Straight pool

mullyman

mullyman

Hung Like a Gnat!
Silver Member
Well, last night my friend and I changed the way we usually play 14.1. We usually do a race to 100 and have 25 frames to do it in or sometimes we go until the 100 reached. Last night I didn't get to the pool room until around 1 in the morning so I wasn't feeling up to going for the long game. I suggested we do a short game to 60 points. We finished the game in 8 frames with him being the winner. I suggested me play another short game to 60 and make the cutoff point 10 frames. He did it in 8 so I thought 10 was reasonable. Man, that next game was probably the most consistent game I've ever had. I won the second game in 6 frames. My question is this, I'm assuming it's mental, but does making a limit on the frames with a reasonable goal make you concentrate more? Each time I got to the table I ran a good number of balls. If I remember correctly it was 14,10,3,15,10 8. I find that my biggest problem area is coming up with a shot after the break. Any tips? I've got Rempe's Accu-Stats tape on running a hundred balls which shows a lot of break shots, and I've practiced them, but I more often than not don't have anything to shoot at or have something really difficult and miss it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
MULLY
 
That's an interesting idea. Sometimes I practice straight pool by breaking the balls, and reracking when I miss. Then I count the number of racks it takes me to get to 100. Sadly, my straight pool game is not very good and it takes a large number of racks to do this. Hurts your score a lot when you miss the break ball that you just gave yourself BIH on too.;-)
 
The rule I follow on breaks shots is -

Neat in - Neat out.

What I mean by this is that when you make your break balls and contact the rack, you should only hit one ball in the stack and get your cue ball free. Many beginners try to slam the cue ball into the stack recklessly and the balls splatter everywhere and they end up behind something. Just remember to play your break shots accurately and neatly, and set up for basically the same break shot every time. My high runs are the result of operating within what works for me consistently. Many of the racks I clear are carbon copy set ups. I usually set up for a key ball in the center of the table that is parallel to my break ball.

I have posted many straight pool instructional posts to this forum - do a search and you will find great tips from other players such as Steve Lipsky, Danny Harriman, and Grady Matthews.

Below is a diagram that explains effective advice for the break shot.

Break_Shot_Tips.GIF
 
Neat in/Neat out. Hmm, interesting. I'm one of the "recklessly slamming into the rack" breakers. One question on this though, there are plenty of times that the tangent line goes between balls and there's not enough space to force it forward or back to hit only one ball......what then?

Great post, man. More more more!!
MULLY
 
arsenius said:
That's an interesting idea. Sometimes I practice straight pool by breaking the balls, and reracking when I miss. Then I count the number of racks it takes me to get to 100. Sadly, my straight pool game is not very good and it takes a large number of racks to do this. Hurts your score a lot when you miss the break ball that you just gave yourself BIH on too.;-)
Click to expand...


Oh yeah, not too many things suck as bad as setting up a break shot, having ball in hand and missing the shot. hehehe!! Been there, done that! HA!!:o
MULLY
it's even worse if people are watching :mad:
 
While I have read a lot about picking the place to hit the rack and breaking some loose, if I had the power, control, skill and accuracy of the "Lipsky break" of blasting the racks open in all directions, that would seem to be the natural choice.
 
mullyman said:
Neat in/Neat out. Hmm, interesting. I'm one of the "recklessly slamming into the rack" breakers. One question on this though, there are plenty of times that the tangent line goes between balls and there's not enough space to force it forward or back to hit only one ball......what then?

Great post, man. More more more!!
MULLY
Click to expand...

Every situation will be different, but like I said, remain in your comfort zone and use only what works for YOU. There are time where you will have to manipulate the cue ball into the rack. Just remember neat in and neat out. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of patience, but most of my highest runs have been due to the fact that I stayed within my comfort zone and remained consistent with setting up my key balls, my break shots and my secondary break shots. I always try to "fully" contact one ball in the stack - never two at the same time - and I dont want my cue ball ricocheting off of anything - or - anything ricocheting off of my cue ball. There is no need to splatter the balls all over the table. I try to keep most of the balls in the rack area and work towards creating my next break shot. Straight pool is a finesse game - no need to hit anything that you don't want to hit. Many times if you contact the stack "in between balls" you will have the cue ball stick to the stack - that's a good way to get yourself sitting in the chair - or locked into an unnecessary safety battle. Through practice you will be able to determine where and where not to set up your break ball. I have posted many diagrams about setting up the key ball/ break balls/ dissecting the rack, etc in other threads - let me know if you have trouble finding them and I will try to repost them as time permits.
 
hobokenapa said:
While I have read a lot about picking the place to hit the rack and breaking some loose, if I had the power, control, skill and accuracy of the "Lipsky break" of blasting the racks open in all directions, that would seem to be the natural choice.
Click to expand...

Hey now... just to set the record straight, my affinity for hitting the rack very hard is limited to mostly one particular break shot. The standard object ball to the side of the rack, cueball above it and closer to the rail than the object ball. After years and years of practice, I've gotten fairly good at ending most racks with this particular break shot, so as a percentage of my breaks, most of them are indeed hit pretty hard.

But when I don't end with this shot, I'm very rarely hitting the rack too hard.

Just wanted to clarify, because I don't want new players to the game to think they should always blast away.

- Steve
 
Blackjack,

I love that diagram you've created. Some awesome stuff in there. I've studied it; I hope others do the same.

Thanks!

- Steve
 
I think this neat in, neat out thing should help me. I check where the cue ball will hit, but I haven't tried to hit only a single ball in the past. Thanks!
 
My personal favorite break, which seems to give me the best results, is the break behind the rack using high inside and going 3 cushoins to the center of the table. I try to get behind the rack breaks as much as possible.
MULLY
Thanks for all the advice. I'll be searching around on here for the other stuff you've posted.
 
20 No-Count

mullyman said:
My question is this, I'm assuming it's mental, but does making a limit on the frames with a reasonable goal make you concentrate more? Each time I got to the table I ran a good number of balls. If I remember correctly it was 14,10,3,15,10 8. MULLY
Click to expand...

From the size of your runs, you probably aren't quite ready for it, but a game that really requires concentration is 20 no count, meaning you don't start counting your points until you run 20 balls. Ball 21 is your first point. If you're not quite ready for that, you could try 10 No-Count. :)
 
Steve Lipsky said:
my affinity for hitting the rack very hard is limited to mostly one particular break shot. The standard object ball to the side of the rack, cueball above it and closer to the rail than the object ball. After years and years of practice, I've gotten fairly good at ending most racks with this particular break shot, so as a percentage of my breaks, most of them are indeed hit pretty hard.
- Steve
Click to expand...

Hi Steve, yes I referring to this particular break only. The controlled power you have with that shot is truly a weapon in your arsenal. Most literature I've read emphasizes to play the shot with speed you feel certain of making the ball first and firstmost. Your skill at this shot enables you to hit the ball harder than most with that same accuracy. That is the point I was trying to say, thanks for correcting me.
 
Neat in and neat out

Blackjack,

Thanks so much for this nugget! I've been struggling putting together any kind of decent run and after reading this, I put up a 35 that included 3 solid break shots. The only reason the run ended is I chose the wrong shot after the 3rd break, got into awful position with some difficult shots and couldn't get back into line. I really appreciate your help and all the knowledge you've shared over the years here, too!

Best regards,
Brian in VA
 
Steve Lipsky said:
Hey now... just to set the record straight, my affinity for hitting the rack very hard is limited to mostly one particular break shot. The standard object ball to the side of the rack, cueball above it and closer to the rail than the object ball. After years and years of practice, I've gotten fairly good at ending most racks with this particular break shot, so as a percentage of my breaks, most of them are indeed hit pretty hard.

But when I don't end with this shot, I'm very rarely hitting the rack too hard.

Just wanted to clarify, because I don't want new players to the game to think they should always blast away.

- Steve
Click to expand...

Hi Steve,

Are you talking about the break where you're contacting the top half of a ball (particularly the head corner ball) and using follow to keep the rock from going up table? I agree, that's a shot that you gotta hit with some speed!
 
VIProfessor said:
Hi Steve,

Are you talking about the break where you're contacting the top half of a ball (particularly the head corner ball) and using follow to keep the rock from going up table? I agree, that's a shot that you gotta hit with some speed!
Click to expand...

Hi Prof. Actually, something more like this:

http://CueTable.com/P/?@4AKAJ4BCYH3...Ucht4UcIq4kKeM4kIkx4kGIM8kKhg4kLYj4kAlV4kAlV@

The cueball will often go back into the broken stack, stopping it from travelling too far even with the extra speed. It sounds dangerous, but because the rack is so open after the initial hit, you very, very rarely get safe. Often you are right in the middle of a wide-open rack, with 6 or 7 shots to choose from.

I use the right-hand english to almost guarantee that I go back through the stack after hitting the end rail. At firmer speeds, if you don't go through the rack area after hitting that rail, you can often end up somewhere down table.

- Steve
 
Hey Steve,

Ay, Mamacita! Now I see why Hoboken won't attempt this! I gotta try this out a couple times when I hit balls later. Thanks a lot for taking the time and trouble to show me this break.

Peace,

VIProfessor
 
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