Efren had this layout playing against Santos Sambajon in the '99 US Open:
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/~wei/pool/9egg/
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I thought the correct shot would have been to place the cueball behind the 7/6 cluster since it's so easy to execute. The commentators thought he was going to do that also. Here is what he did:
START(
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%RL7N3%UM8N7%VX3C8%Ws0Z8%Xs5Z1%Yp4V6%Zq9Q3%[l9Z8%\o9V9%]X9D4
%^l1[0%_s0Y8%`q2Y0%ap3W7
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He cut the 1 very thin so that it skimmed the 7, and the 7 barely moved, and the 1 hung in the jaws of the pocket. He was not trying to make the 1ball. The 1ball stopped at 'A' and the cueball stopped at 'B'. After I saw how the balls lay after he executed that brilliant safety, I immediately realized how much better it is than locking the cueball behind the 7/6.
First, kicking at the 1ball and making it is incredibly hard to do, and secondly, if he did make the 1, the cueball stops there because of the 7/6 cluster, or the cueball follows it in the hole. Basically the shot Efren played almost guaranteed him ball in hand. If Santos decided to take an intentional foul and just tie some other balls up, Efren could take ball in hand and play an intentional foul on the 4ball, rolling it up to the cluster so that Santos would have ball in hand but nowhere to place the cueball to hit the 1ball legally, which would force Santos onto a 2nd foul. Santos would be forced to break up the cluster on his second foul so he doesnt get 3-fouled, as Efren can just bypass the shot by nudging the cueball if the 1ball is left in checkmate. So basically, this shot guaranteed a win for Efren, because no matter what, that cluster was going to get broken up, and Efren would have ball in hand afterwards. This is one of those shots that the common player just doesn't see. I'm pretty sure that most of us here would have tried to lock up the cueball behind the 7/6 prior to seeing this.
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/~wei/pool/9egg/
START(
%Ap4W5%BP6W1%DY8O6%EK2Q3%Fq1Z6%Gp8Y5%HT0O7%IE8I0%Pr2P8
)END
I thought the correct shot would have been to place the cueball behind the 7/6 cluster since it's so easy to execute. The commentators thought he was going to do that also. Here is what he did:
START(
%Ap4W5%BP6W1%DY8O6%EK2Q3%Fq1Z6%Gp8Y5%HT0O7%IE8I0%Pr2P8%Qq9Y9
%RL7N3%UM8N7%VX3C8%Ws0Z8%Xs5Z1%Yp4V6%Zq9Q3%[l9Z8%\o9V9%]X9D4
%^l1[0%_s0Y8%`q2Y0%ap3W7
)END
He cut the 1 very thin so that it skimmed the 7, and the 7 barely moved, and the 1 hung in the jaws of the pocket. He was not trying to make the 1ball. The 1ball stopped at 'A' and the cueball stopped at 'B'. After I saw how the balls lay after he executed that brilliant safety, I immediately realized how much better it is than locking the cueball behind the 7/6.
First, kicking at the 1ball and making it is incredibly hard to do, and secondly, if he did make the 1, the cueball stops there because of the 7/6 cluster, or the cueball follows it in the hole. Basically the shot Efren played almost guaranteed him ball in hand. If Santos decided to take an intentional foul and just tie some other balls up, Efren could take ball in hand and play an intentional foul on the 4ball, rolling it up to the cluster so that Santos would have ball in hand but nowhere to place the cueball to hit the 1ball legally, which would force Santos onto a 2nd foul. Santos would be forced to break up the cluster on his second foul so he doesnt get 3-fouled, as Efren can just bypass the shot by nudging the cueball if the 1ball is left in checkmate. So basically, this shot guaranteed a win for Efren, because no matter what, that cluster was going to get broken up, and Efren would have ball in hand afterwards. This is one of those shots that the common player just doesn't see. I'm pretty sure that most of us here would have tried to lock up the cueball behind the 7/6 prior to seeing this.
