What's your goal in daily practice?

[acousticsguru]

Need to rephrase the question as I'd personally answer it would be my goal to practice daily in the first place, but…

Specifically, setting up a Straight Pool break shot (= starting with 15 balls on the table as in challenges), I'd be curious to hear if aficionados around here set themselves a minimum goal, or are trying to break their high run on every attempt, or set themselves no goal at all other than to have fun?

I remember many, many years ago I heard Nick Varner say that it took him a while to run three digits, but when he finally did, he'd run a hundred or more every day. I was young then, impressed but not intimidated, rather, fully embracing the idea: that it would be like a barrier once broken…

Right after a trick shot show Nick gave in Basel sometime in the late eighties, he asked the audience if we'd like to see a hundred-ball run in Straight Pool. Only Nicky knows if it was tongue-in-cheek, but of course we all cheered and off he went: telling for each and every shot in advance what he'd shoot, how, which ball next and why. I seem to remember he left himself a tester after one break shot didn't turn out quite as he intended to, and the nonchalance with which he fired it in. All accompanied by that unique dialect of his that virtually no-one was able to fully understand, but believe me, we did get the gist. Except: I was impressed but not intimidated. Did I mention I was still young? :embarrassed2:

Now that I instruct, I try to tell students not to set themselves unrealistic goals (such as trying to break their high run each and every time, but e.g. try and increase their average etc.).

Straight Pool isn't popular in this country anyhow, and if/when there's a tournament, distances are short, sometimes frustratingly/intimidatingly so (= among amateur players, it's seldom conducive to running a lot of balls if one is overly concerned with leaving the table on a miss, facing almost assured immediate loss of game and match), worse yet, the number of innings may be limited (leading to ducking and sandbagging, aka "protecting one's lead"). In other words, Straight Pool, when at all played (such as at National Championships) is usually about winning, not runs.

Now, hoping there are (more) people out there elsewhere who love, study, and most importantly, play, practice and enjoy this game, I wonder what (daily/minimum) goal they're setting themselves, if any? What's yours?

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

 

[mjantti]

Hey David. Glad to see you active here
When I practice 14.1, I usually set a goal at 125 or 150 and see how many innings it takes me to get there. No other daily goals. Some days I barely run over 20, some days I average around 15-20. My main goal is to run a hundred but I don't think I'll get there if I begin my every run with announcing "Mr. Jäntti will now run a hundred balls". Or maybe I should?

 

[acousticsguru]

Hey David. Glad to see you active here
When I practice 14.1, I usually set a goal at 125 or 150 and see how many innings it takes me to get there. No other daily goals. Some days I barely run over 20, some days I average around 15-20. My main goal is to run a hundred but I don't think I'll get there if I begin my every run with announcing "Mr. Jäntti will now run a hundred balls". Or maybe I should?

Hello there, my favorite (former?) referee, glad to see you're still around, too! That's an interesting concept you're mentioning there. I used to do something of the sort with students, a Straight Pool Ghost ball scenario where the Ghost would get all the remaining balls on the table [plus take your pick of number of racks according to playing ability] - but that's not quite the same thing you do. My personal regimen, if any, has always been dictated by time constraints - seemingly, but not always conducive to doing well on the first attempt. Other than that, except for challenges, I don't know of any scenario in which one would try and force oneself to do well on the first try - although it can be easier under pressure.

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

 

[acousticsguru]

Hey David. Glad to see you active here
When I practice 14.1, I usually set a goal at 125 or 150 and see how many innings it takes me to get there. No other daily goals. Some days I barely run over 20, some days I average around 15-20. My main goal is to run a hundred but I don't think I'll get there if I begin my every run with announcing "Mr. Jäntti will now run a hundred balls". Or maybe I should?

Having said that, the advantage of your scenario is that you have a rough idea of how long the session is going to take - I like that.

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

 

[Straightpool_99]

I don't have run goals every time per se (but I have a minimum standard). I try to achieve something specific like: "This run I'd like to always have a good insurance ball before going into a cluster", "This run I'd like to have stop shot end patterns" or "This run I'd like to play with only below the rack breakshots". Of course I always try for these things (except the last one), but really zoning in on one thing like that, I seem to learn more.

I have high run goals long term, but I try to forget that while playing. Focusing on an aspect of the game unrelated to number of balls run helps me with that. I know that when I approach the high run mark I will have the shakes, so anything helping me with that is good.

 

[acousticsguru]

I don't have run goals every time per se (but I have a minimum standard). I try to achieve something specific like: "This run I'd like to always have a good insurance ball before going into a cluster", "This run I'd like to have stop shot end patterns" or "This run I'd like to play with only below the rack breakshots". Of course I always try for these things (except the last one), but really zoning in on one thing like that, I seem to learn more.

I have high run goals long term, but I try to forget that while playing. Focusing on an aspect of the game unrelated to number of balls run helps me with that. I know that when I approach the high run mark I will have the shakes, so anything helping me with that is good.

I like your approach: good thing not to "aimlessly" start running balls, without mindset so to speak. What I do (all Straight Pool players do this, but not always consciously) is to right at the start of each locate the break shot (or a pattern to create one), locate clusters, blockers (balls in the way of other balls) and trouble balls (along with respective lead balls to break them up or play position on them), and then I try to figure out which balls of what's going to be left would serve as an end pattern, in other words, there may be balls I don't need and that I'm not supposed to leave until the end.

What you do is a plus - reminds me of my "no English (= no side spin)" practice sessions I sometimes do. Practice with a purpose.

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

 

[dmgwalsh]

When I play in the basement, I usually, set up a break ball and see how many I can run. When I miss, I re-rack, set up another and go at it.
Always trying to run as many as I can.
Once in a while, I'll try something that is not high percentage, just to see what happens.

I noticed a lot of times, I will start out fair, but then whatever stops me starts pissing me off, and it will affect my subsequent attempts. Eventually, I will be talking to myself and telling myself if that is all I got, I don't deserve to be shooting and then give myself three more attempts to see what I can do. Sometimes I bear down on the last three and do well again.

Sometimes, I don't get pissed off about my misses, but get interested in the infinite variety of possibilities to solve different racks.

When I am being smarter, I just go down and practice certain shots, strokes and routines and don't worry about trying to run balls. Just work on improving my tools.

I am certainly not espousing my method, but merely being honest.

 

[acousticsguru]

When I play in the basement, I usually, set up a break ball and see how many I can run. When I miss, I re-rack, set up another and go at it.
Always trying to run as many as I can.
Once in a while, I'll try something that is not high percentage, just to see what happens.

I noticed a lot of times, I will start out fair, but then whatever stops me starts pissing me off, and it will affect my subsequent attempts. Eventually, I will be talking to myself and telling myself if that is all I got, I don't deserve to be shooting and then give myself three more attempts to see what I can do. Sometimes I bear down on the last three and do well again.

Sometimes, I don't get pissed off about my misses, but get interested in the infinite variety of possibilities to solve different racks.

When I am being smarter, I just go down and practice certain shots, strokes and routines and don't worry about trying to run balls. Just work on improving my tools.

I am certainly not espousing my method, but merely being honest.

No worries, Dennis, it's reassuring to hear others are occasionally beating/getting down on themselves, too. I've been guilty of all of the above more often than I like to admit. Maybe that is what I meant further above when I felt it might be worth not to start runs aimlessly.

One of the things you mention that I like doing from time to time is to repeatedly set up a relatively rare and uncomfortable or seemingly unproductive break shot for myself and see if I can improve on prior results. At the very least it makes me feel as if I learnt something (even if only to avoid certain break shots if at all possible).

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

 

[9BallJim]

Hello there, my favorite (former?) referee, glad to see you're still around, too! That's an interesting concept you're mentioning there. I used to do something of the sort with students, a Straight Pool Ghost ball scenario where the Ghost would get all the remaining balls on the table [plus take your pick of number of racks according to playing ability] - but that's not quite the same thing you do. My personal regimen, if any, has always been dictated by time constraints - seemingly, but not always conducive to doing well on the first attempt. Other than that, except for challenges, I don't know of any scenario in which one would try and force oneself to do well on the first try - although it can be easier under pressure.



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

I also play the straight pool ghost. I first saw it done by Blackjack. I believe he was giving the ghost 42 on a miss. I can't compete with that so I give the ghost the rest of the balls on the table plus 7. This is about the only thing I do now. I average beating this ghost roughly once a month and I probably play around two to three sessions per week and three to four games per session. So I win about 5% of the time.

I've been doing this now for about 9 months. Initially, I found myself bearing down a lot more, really thinking about a real opponent and a real game score. More recently, I seem to not be giving this game the same respect I did before and find myself getting frustrated especially when starting the game by missing a break shot, giving up 21 balls, then scratching on the next break shot and now the score is 42 to -1. I race to 100 and so the games rarely go past 7 innings.

I still like the game but I had my table recovered and the pocket facings redone a few months ago and now the table plays much more difficult than it did before. So when I beat the ghost now, it's a huge victory for me.

Tonight I ended up playing poorly the first few games and started the last game poorly as well. The score was 70-27 in the ghost's favor after four innings. Then I ran 53 and missed for a score of 80-80. I felt great about the run and thought surely I can run another 20. Unfortunately, I missed my break shot and lost 100-80.

The last time I ran anything close to that was a 54 back in January and that was before my table was redone.

So to answer your posted question , I would say my ultimate goal during a session is to beat the ghost, but knowing that only happens 1 out of 20 times, I'm content with achieving a high BPI, say over 10, indicating that my game is more consistent.

 

[acousticsguru]

I also play the straight pool ghost. I first saw it done by Blackjack. I believe he was giving the ghost 42 on a miss. I can't compete with that so I give the ghost the rest of the balls on the table plus 7. This is about the only thing I do now. I average beating this ghost roughly once a month and I probably play around two to three sessions per week and three to four games per session. So I win about 5% of the time.

I've been doing this now for about 9 months. Initially, I found myself bearing down a lot more, really thinking about a real opponent and a real game score. More recently, I seem to not be giving this game the same respect I did before and find myself getting frustrated especially when starting the game by missing a break shot, giving up 21 balls, then scratching on the next break shot and now the score is 42 to -1. I race to 100 and so the games rarely go past 7 innings.

I still like the game but I had my table recovered and the pocket facings redone a few months ago and now the table plays much more difficult than it did before. So when I beat the ghost now, it's a huge victory for me.

Tonight I ended up playing poorly the first few games and started the last game poorly as well. The score was 70-27 in the ghost's favor after four innings. Then I ran 53 and missed for a score of 80-80. I felt great about the run and thought surely I can run another 20. Unfortunately, I missed my break shot and lost 100-80.

The last time I ran anything close to that was a 54 back in January and that was before my table was redone.

So to answer your posted question , I would say my ultimate goal during a session is to beat the ghost, but knowing that only happens 1 out of 20 times, I'm content with achieving a high BPI, say over 10, indicating that my game is more consistent.

Hello Jim! I remember seeing videos of yours, including the barefoot 70, and I would have bet you spot the Ghost more - smart, deliberate playing. But I know from personal experience how difficult it is to achieve consistency in a vacuum. Do you compete a lot apart from practicing? Asking because where I live, it's nearly impossible to find someone to play Straight Pool with, so the few tournaments are usually the only opportunity one gets.

I'm also noticing a detail: your not using one of those break shots that will scatter the balls all over the table to start with (watch e.g. John Schmidt or like videos from professional Straight Pool challenges: the close to the center of table side pocket break shot) - I'm not one to consistently take notes, but I'd say my average is higher than on days where I practice other (especially of course rare and unproductive) break shots. I'm not saying I don't like your choice - it's a classic and ones knows what to expect, which put a player in the right frame of mind. But it's not the most wide-open.

Keep up the effort, and think of yourself as privileged that you have the time and opportunity to play this wonderful game (= my personal "last resort" mindset when I get frustrated - you're not alone)!

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

 

[lfigueroa]

On those days that I practice 14.1 I just set up a break ball and run balls until I miss. Then repeat. I'll do it for an hour, maybe two.

I'm usually doing two thing while this is going on. One of course is to just see how many balls I can run. The other is to use the game as a diagnostic tool to improve my set up. If my set up is good, I run more balls. If a flaw has creeped in, I run fewer, so I'll try and figure that out. Occasionally I will find that I'm consistently missing one particular shot so I'll stop and figure out why until I don't miss that shot consistently.

Lou Figueroa

 

[rikdee]

What I often do is spread all 15 over the table, drop in the CB, and begin pocketing balls. Once cleared, I leave the CB in place, spread the balls again, and continue to pocket. My goal for this form of practice is two-fold:

> It promote extended periods of concentration. I'm more interested in time spent concentrating rather than how many balls I pocket without a miss. After moving through five or six frames, I find I have maintained real concentration for 20 or 30 minutes - time well spent. When actually playing, I'm seldom at the table and concentrating for that amount of time.
> It also demands good pattern recognition and execution. I could never successfully run frame after frame without connecting the dots and thinking through the clearance.
> Easy - yeah, in a sense it is. But it is an effective method of achieving my stated practice goals. Staying focused and removing balls in a properly considered fashion is time well spent. And, it does require some nice execution to run frame after frame without missing. On days when I run a number of frames, I leave the session feeling good about my game and satisfied having achieved that day's practice goals.
> Additionally, it tests the notion of "bearing down on easy shots or never miss a ball you should make". As we all know, this is easier said than done.

 

[14-1StraightMan]

Practice

I have not practice in a long time and I have been only playing once a week on league night (which because of not practicing, I am not doing any where near as well as I always do). When I do get into a steady practice, I set up a break ball by the side of the rack and begin. I run as many as I can. I usually practice for an hour or less (two or three times a day here at home). Within that hour my goal is to run 50 balls. I have become use to running 50 balls and I mentally believe that when I play a match, that I can run 50 balls at any time. As soon as I get back into practicing, which is soon because I now have a goal to work for (a up coming tournament that means a lot to me). I will get back on track.

 

[acousticsguru]

As soon as I get back into practicing, which is soon because I now have a goal to work for (a up coming tournament that means a lot to me). I will get back on track.

Hello Mike, wishing you luck on that one, as you know - surely a good thing to feel prepared, at least I don't ever feel like a young whippersnappers anymore who figures to catch a gear without ever practicing (well, actually, I do ever now and then, still the question remains: will that happen at the right time when I most need it - may be asking a bit too much).

Go Mike!! :thumbup:

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

 

[9BallJim]

Hello Jim! I remember seeing videos of yours, including the barefoot 70, and I would have bet you spot the Ghost more - smart, deliberate playing. But I know from personal experience how difficult it is to achieve consistency in a vacuum. Do you compete a lot apart from practicing? Asking because where I live, it's nearly impossible to find someone to play Straight Pool with, so the few tournaments are usually the only opportunity one gets.



I'm also noticing a detail: your not using one of those break shots that will scatter the balls all over the table to start with (watch e.g. John Schmidt or like videos from professional Straight Pool challenges: the close to the center of table side pocket break shot) - I'm not one to consistently take notes, but I'd say my average is higher than on days where I practice other (especially of course rare and unproductive) break shots. I'm not saying I don't like your choice - it's a classic and ones knows what to expect, which put a player in the right frame of mind. But it's not the most wide-open.



Keep up the effort, and think of yourself as privileged that you have the time and opportunity to play this wonderful game (= my personal "last resort" mindset when I get frustrated - you're not alone)!



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

Lol, "...barefoot 70." Thanks for the kind words. I originally gave the ghost the remaining balls plus 14 and saw very soon that was too difficult for my skill level.

I started playing 14.1 in 2008 and joined the only 14.1 league in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that I knew of. So really the only competition I get is through league play which is about once a week. The league never offered any tournaments and in 2012 I approached the league director with a proposal for a league tournament. I designed it to be similar to the format of the Worlds with round robin play followed by a bracket. I received a lot of positive feedback and have run a tournament every year since. Unfortunately, I haven't finished well in my tournaments probably due to the distraction of having to run it while I play. As my love for the game has increased, I've traveled to Chicago, where I'm from, to compete in some of the tournaments at Red Shoes. I've have no success in those tournaments until last December when I finished 2nd place. I'm actually traveling to Chicago this weekend to play in their qualifier for the Worlds.

Over the years my performance in league play has progressed from finishing in the bottom 10% to the middle of the division with my best finish occurring this last season, which was 2nd out of 10 players. But I feel like I still play very inconsistent.

As for break shots, I typically play the conventional side-of-rack break shots varying both the distance to the rack, the back-cut angle and the distance to the foot rail. In addition, I'll do the same on the other side of the rack (left-handed player side). I also practice below-the-rack, foot rail and side rail break shots. I actually feel very comfortable and get an effective spread from below-the-rack break shots going three rails out to the center of the table. I rarely play side pocket break shots when the break ball is to high for a side of rack conventional shot and need to practice those more. As for the center spot break shots, I feel that it comes up so infrequently in game play and I lose control of the cue ball so I don't practice them much either. I do play them when they come up but as you pointed out the spread is usually so good I don't want to spoil myself or artificially inflate my runs by an unlikely situation like that. Related to that same philosophy, I don't care for Thorsten Hohmann's approach to break shots when he hits it so hard with so much draw that the cue ends up in the kitchen or scratches. As much as I enjoy every other aspect of his game, I prefer Mika Immonen's more conservative approach to break shots where he controls the cue ball a lot more.

Thanks again for the comments. I do love this game and promote it as much as possible. Beside some drills I do occasionally, I practice straight pool almost exclusively.

 

[Solartje]

my short 14-1 training:


- i usually start with watching a match of 14-1. i write down , one thing i saw and keep it in mind to try to incorporate it into my game.

- then i place an open table (no balls close to the cussion) and run the table without touching any rail and with as much as possible stopshots (90%+). it takes a lot of time preparing the run, but = this helps me with stopshot, tactical preparation of a run and especially the triangular shaped endpatterns will be trained. i do this, untill i feel my muscles are warm and my mind is focused on the task and thinking like a player

- then i setup keyballs . i miss them a lot , so i shoot them from various places. i'm thinking of adding mjanti's idea of making them even harder and shoot them from the kitchen. then the close keyballs will look like hangers.

- then i play a race to x , and my goal is to make at least one run of y (usually 20) before i get there. during that game, my main concentration point is, secondary breakshots and bumping balls. i try to open the pack as often as possible (to train secondary breakshots) and i often play this rule: after a pot, cb must bump a ball. (unless there are like 5 balls left on the table).


I think this short training makes me focus on all the parts that i need. adapt to whatever level you play. the only thing missing is safety, I should incorporate that into my game , but will do it later , as its probably the part of my game that needs the least amount of work.

 

[It's George]

If u doing that much thinking maybe we should play. Where u at?

 

[acousticsguru]

Lol, "...barefoot 70." Thanks for the kind words. I originally gave the ghost the remaining balls plus 14 and saw very soon that was too difficult for my skill level.

I started playing 14.1 in 2008 and joined the only 14.1 league in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that I knew of. So really the only competition I get is through league play which is about once a week. The league never offered any tournaments and in 2012 I approached the league director with a proposal for a league tournament. I designed it to be similar to the format of the Worlds with round robin play followed by a bracket. I received a lot of positive feedback and have run a tournament every year since. Unfortunately, I haven't finished well in my tournaments probably due to the distraction of having to run it while I play. As my love for the game has increased, I've traveled to Chicago, where I'm from, to compete in some of the tournaments at Red Shoes. I've have no success in those tournaments until last December when I finished 2nd place. I'm actually traveling to Chicago this weekend to play in their qualifier for the Worlds.

Over the years my performance in league play has progressed from finishing in the bottom 10% to the middle of the division with my best finish occurring this last season, which was 2nd out of 10 players. But I feel like I still play very inconsistent.

As for break shots, I typically play the conventional side-of-rack break shots varying both the distance to the rack, the back-cut angle and the distance to the foot rail. In addition, I'll do the same on the other side of the rack (left-handed player side). I also practice below-the-rack, foot rail and side rail break shots. I actually feel very comfortable and get an effective spread from below-the-rack break shots going three rails out to the center of the table. I rarely play side pocket break shots when the break ball is to high for a side of rack conventional shot and need to practice those more. As for the center spot break shots, I feel that it comes up so infrequently in game play and I lose control of the cue ball so I don't practice them much either. I do play them when they come up but as you pointed out the spread is usually so good I don't want to spoil myself or artificially inflate my runs by an unlikely situation like that. Related to that same philosophy, I don't care for Thorsten Hohmann's approach to break shots when he hits it so hard with so much draw that the cue ends up in the kitchen or scratches. As much as I enjoy every other aspect of his game, I prefer Mika Immonen's more conservative approach to break shots where he controls the cue ball a lot more.

Thanks again for the comments. I do love this game and promote it as much as possible. Beside some drills I do occasionally, I practice straight pool almost exclusively.

Regarding "league play […] once a week" - now I'm really green with envy… How much I wish I'd get to play Straight Pool that often. Even if I find someone to play with, all the want to play is 9- or 10-Ball.

As to Mika, he's actually the one player apart from Thorsten whom I see do that most often: draw the cue ball all the way back to the head rail and back out. There are angles where it makes perfect sense to me, too, but I agree I've seen Thorsten do it in situations where a scratch looked possible and he'd do it anyhow. I've in fact seen him not scratch once because he hit the break shot with so much speed the hear corner pocket refused the cue ball to drop and spit it right out again…

Personally, I like watching Thorsten because his pattern play is superior to e.g. Mika's, but what I find perhaps most intriguing with both, and the same is also true of Oliver Ortmann or John Schmidt, is how much their pattern play is adapted to modern equipment, primarily balls and cloth. To some extent it's a different game than it used to be. I'm e.g. still used to leaving myself Mosconi type break shot simply because back when I learnt the game on thick 100% wool Mali (I believe) cloth the balls wouldn't open up at the type of flat stun break angles modern players like Darren Appleton try to leave themselves.

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

 

[Blackjack]

I also play the straight pool ghost. I first saw it done by Blackjack. I believe he was giving the ghost 42 on a miss. I can't compete with that so I give the ghost the rest of the balls on the table plus 7. This is about the only thing I do now. I average beating this ghost roughly once a month and I probably play around two to three sessions per week and three to four games per session. So I win about 5% of the time.

I've been doing this now for about 9 months. Initially, I found myself bearing down a lot more, really thinking about a real opponent and a real game score. More recently, I seem to not be giving this game the same respect I did before and find myself getting frustrated especially when starting the game by missing a break shot, giving up 21 balls, then scratching on the next break shot and now the score is 42 to -1. I race to 100 and so the games rarely go past 7 innings.

I still like the game but I had my table recovered and the pocket facings redone a few months ago and now the table plays much more difficult than it did before. So when I beat the ghost now, it's a huge victory for me.

Tonight I ended up playing poorly the first few games and started the last game poorly as well. The score was 70-27 in the ghost's favor after four innings. Then I ran 53 and missed for a score of 80-80. I felt great about the run and thought surely I can run another 20. Unfortunately, I missed my break shot and lost 100-80.

The last time I ran anything close to that was a 54 back in January and that was before my table was redone.

So to answer your posted question , I would say my ultimate goal during a session is to beat the ghost, but knowing that only happens 1 out of 20 times, I'm content with achieving a high BPI, say over 10, indicating that my game is more consistent.

Here is a link to the video -
Playing the 14.1 Ghost to 100. .

 

[9BallJim]

Regarding "league play […] once a week" - now I'm really green with envy… How much I wish I'd get to play Straight Pool that often. Even if I find someone to play with, all the want to play is 9- or 10-Ball.



As to Mika, he's actually the one player apart from Thorsten whom I see do that most often: draw the cue ball all the way back to the head rail and back out. There are angles where it makes perfect sense to me, too, but I agree I've seen Thorsten do it in situations where a scratch looked possible and he'd do it anyhow. I've in fact seen him not scratch once because he hit the break shot with so much speed the hear corner pocket refused the cue ball to drop and spit it right out again…



Personally, I like watching Thorsten because his pattern play is superior to e.g. Mika's, but what I find perhaps most intriguing with both, and the same is also true of Oliver Ortmann or John Schmidt, is how much their pattern play is adapted to modern equipment, primarily balls and cloth. To some extent it's a different game than it used to be. I'm e.g. still used to leaving myself Mosconi type break shot simply because back when I learnt the game on thick 100% wool Mali (I believe) cloth the balls wouldn't open up at the type of flat stun break angles modern players like Darren Appleton try to leave themselves.



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

So how often do you play straight pool competitively?

I, too, love to watch Ortmann and Schmidt play. They play at a pace that is incredible for the precise position they achieve.