What is your high run in 14.1?

Had a run of 184 when back in my late 20's. Was roaming the roads and traveling every where in the country. Nine ball was the game, but straight pool was my fav. When I practiced, I always included a lot of work on my 14'1 game
A few years back when I turned 60 , my son and I were messing around on the anniversary down stairs and a good friend of his came in, my son saw the first part of 3 racks and his buddy watched the next part of the run to 136. At that time, I thought there would be more of those headed my way,,but LOL age has it's turning points.
 
fan-tum said:
Lotta you guys should be at tournaments.
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Right.

I had a reasonably good start on the first rack but I misjudged the throw and jawed the ball and Thorsten ran 100 and out (in a merciful 20 minutes). I had a nice 35-0 lead over Darren and he ran 100 and out. I missed a really easy shot -- brain freeze? -- against Dennis and he ran about 90+ and out.

Tournaments are mostly about your average game, not your best run.

I think it would be nice if more players entered tournaments to support the game and get the experience. And of course measure themselves under tournament conditions.
 
So I like to periodically ask this when the subject comes up...

Those of you who have (comfortably) run over 50, do you remember a time when
you were stuck around 30 or 40? And do you remember any particular strategy or breakthrough
that got you over that hump?

I ran 43 once a very long time ago, like... probably almost 20 years.

I am 100% sure I'm a better player now than I was then, but I never even hit 40 anymore.
Except once or twice playing scotch doubles.

Any advice? I'm rated right around Fargo 600 btw. But that's with a low robustness score.
Is 20-something just what a player at my level is 'supposed' to run and 50 is not realistic?
 
In the 1960's I played a match for $300 and going to 175 points. I ran 168 and ended my run by pocketing the last ball while playing a safe. I won a couple of innings later and asked him if he wanted to play another one. He was pissed and starting cussing. Later I found out the he was angry because I stopped my run with a safety.
 
I was playing Patch Eye in the late 70's around Greensboro NC. First match to 100 points for 100 bucks. I beat him the first match by about 20 balls. Next match to a hundred we bet 200 on that on and I beat him by about 10 balls. He played good safe's. The third match for 400 bucks , he had me 99 to 48. He only needed 1 more ball. He had played safe and There was one ball out of the rack , that if I made it and stuck the cue ball in the general area I could play a ball out of the rack. I made the bank into a side pocket and made the cluster shot and then ran the remanding 48 and out.
There was one shot that I still remember with dread. I had broken the balls and the cue ball ended inside a corner pocket area and the only free shot was a ball sitting near the spot. I got down over that and sent it up the table to a corner pocket and finished the run, I didn't look for any safety , after sweating his safety play in the match before that one.
 
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Scott Lee said:
Great story Stones! :grin: Most people here can't even remember paying $.60 an hour rates...although there are a few oldsters (NY Larry for example) that remember a houseman racking and collecting a nickle or dime a game! Thanks for putting a smile on my face! :grin:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
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Thanks, Scott.

Off topic:

When I was 12-13 yrs. old, my friends and I were too young to get into the local poolrooms.

We would ride our bicycles about three miles out into the country to an old icehouse. The store had an old eight foot worn out pool table with clay balls on an open air patio.

The old man that ran the place would charge us a dime a game to play. After each game, he would walk out, collect the dime and rack the balls.

When we started, we played regular 8 ball, but the games went by pretty quick and we didn't have that much money. So, we decided to add "bank the eight" to slow the game down a little bit.

Finally, over the following months, we finally decided to change the game to full rack banks.

It didn't take long for the old man to get upset with us. He told us to go back to regular 8 ball or not come back. LOL


Stones
 
3 years back I ran 168 on my home Anniversary with 4.5 inch pockets. I was playing a lot, practicing 15 plus hours a week at home. For that summer I decided to mostly play straight pool when practicing at home. Read a few books and watched videos on the game. Over 3 months I ran over 100 a half dozen times. The 168 was a great achievement. I missed the break shot on the 13th rack and jawed it.
 
Scott Lee said:
That's very respectable sir! :thumbup: To have it on video is even better. My personal high run is 112, on a 9' Gold Crown (122 in snooker, on a 5x10 Brunswick, also in 1975)...WAY back in '75! Sadly, there was no video opportunity back then! :( LOL

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
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Same here.

Then again, half this site's "high runs" was before "easy access" to video was available.
 
fan-tum said:
I don't recall any similar threads.
My high run, you ask....a prodigious 29.
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I think I’ve answered this before in the past. My high run is 72. It is now a distant memory. I grew up in straight pool country, so even in the late 80s, a lot of people were still playing straight pool in my area. Someone had shown me the game when I was very new to pool, a straight shooter. I ran a 36 the first day. I never came close after for years. Well that’s not really true, but the reality was, that 36 wouldn’t look like a straight pool run. It was a fireball run. It’s actually an embarrassing thing to say that I somehow I got through two and a half racks.

Years later, when I was actually a decent player, I ran a 40. And then sometime later, I hit a 42. People who play this game know what 42 means. I hit 42 three times or so. I also have a few 28s.

When I ran my first 50, my heart was beating out of my chest. I had a triple bank fluke to continue my run. It’s the only shot I remember. I hit 50 four times, with 68 and a 72. Neither looked like good straight pool, and at times looked like the 36 early on.

If you think I played a lot of straight pool, I did not. I actually used to just start out by throwing balls out there on the table and start running straight pool until I missed. Once I missed, I’d go on to 10 ball as my practice game. . That was the late 80s all the way through until I quit playing the game seriosuly in 2007 or so. I never played a real match of 14.1 other than for a Coca-Cola in college.

Freddie <~~~ no patience for straight
 
I started the quest to beat my own record yesterday and could not get into the second rack, very sad. Today I tried twice and had a 17 and a 22, very happy.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Tournaments are mostly about your average game, not your best run.

I think it would be nice if more players entered tournaments to support the game and get the experience. And of course measure themselves under tournament conditions.
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Yes, tournament, just like private matches are won by players with higher "averages"......not by the players with the best lifetime "high run".

I've lost more times 5han I care to remember to players that have lifetime high runs that are only 1/3 of mine.

High run players dont always get the cheese.
 
Idle Curiosity

cardiac kid said:
Several years ago in the days when my late friend, the great Pat Howey was still playing, I ran 187. Sadly there was no one present to verify the run so I originally didn't post it on the forum. PM'ed one of our most distinguished members with my dilemma. He suggested posting it anyway as everyone on AZ was on the honor system anyway. Several verified 150's though. These days I struggle to get into a third rack! Strange how those patterns disappear when you don't play regularly.

Lyn
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I never played straight pool myself. Tried a little bit as a youngster but I didn't have any idea how to get into the second rack or more. I only saw somebody else playing straight pool a couple times and back then my interest was in doing not watching. No video and few books so without a mentor I didn't get far.

Pat was quite a player and is the reason for my post. Any idea what his high run was or what was the highest you saw him put up?

I seem to remember he used a slip stroke or am I confusing him with someone else? I practice a slip stroke now and then just because I consider it an art form and hate to see it disappearing. Sometimes me trying gets other people involved too.

Hu
 
I have 2 different numbers. Only 1 that counts officially for the straight pool purists and even though the other many wouldn't think anything of, it's probably my proudest achievement.

For the one that counts, 46 on a 9' diamond with 4 1/2 inch pockets, fairly worn in cloth. About 4 other runs from 40-44 on similar table. I rarely play anywhere but home these days, but try to run balls sometimes, just for something different to do and I do like straight pool, even if I'm not on a 9' table.

For the other run, I ran 100 exactly on my diamond bar box in my basement. I've run 4 5-6 packs in various games, but I consider this my single greatest achievement. I've run 62 twice, for my second highest as well.

On the 100 ball run, I figure I made between 10-15 combos, billiards, and caroms. In nearly 30 years of playing pool in general, I also made the single best shot of my life, around the 40-50 ball mark. I was frozen to the top of the stack and after looking the rack over for a good couple minutes, I saw something that sort of resembled a shot that I didn't even think would go, but didn't see anything else that remotely resembled a shot. I had to shoot a 2 rail kick up table, double out of the corner, hit a sliver of a ball, then have a ball 3 balls down carom off another ball, and then have that other ball go in the corner pocket. I also had to hit this kick with pace. Jacked up over the stack and on the verge of miscuing, I gave it my best stroke and to my surprise, hit the sliver exactly where I was hoping, and then after a collision of 4-5 balls, the intended ball found it's way to the pocket. I couldn't believe I made it and after a minute or so of thinking I couldn't believe I just made that shot, I made a good decision. I went to the bathroom washed my hands, stared at myself in the mirror and told myself I wasn't going to let that shot go to waste. I composed myself, went back out and just kept stringing racks. I initially started with a run of 1, then ran 7 racks, then made the break ball, missed the stack, and my run officially ended after I failed one of the trick shots I never make. I had no idea where I was at and typically get to excited once I get in that 40 plus range. I knew I ran what felt like a lot, but had no idea where I was at. As I was adding up the numbers, I was thinking I probably ran 80-90, but not quite a 100, but thought maybe there's a chance. When I saw it was 100, I was so damn happy and then added it up like 5 more times to make sure lol. This was last year. I'm only 37, have a Fargorate of 630, baby on the way, but think there's a good chance this will go down as my high run. It's always possible I'll dedicate myself to the game more, buy a bigger house with room for a 9' down the road, but if it doesn't work out, I'm ok with that. Also, not trying to start one of those debates about table sizes. I'm well aware a 7' table is much easier than a 9' table for high runs, just something I'm personally proud of that I thought would be worth sharing.
 
ShootingArts said:
... Pat was quite a player and is the reason for my post. Any idea what his high run was or what was the highest you saw him put up?

I seem to remember he used a slip stroke or am I confusing him with someone else? I practice a slip stroke now and then just because I consider it an art form and hate to see it disappearing. Sometimes me trying gets other people involved too.

Hu
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Yes, Pat was a slip stroker. Here's a little 1-minute video of him posted by David Sapolis after Pat's death in 2009. It doesn't really show his slip stroke because of the angle of view, but at the end it indicates that his high run was 338.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXa5d6hIAyg
 
My real high run is talked about in my first book, Pool Wars. I played a pretty decent Straight Pool player down in Florida a race to 100 for fifty bucks (this was in the mid 60's so it was a decent bet). He had me 90 something to 28 and I ran 72 and out to win.

I only remember playing Straight Pool for money one other time in New York against an old man who beat me unmercifully. He would run a rack or two and play safe, and just kept doing that until he won the game. I had no chance against him! I swore off old men and Straight Pool in New York after that.

I did practice Straight Pool once in a while when I couldn't get a game. I used to regularly make runs in the 40's and 50's and had one or two over 60. I wouldn't exactly call myself a Straight Pool player.
 
46. And starting to wonder if I’ll ever break 50.

I feel like 50 would be a milestone achievement for me since I’ve never done it. It just gets frustrating. A guy I comfortably give the 7 to playing 9-ball was all excited and told me he had just run 63 a couple of days prior to seeing me. I was happy for him, but also even more disappointed in myself. I have lots of runs in the low 40’s, but something always happens going into the 4th rack.

My best, aside from the 46, is back-to-back 42’s.
 
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