Rule of Thumb For 8-ball?

C

cuetechasaurus

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Let's say you ball in hand, no balls have been pocketed yet, and everything is wide open. There are balls spread all across the table, and every ball has pretty accessible shape. Is there a general rule that you should start on one end of the table opposite of the 8ball, and work your way to the other side? When I have a ton of options, I often make an error in my patterns. When the pattern route seems pretty linear, that's usually when I can run out with ease. Of course I understand that the lay of the balls should dictate when and where to play position for certain balls, but is there any general rule of thumb that top 8-ball players go by?

When I have an open table like described, I look over whether solids or stripes is the easiest to run out, and then I look for a ball that will give me the easiest position to the 8ball, and I work my way towards that ball. Sometimes I overlook things so I screw up, obviously.
 
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If you have ball in hand, start with the smallest "V" and work to the biggest.

I'll leave it at that, others will post their oppinion to fill in the gaps.
 
Ronoh said:
If you have ball in hand, start with the smallest "V" and work to the biggest.

I'll leave it at that, others will post their oppinion to fill in the gaps.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by "V"?
 
ive always heard pick the ones that have the easiest last ball that leaves you in on the 8. Ive seen some books for sale on 8ball.........never thought id be buying them but if the ipt hangs around alot of us 9ball players are gonna be learning lol
 
'The 8 Ball Bible' is an invaluable resource for the game. Will teach you how to read a table for possible pattern play and shot safety play. Stepped up my game. Can't recommend it highly enough!


On an open table, I often will look for the best possible pattern to play. That means assessing the lie, and what impact it could have on your pattern should they be disturbed, as will likely happen. I personally prefer cuts and rail shots, but will shy away if I find that there are too many chances for my opponents balls to block paths to the pocket. I also like to find groups of balls together, picking them off one at a time, which can often leave you the out. I will always walk the table before taking that first shot, even if I have already pretty much decided on a suit, just to see if it looks as good from a different vantage point.

After a while....you'll find you're making a decision almost immediately.

Oh, another trick.....watch if your opponent has a preference, alot do. For instance, I know my husband prefers stripes to solids, and will take them 99.9% of the time....even if they are not the best choice. Sometimes taking an opponents preferred suit can throw them off a bit. I could care less about suit, I'm always going for the best pattern and the out.

Lisa
 
cuetechasaurus said:
Let's say you ball in hand, no balls have been pocketed yet, and everything is wide open. There are balls spread all across the table, and every ball has pretty accessible shape. Is there a general rule that you should start on one end of the table opposite of the 8ball, and work your way to the other side? When I have a ton of options, I often make an error in my patterns. When the pattern route seems pretty linear, that's usually when I can run out with ease. Of course I understand that the lay of the balls should dictate when and where to play position for certain balls, but is there any general rule of thumb that top 8-ball players go by?

When I have an open table like described, I look over whether solids or stripes is the easiest to run out, and then I look for a ball that will give me the easiest position to the 8ball, and I work my way towards that ball. Sometimes I overlook things so I screw up, obviously.
Click to expand...

If the table is wide open -

I look for the easiest patterns to get out. Once I decdide which set is the best, I pick groups. Usually one group of three and one group of four with one ball to get from one to the other. If the table is runable, I always play patterns like that. They are easy to find too.

Once you seperate them by groups, you can easily pick a pattern for that group which will get you to the other.

I pick my patterns, for an open table, by choosing which pattern requires the CB to move the least and lets the CB run natural. I hate making the CB do what it does not want to naturaly do so I chose patterns to suit this...
 
cuetechasaurus said:
Let's say you ball in hand, no balls have been pocketed yet, and everything is wide open. There are balls spread all across the table, and every ball has pretty accessible shape. Is there a general rule that you should start on one end of the table opposite of the 8ball, and work your way to the other side? When I have a ton of options, I often make an error in my patterns. When the pattern route seems pretty linear, that's usually when I can run out with ease. Of course I understand that the lay of the balls should dictate when and where to play position for certain balls, but is there any general rule of thumb that top 8-ball players go by?

When I have an open table like described, I look over whether solids or stripes is the easiest to run out, and then I look for a ball that will give me the easiest position to the 8ball, and I work my way towards that ball. Sometimes I overlook things so I screw up, obviously.
Click to expand...

I was taught to work on one side of the table playing eightball then after you clear'd one side move to the other side this way you don't run into any trouble, but of course this is hard to do sometimes. Eightball i found that you can not run the table all the time because of clusters and such so what i do is pluck away a couple balls then play safe or move my balls towards the pockets then let my opponent break things up or clear as much as he can then have the table to myself when he has nothing to shoot at or something. Cause there were many times that i did just that run the table and have no shot with my last ball before the eight and i just clean'd and clear'd the table for my opponent and its my turn to sit in the electric chair not fun.
 
I'll look for a high probability finishing pattern, the last 2 or 3 balls. Sometimes this finishing pattern does not finish on the ball which is most perfect to get on the 8 from. But it should be an easier sequence with less trouble positioning from ball to ball.

Also must look at the hardest, or potentially trouble causing balls, and formulate a pattern for the first 3 or 4 balls that gives me a good chance to achieve this and forms a bridge to my finishing pattern.

I'd rather choose a pattern that is trickier in the first phase, than to leave potentially risky balls till later in the out, even if that pattern increases the overall odds of the out slightly.

This way, if I mess up that initial pattern, I've still got 4 or 5 balls on the table which achieves 3 things:
1. Opponent has more traffic to dodge.
2. Increased safety options if at table with no attractive shot to attempt an out.
3. Much better chance of getting an out chance if the upcoming player messes up, which maybe 50% to 20% of the time depending on if the player is a good league player or a pro.
 
I am looking for a rule of thumb that would be applicable at the professional level. I haven't gotten a chance to see ALOT of pros play 8-ball, only one event, and that was one of the IPT qualifiers. I noticed that even on the racks where there were clusters and very tough outs, the pros did not play a game of nip and tuck, they went all out for offense, and only played safe if they had no chance to get out. Well that was the strategy of most of the players who advanced far in the field. What was really intriguing was their runout patterns. After the break, I would look at a layout and try to think how would I get out from here. Sometimes I saw the out correctly, but other times I saw some players play a certain shot that really shocked me, like for example the 8 ball is the only ball tied up, and early in the run they have a chance to make one of their balls and break up the 8-ball cluster, but instead they would leave the cluster alone and play for a bank on the 8-ball (this was still done after Trudeau stopped giving away the bonus for banks). Those cross side banks are like 90% make for these guys. Subtle things like that are what I really love about the game. On the same rack I was just talking about, I thought about the cluster and why he didn't break it up and played the bank on the 8 later. The direction the cueball would be going into the cluster, and the way the balls were laying, his opponents balls would go in the direction of some of his balls, and possibly tie them up. It would not even be guaranteed that the 8 wound up good too. So the player actually took the higher percentage way to run out by choosing to leave the cluster alone and bank the 8. Most novice players in that situation would have tried to break out the cluster at warp speed and hope the balls come to a stop in a favorable position, but usually that is not the case. I really like this game now! :D
 
if the table is wide open, and there are zero problems, as you said, and i have the freedom of ball in hand, i will clear one end of the table first, leaving myself 3 degree cuts on these balls. this way i have my cueball on a string. i hate to have to go to 9 degree cuts when 3 degree's gets the job done much easier, the name of the game is "control the white" after all my object balls on that side of the table are cleared, i come down towards the middle of the table, and attack with caution the rest of the layout, always thinking carefully, and weighing each thickness of cut option out. i prefer the 2002 style of ralf souquet, and the 2004 style of thorston hoemann, very german, full of precison and very, very "pin-point" i leave myself in the middle of the table after clearing the original side, because it leaves me with options. as the pattern leaves less and less of my balls on the table, the positional play and pattern, becomes more and more crystal clear, and even more exact. finally, i travel from the last stripe, to the 8-ball with everything being weighed out, finally i am dead straight in on the black 8-ball, and take nothing for granted, warm up strokes, fundamentals and sighting remain professional and serious throughout this one ever so important shot. there, i pulled the trigger and down goes the black, for the win. the main thing about racks like those are to try to avoid one mistake, so you could avoid recovery shots, that should never have been played in the first place. keep it simple, almost straight, move the white as little as possible, and connect the dots, and remember, your way of seeing the dots and mine may be entirely different, but as long as our connecting makes sense, and gives us no trouble, then both of us were correct.
 
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