Excellent post, I am printing it out and going to go over it before my next tourney.
Oh, just one thing, though. Just my opinion...9-ball isn't a good game. Maybe I'm just bitter because my break is awful, but I like to get the same opportunity as my opponent. 10-ball is much better...still a bit of luck, but much much better :grin:
I love your avatar lol. Glad you put it back up.
Thank so much for the kind words about my post. I enjoyed the match a great deal, though the hard seats were a little tough on my butt.
I think Ginsu is right on the money that back to basics works most times. I also think a few simple things done to perfection can make a bigger improvement in most of our games than most people believe.
Keep an eye out on my Blog on Sunday Nov 15th for the 1st edition of PoolSynergy, a Monthly Collection of the Best Writing on Pool. Ten bloggers have committed to contribute, and maybe others will join in next month.
Question are you saying never "hold the ball" for position or only on tables with fast cloth? Some 9 footers are so slow you have to "pound it" even on medium angles.
No, under the circumstances I would think an adjustment was appropriate. What many people do is try to hold up the cue ball and find out they can't, leaving a very poor shot. Or, they stroke poorly and miscue. In the DM v SVB match there were times when they could have taken a hold approach and been quite successful, but instead went across and back.
I'm guessing that the reasoning behind that, and it's a guess because I did not talk with either of these guys, is that it enables the shooter to keep the range of power applied to all shots to a minimum, i.e., the stroke power varies as little as possible. That will maximize one's ability to do it perfectly.
In the situation you describe, the requirement to pound the cue ball would have the opposite effect, and thus wouldn't be the appropriate choice if both techniques could work.
Must-get-out,
I don't know about the BnR stats, but as to the other question, I'll take a stab at it.
First, I missed the 1st 15 games on day one, and when I arrived Donny was down approx 15 - 5. Donny started to bear down and fought back hard the rest of the day, concentration excellent.
SVB was playing quite well when I arrived, slowed down a little, but very little, toward the middle of the day for a short while and came back strong.
Second day Donny started out well, Shane was lackluster. By 20 games or so, both men had lost confidence in their breaks. Shane couldn't make a ball reliably, and Donny did, but the pattern he was getting wasn't nearly as good, nor nearly as consistent as the first day.
Both were bothered by their break problems and spent way more time than they did the day before fiddling with the rack, trying to get back the previous day's magic.
Donny never gave up on his break, riding it all the way to loserville. Shane made a big change somewhere around win 70, back to his big break. You could see the change in his attitude immediately. He had little spring in his step, a lot more confidence, apparently. Donny wasn't able to get this back for some reason.
How's that?