While I have not gotten out to the pool hall as often as I would like in recent weeks, I had a good practice session the other night at Buster's. While I was doing one of the drills I got from the Internet (shooting balls off of the rail, all around the table), I was approached by one of the older regulars. He helped me level out my stroke on the rail shots (the tendency is to angle your cue downward towards the cue ball, which makes the shot itself much less accurate), and then he showed me some interesting shots and a new drill to practice.
The new drill is fairly simple to set up: Place an object ball on the rail at every "middle diamond", i.e. the middle diamond on each short rail and the middle diamond between each set of pockets on the long rails. This should total six object balls. Then, place the cue ball on either the head spot or the foot spot, and try to run out all of the balls without missing. This drill increases awareness of inside english use, and also makes you much more comfortable with shooting balls that are on the rail. The gentleman who showed me the drill says that he practices it until he can do the drill seven times in a row. I was able to do it twice in six or seven tries, so I have a ways to go.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
High run under match conditions
Last week I met up with a friend of mine at Buster's, and we decided to play "our" version of Straight Pool. Basically, the rules are the same as in regular Straight Pool, but safeties are not allowed. No matter how the balls are arranged on the table, you have to try to go for a shot. While it does not help develop defensive skills, it DOES force you to play very good position (especially as you get toward the break ball at the end of the rack). If you end up the rack and you do not have a break shot, you have to try a crazy shot off of a full rack, and that will often result in a spread layout for your opponent.
While this was not technically a Straight Pool match, it was not just a practice session either. We were both trying our hardest to put a run together. My high run in an actual match was 15, but in this game I ran 7, gave myself a good break shot, made the shot and broke the rack, and then ran 13 more, for a total of 21! This was my second-highest run EVER (I had run 25 in practice once), and it showed me once again how much I need to focus, as the 22nd shot was the ball before the break ball and it was very makeable. If I could have sunk that 22nd ball, and then broken the rack with the 23rd, I might have broken my all time high run.
I'll take it, though...only the second time I have ever broken 20!
While this was not technically a Straight Pool match, it was not just a practice session either. We were both trying our hardest to put a run together. My high run in an actual match was 15, but in this game I ran 7, gave myself a good break shot, made the shot and broke the rack, and then ran 13 more, for a total of 21! This was my second-highest run EVER (I had run 25 in practice once), and it showed me once again how much I need to focus, as the 22nd shot was the ball before the break ball and it was very makeable. If I could have sunk that 22nd ball, and then broken the rack with the 23rd, I might have broken my all time high run.
I'll take it, though...only the second time I have ever broken 20!
Friday, January 11, 2013
Lightning in a bottle
It was the kind of an evening where you question why you went to the pool hall in the first place. I woke up at 4:00 AM last Wednesday, and had an active day. Still, after some caffeine (Mt. Dew) and a shower, I thought I might be awake enough to get some practice in, so I went to Buster's for a couple of hours.
I did my usual opening drill, rolling the stripes and the 8-ball onto the table and trying to run them out. When I miss on this drill, I put one of the solids out there too (making the layout a bit harder) and try again from the beginning. Each time I mess up the runout, another "opponent" ball goes into the layout. This time I needed SIX tries before running out the stripes. I knew then it could be a rough night on the table.
Once that drill was finished, I started my drill of breaking up the last six balls of a nine-ball rack and running them in order. As I detailed in my last post, I was able to do this 4 out of 10 times a couple of weeks ago. This night, I could not even do it ONCE in my first 12 tries. I kept coming close, but could not complete the runout.
As a side note, the pool hall was crowded and people were playing decent music on the jukebox. So, I was having a pretty good time anyway. When the music stopped for a bit, I figured I would put in some songs and give the drill one more shot (so to speak).
Well, I don't know if it was that "my music" was playing, or that I finally woke up...but I was able to complete the drill SIX OUT OF NINE TIMES! I got my degree in Statistics, and I KNOW how improbable it is that I could do it 6 out of 9 times after not being able to do it even once all night. Not only that, but after the sixth victory, I tried a few more times and once again I could not complete it even once. Truly, it was lightning in a bottle...I am not sure whether to move on to seven balls for the drill, or make it so that I have to do the six-ball drill again first.
On another note, I ran into the man who is making my new cue. He seems mostly recovered from an accident he had last autumn, and he is working on getting the blank for my cue. After that, he will be working on getting the cue itself. It will likely still be a few months, but at least there is progress being made.
I did my usual opening drill, rolling the stripes and the 8-ball onto the table and trying to run them out. When I miss on this drill, I put one of the solids out there too (making the layout a bit harder) and try again from the beginning. Each time I mess up the runout, another "opponent" ball goes into the layout. This time I needed SIX tries before running out the stripes. I knew then it could be a rough night on the table.
Once that drill was finished, I started my drill of breaking up the last six balls of a nine-ball rack and running them in order. As I detailed in my last post, I was able to do this 4 out of 10 times a couple of weeks ago. This night, I could not even do it ONCE in my first 12 tries. I kept coming close, but could not complete the runout.
As a side note, the pool hall was crowded and people were playing decent music on the jukebox. So, I was having a pretty good time anyway. When the music stopped for a bit, I figured I would put in some songs and give the drill one more shot (so to speak).
Well, I don't know if it was that "my music" was playing, or that I finally woke up...but I was able to complete the drill SIX OUT OF NINE TIMES! I got my degree in Statistics, and I KNOW how improbable it is that I could do it 6 out of 9 times after not being able to do it even once all night. Not only that, but after the sixth victory, I tried a few more times and once again I could not complete it even once. Truly, it was lightning in a bottle...I am not sure whether to move on to seven balls for the drill, or make it so that I have to do the six-ball drill again first.
On another note, I ran into the man who is making my new cue. He seems mostly recovered from an accident he had last autumn, and he is working on getting the blank for my cue. After that, he will be working on getting the cue itself. It will likely still be a few months, but at least there is progress being made.
Friday, January 4, 2013
New drill, slight progress in current drill
In a recent post, I detailed a drill that I am doing where I try to run the last six balls of a nine-ball rack 6 times out of 11. Up until recently, the best I could do was 2 out of 8 times.
Over the recent holiday week, I went to a pool hall while in Canada and worked on this drill a bit. By the end of the session, I was able to complete the drill 4 out of 10 times, including twice in a row! While this is not where I want to be, it marks a bit of progress, and gives me hope that I may be able to hit my goal sometime soon.
I also found another drill that I decided to try. In this drill (found on pool.bz originally), you put the object ball on the spot, and the cue ball against the side rail, parallel with the object ball. You can start on either side of the object ball. The point of this drill is to sink the object ball, then replace the object ball and move the cue ball one diamond up the rail. Each time you miss, you shoot again from the same spot. Each time you sink the object ball, you move the cue ball one diamond further up the rail. The last shot is taken from the diamond that is parallel with the object ball on the other side from where you started - 17 shots in all. In the video where I first saw the drill, the 17 shots were made with only three misses. My first attempt at this drill included 14 misses, for a success rate of 17/31, or 55%. It is a great drill for getting familiar with the difficult shots that you sometimes need to take from the rail, though.
Over the recent holiday week, I went to a pool hall while in Canada and worked on this drill a bit. By the end of the session, I was able to complete the drill 4 out of 10 times, including twice in a row! While this is not where I want to be, it marks a bit of progress, and gives me hope that I may be able to hit my goal sometime soon.
I also found another drill that I decided to try. In this drill (found on pool.bz originally), you put the object ball on the spot, and the cue ball against the side rail, parallel with the object ball. You can start on either side of the object ball. The point of this drill is to sink the object ball, then replace the object ball and move the cue ball one diamond up the rail. Each time you miss, you shoot again from the same spot. Each time you sink the object ball, you move the cue ball one diamond further up the rail. The last shot is taken from the diamond that is parallel with the object ball on the other side from where you started - 17 shots in all. In the video where I first saw the drill, the 17 shots were made with only three misses. My first attempt at this drill included 14 misses, for a success rate of 17/31, or 55%. It is a great drill for getting familiar with the difficult shots that you sometimes need to take from the rail, though.
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