Straight pool newbie question

2

219Dave

Pool is my therapy
Silver Member
As I mentioned in a thread in the main forum, a fellow AZ'er introduced me to straight pool last night, and I loved it. Here's my easy question:

I have a table in my basement. It is furniture style, and doesn't have the counting mechanism in it. I already own a floor cue rack, also without a counter. From the little that I've played, I already sense that counting in your head is too distracting. What should I get to handle the counting issue? I saw some old school bead type things online that I could hang from the ceiling. I could also just put up a little chalkboard or dry erase type thing on the wall to keep score.

Thoughts?
 
219Dave said:
As I mentioned in a thread in the main forum, a fellow AZ'er introduced me to straight pool last night, and I loved it. Here's my easy question:

I have a table in my basement. It is furniture style, and doesn't have the counting mechanism in it. I already own a floor cue rack, also without a counter. From the little that I've played, I already sense that counting in your head is too distracting. What should I get to handle the counting issue? I saw some old school bead type things online that I could hang from the ceiling. I could also just put up a little chalkboard or dry erase type thing on the wall to keep score.

Thoughts?
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When practicing I use a coin that I set upon the table (at the cushion)

For every completed rack, I slide the coin 1 diamond. When you miss, count the balls left on the table and subtract from 14... then add that number to the the rack count.

EXAMPLE:
(2 racks + 8 balls = 36)

Works for me.
 
They sell the counters separately now. Contact a Brunswick dealer for them. They are just mounted in a box that you can keep on a table or mount on a wall.
 
JStarkweather said:
For every completed rack?? Must be nice. :D
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Yeah, I watched John Schmidt do that & thought it was really cool so I tried it myself...it became a little embarassing when I never seemed to get past the corner pocket. :frown:
 
I use paper if there are no dials/beads. I keep a little notebook in my case and it works pretty well.

I also use the same concept for my straight pool league scoresheets. It also is easier to track runs if you aren't to the multiple rack level yet.

I draw 3 lines down the page, one side for each player:

ME | score | YOU | score

Just write down how many balls you make each inning, separated by comma. Since each rack is a separate line (perfect with pre-lined notebook paper), makes figuring it out easy. (do you know how to use the 4 dials and beads correctly?)

If there is a foul/scratch, I just write a little circle by the playing area. At the end of each rack, just add up the balls, subtract any fouls, and add to the previous score. Also, I make a little + sign next to whoever breaking, making it easier to track runs across separate racks (especially if they are partial). If you miss the break ball, you just write a zero in there to show the run ended. If you are working on high run averages and such, it works pretty well.

Code: 
ME           | score | YOU      |  score
4, 1, 6+     | 11    |  2, 1  o |  2
0, 1, 6+     | 18    |  7,      |  9
8,       o   | 25    | 6+       |  15
             | 25    | 14+      |  29
5, 2, 1, 4+  | 36    | 3,       |  32

In the case above, my high run is 14, while yours is 23

(sorry if I didn't explain that correctly)
 
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If for some reason you don't want the beads, you can mount these in a piece of wood with no problem.

http://www.poolndarts.com/p-5939-Antique-Brass-Rail-Score-Counter/


BTW, you should get two of them even though you see one of them has two seperate counters. The individual counters on one score counter is used for "rack" and "total". You score each rack on the left, and at the end of the rack you total it to the right and zero the left. Each player has his own of course.
 
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Thank you all for your suggestions. I ended up ordering something on line today. It's not on the Billiard Warehouse website, but that's where I got it. I think it's basically like the thing in the last post, but mounted into a wood block. It should work out just like the thing in the last post, and the counters in the pool tables.
 
For a great score system go to www.billiards.com....I have the one that's described as "Solid wood score board by Billiards.com" for $34.95....Then you can go to a place like Hobby Lobby and add a string (wire) with small beads to the bottom of it..Hope this helps....:smile:
 
I have the beads in my basement & work great. Of course I'm pretty old school & grew up using them back when everyone played straight pool..lol.
 
I actually have an extra set of beads. Kind of cheap.

Jim Parker gave me a good set of older ones from the Illinois Billiard Club.

So.

I'll give the others to a good home.

First one who wants them.:)
 
kingman33 said:
If you have an extra I will take one off your hands...

Thanks Dennis...
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Sorry, Ken.

CustomQs beat you to the punch. I only had one extra set and it is now gone.
 
Just Don't miss ...lol Just dont think about numbers and how much you run. Just practice if you were playing for a thousand. well in your case 100,000....
 
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