Ultimate Frustration - Slug Racking Yourself

[Get_A_Grip]

Hey, has anyone ever been in a great run of straight pool and ended-up slug racking yourself and screwing-up the run?

I did it to myself last night. Mine wasn't a big run or anything, but I was at 29 and breaking-out my third rack and hit a good break shot but the rack was just dead and only one ball even remotely came off the rack, but was unshootable.

(I actually bumped the rack a bit when I was taking it off, but was excited to get back into them....so I just let it slide and shot my break-shot).

That turned out to be quite frustrating after the fact, because 1) I did it to myself; and 2) Because that could have turned into a really good run for me.

I'm figuring that this has had to have happened to someone else that was actually into a really high run. Please fess-up if this has happened to you too!

 

[pete lafond]

Hey, has anyone ever been in a great run of straight pool and ended-up slug racking yourself and screwing-up the run?

I did it to myself last night. Mine wasn't a big run or anything, but I was at 29 and breaking-out my third rack and hit a good break shot but the rack was just dead and only one ball even remotely came off the rack, but was unshootable.

(I actually bumped the rack a bit when I was taking it off, but was excited to get back into them....so I just let it slide and shot my break-shot).

That turned out to be quite frustrating after the fact, because 1) I did it to myself; and 2) Because that could have turned into a really good run for me.

I'm figuring that this has had to have happened to someone else that was actually into a really high run. Please fess-up if this has happened to you too!

This is the very reason that you select your break shot and key shot early in the rack to assure that your break shot will yeild the best break result no matter how well the balls are breaking.

 

[Williebetmore]

I'm figuring that this has had to have happened to someone else that was actually into a really high run. Please fess-up if this has happened to you too!

GetAGrip,
NO WAY!!! As Pete says, you want to leave enough angle so that the rack doesn't matter. If you are in the habit of leaving the shallow angle break shots, then you MUST examine the rack, and you MUST CAREFULLY examine the shot to determine where the cueball will strike the rack. You must practice these breakers where you have to supply most of the power, and you must be able to bounce the cue ball off one of the racked balls and away from the rack (WITHOUT drawing it back to the head rail). An excellent way to start is to set up the shallow angle breakers, then hit the cue ball just a TOUCH below center, stunning the cue into a full object ball, at the proper angle to bounce whitey about to center table (or at least a foot off the rack). It isn't that hard, just takes about 20 or 30 tries a day for a week or 2.

You may not even have slugged yourself, you may just have been careless, and allowed the cue ball to hit the underside of one of the racked balls. The difference between hitting the bottom half, center, or top half of the racked ball is VERY SMALL and can make a huge difference in your yield and a huge difference in the final resting place of whitey. You have to know what angle the cue ball is approaching the rack with, exactly where the cue ball is going to strike the rack, and use appropriate speed and spin to get it to hit the proper place on the rack to send it to a happy place. IT AIN'T EASY, and good luck finding someone to show you this vital area of straight pool. Even the very best players just seem to do it on instinct, and it is very difficult to get them to explain their theories. It is also not well covered in Capelle's otherwise excellent book.

Of course, you could always use the Pat Fleming break shots (very extreme cut range). With his breakshot selection it doesn't matter at all how the balls are racked, they'll be spread all over the freaking table after he shoots it. High risk, high reward.

 

[Get_A_Grip]

It was a long forced draw shot...

From hitting quite a few break shots very similar to the one that I had...I had a good idea that I was going to hit the second ball head-on.

I left the break ball in a good spot (across from first ball) and had a good angle for a forced draw into the second ball. The problem was that I had to leave the cue ball about two diamonds up from the center of the table.

I guess that I may not have hit the break shot hard enough. It was a long shot (but I had a perfrect angle). I didn't want to risk missing the ball so I did hit the shot a bit softer then normal. I did make the ball and I'm sure that I hit the second ball...but the rack barely spread. I know that I did bump the balls with the rack a little while I was pulling it away, but didn't bother to check the balls for gaps...

I've hit these forced draw shots before without hitting them too hard and the balls always broke pretty well...even when the cue ball didn't manage to draw back to the center of the table...and just bounced a bit away from the stack... Oh well, live and learn I guess...