The big bar cueball

[lewdo26]

Hi Keith,

I am an admirer and wish to see you play in person one grand day. This is my first post on your forum.

I have a question that you may want to help me with. I know that you are a specialist on bar tables. Recently I've been playing one of those crazy single-elimination, winner-take-all bar 9 ball tournaments with terrible results! It seems to me that my game is attuned to the 9 footer whereas these other guys play mostly on the bar table. Now, my problem is not necessarily the speed of the table or the dullness of the balls and rails - that I can pick up after a few games. My problem is the big cueball! I don't have problems drawing it or anything... my problem is strictly aiming! The big cueball throws more, but also seems to me to be harder to aim with any precision.

I remember the thread started by OldHasBeen about red circle vs. blue circle cueballs. He says that red circles are slightly larger than centennials and that makes a HUGE difference in aiming. Well, in the case of the big bar cueball that aiming difference would be much worse! Why is that? Can it be that the contact point on the cueball (I understand the contact point on the object ball is a constant) is different if it is larger than the object balls?

I'd love to hear from you on this, Keith. You might be the single best person to help me on this one. I need to learn how to cope with the big bar cueball. Thank you.

 

[Keith McCready]

Lewdo26, the big cue-ball throws more because it is heavier. When I was learning how to play with the big cue-ball, this is what I had to do to try to master it. I practiced working on my left-hand englishes, right-hand englishes, forced-follow lefts and rights, inside-drag lefts and rights, and most importantly, learning how to roll the "big rock." It is helpful to follow through on the cue ball a lot more than you do on a big table. I've had good results when I "kill" the cue-ball on a lot of my shots, which provides easier patterns.

Don't be afraid to go into balls on the bar table. If you try to play the bar-box like a 4-1/2-by-9, you will be in trouble. As you know, you can make the ball from anywhere on the table, if you break them out. If you tie them up, you're dead.

I hit balls a little bit harder on the 3-1/2-by-7's, and I do use the rails as much as possible. My grips are a little bit more firm with the big cue-ball than the smaller cue-balls.

When attempting to learn new techniques, you must put in your hours of practice and work with all those englishes, especially the shots that you are having trouble with. I used to shoot the same shot sometimes 200 times until I mastered it. So you can imagine how many balls I hit a day when I was practicing a lot.

I hope this will help you a little bit.

 

[lewdo26]

Thanks!

Thanks, Keith, for your rapid-fire response to my post. Your relationship with fans really moves me, really. I'll try to put in practice the things you described, some of which like the firmer grip and more follow through, I sort of knew intuitively, now I realize. I guess I'll just try to compensate more for the throw until I get it right.
I was thinking of going to the poolhall practice some, but maybe I'll go to the bar instead so I can try and get these guys' money on Sunday

 

[jhendri2]

I used to shoot the same shot sometimes 200 times until I mastered it.

No wonder you're one of the best money players ever!! 200 times !!!!

I thought my method was alot, I shoot it until I can make it 10 in a row. Keith, you are the man!!!!

Jim