The Curse Of One Pocket.

[ShootingArts]

a mystery

Joey,

Your nine ball game is a bit of a mystery to me. You aren't lacking in any of the skills needed to be a winner and I agree with your own comment made sometime back, you aren't missing the hard shots or shape, you are missing comparatively easy shots to break your multi-rack runs. I don't know if it is a lapse of concentration or focus or that you get tired and your stroke or preshot routine drifts.

I think we need to set up a video camera and video hours of you playing, maybe rope in Bobby for the project since you need actual competition and possibly you both can benefit from the video. If allowed, I'd like to video you in tournament play also. I think we will find that it isn't the 10-20% shots that are the deciding factor but the 80% or better shots that you let slip away at times. Hopefully we can review video and discover if it is something mechanical, a loss of focus, or maybe something I am not even considering.

If you have a video camera available I have a very adaptable tripod and of course a machine shop on hand to make whatever we need to mount a camera elsewhere if you are interested in this project. I am running on batteries as of yesterday so I won't be spending any time on a pool table for awhile leaving me time to work with other things after a few days of recovery time.

Hu

 

[Pushout]

throughout this whole thread my biggest surprise is how many folks think one pocket is about "bunting" balls!? I try to play the game like Scotty Townsend, or Tony Chohan....more wide open, and "bunting" is rarely in my thoughts.

I think this says a lot. It depends, to some degree anyway, how you learn to play one pocket. When I first started to play, I learned from people who bunted balls and played very defensively. When I began to watch and play [with weight] the best local one pocket players, they played a more wide open style, for the most part. And they played that way most of the time, not just when they were playing me I think it was Ronnie Allen who said the best defense is 8 and out.

 

[JoeyA]

JA,
Though I am going to have to disagree with your estimate of one pocket as the "best game" (everyone knows that 14.1 IS the best game ); I will lend a banger's viewpoint (though I have discussed them extensively with some of the best players in the world, and some of the best coaches as well).

The skills necessary in one-pocket are in great part specific to the game. Lagging balls into a pocket, ducking tough shots, eliminating balls from near a pocket are all skills that will help you only very little when playing other games. The soft banking in one pocket is occasionally helpful in other games; but you will see the best bank pool players firmly striking most of their banks. Even the safety play in one pocket is specific to the game; though proficiency will carry over to some degree to other games

In addition, one pocket allows the player the luxury of NOT improving his pocketing skills, while still maintaining a semblance of competence at the game. It is a game that allows you to often duck tough shots and situations, a game that allows you to pretend you meant to "just get it close to the hole", and a game that puts a premium on specialized knowledge of common situations. This is NOT a combination of attributes that is designed to improve your performance in any other pool game. It is a fun game however.

As Bob Carmen pointed out to you, nine ball is definitely a game that requires more "athletic" shotmaking - situations arise in which you must shoot difficult shots (the safety is tougher than the shot); often many difficult shots in a row. This "shotmaker's mentality" is something that takes significant time to develop. If this the game in which you wish to excel, then one pocket is not the way to prepare.

My personal bias is that you should be working on specific drills to strengthen the area's weakened by playing one pocket; and on playing more rotation games and STRAIGHT POOL. The mental pressure involved in playing straight pool for money is not really obtainable in other games; and is an invaluable way to develop your pocketing ability (which is already quite excellent, but can ALWAYS improve). As you will see, that last half hour of any decent straight pool match becomes a pressure cooker in which every shot becomes difficult (there is really no equivalent in nine ball; where misses often turn out well, and the pressure situations are measured in minutes rather than hours). The best straight pool players are RELENTLESS ball pocketers who learn to pocket balls for long periods of time under significant pressure. This definitely helps them in all games (including one pocket).

Good luck with your program.

Very nice thoughts Don, however I do believe that the safety play learned in one pocket is priceless in other disciplines, especially nine ball. The same thing goes for the banking. Other than that, I have to agree that getting balls close to the hole doesn't accomplish much in other games unless you are playing target pool.

Straight pool is on the agenda. I played some nine ball last night and barely bested the owner of Buffalo Billiards but we only played one set and I never felt in control of the match.

Watching the top players at DCC playing nine ball, it seemed that their consistency was so much different from mine, that my next journey is almost futile. I am a hard head, a jar head and sometime a knucklehead but I've committed to this for three months and that's the way it will be.

So don't be sending those pesky road hogs through New Orleans over the holidays (Mardi Gras is just around the corner) asking me to play one pocket. I would hate to have to turn down that weight during the New Orleans holiday season.

JoeyA

 

[JoeyA]

Joey,

Your nine ball game is a bit of a mystery to me. You aren't lacking in any of the skills needed to be a winner and I agree with your own comment made sometime back, you aren't missing the hard shots or shape, you are missing comparatively easy shots to break your multi-rack runs. I don't know if it is a lapse of concentration or focus or that you get tired and your stroke or preshot routine drifts.

I think we need to set up a video camera and video hours of you playing, maybe rope in Bobby for the project since you need actual competition and possibly you both can benefit from the video. If allowed, I'd like to video you in tournament play also. I think we will find that it isn't the 10-20% shots that are the deciding factor but the 80% or better shots that you let slip away at times. Hopefully we can review video and discover if it is something mechanical, a loss of focus, or maybe something I am not even considering.

If you have a video camera available I have a very adaptable tripod and of course a machine shop on hand to make whatever we need to mount a camera elsewhere if you are interested in this project. I am running on batteries as of yesterday so I won't be spending any time on a pool table for awhile leaving me time to work with other things after a few days of recovery time.

Hu

That sounds good, Hu. I don't know what we would find out but that sounds like a project. Hope you are doing well.

Thanks,
JoeyA

 

[Williebetmore]

Very nice thoughts Don, however I do believe that the safety play learned in one pocket is priceless in other disciplines, especially nine ball. The same thing goes for the banking.
JoeyA

JA,
No disagreement here. There is however, a difference between adequate and sufficient. The safety game in one pocket is of tremendous value to you, but will not be sufficient for either straight pool or nine ball - you will need to learn additional tactics for these games (and the same can be said about straight pool players changing to one pocket......painful personal experience ). Your superior one pocket skills will definitely help.

 

[back2good1]

throughout this whole thread my biggest surprise is how many folks think one pocket is about "bunting" balls!? I try to play the game like Scotty Townsend, or Tony Chohan....more wide open, and "bunting" is rarely in my thoughts.

My thoughts exactly. Watch Cliff play... he has the same stroke playing 1 hole, 9ball, and 8ball. It's up to you to hit each shot with accuracy and precision regardless of the game. I am not trying to put on the other side of the stack... I am trying to FREEZE you to the stack.