Sudden Death 7 Ball

Snapshot9

Snapshot9

son of 3 leg 1 eye dog ..
Silver Member
Watched Cory Deuel win the 2005 Sudden Death 7 ball this morning against Thomas Engert. Cory played well, but Engert was sure out of his game. Engert looked like he had been up all the night before, and was sleepy and tired and achey.

That 'soft break' of Cory's was working overtime, and he took full advantage of it. Right when it looked like Engert might get back into it on the second set with Cory leading 6-5, Cory broke, made a couple of balls, and had a good 1-7 combo for the win.

I want to mention 2 items:

1) I think 7 ball is too easy to break, and I think they should be racked differently. Not in a circle, but racked like 6 ball with the last ball being directly behind the 7.

Do you agree or not? and why?

2) Secondly, I would imagine that Cory gets gambling offers with the stipulation that HE CAN NOT SOFT BREAK. He is just too damn good at it....lol

I have played players that try to soft break, and when it works, it works pretty good, but when it doesn't, it leaves me out every time. There consistency even when it is working doesn't match Cory's, and sometimes, they will have 2-3 ball tied up creating a difficult runout.

But, the soft break has peaked my interest some, and I might go practice it before a non-handicapped tournament (hooray!) on August 4th I entered. I imagine it is like the side break in 9 ball, one player can make 1-3 balls consistently, and another player can get up there copying the first player and not make a ball on the break.

If I get 3 bad breaks in a row, I switch my break. Sometimes, I will switch it after 2 bad breaks if the balls just don't get action or are not close to a pocket. Lessor players usually find a break, whether it's the first one learned, or one they like, and it works a few times for them, and they think IT WILL ALWAYS WORK FOR THEM, but it doesn't, and they just keep on using the same break over and over, and then blame their break when they lose ... duh!

Another point I would like to make, if your opponent is racking for you, and you are pretty close in skill, you should check the rack at the
BEGINNING of your match, and not just when you are down 2-5 going to 7.
 
The way I always played 7 ball was that the 7 ball had to be pocketed on a pre-determined side of the table for the win, much like back pocket 9 ball. They don't do that on ESPN and when I watched that I noticed that alot of those break and run outs would have been much more difficult if a specific pocket had to be used to pocket the 7.
 
RIGHT!

The way 7 ball was originally played, the person would break, and immediately afterwards, the person who did not break would look at the lay of the table, would pick which side of the table (left or right long rail 3 pockets per side) the person who just broke the balls, would need to pocket the 7 ball. The person who just chose the side for the breaker, would have the opposite 3 pockets. So the non breaking player would have an "advantage" each rack.

So if the person broke the balls, and the 7 went to the side rail, the other guy would obviously pick that the breaker would have to make the 7 on the OTHER side of the table, having to either knock the 7 off the rail or play a bank, making it easier for him/herself should they get a chance at the table.

This went on after EVERY break.

Allen, of course, changed it so that the seven gould go anywhere, and misses without a called saftey means ball in hand so that the ESPN games would take 5 seconds.
As a matter of fact, i remember seeing a tape of a 7 ball match from maybe 1985, where Allen was comentator, and it was 2 old timers, playing the game exactly the way i described.

The game as it is played today, is a totally pointless game IMO.
At least the original had some strategy and skill involved.
 
Its funny that Corey's break was brought up. The other night my buddies and I were shooting and we were talking about Corey's break. I used to work in Corey's old home pool room in Columbus, OH and told them that he used to come in there, grab a rack of balls and break for hours. He'd never shoot a ball or do anything else. He'd just break, study the rack and then re-rack and break again, trying different speeds, different targets on the rack and every other factor you can imagine in terms of the break. Thats one of Corey's strengths and one of the reasons so many of the pros want to switch to 10 ball. Corey and a few other guys have almost mastered the 9 ball break and will break and make the same balls in the same pocket each time and if those players are in stroke they cant be beat. With the 10 ball rack you're not going to see that. 10 ball is going to be the future of pro events, if the IPT doesnt completely take over.
 
I think

it would be great for the IPT to add 10 ball later on, and even 1 pocket to.
By the way, Rotation would be great to watch among the pros.
 
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