Position Play (food for thought)

renard

renard

Play in these conditions?
Silver Member
SJM inspired me with this idea with his great threads on Straights. I know many people are already accomplished at position play so this will be old news. But if I do not cover an example that you know of feel free to add a position play example.

This first example I witnessed in a nine ball tournament. The guys a beginner and was quite the shot maker. Real enthusiastic about the game, but slow rolled the eight with the cue ball coming to rest in the jaws of the upper left hand pocket.


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In a Eight ball tournament I saw a player with this layout and had ball in hand shooting solids.


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He set it up like this and with draw he achieved an awkward position. (Not the desired position shown.)

The yellow line through the eight ball we told him was the line he needed to be on. By drawing the cueball back he was crossing the line. Never cross the line if you can come up the line instead. The perfect position zone is so much smaller.

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This we explained is coming up the line. The cueball spends more time in the rolling motion in a favorable position.

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Very good examples. Post more. I think you should let others post theirs as well. This could be a good, positional play advice thread.
 
You're right on the money with the two-rail shape in the 8-Ball rack.

On the 9-Ball rack, I think I'd rather be banking at the 9 than shooting a table length rail-first shot, particularly since the OB is a full diamond away from the pocket. You could also play a table-long safety shot by putting the 9 on the head rail. Missing the rail-first 8 opens a lot of possibilities, most of them good for your opponent.

Ken
 
Drew said:
Any other ways to shoot this ball?
Click to expand...

What about adding a little left english to your three rail safety and going for the bank in the corner?

Ken
 
belmicah said:
I practice that bank all the time..... opposite corner pocket. You might need to "squeeze" it a little.
Click to expand...

I make the bank a good amount of the time. I just don't like risking the game on one. If you hit the long rail first, you sold out. So I just play to hit the short rail for the 4 rail safe.
 
This is another position that I witnessed during an Eightball tournament. The player was shooting stripes. The blue line represents the line on centers through the kissed balls. For those who do not know the effects of throw refer to this link: http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/pool/high_speed_videos/HSV7-5.htm


Much like the link provided the player chose to shoot directly at the nine ball jacked up drawing the cue ball back. His position was very poor to say the least when he had to kick at the ten ball.


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We advised him that for position he could shoot at a 45 degree angle with a level cue in the same direction he wanted the object ball to go (to the right.) This is also a throw shot that can be used for position.

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Your solids in a game of Eightball, how do you get position on the eight? I watched a guy try this one drawing the ball with all he could muster so it could fight it's way into position. He was upset and talking about it later.


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This is the shot we set up. He made it on his second try. (Notice the English used in the diagram.)


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renard said:
This is the shot we set up. He made it on his second try. (Notice the English used in the diagram.)
Click to expand...

I'm not near a table right now, but what happens when you just cinch the shot with more of a center ball hit and go back and forth across the table, leaving the cue where the 1 ball was?

Ken
 
renard said:
This we explained is coming up the line. The cueball spends more time in the rolling motion in a favorable position.

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Click to expand...

The way it is shown here, at my height, I would have to use a mechanical bridge with the CB in the position shown.

Just curious as to whether most of you would put the CB here and use a bridge or move it farther back up table where no mechanical bridge is needed?
 
Slider said:
I'm not near a table right now, but what happens when you just cinch the shot with more of a center ball hit and go back and forth across the table, leaving the cue where the 1 ball was?

Ken
Click to expand...
That is what I thought about at first, but you usually want to be on the other side of the ball (instead of short side) as to not interfere with the side pocket points.
 
renard said:
This is another position that I witnessed during an Eightball tournament. The player was shooting stripes. The blue line represents the line on centers through the kissed balls. ...
Click to expand...
When the cue ball is frozen to the object ball, there is a standard way to predict the path of the cue ball called the "two times fuller" system. It is explained in Byrne's "Standard" book and in the February 1996 (1996-02) article at http://www.sfbilliards.com/articles/BD_articles.html

Playing with left side may help the throw, but as Dr. Dave (Alciatore) has pointed out, too much spin will tend to slip and not throw the ball as much.

Using the two-times-fuller system would allow you to navigate between blocker balls, or in the example shown, to go accurately to the cushion to the left of the 5 ball.
 
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very nice info here! It makes a world of a difference explaining the shot and seeing it on the table.
 
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