Thx Crane

terhje

terhje

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I had some fun in the 14.1 tournament in Norway this weekend.
I drew the top gun V.Kristiansen in the first match, as i mentioned before he has a high run of 267 and over 40+ national titles, so no easy first match..
At 92-113 to him he called safe after ending up with no angle at the break-shot and drew the ball to the end rail.
I was on 1 foul and tried the Crane safe kicking 2 rails hitting the side of the rack and going back to the end rail, but missed kinda big because of wet table..He gave me a kinda strange look and took a foul, putting me back at the end rail. so at two fouls i couldn't help myself, i adjusted for the wet table and went for the shot again, skimming the rack and ending up safe back at the end rail.

I love the shot, Thx Crane!

I ended up getting a shot at the table, but got a bad kiss and scratched.. and of-course he ran out.
 
Last edited:
terhje said:
I had some fun in the 14.1 tournament in Norway this weekend.
I drew the top gun V.Kristiansen in the first match, as i mentioned before he has a high run of 267 and over 40+ national titles, so no easy first match..
At 92-113 to him he called safe after ending up with no angle at the break-shot and drew the ball to the end rail.
I was on 1 foul and tried the Crane safe kicking 2 rails hitting the side of the rack and going back to the end rail, but missed kinda big because of wet table..He gave me a kinda strange look and took a foul, putting me back at the end rail. so at two fouls i couldn't help myself, i adjusted for the wet table and went for the shot again, skimming the rack and ending up safe back at the end rail.

I love the shot, Thx Crane!

I ended up getting a shot at the table, but got a bad kiss and scratched.. and of-course he ran out.
Click to expand...


Very nice. Bringing some old school straight pool to Europe.

Someone said that Crane would shoot it on two fouls, saying, if he could not make it in three tries, he deserved to lose the extra 15 points.

SJM knew him well and would know if that was true or not.
 
Thumbs Up

Very nice. That is a very hard safe to pull off but when it is done correctly, it is beautiful. Even with him running out on you to end the match. Your score was very respectful. Congrats.
 
14-1StraightMan said:
Very nice. That is a very hard safe to pull off but when it is done correctly, it is beautiful. Even with him running out on you to end the match. Your score was very respectful. Congrats.
Click to expand...

That's for sure, and it's even harder to pull off when you're on two ... :wink:
 
forgive me for asking..i've heard about this safe mainly from commentators on 14.1 videos but can someone diagram the Irving Crane 2 rail safe for me?:confused:
 
I never quite understood why this safe was better than just skimming a corner ball and coming back up table. Does the cue ball glance off the side of the pack after hitting 2 rails (giving more margin for error), or does it hit the corner ball?
 
Crane Safe

Dan White said:
I never quite understood why this safe was better than just skimming a corner ball and coming back up table. Does the cue ball glance off the side of the pack after hitting 2 rails (giving more margin for error), or does it hit the corner ball?
Click to expand...

Dan, the cue ball comes off two rails and then glances off the side of the rack softly. If it is done properly. No balls will come out of the rack and the cue ball will come to rest on the Head rail.
By playing a safe off the corner ball from so far up table then there is a high % of making balls come out of the rack.
If the Crane safe is done improperly by hitting the corner ball after coming off the two rails, it will open the rack up.
 
Last edited:
thx, it felt good to make it in that situation:)
Editing away what i said. StraightMan put it right

Diagrammed:

CueTable Help

 
Last edited:
terhje said:
I had some fun in the 14.1 tournament in Norway this weekend.
I drew the top gun V.Kristiansen in the first match, as i mentioned before he has a high run of 267 and over 40+ national titles, so no easy first match..
At 92-113 to him he called safe after ending up with no angle at the break-shot and drew the ball to the end rail.
I was on 1 foul and tried the Crane safe kicking 2 rails hitting the side of the rack and going back to the end rail, but missed kinda big because of wet table..He gave me a kinda strange look and took a foul, putting me back at the end rail. so at two fouls i couldn't help myself, i adjusted for the wet table and went for the shot again, skimming the rack and ending up safe back at the end rail.

I love the shot, Thx Crane!

I ended up getting a shot at the table, but got a bad kiss and scratched.. and of-course he ran out.
Click to expand...



Do you recommend using center cueball with medium speed? Whats your preference when executing this shot?
 
BigAL said:
Do you recommend using center cueball with medium speed? Whats your preference when executing this shot?
Click to expand...

Use top running english for better control. The speed you have to feel, just practice the shot a few times. Its better to hit it a tad to hard than to soft.
 
Crane's Safe

Great diagram. This shot needs a lot of practice depending on the location of the cue ball in the kitchen. Getting use to shooting from different spots, if your opponent plays a safe on you. If you have ball in hand after a scratch by your opponent, it is a little easier b/c you can practice from a certain spot in the kitchen and you will be more comfortable shooting it from a certain area..
 
Last edited:
so when playing safe with 14 balls racked on the table...would the 2 rail crane safe be the preferred shot to take rather than coming from behind the stack and knocking a few balls loose?....your thoughts and opinions please :)
 
BigAL said:
so when playing safe with 14 balls racked on the table...would the 2 rail crane safe be the preferred shot to take rather than coming from behind the stack and knocking a few balls loose?....your thoughts and opinions please :)
Click to expand...

The 1 rail kick is allot safer than the crane shot.
If the 15th ball wasn't there i would most likely roll on top of the balls in the crane zone, it all depends on the situation and who you are playing. when you get close enough to play safe on the rack you do it.

I like the tactical aspects of anything but i'm no expert, so feel free to correct me..

CueTable Help

 
Safe

BigAL said:
so when playing safe with 14 balls racked on the table...would the 2 rail crane safe be the preferred shot to take rather than coming from behind the stack and knocking a few balls loose?....your thoughts and opinions please :)
Click to expand...

The Crane safe works just as well on a 14 ball rack as it does on a 15 ball rack.

As "terhje" mention all the safes are good. They all depend on the location of the cue ball and most of all it depends on the players conference to execute the shot.
It is good to learn all defensive moves (safes) from every angle to the rack.
 
Crane safety

I've always loved the Crane safety because it's a neat, if not fascinating little shot. However, I have never much believed in the idea that it'll scare the living daylights out of one's opponent, even less so today when only experts and veteran players recognize the difficulty of and strategy behind the shot. Apart from that minor psychological effect, one doesn't leave any real threats, in other words, it's a containing safety. That'll work if one's opponent is known for a lack of patience, but against serious competition, one would really need to get the cue ball right under the cushion next to the name plate - reportedly, Crane was able to glance off the stack that perfectly, leaving the balls virtually undisturbed, and without leaving his opponent a one-rail kick behind the stack. The advantage of leaving a two-rail kick is that most opponents are going to hit that cautiously, taking an intentional foul, which in turn gives one the choice of playing safe or lag the cue ball two or three rails to the end rail, leaving distance.

Thanks for the link to the video, by the way, nice little compilation of stack safeties! Must admit I do not much care for kicking at the middle ball, though, unless my opponent's on a foul and I'm taking an intentional - prefer second or even corner ball in most other cases, depending upon the angle, and whether the cloth is used or new.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
 
Last edited:
dmgwalsh said:
Very nice. Bringing some old school straight pool to Europe.

Someone said that Crane would shoot it on two fouls, saying, if he could not make it in three tries, he deserved to lose the extra 15 points.

SJM knew him well and would know if that was true or not.
Click to expand...

Yes, Irving was a good friend of mine.

Actually, Dennis, he argued that when on two was when the shot made the most sense, for two reasons: 1) taking an intentional foul was not a realistic option, and 2) if the rack were hit just a bit too full, he still might foul, and the rerack would generally be preferable to having his opponent shoot.

As Irving often noted, few pros used this shot in competition, and I think the reason is that many considered it to be a poor percentage. Personally, I am not a fan of this shot, and here's why:

1) even when executed correctly, unless opponent is on two fouls, the Crane safe will nearly always allow opponent to respond with a backscratch because balls are not usually freed under the rack. For that reason, it won't win the safety battle against a world class opponent. It will give you a small edge in the safety battle at best against a world class opponent.
2) unless you are on two, the backscratch is available, and even if you have to kick two rails to leave the cue underneath the rack and loosen somethng in front, it's very easy to accomplish with practice.

Now, Irving spent a lot of time practicing this shot, and the perentages for him were a little different. Nonetheless, this shot is not in widespread use at world class level and I don't expect this to change for the reasons I've indicated.

I think that the Crane safe really only makes sense when both you and your opponent are on two fouls, as it's the one time when you can't take an intentional foul and the one time when your opponent cannot reply with a backscratch if you manage to execute it, making your edge in the safety battle huge.

Nonetheless, congrats to the orignal poster on a shot well played. Irving would be proud!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top