Playing the ghost...help!

MilwShooter

Pool? Never heard of it..
Silver Member
How do you do it? Whenever I'm playing the ghost and have to do a safety I spend a LONG time trying to figure out a good safety. The problem is, I begin having a VERY long, drawn out safety battle once it starts. Does anyone do things differently? perhaps just playing agressive and risking losing to Patrick Swayze?....I think I'm going to refer to "The Ghost" as Patrick from now on, feel free to do it with me and let's see if we can create a new term here on AZ....Back to the topic at hand;

Also, do you ever Push when you play Patrick? I find this REALLY hard because I KNOW that I need to put it somewhere that isn't easy, but I KNOW Patrick isn't going to give it back because I'm shooting it either way... What to do??
 
How do you do it? Whenever I'm playing the ghost and have to do a safety I spend a LONG time trying to figure out a good safety. The problem is, I begin having a VERY long, drawn out safety battle once it starts. Does anyone do things differently? perhaps just playing agressive and risking losing to Patrick Swayze?....I think I'm going to refer to "The Ghost" as Patrick from now on, feel free to do it with me and let's see if we can create a new term here on AZ....Back to the topic at hand;

Also, do you ever Push when you play Patrick? I find this REALLY hard because I KNOW that I need to put it somewhere that isn't easy, but I KNOW Patrick isn't going to give it back because I'm shooting it either way... What to do??

playing a safe against "Patrick" is a loss.
 
when u play the ghost ( who doesn't miss) you break get bih and you must run out period..no safeties
 
its fun to play the ghost.......


Till you Lose

the next thing you know you have skeletons and zombies outside your door 24/7 A BUNCH OF THEM

now I gotta scrounge up silver bullets..... and all that

the ghost is weak he fires air barrels ALL the time.. and backs it up with undead minions at your door...

best just decide not to mess with him...

trust me it's easier that way......
 
The basic ghost game does not include safety play and it is this basic game that people refer to when talking about being able/unable to beat the ghost.

But keep in mind that the ghost is really often used to put some pressure and fun into practice and there are many variations on the basic game , some of which include safety play. I personally like to incorporate safety play into my practice time playing the ghost because I am getting some practice in safes and kicking I would otherwise not get.

MilwShooter, it sounds like you are playing safeties all the way through, taking both your turn and the ghosts turn. That's one way to do it. You can also play where if you play a safety it is only good if you have hooked the ghost. If you then kick for him and it's a good hit, on your turn you either keep running or you have to hook him again.

If the safety battles are still drawn out then you can play where if you choose to take a safety and successfully hook the ghost, the game is a draw and you move to the next game. Or if your safe is successful and the ghost does not execute a successful kick on his turn, you get ball in hand and continue the rack (usually allowing only one of these per rack).

It's your practice, play it any way you want that works for you, and improves your play. Just keep in mind that when referring to beating the ghost in forum chat or generally in the pool world, the basic game is assumed where no safeties are played.
 
I play the ghost like I'm playing a real game. I do include safeties because in 9 and 10 ball that is a very big part of the game. If I don't have a shot I play safe. If the ghost can not see the ball then that is a successful safety. I then skip the Ghosts turn and try and get out of that safety. If I make a legal hit, I get BIH and continue my run. Hey, if I assume the Ghost doesn't miss an open shot then I will give myself the benefit of a successful safety. If you do an amazing safety against a pro you usually get a shot or BIH. To me, this is more realistic to playing a pro. I've play a bunch of them and I've had my chances in every single match.
 
I had a rough set against the ghost a practice session ago or so.

Races to 7. I lost both 7-5 and in each set missed either the 8 or 9
5 games. That was on 9 footers.
I was frustrated and didnt play my two sets on the bar box.


Most days I find the ghost to be pretty tough and it can be extremely frustrating.

I am beginning to wonder if its good practice at all.
 
The problem with playing defense against the ghost is that you have to hold a seance each time you need to warn him that he's on two fouls. :wink:

Aaron
 
I agree. It is common knowledge that if you play safe on Patrick, he ALWAYS kicks in the next ball and runs out. It is a LOSS if you can't run out with ball in hand. Patrick plays almost as good as Efren (though Efren had a tough match against the Creator, he still won...got lucky).
 
It doesn't matter how good I play....

when I play "Patrick". I can never get to the hill because he always moves my penny back, or his forward so the score is always screwed up. Every time I call him on it, he drops it on the floor.

I won't even get into the shark moves he uses..... but his best one is when he moves the pocket while I'm shooting.


td
 
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