What would you do?
- Thread starter krupa
- Start date
Hard to argue against that, but isn't there something to be said about forcing your opponent into a very low percentage shot, or a difficult return safe...?
I just put my left/bridge hand near the 9-ball. It was a long bridge and I could really only hit the top of the cue ball, but it was do-able without touching the rack.
I'm admittedly a little slow. I still don't get it.
sorry, I misunderstood your question. The natural result of doing too many things at the same time.
The short answer is that the rack isn't completely undisturbed. You can see the bottom row is a little messed up (seven is out of line) and I think the balls were looser than it looks in the pictures. The position in the picture is the second safety I played.
If one or two balls are loose at the start of the rack, I think the main points are:
0. Don't leave a dead one.
1. Hide the loose balls on the other side of the rack.
2. Do not leave a way to freeze the cue ball to the rack.
3. If you have to leave an open ball, don't leave a way to get to the rack or get position on another loose ball.
4. If you have to leave a shot that can break the rack, make it as low a percentage as possible.
5. Never take a hard shot for just that one ball.
6. Leave it long.
Any other major points to consider?
0. Don't leave a dead one.
1. Hide the loose balls on the other side of the rack.
2. Do not leave a way to freeze the cue ball to the rack.
3. If you have to leave an open ball, don't leave a way to get to the rack or get position on another loose ball.
4. If you have to leave a shot that can break the rack, make it as low a percentage as possible.
5. Never take a hard shot for just that one ball.
6. Leave it long.
Any other major points to consider?
Don't assume you're going to hit whatever you'd like to do badly...?
Play smart, not scared...
You're being diplomatic, it's easy to argue against that. What you said (highlighted) would be the desired action in almost all cases. When playing safe you want to apply maximum pressure and you want to be the 1st to do so. Plus, the better your opponent, it's importance is magnified, because rest assured if you fail to apply pressure you're probably not going to like your next shot.
I try to stress your point 5 to a gentleman I play with often. He can’t resist shooting at a lower percentage bank shot or long shot on the one ball that is separated from the pack, even if making it still only leads to having to play a safety on his next shot. The risk is just not worth it - if he misses it and by chance leaves it in a position that makes it a potential break shot for his opponent.
That's actually my frame of mind in these situations. I'd rather play a slightly weaker safe and put the 'do or die' choices on the other guy.
Having only two open balls in bad spots makes the back and forth safe battle easy for both contestants. Take the advantage and open up some more balls. Now all of a sudden there's no easy reply safe. ...and you can expect to get an open look
Yes, that's the point behind "2. Do not leave a way to freeze the cue ball to the rack." If you leave your opponent without a shot but on the center of the foot rail, there is usually shot to the back of the rack that pops some balls out and leaves the cue ball frozen. It's also the point of the standard 2nd ball safe on a 14-ball rack. Jack Breit missed that shot as a safety right at the end of his match with Lassiter.
Yes, of course, when your only options are to just leave either then you can perhaps judge which is the better option and play the safe accordingly. I would say you have to play what they table affords you at the moment, but the idea is that the mindset should be not to have a casual attitude about playing 14.1 safes- like" that's good enough" - bc if you want to improve to where you are competitive with hi ball runners, then leaving openings can mean loss of game - not just loss of turn at the table.
Ya... here's where my non-existent experience in actually paying this game competitively exposes my lack of knowledge.
That explains it. I thought it was the aftermath of a break shot.
If you never play matches then it is sort of pointless to learn how to play safe. For the most part you will not learn standard safety play from the current batch of top players because few if any ever saw the "classic" style of play.
There have been several discussion of safeties in this forum. SJM posted a list of considerations some time ago. If you plan to compete you may what to check them out.
Excluding 14.1, the strongest part of my 'pool' reputation is my safety play. I know how to manlipulate the table to pull mistakes out of my opponents. Regardless of the game, the physical possibilities of what can be done on a pool table remain consistent.
In terms of 14.1, yes I doubt I'll ever put any effort into the classical style of play. Be it offence or defence. When I started out, I went with the classical rack management. Found it kinda pointless. Not only because I didn't have to worry about an opponent, but because it seemed counter intutitive to hamper my own options by keeping the rack together as much as possible.
Obviously I’m guessing you didn’t play against many strong enough players that put long runs on you after you had made a mistake or played a marginal safety.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand exactly what you are saying. If your mistake most likely leads to your opponent running out a rack or less, you can certainly afford to play more aggressively as it’s not as big a deal as if your mistake leads to them running out the game or running multiple racks.
One of my 14.1 opponents I like to play is a clear mismatch, but I spot him 70 balls going to 100, and he’s capable of running out a full rack at any time. Unless I want to lose, that forces me to play a smart, conservative game from the start, just as if I was playing an opponent that was as good or better than me.
You guessed right Chris. I haven't played a match of 14.1 against an opponent for something like 20yrs. ...and even then, it really wasn't a competitive game. Old room owner loved the game so I offered to swing at a few to humour him.