Actually prefer call shot, call safe 10 ball.
Takes an amount of luck out of the game and adds thinking and strategy to the game.
Prefer call the 9 in 9ball also as there is enough luck in 9ball.
I can respect that, I get it. I like 9 ball because personally I think the "luck" keeps it interesting. There is luck in all games, it generally boils down to messing up a shot and not leaving a thing for your opponent, call shot or not.
I'm not the biggest believer in luck in 9B. I mean, sure stuff gets slopped in at times, but that stuff happens for both players. The luck in 9B seems more like courting percentages to me. If I'm in a spot where I'm a favorite to lose with no real safety, I'll often play a 2 way shot to protect the CB and let some balls have a chance, but keeping the CB safe is priority. I generally have a good idea if something has a good chance to go or not. It might be a 5% chance, and a real wild way for it to happen, but I recognized it was a possibility. Heck, if you're on the wall in front of a firing squad a 5% chance to escape is better than nothing.
In 9B you can "roll the dice" so to say and try shots you would look like a fool for calling. Various caroms, odd kicks off of balls, force follows, etc. This sounds like just piss pounding balls and praying for results but it's not. A 9B player that understands the strategy of the game knows there are times to roll the dice, times to play an airtight safety, times to run out. The "lucky" shots generally are made by being creative and giving something a chance, often with a built in 2 way shot. 1P really showed me the power of 2 way shots.
I've had people decry me for getting lucky when in reality I was playing a simple carom or billiard. I've had them think it was luck when I sent the CB 3 rails to hide it behind a wall of balls. I've heard lucky when there's a wired 9 that you have to carom off the OB into the rail to hit the wired balls and pocket the 9. I'm not saying it's the case in everyone, but sometimes "luck" is just a shot or tactic that a person doesn't have in their toolbox. If I see and try something wild and it works, I sure don't correct someone when they call me lucky.
Yesterday my friend and I went wild and played 3 races to 20. I believe we had over 100 games in and honestly we only resorted to whacking them about 6 times our of 100 games. It's rare to not have any real idea or chance of a safety, but even then it was done in a way to carom and combo and give a seeming chance for multiple balls to fall in. I think of the 6 probably 2 or 3 resulted in a ball made, 1 resulted in a fairly tight snooker safety, and 2-3 just sold the farm to the other player. If out of 100 games "just smacking them" only happens half a dozen times, I can live with that.
Anyways, 10B is a fine game but I prefer 9B, I just feel it lets me get a bit more creative at times without fear of looking like an idiot. Nobody is going to call a 5% chance unless they want to look real silly doing so.
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