Straight Pool practice

hobokenapa said:
I've got the book from my shelf. Page 155 is called Running the table - 13 rules to live by. I don't think these are specific to Straight Pool but it has your two examples so I think this is what you were referring to.

I'd also investigate the tapes mentioned in other threads. I definitely need to put time studying the game away from the table as well as practice on it.

If I do succeed in breaking 50, I'll post to this thread! :)
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That's the page, and, yes, it refers to straight pool, the only major pool game in which you need to run the entire table but can choose your order and your pockets as you please. Like I said, I showed that page to Mika Immonen once and it blew his mind. Now memorize those rules.
 
hobokenapa said:
I will do. My training has begun.
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With your good attitude, the future looks bright indeed. Keep us all informed of your progress. Just one warning - straight pool is addictive. Good luck!
 
sjm said:
With your good attitude, the future looks bright indeed. Keep us all informed of your progress. Just one warning - straight pool is addictive. Good luck!
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Thanks!

I'm already on the Accu-Stats site ...
 
Make wise choices. 14-1 is usually a series of mini break shots. Don't whack the hell out of them either! All else as mentioned is important but be aware of your key ball for each of those shots, be aware of the ball before the key ball as well. If you choose wisely the c/b travels less and makes setting up any break much easier.

When you know which one is your rack break ball follow the above as well. Many times a ball out from the side pocket works well and thats why the location is important on the ball before this key ball. Sure you can draw, follow or with spin and get there. However all this c/b travel is likely to get you in trouble. Come up short or long and you have to take second best or worst. In a perfect world the key ball is a stop shot.

Rod
 
The videos from Accu-Stats arrived yesterday. After my practice session, I watched the Rempe 100-ball run tape. Very interesting. I think it's something I can play back over and over to learn from. I was a little surprised how he was talking about the 'luck' of the breakshot. If you can run 200 balls, surely you know you are going to leave a shot?

I tried the drills mentioned. Threw out 15 balls, and tried to run them all without the cue ball hitting a rail. I thought this was a 'challenge' drill rather than a good exercise. I ran the 15 without hitting a rail on the first attempt so I guess it is not that difficult but it gets you in the right mindset to concentrate on careful shot selection.

The best drill I found was throwing seven balls in the bottom half of the table and running to the break shot. It takes away the concentration problem of the early balls, and made me think. Judging by the percentage of times I got a perfect break shot, this is an area I need to work on to get to the 100.

I then took an hour to go for a high run. Nothing too great, just a handful of 20s, high was only 28. Next session (Mon), I'll try and incorporate some things I learnt from Rempe's tape.
 
The Jim Rempe tapes are really good. So are Mike Sigel's tapes. His Accu Stats match with Mike Zuglan is amazing. He runs 150 and out and only gets himself into trouble on a few shots during the entire run. I would advise anyone who wants to get better at any pool game to watch as much video of great players as possible.

Straight pool is a very mentally demanding game and can be very frustrating to learn. I would suggest that you also try a variation of straight pool that I often do. Throw all 15 balls out on the table and run them out. Then throw 15 more out and run them. See how many you can make without missing or scratching. If you do this for a little while, you will begin to see the mental mistakes that you are making that end your runs (leaving balls on the rails too far into the rack, getting on the wrong side of a cluster of balls, not removing blocking balls soon enough, accidentally creating clusters, and so on). It's easier than playing straight pool- no breaking, and the balls aren't as bunched up. Also, you'll get a lot more practice actually pocketing balls and playing for position.
 
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