been trying to shorten our straight pool games. Just last week, we both played a race to 75 that took us 2 hours 45 minutes! We are both C+ / B- players at best and that game had a ton of safeties and we both scored very close to 75.

The bottom line we established were 2 factors: (1) he was playing too defensively like hitting the break balls too soft or not going for shots he should be going for, hence clustering the pack and forcing us to play a ton of safeties. Also (2) I take quite a while to shoot, especially when the runout is iffy, perhaps about 32-45 seconds timed.

We tried to play a "wide-open" game today, which I didn't enjoy because there were many times we could have played a safety but we didn't allow ourselves to do so. I ended up beating him 50-21 and I did this in perhaps 5 innings, with a median shot clock of 32 seconds.

We want to, going forward, establish a shot clock for ourselves when we play and we are trying to find a plausible time frame. We were thinking 30-45 and I know that back in the day some 14.1 tourneys had a 45 second shot clock. What are your opinions on this, and how do you think we should go about it? Comments appreciated!
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creating a shot clock is not going to make THIS better.
 
bruin70 said:
creating a shot clock is not going to make THIS better.
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Hey Bruin70 I agree with you....I dunno what my friend was thinking --- it was just a one-off affair and we are definitely not going to do that again.
 
raemondo said:
Hi guys,

A friend and I have been trying to shorten our straight pool games. Just last week, we both played a race to 75 that took us 2 hours 45 minutes! We are both C+ / B- players at best and that game had a ton of safeties and we both scored very close to 75.
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I'm confused. :confused:

Both of you are average players and you are obviously trying to learn to play straight pool. Why would you want to rush?

Take your time and try to learn to play the game to the best of your ability. There is a lot of thought and concentration necessary to play good straight pool. Both take time.

If the issue is table time or your personal schedules, shorten the games, but don't use a shot clock, while you are learning. JMHO.
 
Hmm okay....I think I see what you guys are saying here....I guess the only reason why we want to impose a shot clock is because my friend hates the long games.

I think I agree here, we should just race to a lesser number until we are better at the game. Thank you so much for the advice!
 
raemondo said:
Hi guys,

A friend and I have been trying to shorten our straight pool games. Just last week, we both played a race to 75 that took us 2 hours 45 minutes! We are both C+ / B- players at best and that game had a ton of safeties and we both scored very close to 75.

The bottom line we established were 2 factors: (1) he was playing too defensively like hitting the break balls too soft or not going for shots he should be going for, hence clustering the pack and forcing us to play a ton of safeties. Also (2) I take quite a while to shoot, especially when the runout is iffy, perhaps about 32-45 seconds timed.

We tried to play a "wide-open" game today, which I didn't enjoy because there were many times we could have played a safety but we didn't allow ourselves to do so. I ended up beating him 50-21 and I did this in perhaps 5 innings, with a median shot clock of 32 seconds.

We want to, going forward, establish a shot clock for ourselves when we play and we are trying to find a plausible time frame. We were thinking 30-45 and I know that back in the day some 14.1 tourneys had a 45 second shot clock. What are your opinions on this, and how do you think we should go about it? Comments appreciated!
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Why are you concerned about the length of time it takes to complete the game? Unless you have somewhere to be, just play 100 point games and enjoy the competition.

If you are finding your games are too defensive then practice finding shots in the rack so that you can take the offense. Ray Martins 99 critical shots has a bunch shots to study. I could play defensive against Thorsten Hohmann all day but I'm sure he would find something to get started with.
 
Reviving and old thread.

Currently in my 1st season of straight pool league. Some players are soooo slow. 3+ hours for a race to 75. I understand it's a different and slower game than say 9 ball, but some are intentionally playing slow and defensively as a part of their strategy to frustrate their opponents.
 
ronscuba said:
Reviving and old thread.

Currently in my 1st season of straight pool league. Some players are soooo slow. 3+ hours for a race to 75. I understand it's a different and slower game than say 9 ball, but some are intentionally playing slow and defensively as a part of their strategy to frustrate their opponents.
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I think the solution is a chess clock. I think it has been discussed before here and I've covered it in a column in BD. I have used one in a straight pool league.

Set up the clock to give 15 seconds free at the start of a turn (modern clocks can do this). Give 10 minutes plus 30 seconds per required ball to each player. Rack your own while you are on the clock, but the other player should do the score.

If a clock expires, the other player gets one point per 30 seconds left on his clock.

This system works. Slow players don't like it, at least at first.
 
Anything that speeds up the game or cuts down on intentional slow play as a strategy, sounds good to me.
 
ronscuba said:
Anything that speeds up the game or cuts down on intentional slow play as a strategy, sounds good to me.
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One way to reduce excessive safety play is to play the best shot yourself. If you are 55 percent to make a shot go ahead and shoot it. If your opponent plays safe on 70 percent shots you will have lots of opportunities. As Wayne Gretzky said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

If you are even 10% to make a bank but it leaves a good safe, go ahead and try it. Learn to be comfortable when shooting 70-degree cut break shots. Learn to find combos and caroms. I think it takes two defensive players to really slow down the game.
 
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I have the Sigel 150 run video my memory is he was working with a 45 second shot clock. I would also give leeway for an extension or two but 45 seconds seems reasonable.
 
alstl said:
I have the Sigel 150 run video my memory is he was working with a 45 second shot clock. I would also give leeway for an extension or two but 45 seconds seems reasonable.
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I think a shot clock is the wrong solution. If a player takes 40 seconds for every shot it's torture for the opponent and whatever audience sticks around. A chess clock doesn't need an operator, it allows you to take as much time as you want on any single shot, and there's no annoying buzzer or warning.

I don't think Sigel ever played slowly enough to require a clock. The only long run of his I can find right now is 150-and-out against Rempe in 60 minutes.
 
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