bluewolf4343
jbaggerly43
What are the benefits of playing straight pool?
Straight pool
- Thread starter bluewolf4343
- Start date
Shot making, pattern play, speed control, safety play, reading clusters, thinking through a rack, etc., etc.
What benefits don't you get from straight pool is a better question. lol. I have picked up straight pool for about a month and I am already about a ball or 2 better than I used to be. For me it helps with patterns and understanding how to work backwards from the break ball. I normally will have 8 or so balls that I already have planned out what I need to do with. You need your break ball, key ball, and about 5 other balls that go to the key ball. It is like playing a game of chess more than anything. It can be mentally exhausting if you aren't used to thinking that way. My instructor actually specialized in straight pool and is a straight pool guru.
Regardless of what some on AZ seem to think, Straight Pool will noticeably improve your play over time much more than any other game, especially 9 ball. Get some books/videos/instruction and/or play with people who know the game. Jim Rempe's Straight Pool videos and Play Your Best Straight Pool by Phil Capelle are good places to start.
Currently my practice routine is to play practise racks of straight pool and 9 ball. I find that they each generate very different types of shots - that was really surprising to me. Straight pool is finesse slow speed shots, precision navigation around traffic, clusters, and picking your approach. 9 ball generates much longer shots, moving the ball all over the table. I find them both challenging and fun, I pick between the two as the spirit moves me. Personally, the things I know the least when I first started straight pool were delicate speed shots and clusters.
There are many benefits to playing straight pool.
However, the two most important benefits are:
1) Cue ball control within small areas and 2) "Reading" the balls
in various clusters & configurations.
Get adept at (and focus on) these two fundamentals within the straight pool game
and your game will improve automatically, my friend.
The great John Ervolino always stressed that one must play at least one game of finesse along with the more power-oriented rotation games to become a fully refined player. To Johnny, both one-pocket and straight pool qualified as games of finesse.
I see it Johnny's way, and I think it's worth noting that the finesse part of Shane Van Boening's rotation pool game skyrocketed when he took up one pocket. In the last two years, he's started to play straight pool, too, and his speed control has gone up yet another notch.
When he won the World 9-ball Championship in 2001, Mika Immonen played out of the same poolroom as me, Amsterdam Billiards. He practiced mostly straight pool back then, and the finesse he developed had much to do with his great win at the World Championships in Cardiff, Wales.
I see it Johnny's way, and I think it's worth noting that the finesse part of Shane Van Boening's rotation pool game skyrocketed when he took up one pocket. In the last two years, he's started to play straight pool, too, and his speed control has gone up yet another notch.
When he won the World 9-ball Championship in 2001, Mika Immonen played out of the same poolroom as me, Amsterdam Billiards. He practiced mostly straight pool back then, and the finesse he developed had much to do with his great win at the World Championships in Cardiff, Wales.
Four words: It's fun to play!!
So essentially utilise whole complete skillset. It is more complete game than 9 or 10 ball which emphasises more on the break
