I know you are a purist, and if you are the Beatle from Baltimore, was/are a better player than me or I ever was. Maybe your better no matter where you are from.
I had pounded two spot shots into the rubber. On one of them I hit it so bad I drew the cue ball into a ball on the rail on Ghosts side and left him a thin cut.
The only other shot I remotely considered was two railing the ball on his side to my side of the table and following the cue ball down to the end rail. I had lost a game earlier where I came from 7/1 down to the last ball and left Ghost a two rail shot he made to win the game.
I am 74 years old and get the yips, especially on spot shots when I am trying to draw the cue ball. Wish I did not, but I do.
I will always feel like I shot the right shot. It ultimately got me the cheese and I went home with a pocketful of $$ instead of an empty wagon.
Are you speaking of Dale, the Baltimore Beatle? I spent a lot of time with him at Ye Billiard Den in 69, 70, 71 or about. Always wondered what happened to him because he was in a bit of trouble at that time.
Beard
The way that I look at things is from a different perspective, what is the shot that I would least want you to shoot. In your particular situation, my bunghole would have done a pucker once I seen you had decided to bank the ball rather than shoot the spot shot, my nerves would have much rather that you get it over with by shooting the spot shot knowing that if you missed with that ball on my side, my chances of winning would go up dramatically.
If I was playing an idiot, however, I would not want him to shoot the spot shot, because suckers always make those types of shots because they are too uninformed to pay attn to the pressure of the situation. I would rather he play the bank because it would hopefully give me a chance to outmove him and eventually get back in the game if he missed it.
And when I say they would make it, I am talking about routine pressure situations, like 3 of 5 for like $200 or $300. Anything beyond that and they would drive the spot shot 4 rails around the table.
Real big money players understand this.
Beard