what is the ideal pace in 14.1?

B

BigAL

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
for you massive rack runners in straight pool...what is your ideal pace in shooting?...if a shooter takes his or her time analyzing each rack..and shoots at a slow pace, will they ultimately crunch big numbers/maybe not?...or can they start slow but ultimately have to pick it up if they were to run a big number?..something i've been thinking about recently...for me..i still have to think slow and analyze each rack...i can only get into the teens and twenties consistently before ending my run. I feel that I need to pick it up in order to get out of this range...I'm still fairly new and feel the need to analyze each rack after rack. where as in 9 ball..i see the rack..and as long as no 2 balls are touching/or rather as long as they have a pocket to go into, I have no problems...

Just searching for opinions on this matter..thanks and happy holidays. :)
 
Most players with numerous high runs play at a fairly quick pace, especially the old timers.
Schmidt and Ortmann play at a brisk pace. I have numerous runs of Schmidt on video and he runs 100 at an average of 22 minutes which includes racking, that is an average of about 13 to 14 seconds per ball. I play at a pace of around 18 seconds per ball (30 minutes to run 100). Some other fast players are Mika, Sigel, Thorsten, Daya, Barouty, Cohen and Lipsky.

Mike Davis, Johnny Archer, Charlie Williams, Danny Harriman and Ralf play fairly slow but do get the job done.
 
BigAL said:
what is your ideal pace in shooting?...if a shooter takes his or her time analyzing each rack..and shoots at a slow pace, will they ultimately crunch big numbers/maybe not?...or can they start slow but ultimately have to pick it up if they were to run a big number?..something i've been thinking about recently...for me..i still have to think slow and analyze each rack...

Just searching for opinions on this matter..thanks and happy holidays. :)
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I asked a similar question several months ago so check out this thread for some answers to your questions: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=223180

I've watched enough 14.1 videos of Marop, Thorsten, Schmidt, Ortmann and others, that I think they play so quickly due to instincts learned by playing so many games. At a glance, they can identify the break ball and other key balls, after which they just systematically pocket the other balls.
 
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Latest *higher run* i was around 30 sec. For me usualy VERY fast, lol!!-- if you play very often, you re seeing the patterns much easier and faster- and then it is definitley a help if you can play at a faster pace for several reasons.

I always played a *bit slower*. After talking with 2 pro s about this and that one of em gave me the advice to play 2-3 weeks with a shot-clock *for fun*. Imo this was a great advice!
The art is just to still rethink and to overthink if something *happened*.

lg
Ingo
 
Marop said:
Most players with numerous high runs play at a fairly quick pace, especially the old timers.
Schmidt and Ortmann play at a brisk pace. I have numerous runs of Schmidt on video and he runs 100 at an average of 22 minutes which includes racking, that is an average of about 13 to 14 seconds per ball. I play at a pace of around 18 seconds per ball (30 minutes to run 100). Some other fast players are Mika, Sigel, Thorsten, Daya, Barouty, Cohen and Lipsky.

Mike Davis, Johnny Archer, Charlie Williams, Danny Harriman and Ralf play fairly slow but do get the job done.
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Hey Bill. I definitely used to play faster, but made a conscious effort in the month leading up to this year's world championship to slow my pace down. I liked the results (not really talking about my finish in the tournament, which easily could have been much worse depending on some variables out of my control). I am speaking more of the fact that in important situations, I made markedly fewer open misses than in years past. This was very exciting.

It definitely came at a bit of a price, as I was slower than I wanted to be and probably more mentally exhausted at the end of each match than I had to be. My goal is definitely to find some happy medium, so I can speed back up to where I think my pace should be.

- Steve
 
Steve's point about mental exhaustion is well-taken.

I tend to teach students that rhythm is not so much a matter of (measurable) time, but a spectrum between indecision and indecision - meaning, at one end of the spectrum, to play before one has made up one's mind, or, at the other end of the spectrum, second-guessing after one has made up one's mind. Probably needless to point out, the former's too fast, the latter too slow - that's where the time aspect comes in.

Even so, consistent high-runners tend to be players who have been on top of the mountain, bashed it all out with God, so to speak, come back down that mountain, and since then make comparatively few conscious decisions anymore ("seen that, done that").

Mental exhaustion can be a problem in particular for the more attentive and sensitive, not to mention intellectual among us - having said that, it can genuinely add to the fun of playing at all to perceive everything (situations in this context) as new and unique, as well as assess their familiarity. I personally don't think I'd still be playing after 25 years if I saw it all as an endless repetition.

From a psychological perspective, I would like to add that doing things "one's way" (= principled) adds pressure. Why not enjoy the freedom of doing it differently, give in to one's whims, living the moment so to speak, that is, feel free to mull over a problem when so inclined, and speed up when feeling like a spring chicken (or, for that matter, bored with all the detail)?

Many if not most great players I've witnessed have a tendency to sift through the first rack or two deliberately, following which their pace tends to pick up a bit (= after their fashion), and many repeat this each time they come back to the table (i.e. they will not rush into a new inning, but acclimatize anew each and every time).

But: you'll need to do things your way - I think that is the secret to Straight Pool.

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
 
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Steve Lipsky said:
Nice post David.
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Thanks Steve, much appreciated, especially coming from you! Currently watching one of your matches on YT, by the way. :wink:

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
 
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