Quick question for straight pool gurus

V

veilside81

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi all.. I'm pretty new to straight pool and my high run is of 46 balls but I'm a consistent runner of 22-25 balls... The last two weeks I' ve been playing a lot of straight pool instead of 9 ball with a friend of mine,well here comes the question..

In the last two weeks I've had a real hard to find balls that could give me a good spread after the break and I found my self struggling to build break shots most of the times messing it up with 4 balls on the table with either missing the pot because I tried to hard to keep a certain break ball or ending with a bad break ball..

In your opinion what should I practice, other than play play play the game?

P.S. These two weeks we switched from a run to 80 to a run to 125 in our matches.

P.P.S. I've The guy I playing is a bit lower player than me and he used to lose all the time, now he wins one out of 2 mostly, the only difference being that when I win is like 125-50 and when he wins is pretty much tied up at 125-115..

Sorry for the long post..:rolleyes:
 
I know exactly what you are talking about. From your description it sounds like we play about the same speed at straight pool. I think one of the problems we're seeing, because I've fallen into the same funk that you have, is that we're picking up so much good information and we may actually be looking at the table differently than we used to but aren't well versed on working it out. I wish I had an answer for you but at least I can give a reason why....at least in my opinion. I've just found that I'm seeing thing differently lately and although my looking has improved it has hampered my shot making and position play. Over trying I guess.
MULLY
 
I'm no 14.1 guru and I'm not getting very much higher runs than you. I play with another member here and we go back and forth. Our trouble is definitely lack of play.

We play only once or twice a week in total, no other outside play, as time simply doesn't permit it. Even at that, we throw 30's at each other with an occasional high 40s. So, not much difference. In our younger pool degenerate days, those numbers were nearly double for us both. :(

Beyond our lack of playing time however, we have discussed the fact that knowing each others game can lead to a false sense of security. You know, giving the shot 98% effort instead of 110% and falling short on position or simply missing all together because we don't feel a run out to 100 pts is likely by either of us, and therefore another inning will most likely be available. I think this hampers desire, drive, and focus.

Since we are friends, I for one am strongly against wagering on the games. It has been my experience that eventually, this ends your playing days together one way or another. So for us, that motive to win isn't attractive.

That led us to an idea recently that we have yet to experiment with, but I'll throw it out here as a suggestion. Perhaps its worth a try even for your game.

Playing to a set number of innings rather than a point total. In other words, we decided that 5 innings each was all we would afford each other. Calling safety at the start of an inning wouldn't count as an inning. Whom ever had the higher score at the end of their 5th inning, won the game.

We thought this may induce a more definite point of "end" for our chances and present more of a feeling that we need to take greater advantage of each of those 5 innings rather than counting on getting more chances.

Dunno, it was something we talked about trying but as yet have not.

I'm a strong believer that the more often you experience that deep dead stroke place we all fall into from time to time, the easier it is to find it and call it up at will. This different way of totaling a win may be helpful with that aspect of the game.
 
This is why we are not Pro's

You need to recognize the break shot earlier on in the rack, clear off your problem areas. and clear paths for other balls. as you get further into the rack, you shouldnt move the cue ball too much. you need to pick a line early on that works!

This is what seems to work for me!

keep in mind 14.1 is not a stroke game like 9-ball, its more just about playing smart!

Hope this helps some!

Steve
 
Quick question here. stevekur1 says 14.1 isn't a stroke game like 9-ball, I totally agree with that, but my question pertains more towards the actual stroke. I think one of my biggest problems is that I don't stroke my cue the same way I do in 9-ball. I find myself doing the soft touch a lot and to be honest, that doesn't work well for me. Of course I should probably practice it more but I guess my question is this, should we change our stroke or make the adjustments necessary on where we're hitting the CB to get less movement with the same stroke?
MULLY
did any of that make any sense whatsoever?
 
should we change our stroke or make the adjustments necessary on where we're hitting the CB to get less movement with the same stroke?
MULLY

I feel maintaining a smooth stroke in 14.1 is key. One's stroke can tend to get short and pokey becasuse of the frequent close play amongst the balls. In rotation games there are often more long shots that require significant CB movement after pocketing, thus the "stroke nature of the games". Yet, in those same games there is always short, soft stuff that is necessary. It seems the ratio of such strokes is reversed between the disiplines.
If you need to feel some additional stroke in your 14.1 game, employ more deadball play when situations allow. Dead follow and dead draw require firmer hits and thus allow for more force of stroke. Still, keeping a 14.1 stroke smooth and not pokey, is key IMHO.
 
rikdee said:
If you need to feel some additional stroke in your 14.1 game, employ more deadball play when situations allow. Dead follow and dead draw require firmer hits and thus allow for more force of stroke. Still, keeping a 14.1 stroke smooth and not pokey, is key IMHO.
Click to expand...

We watched the Miz do that for years, in my mind THE best ever.

To the original poster, try playing a no count game with your friend, it will be incentive to push your game. 20 no count is good. If you don't run 20 then you get nothing.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions.. I'll try that..
Today we played again and I started pretty good with a run of 37 to lead 60 to 15.

I wanna make clear that I don't believe in luck but there's one thing that keeps coming out in my mind the more I think about it...

Well I have a complete different style of play than my friend, I try to shot the most high percentage shot and when there isnt I play safe. He instead just fires up everything he see and more than often he plays this shots with a lot of speed, sometimes missing them and every time and I mean every time he misses I'm put in a safety or I don't have something to shoot... this thing drives me crazy..


@ MULLY: I find that when I play 14.1 sometimes on certain difficult shots I tend to use the snooker SPF tecnique for stroking the ball..
 
veilside81 said:
Hi all.. I'm pretty new to straight pool and my high run is of 46 balls but I'm a consistent runner of 22-25 balls... The last two weeks I' ve been playing a lot of straight pool instead of 9 ball with a friend of mine,well here comes the question..

In the last two weeks I've had a real hard to find balls that could give me a good spread after the break and I found my self struggling to build break shots most of the times messing it up with 4 balls on the table with either missing the pot because I tried to hard to keep a certain break ball or ending with a bad break ball..

In your opinion what should I practice, other than play play play the game?

P.S. These two weeks we switched from a run to 80 to a run to 125 in our matches.

P.P.S. I've The guy I playing is a bit lower player than me and he used to lose all the time, now he wins one out of 2 mostly, the only difference being that when I win is like 125-50 and when he wins is pretty much tied up at 125-115..

Sorry for the long post..:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


You are switching position types from 9 ball to straight pool and where you will notice it is when finesse is required. More finesse is required in spreading the balls and when setting up for the break ball. Work on the short, small angle shots and controlling the travel of the cue ball on those shots. I'm guessing it is just going to take time for you to get comfortable on those shots.

On the break shot. Look at it, decide how you want to shoot it, then get down on the ball and focus on making the ball and forget the rack is there.
 
Deadon said:
On the break shot. Look at it, decide how you want to shoot it, then get down on the ball and focus on making the ball and forget the rack is there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that right there is probably the best advice for breaking there is. I used to have the problem of setting up for the break and paying attention to where the CB was hitting the rack, what kind of spread I was getting etc... and totally missing the OB. I finally decided that breaking in straight pool is no different than any other shot on the table. If you're focusing on something other than pocketing that ball you're screwed.
MULLY
 
The best way to learn end rack patterns is to practice with 4 or 5 balls thrown out on the table at random. Look at them til you see a pattern you can execute, then run it out.....shoot the breaker, and start over.

It's VERY hard to "practice" anything when playing a match IMO.

When hitting break balls, I first follow the tangent line to see where he CB is hitting the first ball in the pack, then that will determine how to hit the CB (ala Rempe). Neils Feijen is a GREAT example of this technique. If you ignor the CB path off the break ball you will never know where the CB will go after contacting the pack.

good luck,
 
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