Defensive vs Offensive runouts.

Which are you? Or does it depend on the situation?

Here is that match from the Ozone one pocket tournament this weekend.

Abraham vs San Souci
[ame]http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9920331[/ame]

If you go to minute 42:00 into the stream, you will see Eddie faced with a choice. To shoot a straight in shot and go for the run out, or to shoot a bank instead and try to run out.

Personally, i would have played it the exact same way, and usually do when it is in a match where my opponent can run out just as good as i can.

Can almost bet that if it were a non San Souci caliber player, that Eddie would have rifled in the straight in ball, and banked the other ball later in the run.

I consider this type of choice, very old school.
Where someone is willing to basically pass up on a guaranteed ball, and instead, opt for a shot where if they miss, they are both moving a ball away from the other players side.
I rarely see that many players make the choice Eddie did.
Seems like more of a grinders shot than a pure firepower shot, if you know what i mean.

Opinions on this?

SUPERSTAR said:

Which are you? Or does it depend on the situation?

Here is that match from the Ozone one pocket tournament this weekend.

Abraham vs San Souci
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9920331

If you go to minute 42:00 into the stream, you will see Eddie faced with a choice. To shoot a straight in shot and go for the run out, or to shoot a bank instead and try to run out.

Personally, i would have played it the exact same way, and usually do when it is in a match where my opponent can run out just as good as i can.

Can almost bet that if it were a non San Souci caliber player, that Eddie would have rifled in the straight in ball, and banked the other ball later in the run.

I consider this type of choice, very old school.
Where someone is willing to basically pass up on a guaranteed ball, and instead, opt for a shot where if they miss, they are both moving a ball away from the other players side.
I rarely see that many players make the choice Eddie did.
Seems like more of a grinders shot than a pure firepower shot, if you know what i mean.

Opinions on this?

Click to expand...

For myself, along with the offensive firepower of my opponent, it depends on the flow of the game and my own confidence level at the time.

If the shot comes up after a long safety battle, I will usually choose taking the bank. If I have been running balls, I would shoot the more agressive shot.

In this instance he could have shot the straight in hanger and had basically the same bank as he shot here, just going uptable a little more with the cueball. He must have liked the position angle better and chose the bank. The pockets on the tables looked pretty loose which makes the bank easier.

As an older player I find myself becoming more of a grinder than I used to, and as you mentioned in your post, it depends on the skill level of your opponent.

I would have been the type to have shot the straight in ball. It gives me a perfect opportunity to draw it to the rail and out so I can pick off the 2 balls around my hole and then try to get over in that same area again to possibly try the combo or then bank that ball.

If I banked it, I could miss it, or make it so I have to go in the pack and who knows what would happen then. It could be sweet or I could get royally screwed. At least the other way, I've got 3 balls out of it at least. Plus there is no way I'm going to miss the straight in and there is almost 0 chance I'm going to not get good shape on either of those 2 balls.

(note: this is not a professional opinion & this player has very little hours racked up in one pocket over the last 15 years)

Here is the screen grab of the shot.

For all of you that would like a very small, but powerful screen capture utility, I recommend Greenshot. In addition to capturing screen shots, you can also highlight stuff, add text, draw shapes and much more. It's free and it's small.

Grab it here

http://sourceforge.net/projects/greenshot/

I think that the draw shot is a little tricky. It's not below the object ball and not straight in, but above it.

There is always the possibility that he would draw it and hit the 14 which might not leave another shot after.
Can't go forward and get decent shape on the 3 or 9 unless you really sauce it up and go uptable.
You have a better chance of playing shape on the 5 going forward.

If anything, if you want to shoot the 15, you could always shoot the bank on the 14 next and hide him behind the pack if you miss it.

I think he was just opting to go for the bank to take the ball off of Ginky's side, and if he made it, he had more options from that point.

If he hangs it up, that just puts more squeeze on Ginky.

Seems kinda silly to me, of course the pockets are very loose. If no other position was available just play for the same bank. Maybe he was playing CB positution with the bank,a little above my pay grade.
Rod.

SUPERSTAR said:

I think that the draw shot is a little tricky. It's not below the object ball and not straight in, but above it.

There is always the possibility that he would draw it and hit the 14 which might not leave another shot after.
.

Click to expand...

I believe you are correct with this assessment, judging from the screenshot from CaliRed. The bank was the correct shot or he could have shot the straight-in and then the bank, as John said.

Dennis

SUPERSTAR said:

I think that the draw shot is a little tricky. It's not below the object ball and not straight in, but above it.

Click to expand...

Hey.. C'MON.. MAKE UP YOUR MIND !!!

Superstar's 1st Post said:

you will see Eddie faced with a choice. To shoot a straight in shot

Click to expand...

Again from Superstar's 1st post said:

that Eddie would have rifled in the straight in ball

Click to expand...

Is it straight in, or NOT????

Superstar said:

There is always the possibility that he would draw it and hit the 14 which might not leave another shot after.
Can't go forward and get decent shape on the 3 or 9 unless you really sauce it up and go uptable.
You have a better chance of playing shape on the 5 going forward.

If anything, if you want to shoot the 15, you could always shoot the bank on the 14 next and hide him behind the pack if you miss it.

I think he was just opting to go for the bank to take the ball off of Ginky's side, and if he made it, he had more options from that point.

If he hangs it up, that just puts more squeeze on Ginky.

Click to expand...

joking aside.. if it is not straight in (hard to tell exactly from the angle) and it looks like it's a possiblity that I may draw anywhere close to the 14, then I probably wouldn't do it. But there is some leeway here... big pockets, allowing you to cheat the pocket a bit and the fact that your so close to the ball. You should be able to have quite a bit control over your draw shot, being's you're so close to it and it's straight in (??? )

You can tell that because I'm leaning for that shot, as opposed to the bank, it's because I'm going with what suits my ability and confidence at this juncture of my game.

As always, in this wonderful game of onepocket, there is most always different shots to choose from and most have risks and rewards, leaving it up to the player to shoot the shot that is suited best for the different variables at the time.... the opponent, the score, the bet, the race, the table, the stall factor or not, your money or a backers, if the place is closing or not, if the guy is going to play again or not, if you're drunk or not, if anyone is watching or not, if it's a tournament or gambling... you know, those type of things.....

Let me change straight in to "the hanger 15"

CaliRed said:

For all of you that would like a very small, but powerful screen capture utility, I recommend Greenshot. In addition to capturing screen shots, you can also highlight stuff, add text, draw shapes and much more. It's free and it's small.

Grab it here

http://sourceforge.net/projects/greenshot/

Click to expand...

To all who want to learn to "grab" a screenshot and put lines and arrows on it, the first step is to download this free "greenshot" download. At least it's the only way I know how to do it.

Dennis

He banked that ball first instead of shooting the straight in b/c you def want to get that ball away from his side, and that was the right sequence.

If you shoot the straight in and leave the CB a little low accidentally then when you go to bank the ball on his side to your pocket the CB is going to trickle up toward the middle of the table and probably leave your opponent a shot at his hole if you miss....


I would have rathered to bank that ball first too.....if I miss I'll probably leave it jawed or really close, so the opponent is going to either dig it out or shoot that ball in my hole b/f he tries to bank the ball that was a straight in shot for me. (Depending on the score)

I haven't had the chance to see the video. It looks like there is a slight angle but enough to make the draw difficult to get past the 14 ball.

If the angle is what it appears to be then it looks like you can pocket that ball and go forward with high left to come out between the 5 and 3 balls.

The bank will probably get you more balls for sure but if missed you get nothing. I would prefer to make the ball and get the cue ball back to where it is now and then play the bank. But I like my first choice if it's doable.