twister
Verified Member
I wanted to start a new thread to kind of cover what Mike was asking about on the thread that is now solely covering Frost vs old one pocket players.
He was asking about key moves and traps. The first thing I thought about was a set of charts like they have in chess that show common moves and responses. Obviously, Eddie Robin's books have many of these examples, but for me, they're too random and too advanced to either learn enough from as a beginner or to remember as a more intermediate/advanced player. I think they can and should be distilled down to a purer set of layouts and responses.
The easiest example to handle is when there's only one ball left on the table. Where can you place the object ball and the cue ball so your opponent doesn't have a shot? You could break the table into quadrants and lay it out so it would be easy to see where the optimal shot would be based on the current situation. Not too much room to be creative with one ball, so it should be easier to figure out what the optimal placements of the cue ball and object ball are.
Another example I think would be worth discussing is the response to the break. Let's break it down to a set number of basic responses. Instead of worrying about where every single ball is, we should just focus on a few key balls. Is there a dead ball to the shooter's pocket? Is there a ball to bank towards our pocket? Are there balls on both the short and the long rail near our opponent's pocket? The possible set of responses could be something like:
1. Bank ball towards our pocket, leave ball on long rail near opponent's pocket.
2. Bank ball towards our pocket, leave ball in stack.
3. Hit ball on bottom of stack, leave cue ball on long rail.
4. Hit ball near side pocket of opponent's long rail and leave cue ball on long rail below side pocket.
5. Hit ball near side pocket of opponent's long rail and leave cue ball on long rail above side pocket.
6. Kick off long rail near opponent's pocket softly into the stack.
Etc, etc.
As one pocket students/fans/groupies, it seems like it would definitely be worth our time to work these out as much as we can. These kind of charts would seem to be worth their weight in silver.
He was asking about key moves and traps. The first thing I thought about was a set of charts like they have in chess that show common moves and responses. Obviously, Eddie Robin's books have many of these examples, but for me, they're too random and too advanced to either learn enough from as a beginner or to remember as a more intermediate/advanced player. I think they can and should be distilled down to a purer set of layouts and responses.
The easiest example to handle is when there's only one ball left on the table. Where can you place the object ball and the cue ball so your opponent doesn't have a shot? You could break the table into quadrants and lay it out so it would be easy to see where the optimal shot would be based on the current situation. Not too much room to be creative with one ball, so it should be easier to figure out what the optimal placements of the cue ball and object ball are.
Another example I think would be worth discussing is the response to the break. Let's break it down to a set number of basic responses. Instead of worrying about where every single ball is, we should just focus on a few key balls. Is there a dead ball to the shooter's pocket? Is there a ball to bank towards our pocket? Are there balls on both the short and the long rail near our opponent's pocket? The possible set of responses could be something like:
1. Bank ball towards our pocket, leave ball on long rail near opponent's pocket.
2. Bank ball towards our pocket, leave ball in stack.
3. Hit ball on bottom of stack, leave cue ball on long rail.
4. Hit ball near side pocket of opponent's long rail and leave cue ball on long rail below side pocket.
5. Hit ball near side pocket of opponent's long rail and leave cue ball on long rail above side pocket.
6. Kick off long rail near opponent's pocket softly into the stack.
Etc, etc.
As one pocket students/fans/groupies, it seems like it would definitely be worth our time to work these out as much as we can. These kind of charts would seem to be worth their weight in silver.
