straight pool

[1pocketfanatic]

im new to straight pool but i hear people talking about its a good practice game by yourself. how do you play this by yourself? do you start with a key ball and go from there or how is it done? im interested in learning the game and it seems very enjoyable.

 

[mjantti]

Straight pool is one of those disciplines where you realize:

-You actually need to concentrate on every ball. Most runs for beginners and sometimes for pros also end in simple missed ball.
-Related to above, when you think you're already out, you mostly aren't if you have balls left on the table.
-Having short and controllable cueball movements decreases mistakes.
-Keep it simple
-Acquiring a good and constant shooting rhythm is essential in learning and keeping up your stroke.

When practising, I always set up a break ball I like and continue from there. You might practise just by running balls or maybe setting up a target, let's say 25/50/100/150/200 points and then figuring out how many innings you need to get there. If you miss, you set up a new break shot and continue from there with a new inning. This doesn't tell your real average, but let's you know when you have started improving. Setting up a target is sometimes important, especially if you have a tendency of letting go during practising alone, meaning going for stupid and ridiculous shots just for the fun of it. You should practise the same as you'd be in a match situation.

Hope this helps. I play 14.1 quite regularly, it helps keeping my stroke and stance in balance. I'd call shooting 14.1 "back to basics" when the actual shotmaking is concerned. 14.1 strategics is a totally different and difficult area to master.

 

[papercut]

Great post!

I too would like to know how others practice. The problem I have is that when I do miss a ball, I feel like giving up since the "high run" is now broken. Also, how do you shoot when you don't have a shot? Play a safety on yourself? Take ball-in-hand? What's the punishment for just smashing open the rack? That is, if you're trying to minimize innings as your goal to score 100, wouldn't the easiest thing to be to just bust open the rack without a shot? When you do miss, do you just leave the balls alone and keep shooting?

Looking for advice for making practice of 14.1 with goals in mind that mimic true play.

 

[dmgwalsh]

Great post!

I too would like to know how others practice. The problem I have is that when I do miss a ball, I feel like giving up since the "high run" is now broken.

I do this, too, when I am going for a high run. Sometimes, I'll just start from where I'm at and play the table as it lies and see what I can do.

Also, how do you shoot when you don't have a shot? Play a safety on yourself? Take ball-in-hand?

Unless I'm practicing safes, I'll move the cue or move the object ball and see what I can do with the layout.

What's the punishment for just smashing open the rack? That is, if you're trying to minimize innings as your goal to score 100, wouldn't the easiest thing to be to just bust open the rack without a shot? When you do miss, do you just leave the balls alone and keep shooting?
.

Unless you are doing an exercise in just pocketing balls on the table, what's the real point of smashing the balls open? You could also do that Jim Rempe drill where you spread the 15 balls and run them without touching the rail.

 

[hobokenapa]

You can also do Equal Offense. Open the rack up, take ball in hand behind the line and see how many you can run. Max score is 20, do this for 10 innings. It makes you concentrate on every shot. You just HATE to miss when you are on 4 or something whereas just shooting around, it's easy to get careless and sloppy until you are in the second rack. Also, it enables you to plot an average over time.

I am guilty of just going for high runs too, athough I'm happy just to get in the 30s consistently. I also have one night a week to practice so I can 'target' that. Currently that night is Tuesday. Once again I ran another 40 last night but I can't, at the moment, take that extra leap into the 50s and 60s.

 

[girlwon1]

I was for awhile when I would miss a run start over and rerack starting with the classic break ball. I quit doing that all the time and will shoot where it lies. For me, right now, it is more important to see more end patterns and work that out. Over time, the more you play, you identify easier what balls should be in the end rack and which are not. Right now, it takes me a little time to see the end pattern. I have found shifting my focus from balls ran, which I think too many people get wrapped up in too much, to being able to identify patterns a bit better has served me greater in the long run.

As far as playing safe on yourself, when I have no shot and the rack is pretty uniform, I have been practicing the break apart the rack and freeze shot, especially from shooting behind, into the rack.

 

[dmgwalsh]

For me, right now, it is more important to see more end patterns and work that out. Over time, the more you play, you identify easier what balls should be in the end rack and which are not. Right now, it takes me a little time to see the end pattern. I have found shifting my focus from balls ran, which I think too many people get wrapped up in too much, to being able to identify patterns a bit better has served me greater in the long run.

Very good advice. Lots of instructors will tell you not to worry about the high runs. Just learn to play the table correctly and the runs will take care of themselves. I heard that Dallas West used to throw three balls out and try to get on a break shot. I've thrown like 5 or 6 out and tried to get on a break shot.
Sometimes I cheat and put one next to the rack and one by the side and randomly throw 4 or 5 others out to get used to doing things right at the end.
If you can make your last 2 or 3 shots have minimal cue ball movement, it will be easier.

 

[dmgwalsh]

14.1

I am guilty of just going for high runs too, athough I'm happy just to get in the 30s consistently. I also have one night a week to practice so I can 'target' that. Currently that night is Tuesday. Once again I ran another 40 last night but I can't, at the moment, take that extra leap into the 50s and 60s.

I just had a 46 a few weeks ago, my high before that was about 32 or 33. Usually my high in matches might get into the 20s. Need to keep it up.

A guy from NY told me Tony Robles high was 49 forever, until fianlly he broke through and then high runs started coming much more frequently.

 

[Bob Jewett]

im new to straight pool but i hear people talking about its a good practice game by yourself. how do you play this by yourself? do you start with a key ball and go from there or how is it done? im interested in learning the game and it seems very enjoyable.

For books, I'd recommend Cranfield's. Byrne and Fels also have sections on 14.1 that are useful. Capelle's book would be a lot better if it were less verbose, but maybe you won't be bothered by the lack of editing.

For practice, if I don't have specific shots to work on, I start with cue ball and last object ball "in hand" and break the balls and see how many I can run. I usually do 10 innings of this and record the runs in a notebook.

Fiind good players to watch. There are a few tapes available. This year at the Derby City Classic there will be a 14.1 challenge, and I think there is a good chance a new competition high run will be set. That's in January in Louisville. In the first week of April, there will be the World 14.1 Championships in New York City.

 

[Steve Lipsky]

A guy from NY told me Tony Robles high was 49 forever, until fianlly he broke through.

This must have been in the womb, lol. Trying to imagine Tony as never having run 50 balls is kinda funny. He exhales hundreds now .

Hope all is well,
Steve

 

[dmgwalsh]

This must have been in the womb, lol. Trying to imagine Tony as never having run 50 balls is kinda funny. He exhales hundreds now .

Hope all is well,
Steve

I was thinking the same thing, from what little I have heard about him. The guy from NY took a few lessons from him.

Would you say that he's the top 14.1 player in the NY area (present company excepted, of course ) ?

Who are the top NY area 14.1 players?

 

[hobokenapa]

This must have been in the womb, lol. Trying to imagine Tony as never having run 50 balls is kinda funny. He exhales hundreds now .

Hi Steve, can you share some of your practice routines? Or least the ones you used when you were also in the womb trying to break 50

 

[Gerry]

For me, I never had much trouble clearing the balls off the table, so, the best thing that got me to start running lots of balls consistently(from the 20/30 range to 50+) was Dallas West's routine of chucking 4/5 balls out at randon and get on a break ball. Don't cheat and put an easy one near the rack all the time, because during a match if you can't get a traditional breaker, you have to know how to get on, and hit the not so traditional breakers(ie: side pocket, off the side rail, 3 rail). So, throw the balls out, get on a breaker and rack the balls and hit the break shot. Check your results, if your not happy, set it up again, clear the balls off and throw another 4/5 out. Also pay CLOSE attention to how the cue ball will strike the first ball in the pack when hitting the break shot(Johnny Ervolino's rule) because we all have been guilty of juicing up the cue ball too much and ending up on the end rail!...Gerry

 

[Steve Lipsky]

I was thinking the same thing, from what little I have heard about him. The guy from NY took a few lessons from him.

Would you say that he's the top 14.1 player in the NY area (present company excepted, of course ) ?

Who are the top NY area 14.1 players?

dmg,

Tony is probably the strongest 14.1 player in the NYC area. It is close between him and Danny Barouty; I would give the very, very slight edge to Tony based purely on being a slightly better pocketer. They both play patterns that can leave even knowledgeable straight pool players in awe.

Ginky is getting back into the game, and will very soon be at full speed. His patterns are exemplary too.

Between these three guys, you'd be nuts to bet on any of them in a given game, though. Any difference you'll see won't come out until a long, long session has been played.

There's also (in no particular order) Tom Walter, Jonathan Smith, Joey Kong, Chris Lynch, this board's SJM, and Don Montalvo. I know I'm forgetting people, so I'll try to edit this later.

And very soon, hobokenapa is going to be on that list as well. It's a sure thing.

- Steve

 

[Steve Lipsky]

Hi Steve, can you share some of your practice routines? Or least the ones you used when you were also in the womb trying to break 50

Hi Hoboken. I was never a very disciplined practicer. What drew me to 14.1 was my pure love of pocketing balls. No game can compete with straight pool in terms of just running balls. So, even though I may not have been very disciplined, I've almost never practiced anything other than 14.1 when playing by myself. Practicing other games kinda makes me want to vomit
. So that's a lot of practice time devoted to straight pool, even if it's not always structured very well.

You don't have to do drills, per se, but it'll never hurt to do the Dallas West routine others have spoken about on this thread. The other good one (which is AMAZING for figuring out patterns) is to throw the balls out and run them without hitting a rail or another ball. It gets easier with time, and when you're not hittin' 'em so good, this drill can get your focus back.

Other than that, there are two gigantic things you can do to help your game. The first is to watch Accu-Stats tapes and better players from your area play. Accu-Stats is probably a bit better because you can rewind if necessary and there's also commentary. But both are very important.

The other thing you can do is a bit trickier, and more of a pain in the ass. But here it is: when practicing alone, constantly question yourself. Why am I going to shoot this ball next? Why am I going to go two rails for position, without even thinking about it? Might one rail be better?

You'll find that as an intelligent person, and I believe that all students of the game are, you hold inside you many of the keys to great play. It is sometimes just a question of doing the work necessary to unlock it. Questioning yourself (i.e., making SURE you have a valid reason for doing what you are about to do) can be a very valuable tool towards that end.

- Steve

 

[Gerry]

Steve, Very well said!

 

[hobokenapa]

Other than that, there are two gigantic things you can do to help your game. The first is to watch Accu-Stats tapes and better players from your area play. Accu-Stats is probably a bit better because you can rewind if necessary and there's also commentary. But both are very important.

The other thing you can do is a bit trickier, and more of a pain in the ass. But here it is: when practicing alone, constantly question yourself. Why am I going to shoot this ball next? Why am I going to go two rails for position, without even thinking about it? Might one rail be better?

Thanks Steve, a wealth of knowledge there. I do have a few Accu-Stats Straight Pool tapes. However, this past weekend someone I know told me he has them all so I will definitely plan to watch those. I was also able to watch Jeanette Lee play some Straight at the weekend. I couldn't watch for as long as I wanted as I was playing in the Tri-State also. I would watch your matches on Friday night if you weren't playing at the same time as me!

Also, the 'throw' ball out drill. How many do you recommend? Are they literally random or should I assign a ball as a break ball?

One final question, do all the great players have the break ball side of the rack shot as their ideal break shot? I know I am very good at making balls in the side and find that I rarely miss the break shot when going in the side. Certainly I miss it a lot less than the side of the rack one. Perhaps I should play for that more rather than just taking it when there is no side of the rack shot on?

-Tim

 

[Steve Lipsky]

One final question, do all the great players have the break ball side of the rack shot as their ideal break shot? I know I am very good at making balls in the side and find that I rarely miss the break shot when going in the side. Certainly I miss it a lot less than the side of the rack one. Perhaps I should play for that more rather than just taking it when there is no side of the rack shot on?

-Tim

Hi Tim. Following is a post I once made to the CCB. I hope you find it useful:


With all this said, I look for a breakshot as soon as all the balls are open. Once there are no more clusters, you should at least look to see what you are dealing with. If you have to manufacture something, you need to know about it as early as possible.

Here is a WEI diagram with my breakshots listed, in numerical order, of how I look for them. So the 1 ball represents my favorite, and the 13 represents my least favorite. But you should know them all, and if your order is different than mine, that's perfectly fine of course.

START(
%AL5T3%BN0R8%CO8R0%DG5M6%EG6O7%F\0Y4%GR9T7%HZ0Y1%IE1Y0%J[0W6
%Kq0F6%LM1D4%Me6Y6%P\8^6%QQ2X5%RU7S9%Sq6J6%Th8X9
)END

I included some letters for reference:

A is where I want to be on the 7
B is where I want to be on the 10 (and the 1)
C is where I want to be on the 11
D is where I want to be on the 13 (via a BIH by stopping the cue in the rack)

The shots on the 10 (2 rails with inside english) and the 11 are two of my favorites to play, because they look pretty and are actually remarkably easy.

The shots are mostly set up on 1 side of the table, but obviously they work and should be looked for on both sides.

I hope this helps Tim!

- Steve

 

[Delaware Lar]

Straight Pool

Straight Pool: "The greatest game there ever was".

I love the position strategy component of the game. I improved after reading pool books. I'd like to add Ray Martin's "99 Critical Shots" to the list previously mentioned.

I think the best thing I learned was to recognize B balls. B balls are balls that will have a straight path to a pocket... once an A ball is pocketed or moved.

I'd like to see a competitive tournament.

 

[girlwon1]

At the Open, I was sitting with Jon Schmidt when he was talking to someone from Accustats. Jon was wondering if he could do anything with a tape he made of himself running 300+ balls, although the quality wasnt good. The guy from Accustats (not Pat, but hoping this gets back to him) suggested they get together and have Jon taped with their high quality equipment, a very high run. Then, Jon would go back and comment himself on why he chose that ball, what his pattern ideas were, etc, during the whole thing. I thought that was the neatest thing, thinking, I'll buy that! I hope that happens, as I would love to hear commentary from Jon's caliber talking about his own game and thought processes.

I got hooked on 14.1 after playing my 3rd time, I ran 51 balls, now I have been playing it everyday!