Training to play in more than one pocket

u12armresl

u12armresl

One Pocket back cutter
Silver Member
My game took a decent jump when I was told that there are times when a ball can go in more than one pocket.

Pocket A may be a 90%+ shot, but you struggle to get any kind of meaningful shape.
Pocket B may be a 60% shot, but you will have great shape and likely get out.

Newish players up to middle of the road players may choose to shoot this ball in the side (granted Oscar has no balls left other than the 8 he is shooting at.)
But having the confidence to know that you have odds each way and working on being able to make the shots with better percentages is something to work on and aspire to.

I know the players say all the way down all day long, this is more for the people who would shoot it in the side and either put draw on it for a scratch, or go up and down where the 2 ball is and maybe scratch there.

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u12armresl said:
My game took a decent jump when I was told that there are times when a ball can go in more than one pocket.

Pocket A may be a 90%+ shot, but you struggle to get any kind of meaningful shape.
Pocket B may be a 60% shot, but you will have great shape and likely get out.

Newish players up to middle of the road players may choose to shoot this ball in the side (granted Oscar has no balls left other than the 8 he is shooting at.)
But having the confidence to know that you have odds each way and working on being able to make the shots with better percentages is something to work on and aspire to.

I know the players say all the way down all day long, this is more for the people who would shoot it in the side and either put draw on it for a scratch, or go up and down where the 2 ball is and maybe scratch there.

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I'm really confused. This layout is stealing whether your solids or stripes. What am I not understanding? There are plenty of options with no chance of scratching. You can cut this into the side with almost any english and not scratch if your speed is correct. Corner pocket option looks easy as well. It's a bar table.
 
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Matt_24 said:
I'm really confused. This layout is stealing whether your solids or stripes. What am I not understanding? There are plenty of options with no chance of scratching. You can cut this into the side with almost any english and not scratch if your speed is correct. Corner pocket option looks easy as well. It's a bar table.
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Oscar is the 8 and shoots it into the corner.
 
An almost full hit with an easily controlled cueball (>)thin with wild cueball.(Especially on a barbox) Even if is appears more difficult.
I agree with your sentiment. It will give you an advantage as you get better.
 
Matt_24 said:
It really doesn't look that thin to me? No way the cue ball will go wild unless you overhit it.
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The shot is immensely problematic for many league players. Those players also are terrified by balls sitting in the jaws because they always scratch, not having figured out that they can hit the ball half-ball or cushion first and never, ever scratch. They also are certain they will scratch on spot shots. Practice with the Wagon Wheel drill should stop those worries, especially for the speed control
 
i think players below a certain level play position for the side, get short and then that initially preferred position still lingers in their mind. and/or they're bothered by the side pocket in their line of sight. it's just a hump to get over
 
I try to plan my runout using primarily center ball. If I have to use English, it's usually because I made a mistake on the previous shot (or was left a layout I find awkward). I'm not a banger. I just learned to play on really crappy equipment, which included tipless cues. When you shoot with only a ferrule, you learn to play center ball pretty well. Where else are you going to hit the cue ball? Decades later, I still tend to see and play the center ball runouts first.

Given that it's the money ball, I'd go for the side pocket all day long. It's a short gimme shot for me, with no meaningful chance of scratching. Going for the longer shot into the side without scratching is still a high percentage shot, but it isn't quite a gimme. I prefer my higher percentage shot when I'm on the money ball. I'm well aware that my higher percentage shot may not be your higher percentage shot. I've met many players who found challenging the same shots I found easy, and vice versa. There's more than one way to run a rack.

If it wasn't the money ball, my decision would depend on where the rest of the balls in my group are located.
 
u12armresl said:
The post was more for beginners to the average league player who still thinks of only one pocket and not furthering the run at the table.
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Chris said:
I try to plan my runout using primarily center ball. If I have to use English, it's usually because I made a mistake on the previous shot (or was left a layout I find awkward). I'm not a banger. I just learned to play on really crappy equipment, which included tipless cues. When you shoot with only a ferrule, you learn to play center ball pretty well. Where else are you going to hit the cue ball? Decades later, I still tend to see and play the center ball runouts first.

Given that it's the money ball, I'd go for the side pocket all day long. It's a short gimme shot for me, with no meaningful chance of scratching. Going for the longer shot into the side without scratching is still a high percentage shot, but it isn't quite a gimme. I prefer my higher percentage shot when I'm on the money ball. I'm well aware that my higher percentage shot may not be your higher percentage shot. I've met many players who found challenging the same shots I found easy, and vice versa. There's more than one way to run a rack.

If it wasn't the money ball, my decision would depend on where the rest of the balls in my group are located.
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Since hitting "true" center is very tough, do you tend to gravitate toward a "touch" of inside, or outside center. For me, "inside".
 
Hitting the cueball exactly at center is technically not impossible, but it has a probability of exactly 0 of happening on any given shot. However, hitting close enough to center so that any undesired spin is negligible is not something I've ever found challenging. I'm sure I deviate from exact center every time I try to hit there, but I've never noticed that it was inside, outside, or even consistently one or the other. I tend to be a pretty soft shooter unless I have a reason to hit the cueball harder, so that might be why I don't notice the effects of my deviation from center.
 
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