why?

[dmgwalsh]

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, and who. It's one of the harder nights at league. You get so frustrated you take any kind of ridiculous shot just to get going. Nice guy, though. You have to hand it to him, he knows how he must play to win.

It's the price we pay for getting to play Smooth Eddie Latimer and George Fels. All in all, I love the league.

I got to see smooth Eddie give about a 3 hour lesson to Rich Griffin at the IBC last night. Rick, Sr. Was running balls while Denny appeared to be spectating.

I played Mark Kwan to 100 and then two more matches to 100 against Sam DeChristopher.

It's a tough life.:wink:

 

[gunzby]

I haven't the slightest idea why this isn't the most popular game out there. I can see why 9ball is the game to show on television, but 14.1 is the game to play. When I'm practicing it's either 14.1 or 9/10 ball.

 

[Winston846]

Agree with Marop's original reply. This game is not as easy as 9-ball. MUCH more thinking involved. Plus, as the old saying goes, "When in doubt, get the 9 moving." You don't have any of that in straight pool. Either you can run balls, or you can't run balls. I've seen a lot of 9-ball players humbled by this game. You can't just bang the balls around and get lucky. And it's happened to me enough times that I'm to the point that I don't even like to play 9-ball anymore.

Just 2 weeks ago, I was playing a seasoned 9-ball player and couldn't beat him in a race to 6 - and luck was on his side. Yet he declined to play me 14.1 to 150 with me offering him a 60 ball spot. That just reinforces my opinion of 9-ball. You can have only marginal skills and can still be somewhat successful at it, whereas in straight pool, without any knowledge of the game, those same marginal skills aren't going to get you very far.

 

[sausage]

I just don't understand why people don't play this game more. Its more fun than 9ball. Its def a better practice game.

oddly enough i played a lot of straight pool before i ever heard of 9ball. i met a guy at the university pool room and he introduced me to the game. he was flabbergasted because i beat him easily. he kept asking me: "are you sure you never played 9ball before?". i reassured him and then said; "well, all you have to do is get the angle and pay attention to your position." ..... the game does have nuances of difficulty but unlike 14.1 it's pretty straight forward.

i've never been so impressed in my life as when i watched dick lane play straight. my brain kept saying; "i want to do that." the lure of 14.1 eventually snags all great players even big-money, 9ball gurus like CJ Wiley. you can be the best 9ball player on the planet but will never garner the same respect of your colleges like the best straight pool player. case in point: i was at a big-name pool tourney in dallAss. i forget who it was but they introduced dick lane to another pro with these words; "watch out or he'll run 100 balls on ya." not, watch out or he'll run 9 racks of 9ball on you, which i think dick has done.... if you are a pool player and watch a good 14.1 player dissect a rack and still have no interest in 14.1, you are NOT a serious pool player. :wink: