straight pool safeties

mjantti

mjantti

Enjoying life
Silver Member
Ok. Trying to perfect my straight pool skills and I have a question for advanced & pro players concerning straight pool. If you have a solid rack with 14 balls without the head ball, where and what part of the rack you can shoot comfortably in order to make a legal shot and freeze the cueball to the rack and leave nothing ? I have watched a few straight pool "masters" at work and they rarely seem to hit the pack except when taking a scratch behind the rack. I'm not asking where you might succeed, I'm asking the highest percentage shots which are used by top professionals.

Recently I won a Finnish straight pool ranking event and when I was facing a 14-ball rack, I took a scratch every single time behind the rack and won maybe 85% of the following safety battles and never had to shoot a difficult thin cut safety which my opponents tried a few times, usually leaving me a shot.

The regular scratch shot strategy in 14.1:
START(
%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%JK6M5%KJ5P7
%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%Pm6Q5%WR9C8%Xl5Q3%YD5L5%ZQ6C4%]H5N8
%^C5M4%eC4a4
)END

For instance, I've seen players (not top players) shooting at the either of two balls on top of the rack, but personally I think it's a bad shot because the ball you've hit first is usually separated from the pack and the opponent can freeze you again to the rack from this ball. Like this:

START(
%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%JK6M5%KJ5P7
%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%PZ8P2%WO1O3%XY7O9%YD3J8%ZI4L8%]N4M5
%^M9N2
)END

This is the only shot I dare to try with confidence. Shoot to the corner ball 14-ball which should reach the short rail and freeze the cueball to 13-ball (in this diagram)

START(
%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%JK6M5%KJ5P7
%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%PN2U2%WK9S0%XM8T5%YD2R0%ZI9Q9
)END

I think this works also shooting under the rack with the same idea but shot direction reversed.

Other high percentage shots used ?
 
the safety shot you prefer is easy. for one thing, the distance of the cb to the ob is short, so you can hit it soft enough to drive the ob to the rail and let the cb nesttle in the rack. you are also only dealing with one ob and it is not tied to any balls behind it,,,so it will free itself easily while the rest of the rack remains intact.

if the cb were that distance on the #2 diagram, it would be ALMOST as easy.

i don't like your safety from behind. there's the difficulty of another rail, so it's kind of a blind shot. you are also going into the rack at an angle, which is really bad because the cb can slide off the rack and into the open.

all things being fairly equal, it makes most sense to hit one ob full, not two balls together. and the tighter the pack the better the safety. i hate hitting two balls at once because that means i have to hit them exactly equally. if you hit the 8 as full as possible without hitting the five, i don't think the eight will drive out too far. in any case, driving the eight to the rail isn't too bad beause that leaves a very difficult bank shot.

so in your #1, i think the cb has a better chance to stick and create less havoc if you aim for the eight, because the domino sequence would be 8,4,10,15. if you aim for the 5, it would affect both the 9 and the 2, and they in turn will affect every ball behind them.

btw,,,you will be surprised at just how LIGHTLY you can address the cb and still drive a rack ball to the rail.
 
Last edited:
Disclaimer: I am not advanced or pro

mjantti said:
...when I was facing a 14-ball rack, I took a scratch every single time behind the rack and won maybe 85% of the following safety battles ...
Click to expand...

If you did that I would take an intentional foul.

mjantti said:
For instance, I've seen players (not top players) shooting at the either of two balls on top of the rack, but personally I think it's a bad shot because the ball you've hit first is usually separated from the pack
Click to expand...

Not if you hit it right (lightly). I can execute that safety a great majority of the time if the cueball is up table and not near a long rail.
 
Wally in Cincy said:
If you did that I would take an intentional foul.
Click to expand...

Yes. The idea of the intentional scratch is to free a few balls so my opponent cannot leave me up-table and the safety battle continues behind the rack. Thinning a full and tight rack is almost always foolish and being frozen under the rack with a few balls open is preferred over being up table with a full rack.

I still don't like shooting at the rack trying to freeze the cueball to the rack apart from intentional scratch mentioned earlier. I think it's an unnecessary risk under many circumstances. If I shoot too slow or the rack isn't perfectly tight, I end up setting up a few balls near the pockets and putting myself on a foul. If my opponent is not on a foul, I'm screwed.
 
bruin70 said:
all things being fairly equal, it makes most sense to hit one ob full, not two balls together. and the tighter the pack the better the safety. i hate hitting two balls at once because that means i have to hit them exactly equally. if you hit the 8 as full as possible without hitting the five, i don't think the eight will drive out too far. in any case, driving the eight to the rail isn't too bad beause that leaves a very difficult bank shot.

so in your #1, i think the cb has a better chance to stick and create less havoc if you aim for the eight, because the domino sequence would be 8,4,10,15. if you aim for the 5, it would affect both the 9 and the 2, and they in turn will affect every ball behind them.

btw,,,you will be surprised at just how LIGHTLY you can address the cb and still drive a rack ball to the rail.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right about hitting only one ball full in the face. I think when hitting the eight, my only preference is to leave the 8-ball in the rack, because if the 8-ball is separated, it usually offers a good way to froze me back to the rack again. Trying to freeze the cb to the rack is IMO beneficial if the opponent can't see any of the balls set loose. Of course, with distance to the rack, it's always difficult to make a good and accurate shot with the right speed from a distance...
 
mikko,

I still don't understand why you would take the first intentional foul behind the rack. This puts you on one foul while your opponent is on zero fouls. This puts you at a disadvantage.

thanks

Wally in Cincy
 
Im no pro...

Here is an alternate to your first shot that I picked up while watching some accustat tapes. I may have the lines off a bit, but with a little practice this shot is very reliable.

START(
%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%JK6M5%KJ5P7
%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%Pm6Q5%QL3U0%WH1C9%Xl5Q3%YD0E2%ZG2C4
%[q7S5%\M1M5%]L0L6%^C2E7%eC4a4
)END

I actually tried it for the first time in a match and pulled it off perfectly (I still recommend a little practice first LOL) the cueball grazes the pack, hardly moving any balls and puts your opponent back up table.

Then if he wants to be the first to take a scratch we can have our safty battle from there.

Woody
 
Wally in Cincy said:
START(
%AT8N5%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%JK6M5
%KJ5P7%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%PG2L8%QL3U0%UD0L8%VG9Y4%bH8Y8
%cI5R3%dH3N1
)END

http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/~wei/pool/pooltable2.html

It is possible though. Even if the 14 goes to "A" you are still in good shape.
Click to expand...

Yes, you found the shot which was in my mind when I wrote "almost always foolish" :D

The reason behind taking a scratch is if you're not on a comfortable position (long distance or bad angle) to freeze the cueball to the rack, you'll take a scratch instead of trying to thin the rack from near the head string, because if you hit the rack too full, you'll sell out, if you miss the rack completely, your opponent can now make a scratch and freeze you to head rail and your situation got a turn to worse. If you try to hit the top of the rack from a distance in order to get a legal shot, you'll easily sell out. When you take a scratch you'll hardly ever sell out, and you'll free some balls above the rack and your opponent cannot leave you up-table, because he'd leave you a shot. And even thought your opponent has now an option to make a scratch and put you anywhere, you shouldn't have problems making a legal shot behind the rack.

This intentional scratch is especially good if you are already on a one foul and there is a 14-ball full tight rack and you're in the kitchen.

I've watched quite a few 14.1 vids and top players (Varner, Mizerak) prefer to take scratch on the 14 ball rack. There is no risk and you don't have a difficult shot to make in any phase of the safety battle.
 
Wally in Cincy said:
mikko,

I still don't understand why you would take the first intentional foul behind the rack. This puts you on one foul while your opponent is on zero fouls. This puts you at a disadvantage.

thanks

Wally in Cincy
Click to expand...


pros do it ALL the time. there are two things. hope that when your opponent comes back with his safety, that you will have a better lay to execute a safe. whether he does screw up, or that you're both on 2 with your shot next,,,you still have to come up with a good safe and he'll have to come up to the plate with 1 or 2 scratches.
 
mjantti said:
...This intentional scratch is especially good if you are already on a one foul and there is a 14-ball full tight rack and you're in the kitchen. .
Click to expand...

I guess I am just really good at hitting one of the head balls and leaving the cueball on the spot. Now if I could just play better position and leave myself a good break ball and make my break ball consistently I would be in good shape. :D

mjantti said:
I've watched quite a few 14.1 vids and top players (Varner, Mizerak) prefer to take scratch on the 14 ball rack. There is no risk and you don't have a difficult shot to make in any phase of the safety battle.
Click to expand...

I agree that they do take the scratch many times in that situation. It helps that they are not afraid to take the 15-point penalty if necessary. 15 balls to these guys is nothing. They would rather do that than watch their opponent run 100
 
mjantti said:
The regular scratch shot strategy in 14.1:
START(
%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%IL7O4%JK6M5%KJ5P7
%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%Pm6Q5%WR9C8%Xl5Q3%YD5L5%ZQ6C4%]H5N8
%^C5M4%eC4a4
)END
Click to expand...

In my opinion, this is definitely the shot for the situation, but executing it consistently requires practice. If you hit it with even a little too much pace, you can lose the cue ball off the back of the rack and sell out. If you hit it too soft and don't loosen a ball, your opponent will take a foul, knocking the cue ball to the top rail in the center of the table, and you'll be hard pressed to play a good safety from there.

The shot into one of the front two balls probably doesn't win the safety battle if executed well, but it can sell out if executed poorly. I'd certainly never chance it when I'm that far from the rack!
 
Last edited:
sjm said:
In my opinion, this is definitely the shot for the situation, but executing it consistently requires practice. If you hit it with even a little too much pace, you can lose the cue ball off the back of the rack and sell out. If you hit it too soft and don't loosen a ball, your opponent will take a foul, knocking the cue ball to the top rail in the center of the table, and you'll be hard pressed to play a good safety from there.

The shot into one of the front two balls probably doesn't win the safety battle if executed well, but it can sell out if executed poorly. I'd certainly never chance it when I'm that far from the rack!
Click to expand...

Thanks SJM for agreeing with me :p

I think I would use the shot into two front balls if the cloth was brand new, the balls were polished and the rack was made with a Sardo rack. Otherwise the racks aren't perfect enough to make a good hit on the rack and leave nothing.
 
mjantti said:
Thanks SJM for agreeing with me :p

I think I would use the shot into two front balls if the cloth was brand new, the balls were polished and the rack was made with a Sardo rack. Otherwise the racks aren't perfect enough to make a good hit on the rack and leave nothing.
Click to expand...

Now we disagree, Mikko. The front balls safe is relatively easy to execute, except from far away. From three feet away or less, with the cue ball near the center of the table, it's almost a sure thing, regardless of the equipment. I just think it's a poor percentage when you're nowhere near the pack, as it gains only a slight advantage in the safety battle and it has such a big downside.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top