What should be done?

rbpwrd240

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Well at a local tournament this last weekend I managed to get into the following situation and I still got out to take the tournament. What should have been done? Im stripes and I can see my object ball full.

Alex

CueTable Help

 
What he said ...

What Neil suggested (hard road to go though), or 3 rail the 12 and try to tie up the 2 or 1 or the complete corner pocket.
 
Thats pretty much exactly how I saw it. I tried to keep the cue ball down table but I still had to throw the 12 a bit to catch the corner. In my frustrations I allowed the cue ball to float up table WAY too far. I then had a much tougher bank on the 8 in the Same corner pocket.

I think I might be getting the hang of this thing. It was one of several tough outs tht night and I killed them all.

Alex:D
 
Agreed, but It was basicly an out in the hands of my oponent, or atleast thats the way I play;)
 
I have a general response for these sorts of "next to impossible to win" hypotheticals in 8 ball.

Find out what you did wrong before this point.

One thing I see is that both the 8 and your stripe are both trapped in between your opponent's balls on the rail. At some point prior to this, you attempted to run out, and either did not successfully set up breakout shots on these two balls, or did not even see the possibility.

In 8 ball, once you reach a certain speed, you MUST run all the way out if you attempt to run out. That means.... You must learn to look at the entire table, and analyze the problems for your opponent, and the problems for yourself. You cannot shoot even the first shot until you have a complete plan!

This plan may not necessarily include running out the first shot, but you can still formulate a plan to free one of your tied up balls and freeze your opponent to his own ball, leaving no shot. That way, you improve your position and survive to the next inning. If you have multiple problems, attempt to formulate a plan for handling each.

Now, please don't take this to demean you planning or shooting skills. I am simply expressing the opinion that you are focusing on the wrong area of your game. No matter how good you are, winning from positions such as these will only account for perhaps 2% of your total wins in 8 ball.

If you don't have it, I recommend "The 8 Ball Bible: A guide to bar table play" by R Givens. Eight ball is tougher and more congested on a bar table, so all the information in the book can be used to improve your 8 ball play, even on the big table. In this book, one of the most valuable lessons he teaches is how to free up balls safely.

Good luck.

Russ
 
That being said... Before I shot up in the air and tried to bank out, I would try to play the 8 off of the nearest solid to end up near my stripe, and possibly tying up the two solids near the corner as well.

CueTable Help



If the other player knows what he/she is doing, you are still most probably losing this game, but at least this gives the opportunity to tie up the 8 and two more balls as well as the 4.

If you do tie up the 8 ball, then later innings give you the opportunity to simply hit his potential breakout balls away from the 8.

From here, I think any attempt at an outright win tremendously hurts your chances.

Russ
 
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