Resurgence of Straight Pool

Blackjack said:
Thanks to players such as John Schmidt, Danny Harriman, Thorsten Hohmann, Ralf Souquet, Oliver Ortmann, Tony Robles, and Niels Feijen -and the suport we have received from EVERYBODY that has held tournaments over the past 3 years - as well as Kevin Vidal for starting the www.14and1.com straight pool league - the game is alive and well today......A special thank you goes to Bob Jewett for all he has done for straight pool - especially the DCC Straight Pool Challenge.
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Those cited certainly merit the commendations you have offered, but your list fails to specifically mention the man I believe to be the greatest advocate for 14.1 in the Northeast United States, and that would be Danny Barouty, whose great efforts have helped to stimulate and sustain interest in 14.1 at league, semipro and pro levels. Perhaps you need to see Danny up close to fully appreciate how much and how many he inspires when it comes to 14.1.
 
instroke75 said:
Not to split hairs, but do really consider Equal Offense to be that challenging? To me it is easier than any of the rotation games.JMO

Jeremy
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Not really, but it is like straight pool where you gotta focus on good CB control and pattern play, but then again I play a more strict version of it, in which there is no BIH after the breakshot, only the ball count is scored and not the ball's face value (like it is when playing Rotation) and it's all call shot, including where any banks must be called correctly, e.g. once/twice cross-side/corner, etc :)

Willie
 
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sjm said:
Those cited certainly merit the commendations you have offered, but your list fails to specifically mention the man I believe to be the greatest advocate for 14.1 in the Northeast United States, and that would be Danny Barouty, whose great efforts have helped to stimulate and sustain interest in 14.1 at league, semipro and pro levels. Perhaps you need to see Danny up close to fully appreciate how much and how many he inspires when it comes to 14.1.
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Wow.

Sorry SJM, but I don't know Danny Barouty. I know he is an awesome player -one of THE BEST. When I said EVERYBODY that included EVERYBODY.

:confused:
 
inside_english said:
I am all in favor of a shot clock. In my home room we have a straight pool league, and I have stopped playing because some of the players are waayy too slow. No one should be taking 15 - 20 minutes to run a rack!
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Amen! I agree with Jay Helfert's suggestion to make it a 30 second shot clock and an extension per rack. After playing the game for a while, the players will begin to see the right shot more quickly. That's one of the challenges in straight pool in my opinion. If we could take as long as we wanted, we could map out all possible scenarios. Limiting the time forces players to become sharper thinkers at the table, which benefits their rhythm and the game as a spectator sport. It becomes a beautiful game to watch--even from the opponent's chair. Watching a quick knowledgeable player is poetry in motion. And there's so much more to talk about for the commentators than in 9-ball.
It's a puzzle for all to try to figure out. And it's a different puzzle every single rack.
I'd also like to see fouls penalized more severely.
 
TheWizard said:
Not really, but it is like straight pool where you gotta focus on good CB control and pattern play, but then again I play a more strict version of it, in which there is no BIH after the breakshot, only the ball count is scored and not the ball's face value (like it is when playing Rotation) and it's all call shot, including where any banks must be called correctly, e.g. once/twice cross-side/corner, etc :)

Willie
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Wow, I didn't think there was anybody else out there who played equal offense. I play it almost all the time when I'm at home practicing. I play BIH behind the headstring on the first shot, after that 14.1 rules. I started playing it when I took up pool a couple years ago and it has helped my game a lot. I like it better than straight pool because you use the entire table and you have to move the ball around the whole table.

It has helped my game a great deal. What is doesn't do is help with kick shots or safeties. I joined a 9 ball league for the first time and with one week left in the session I'm third in the league despite the fact that I never play 9 ball. My kicking game is my weakness.

I write down my scores and keep track, that makes practicing a little more fun.
 
sjm said:
Those cited certainly merit the commendations you have offered, but your list fails to specifically mention the man I believe to be the greatest advocate for 14.1 in the Northeast United States, and that would be Danny Barouty, whose great efforts have helped to stimulate and sustain interest in 14.1 at league, semipro and pro levels. Perhaps you need to see Danny up close to fully appreciate how much and how many he inspires when it comes to 14.1.
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I saw when Danny Barouty was playing Danny Harriman at the world championship, he had many of his students watching. He runs the straight pool league at Amsterdam, I think, and a lot of good players come through there. I wonder how many players he has taught 14.1.

George Fels also helps 14.1 with his books and monthly articles. He plays in our straight pool league in Chicago and ran over 100 this year. Although our players aren't as good as the New Yorkers, we all take a little something from George.
 
Straight pool is the very essisence of pool. I absolutely love the game and try to plan it as often as I can find someone who wants to share in the intrigue and challenge. To those who dislike straight because your sitting in the chair..take a moment to watch the shooter at the table and learn a bit about why your sitting and he/she is shooting. Strategy, safety play, shot making. position play all played at their best is what defines a great straight player. IMO if you have not played the game of 14-1 agianst a worthy opponent you have missed out on a great experience.

i'm well into my later years. Played with some of the best but, weak eyes and back along with alot of rust during the past 15 years or so have destroyed my ability to be competitivie at 14-1 but God I love the game and have full intent to get back again soon. I respect the 10ball player, the 9ball player and the 8 ball game (just for fun) but, the gentlemen who started this post is right on!! Thanks for playing 14-1!! Get out there, find an old fart like myself and experience the finest game in pool.
 
inside_english said:
Oh really! In my home room the owner had a recent high-run of 139 balls, and he is hard-pressed to win the 9-ball tournaments in his room. So your opinion is inaccurate.
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all this does is show how much more of a factor luck plays in 9 ball.. the luckiest player that day wins the tournament not necessarily the best player.
 
At Bankshots a half dozen or so of us started practicing for the qualifier and main event and haven't stopped playing straight pool. All of us have benefited from the game and now we practice it just as much as we practice the rotation games.

We keep pushing each other for higher runs but we seem to have stagnated, I wonder who will be the first to gamble in a race to 125 or 150. I am going to try and spot someone some points to see if I can stir the pot up even though I SUCK at the game.
 
I just want to thank everyone for their great input. i really do love the game and I hope it spreads even more. TELEVISION BE DAMNED bring on more straight pool.
 
I can report that there's no resurgence here on the west coast of Florida. In fact, two of the biggest rooms around here, rooms that frequently host pro 9 and 10 ball events, don't have beads or wheels or anything else straight pool players would need to keep score with. That's sad. Sadder even than the fact that they don't have a bottle and pills for those who might want to play pill pool.
 
I think this short race 14.1 format could be good. The race to 60 really puts pressure to run balls. I think if they played race to 60 and frames like snooker would really make a difference. 3 of 5, 4 of 7, 5 of 9 etc as tournament moves to later rounds... I would like to try. I know 14.1 is boring to watch the middle racks, nice seeing the 100, but the other hour is killer.

maybe only play 10 racks and you could have a frame winning point to reach. Now if you run 149 the other guys could run 150... thats a lot of shooting for a win. People would count racks/point waiting for the guy to hit 76.
 
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acedotcom said:
I can report that there's no resurgence here on the west coast of Florida. In fact, two of the biggest rooms around here, rooms that frequently host pro 9 and 10 ball events, don't have beads or wheels or anything else straight pool players would need to keep score with. That's sad. Sadder even than the fact that they don't have a bottle and pills for those who might want to play pill pool.
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I played a couple of days ago at Comet Billiards where the Accustats event is going on. They had no beads or scorers on the table. I went up to ask why this was and found out that they had portable scorers. The kind that you would see built into the table, only in a rectangular box that you can bring to your table.
 
Brunswick and Diamond don't build scoring mechanisms into their tables anymore. I don't believe Diamond ever did. That certainly hasn't helped the game of 14.1 stick around.
 
Chris_Lynch said:
Brunswick and Diamond don't build scoring mechanisms into their tables anymore. I don't believe Diamond ever did. That certainly hasn't helped the game of 14.1 stick around.
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Good point!

BTW-johnny just ran 99 at Comet-1 shy of $$bonus.
 
Nostroke said:
Good point!

BTW-johnny just ran 99 at Comet-1 shy of $$bonus.
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I watched it too. It was so funny to listen to the commentary of Billy and Danny. They rarely agreed on what the best shot/pattern was for Johnny to take. And Johnny fooled them both more than a few times. Danny finally said that the way Johnny played Straight Pool was a mystery to him. :smile:

Meanwhile he ran 99 off of Parica's break shot. Reminds me of Richie Florence a million years ago. He didn't have a clue how to play Straight Pool, but he beat some good players running over a 100 balls, making a couple of circus shots every rack.
 
jay helfert said:
I watched it too. It was so funny to listen to the commentary of Billy and Danny. They rarely agreed on what the best shot/pattern was for Johnny to take. And Johnny fooled them both more than a few times. Danny finally said that the way Johnny played Straight Pool was a mystery to him. :smile:

Meanwhile he ran 99 off of Parica's break shot. Reminds me of Richie Florence a million years ago. He didn't have a clue how to play Straight Pool, but he beat some good players running over a 100 balls, making a couple of circus shots every rack.
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Yes, that run is full of entertainment value for anyone interested in the DVD when it comes out. Funny commentary and crazy, but miraculous play by Archer.
 
jay helfert said:
I watched it too. It was so funny to listen to the commentary of Billy and Danny. They rarely agreed on what the best shot/pattern was for Johnny to take. And Johnny fooled them both more than a few times. Danny finally said that the way Johnny played Straight Pool was a mystery to him. :smile:

Meanwhile he ran 99 off of Parica's break shot. Reminds me of Richie Florence a million years ago. He didn't have a clue how to play Straight Pool, but he beat some good players running over a 100 balls, making a couple of circus shots every rack.
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Yeah I never in a zillion years thought id enjoy watching Archer play straight pool or almost anyone for that matter. And Johnny was more Johnny than usual. Slow etc.

Danny and Billy were wrong over and over and i dont think they admitted it 10% of the time.:) Funny as hell though.

Still the best pool (the whole show) I've seen on the Internet.
 
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Nostroke said:
Danny and Billy were wrong over and over and i dont think they admitted it 10% of the time.:)
.
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You thought they were wrong? Billy is dead on in his calls in these matches in my opinion. Awesome knowledge of the game even though he doesn't claim to be a straight pool player.
 
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