What Did I Do Wrong Here?

D

DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
another situation that occurred tonight. follow my thoughts here, and help me understand where i goofed.

you see the spread after the break. the shot on the '1' Ball was a very slight cut. i couldnt draw back for the '2' Ball due to the slight cut or else i would have been going in the direction of the '8' Ball, and would have had a difficult shot on the '2' Ball.

i elected to hit about a tip of follow, go down to the end rail, and bounce back to Point A for the shot on the '2' Ball. this would have given me the small angle to pocket the '2' and come across for the '3' Ball.

however, the ball ended up at Point B, which left me straight in on the '2' Ball, and no angle to get across to the '3' Ball. i drew back, to about where Point B is located, and missed the somewhat difficult cut shot on the '3' Ball. end of runout.

how'd i hose this one up? i couldnt believe the cue ball ended up at Point B instead of Point A due to the slight angle..........

DCP

CueTable Help

 
DCP: You need to understand that on every shot that you take on a complex layout, you are probably going to miss your position by a small amount. Consequently, rather than whine about how you missed position for the umpteenth time, you need to be adaptable and improvise.

In this position, I probably would have tried hitting the 2 ball a little bit fuller, with low right english, to draw the cue ball back for the 3.
 
Did you undercut the 1 ball? What part of the pocket did you make it in?

BTW, if the CB was going toward the 8 with draw, why not play it that way? You ensure yourself an angle on the 2 and still have a shot you should make even if you gotta go twice across. By following you're getting out of position to then get back in position. Isn't that something to be avoided?

You gotta be straight on the 3 anyway, so playing for 'A' looks to me a little flat. You'd have to pound it a bit to get straight on the 3, no?

If there was any chance of getting straight on the 2, you might also have played it the way you did with hair of outside english... What do you think?
 
since there was a slight cut on the '1' Ball, i thought the natural angle would have taken me to Point A. instead i ended up at Point B.

and why would i have played the '2' Ball with low right english when i was straight in on it? wouldnt it have simply drew straight back? or would that have sent the cue ball back to the left just a hair, to where i wanted it for the shot on the '3' Ball?

DCP
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
and why would i have played the '2' Ball with low right english when i was straight in on it? wouldnt it have simply drew straight back? or would that have sent the cue ball back to the left just a hair, to where i wanted it for the shot on the '3' Ball?

DCP
Click to expand...

From your diagram, I assumed there was a slight cut on the ball. A straight draw shot would probably work fine too.

Regardless, the bottom line is you need to do the following:
1. Stop looking for perfection.
2. Improvise when shots don't go perfectly.
3. Think positively instead of negatively, so that you you can get more enjoyment out of the game.
4. Try playing 8-ball, where you don't need to be as precise on positional play.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
another situation that occurred tonight. follow my thoughts here, and help me understand where i goofed.

you see the spread after the break. the shot on the '1' Ball was a very slight cut. i couldnt draw back for the '2' Ball due to the slight cut or else i would have been going in the direction of the '8' Ball, and would have had a difficult shot on the '2' Ball.

i elected to hit about a tip of follow, go down to the end rail, and bounce back to Point A for the shot on the '2' Ball. this would have given me the small angle to pocket the '2' and come across for the '3' Ball.

however, the ball ended up at Point B, which left me straight in on the '2' Ball, and no angle to get across to the '3' Ball. i drew back, to about where Point B is located, and missed the somewhat difficult cut shot on the '3' Ball. end of runout.

how'd i hose this one up? i couldnt believe the cue ball ended up at Point B instead of Point A due to the slight angle..........

DCP

CueTable Help

Click to expand...

DCP,

I think the advice I gave you before might apply here. If your opponent was at the table, and missed and left you the layout you had from 'B' you would be thrilled to be getting back to the table. Since you left it for yourself, you find it lacking.

Maybe you could try to think of every shot that you're still at the table as an opportunity.

Cheers,
RC
 
Looks like some work on your draw stroke will help you out. With a good stroke you could have drawn two rails around the eight for position on the two. But at least from where you ended up you should be able to draw back somewhere between the six and eight for better position on the three. Just set up the balls and practice different shots. Try following the one with a bit of left and remember the difference in speed required.
 
looks to me like you're trying to be too precise on your position, result,,,,,,,not enough room for error, and as it turned out, not enough angle.

you could conceivably land anywhere in the designated area rather than the specified pt.A for what you wanted to do, and choosing this, you probably would have stayed away from pt.B.
 

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I agree with lewdo. You should have just drawn the cue ball back a tad and had decent angle to get from the 2 to the 3. And I don't care what you say, the 2 ball would not be a hard shot.

Most good players try to leave the cue ball near the center of the table, and with this layout I don't see why that isn't an option with the two. Make the 1-ball, draw out to center, make the 2-ball with guaranteed position for the 3-ball.

You mistake quite simply is that you want to be too straight in for every shot, and thus sometimes you end up exactly straight in. You need to have the confidence and shot-making ability to play for slightly larger angles in order to play 9-ball. 9-ball is about ANGLES, and the perfect angle from here is from about center table. Following the 1-ball to me seems a little dangerous (may end up too straight, may bump the 2, may end up frozen to the rail), while a simple draw shot would have you back in line.

S.

lewdo26 said:
Did you undercut the 1 ball? What part of the pocket did you make it in?

BTW, if the CB was going toward the 8 with draw, why not play it that way? You ensure yourself an angle on the 2 and still have a shot you should make even if you gotta go twice across. By following you're getting out of position to then get back in position. Isn't that something to be avoided?

You gotta be straight on the 3 anyway, so playing for 'A' looks to me a little flat. You'd have to pound it a bit to get straight on the 3, no?

If there was any chance of getting straight on the 2, you might also have played it the way you did with hair of outside english... What do you think?
Click to expand...
 
Another thing ...

On a bar table, you should also learn how to make a ball sliding it in or throwing it to the inside or outside of the pocket. That allows you, many times, to have the cue ball go the path you desire after making the ball when it would not be possible if you shot the ball dead center of the pocket. These slight improvisions to the shot offer many benefits to your game, especially when you do not have the desired angle for the shot.
 
sixpack said:
Maybe you could try to think of every shot that you're still at the table as an opportunity.
Click to expand...

I actually think DCP does this, unfortunately it seems that he thinks of each shot as an opportunity to mess up !

Now I will repeat my advice : STOP TRYING TO RUN OUT RACKS OF 9 BALL AS A PRACTICE METHOD. The result is too often failure, and that can do nothing for your confidence as we can plainly see from your posts. Adopt a practice method that will not screw up your head so much, and perhaps your confidence will return.

Dave
 
DCP, the more I look at this the less I think of your game.

OK fine, you messed up position on the 2 to get to the 3. SO WHAT?! Pros get out of line, too. EFREN gets out of line, and so will you. Deal with it.

COMPENSATE.

If you're so straight in on the 2, the draw back near the 6-ball to get fairly straight in on the 3 for position on the 5. If you can get a near stop shot on the 3 (or come into and then off the rail a few inches) you should be out.

Your original play to draw back to Point B doesn't make much sense either, because holding the cueball for the 5 seems extremely difficult at best. Otherwise you have to go twice across the table whick I don't think is your favorite shot. You should have drawn it another two diamonds, to lessen the degree of the angle to keep position for the 5.

You need to find a way to compensate for positional errors. The simple fact is that you could have done something off the 2 to get back in line, and you seem to give up so easily because you deviated from your original (faulty) plan.
 
What happened going from the 1 to the 2 is going to happen (because of a bad line). From the 2 I would power draw all the way to the back rail or into the 6 to get position on the 3.


DrCue'sProtege said:
how'd i hose this one up? i couldnt believe the cue ball ended up at Point B instead of Point A due to the slight angle..........

DCP

CueTable Help

Click to expand...
 
Based on your diagram and what you've stated, if you were able to get to point A with 'one tip of follow' without any right english whatsoever, then the angle on the one was plenty 'thick' enough to draw back for the 2. And, even if you were to draw back to the 8 as you feared, sure there's a little distance, but you would have been on the correct side of the 2. Rule no. 1: WHEN HAVING TO CHOOSE BETWEEN HAVING AN EASIER SHOT BUT BEING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF A BALL OR A MORE CHALLENGING SHOT BUT BEING ON THE CORRECT SIDE OF A BALL............................90% OF THE TIME, YOU SHOULD TAKE THE OPTION OF BEING ON THE CORRECT SIDE OF THE BALL. And when I say take the more challenging shot, you might disagree because everything you've heard about pro players is how they play the better percentage shot right? That's because trying to correct being out of line is actually the more difficult shot. This is another one of those situations like you not wanting to go back and forth on your other post.............where even if you could only have draw back to the 8, that is one of those shots that NEEDS to be made.
And, since you got straight in on the two, you were only able to draw straight back for a difficult cut on the three, but that again is another one of those shots that NEEDS to be made. And another little secret that everybody knows. Even if you're straight in on the two, you can either cheat the pocket, or throw it in with a slow 'grabbing' stroke by cutting it a little to the left of the actual cut with low right in order to get a little thicker on the 3. Trying to get perfect position, or position that allows for the easiest pot while sacrificing the angles that need to be maintained are serious run stoppers.
dave (I need to listen to my own advice!! When I was still young, sexy and foolish, I can't count how many times I played shape on the 9 sitting in the jaws of a pocket!!:D
 
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DrCue'sProtege said:
another situation that occurred tonight. follow my thoughts here, and help me understand where i goofed.

CueTable Help

Click to expand...
Two goofs, if you're looking for answers.

1) Your pattern for the follow shot, there weren't many spots on that line of travel where you could have possibly been any better than where you ended up. Learn from that pattern on what the cueball doesn't do. With that slight and only slight angle, with straight follow, the cueball takes that path. If you want to get it to go to A you need to hit it with a hair of outside. A hair is all you need, but there will be slight kill on the cueball. Adjust accordingly.

2) You didn't accept the position and play on. We all get "out of line." How we recover is part of the learning process. If the pockets are tight, I like drawing from the 2-ball farther up table to get a better angle on the 3-ball, albeit a longer shot. If the pockets are big, then creating an angle to slide the cueball across the table is probably a good bet. Either way, you were on the 2-ball and should have been thinking that you could still get out.

Fred
 
after looking at all the responsed, these guys are right about drawing back from the two. I would probably just rolled up a bit and banked the 3 in the side stopping there for the five.

I think you pin yourself to perfect runouts and don't live with what you get, thus discouraging yourself everytime. It takes tons of practice and dedication to be able to leave yourself exactly right. I have learned that since I am not willing to put forth the major practicing effort that I just have to live with what I leave myself and go for it...lol
 
Should have just drew the cue ball back off the 1 slightly and taken the cut on the 2 to get natural shape on the three.

Playing high and following that ball made it a lot harder then what it needed to be. Even from B and being straight in you still had options. Play the shot with throw or cheat the pocket slightly to get yourself a little scloser to the three. If you didnt elect to follow the 1 ball though you wouldnt be in that predicment.
 
bruin70 said:
looks to me like you're trying to be too precise on your position, result,,,,,,,not enough room for error, and as it turned out, not enough angle.

you could conceivably land anywhere in the designated area rather than the specified pt.A for what you wanted to do, and choosing this, you probably would have stayed away from pt.B.
Click to expand...
Bruin is right on the money here. This is the ideal spot for the cueball to land into. If you have a hard time cutting the two ball you need to practice those cutts. Practice them with every english so that you are familar on how to play them. center ball is always nice too
 
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