Setting A High Run Goal

I have had some serious items going on with work so my straight pool effort has really slacked, I have been playing in a 14.1 league and an 8 ball league. My work issues are now resolving so we can see if we can get back to some serious straight pool.

Also I am back from refreshing outing with our own WBM, we went to partake in the Archer/Strickland road show and it was pretty good times. The info was good as well.

I want to announce to the world that Mr Strickland has still got a monster stroke. I am talking the real King Kong kind of gorilla kind of stroke. I got some video but do not know what can be seen on it so we will have to check it out I might post it but I do not think I had a good angle so I will let you know.

For any who are intered in learning. Both Archer and Strickland were class acts, each had their own style, no doubt Earl was Earl but let me tell you it was good, better than I expected. If you get a chance give them guys a shot at helping you out. We all could learn something and these guys put the rubber on the road and help make it happen.

Dana from Indy
 
Hitting the balls very solidly

Had a few 20 plus ball runs lately

Need to get in to that third rack

Confidence is small
 
Played some in the last few days. Did not have any hi runs.
Tues Played a league Match gave up 35 going to 100. Win 100-67. I think I had a 3 runs 14 or more but no 20's
Wed - Thur No balls hit
Fri - Played in a 8 ball tourney with a wide range of players. Played like a donkey. Gambled some played better won a few dollars so I broke even for the day.
Sat Played 3.5 hrs of 9 ball on a tight diamond focus came and went
Sun Posted something and heard I should be playing more so I can run my 42. I got down to the basement and shot 100 plus ate lunch did some drills over an hour and half played some 14.1 later no good runs.

Ball pocketing is getting pretty decent need to work on my stop shots and patterns slightly out of line at the end of my rack keeps killing me. I can run a rack and half alot but I do not successfully keep in line those last 4 or 5 balls of a rack. I need to be more disciplined on pattern planning.

I have 8 ball league this Mon and 2 14.1 matches my normal Thur league and a makeup match with a strong player on Tues nite. He will play me 135 to 95 with me going to 95. He and I are the only ones left in the league undefeated this season. I need to be disciplined. He is a better overall player but is new to straight pool so he gets his balls and ducks. He is a pretty strong 9 ball 1p player and an excellent banker think he got around 15th or so last year at the DCC in the bank tourney, Busty put him out.

Marop I will tray to play more. I shoot close to 400 or 500 balls of 14.1 a week, I need that to be closer to 1500 like you. Stan Shuffet told me every time I practice I should shoot at least 20 racks which is 280 balls.

I will run 42 balls I need to focus on this goal.
 
good luck dana !

i sure got to admire your dedication.

just a 2c hint to run more. Try to find a secundary breakball as soon as possible. opening the pack twice with the first 5 balls really helps getting more open and easyer racks to runout.

Table managment is in my opinion the most important thing to running high runs in straightpool. just like you I often chose the wrong sequence, and my high run is also stuck in the 30's.

good luck with beating your high run!
 
elvicash said:
Played some in the last few days. Did not have any hi runs.
Tues Played a league Match gave up 35 going to 100. Win 100-67. I think I had a 3 runs 14 or more but no 20's
Wed - Thur No balls hit
Fri - Played in a 8 ball tourney with a wide range of players. Played like a donkey. Gambled some played better won a few dollars so I broke even for the day.
Sat Played 3.5 hrs of 9 ball on a tight diamond focus came and went
Sun Posted something and heard I should be playing more so I can run my 42. I got down to the basement and shot 100 plus ate lunch did some drills over an hour and half played some 14.1 later no good runs.

Ball pocketing is getting pretty decent need to work on my stop shots and patterns slightly out of line at the end of my rack keeps killing me. I can run a rack and half alot but I do not successfully keep in line those last 4 or 5 balls of a rack. I need to be more disciplined on pattern planning.

I have 8 ball league this Mon and 2 14.1 matches my normal Thur league and a makeup match with a strong player on Tues nite. He will play me 135 to 95 with me going to 95. He and I are the only ones left in the league undefeated this season. I need to be disciplined. He is a better overall player but is new to straight pool so he gets his balls and ducks. He is a pretty strong 9 ball 1p player and an excellent banker think he got around 15th or so last year at the DCC in the bank tourney, Busty put him out.

Marop I will tray to play more. I shoot close to 400 or 500 balls of 14.1 a week, I need that to be closer to 1500 like you. Stan Shuffet told me every time I practice I should shoot at least 20 racks which is 280 balls.

I will run 42 balls I need to focus on this goal.


Dana -Undefeated?! Excellent. Keep it going.
I had a few 20 somethings against Eddy Saturday, a 26 Thursday and unfinished runs of high 20 and low 30s last Monday at Red Shoes. The clod I played messed up the balls I was shooting as his way of conceding.
Keep the faith.

Dennis
 
You should check out the 14and1.com league setup that Selftaut started. It is handicapped and has a nationals event in Atlantic City. This is the second year for it.

Lots of fun. Lots of great people and players.
 
Solartje said:
good luck dana !

i sure got to admire your dedication.

just a 2c hint to run more. Try to find a secundary breakball as soon as possible. opening the pack twice with the first 5 balls really helps getting more open and easyer racks to runout.

Table managment is in my opinion the most important thing to running high runs in straightpool. just like you I often chose the wrong sequence, and my high run is also stuck in the 30's.

good luck with beating your high run!

Thanks for the support. I hope to have something good to report back before the end of the year.

Also, I agree with the playing into a secondary break shot thing when the balls are still clustered. Also on the table management thing.

I am playing pretty well at times and am streaky at times. I find when playing a game I loose focus after about an hour and half and have to force myself to refocus. When I loose focus I loose grasp of the fact I need to play the game and shoot the balls. I get into this shooting state and loose track of the table management. quality time planning makes the game so much easier.

Glad to report I play better this year than last and I think I will get the 42 I just need to hit more balls.
 
Played the league match it did not work out to my adavantage.

The game was -40 to +5 I had the 5 ball head start.

Final score 100-88.

I played so so at best I hung a bunch of balls in bottom left corner pocket leaving fairly open layouts when I missed.

I look forward to playing my next match.
 
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I am 43 now as of June 24th. That is 3 racks plus a break ball.
This will be my year.

I did not attend this thread at all for over 6 months. Where did the time go. I have to work on my goal.

I will start posting some runs.
 
goals

I am 43 now as of June 24th. That is 3 racks plus a break ball.
This will be my year.

I did not attend this thread at all for over 6 months. Where did the time go. I have to work on my goal.

I will start posting some runs.

Me and Bill were talking about this last month. You only had a few days to hit your 42.

I think you work too much.

You need to quit working and work on your pool game.
 
I Try not to set my high run goal too high, i strive to beat my last highest run. My High run is 119, so if i run a 120 I'm good with that; any more than that is a bonus !:smile:

so with that in mind i do not put the run too far out of reach !

Steve
 
I Try not to set my high run goal too high, i strive to beat my last highest run. My High run is 119, so if i run a 120 I'm good with that; any more than that is a bonus !:smile:

so with that in mind i do not put the run too far out of reach !

Steve

Steve:

why don't you get your video camera going and get us a new high "short run of 32".

Dennis
 
I don't think 43 is out of reach, I run 20+ pretty often when I play, now DMG is right I do not play enough. I run a 20+ maybe twice every three games to a 100 or so I ussually have 14 or more every game.

About my goal, I have ran 37 3 times none of them lately but not that long ago either. I would like to run my age I do not think that is out line, now my weight, that would be a different thing entirely. I need to go ahead and post some video.

I do not play much but when I hit the ball every day for a week a straight I get it going a little bit. I play a little behind WBM but we come out on games 60-40 with him getting the nod. I might hit the ball a little better than DMG but his pattern selection is much better. His stroke look better lately at least on video. Dennis I have a tip for you on that stroke trainer I have one too and we need to talk.

I think my weakest point is definitly in the planning portion of the game specifically patterns, shot selection etc.
My execution phase is hampered by minor aligment issues and a tendancy to shoot firmer than required. I am working on staying down and checking my tip.

I know I can run 43 I just need to do it so I am getting off here and am headed to the table right now.
 
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Ran a 29 today on a 9' Olhausen. Have not been playing much. Played last week a quick game with SJM he crushed me but it is always inspirational to be around him (100-46 I think). Thanks for letting me rack :grin: . WBM is picking up speed and DMG ran 57 up in Chi town.

I got to keep at it, need to play every day but always seem to find other things jumping in front of pool.

I played Andy from the league the last two Mondays he won both times and I could not stay focused on the game. I need to get some more head phones as I listen/hear all of the conversations in the pool room and do better when I just hear the music.

Scott Lee came through Indy a week or so ago and I was in N.C. working so I missed him. :frown: Scott try and call again next time you are passing through, if you call ahead I might be able to hook you up with a student.

Current state of the game for me. Stroke is good, ball pocketing is getting there. Trying to work on level cue and seeing patterns with shorter/simpler cue routes. I am making break balls pretty well. I have gotten spoiled with a ball cleaner and dirty equipment is now rougher on my game.
 
runs as measure of progress

I am 41 years old.

My birthday is June 24.

My goal is to run my age before my next birthday.

In practice or competition, I do not care which.

I currently claim my hi run as 14.

I will revisit this thread as the year progresses.

How long should one be playing before it is reasonable to expect to run a rack, 2 racks...

How does one measure progress in terms of runs?
 
How long should one be playing before it is reasonable to expect to run a rack, 2 racks...

How does one measure progress in terms of runs?
Joe Bachelor was said to have run 100 after six months of playing. I ran 20 after about a year and 50 after about 4 years, but that 50 was the first run of 50 that I had ever seen.

As far as keeping track of runs, when I do my standard practice (begin from a standard good break shot, rerack when you miss), I keep track of runs and averages. I do 10 turns at a time to make the math easier.
 
less hopeless

Joe Bachelor was said to have run 100 after six months of playing. I ran 20 after about a year and 50 after about 4 years, but that 50 was the first run of 50 that I had ever seen.

As far as keeping track of runs, when I do my standard practice (begin from a standard good break shot, rerack when you miss), I keep track of runs and averages. I do 10 turns at a time to make the math easier.

Thank you. I feel less hopeless now.
 
Joe you do have to work on it and I do not do that enough. I am starting to see patterns pretty well and that brings on working through a rack for me. If you just go to shooting easy shot to easy shot which is how I started on 14.1 you run out of shots real quick. This is a game of precision and short cue ball paths with lots of stop shots and hitting the balls pretty thick. Read this forum especially anything from Blackjack SJM Lipsky etc look at Bluepeppers run this and see the replys set up some of those outs and work on it. Set up 3-5 balls that play naturally into a break shot shoot them off and break the rack. Also spread all the balls out and try to just run the entire table with out touching a rail. Try to stop or forward more than drawing especially drawing from a long distance or drawing to a spot a long distance.Shoot soft a lot if you can, this is a problem for me. TIP - Oh yeah a good player from Chicago Bob Cozzolino (I know I butched his name sorry Bob) told me, "You have to make the ball, have to make the ball, have to make the ball" so do not forget that either.

I wish you luck buddy, this game is rewarding when you stick with it the balls/runs will come.
 
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TIP - Oh yeah a good player from Chicago Bob Cozzolino (I know I butchered his name; sorry Bob.) told me, "You have to make the ball, have to make the ball, have to make the ball" so do not forget that either.

I wish you luck buddy, this game is rewarding when you stick with it the balls/runs will come.

Dana: Your spelling is perfect. I was talking to Rich Griffin at the Illinois Billiard Club and he said Bob told him:

and another thing....DON'T MISS... DO NOT MISS!!
 
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