In A Pickle !

Lets say its early game and my opponent has 4-5 balls within 3 feet of his hole. He left me long and uptable. I can't seem to find a safe shot, not even a good chance at pocketing his closest ball. I have nothing that goes in my hole and no 2-way shot. If i take a foul it will just get worse. so, I figure its time for a hale-mary to clear his balls and hope for the best. Question: if you are in this position, would it be better to blast them and draw the rock back uptable, or blast them and slide the rock towards his hole ?

Given a choice I would almost always want the ball closer to his pocket in the general situation you describe. Just random ball scattering means he is only likely to have a bank but keep in mind "within 3 feet of his pocket can be awful close to your hole. Don't know why you think an intensional foul just makes things worse. If it did we would never shoot them!

DeeMan

Deeman said:

Given a choice I would almost always want the ball closer to his pocket in the general situation you describe. Just random ball scattering means he is only likely to have a bank but keep in mind "within 3 feet of his pocket can be awful close to your hole. Don't know why you think an intentional foul just makes things worse. If it did we would never shoot them!

DeeMan

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Not using a photo, 3 feet was probably not a good guess. Lets say they are within 2 diamonds on the side rail 1 1/2 diamonds on the end rail. What would you do for an intentional foul?

There are very very few times when I think a smash and dash shot is the best option, look for a scratch shot that makes your opponent do something besides just roll you back where you were.
Too often, people think it is the "magical " shot they need , when in reality a really well placed intentional , may cause them to have a problem they in turn, don't know how to solve.
If you are playing a top tier one pocket player , they will more than likely , know exactly what to do to make it even worse.
That said , not everyone is a top tier one pocket player , you may be playing someone who almost never misses a ball , but his creativity is just about average.
If you put him in a bad spot , he will fail, just like all the other people who can't out think you.
The only thing you must do , is make all the balls you are supposed to get, when you get a shot.
That beats 90% of the people who play.
If you feel the need to beat the other 10%, spend all your time in the poolroom , learn all the shots , practice like a madman every day and that's all there is to it!
There will still be 5 to 8 % you still can't beat because they are doing the same thing and started sooner.

xxxxx

I don't think I have ever blasted a shot, without thinking I knew the outcome. If I had to depend on luck, I would be in a lot of trouble. I'm taking a intentional somewhere if there is nothing else I see. I do agree about the educated guess at times, where you do have a good idea and need a lot of things to go right to pull it off, but can turn the game around if you do.

shoot'em hard and wish'em well. I don't know where they're going but they're not staying there.
Rod.
P.S. Of course I play luckier than most.

I was in a similar scenario last night, I looked real close and saw the first 2 balls were lined up to combo into the 3rd ball with a 1/2 of the ball (with the first ball clearing off to the side), then I looked at where both would go if off the 1/2 ball hit and one went two rails and would clip the back side of the next closest ball with both of them clearing out.

I just saw it real clear, punched it slightly above what a stop shot would of been and I cleared 4 balls out of his 'threat zone' while drifting the cue ball over near his pocket. 2 balls moved to my side (and were protected) and the other 2 up table.

If you are going to blast at the balls you need to decide which ball to hit first. The position of the first ball will determine whether to draw the cue ball back or force follow it toward his pocket.

Bill s.

8andout said:

Lets say its early game and my opponent has 4-5 balls within 3 feet of his hole. He left me long and uptable. I can't seem to find a safe shot, not even a good chance at pocketing his closest ball. I have nothing that goes in my hole and no 2-way shot. If i take a foul it will just get worse. so, I figure its time for a hale-mary to clear his balls and hope for the best. Question: if you are in this position, would it be better to blast them and draw the rock back uptable, or blast them and slide the rock towards his hole ?

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There are many factors to consider when making that decision, however, staying close to your opponents pocket and close to the long rail is usually right probably over 70% of the time. (Just my gut) Most often when you draw the ball to go up table you are drawing it to get away from "cross corner" return shots. Other than that not many reasons to draw it. Plus it's a tougher shot to control.

This is a very difficult shot to suggest a type of a stroke to use because of the 1,000's of different angles you could be looking at..and most of them are crucial in choosing the right stroke.:sorry

Hope I helped.

Bill Incardona

8andout said:

Lets say its early game and my opponent has 4-5 balls within 3 feet of his hole. He left me long and uptable. I can't seem to find a safe shot, not even a good chance at pocketing his closest ball. I have nothing that goes in my hole and no 2-way shot. If i take a foul it will just get worse. so, I figure its time for a hale-mary to clear his balls and hope for the best. Question: if you are in this position, would it be better to blast them and draw the rock back uptable, or blast them and slide the rock towards his hole ?

Click to expand...

Always form a mental image of your shot outcome. How else can you judge the results of your execution?

In poker the goal is to make the best decisions possible based on the information one has at the time regardless of how whether you win the hand or not. The same idea applies to pool.

Good players can usually find a billiard that will leave the cue ball in the primary defensive zone, that is between the opponent's pocket and any other object balls, thus leaving a bank instead of a cut shot. This is a fairly standard defensive tactic and part of its value is that it is available in so many different situations. If the consequent object ball movement also improves the offensive potential of the table with respect to your pocket so much the better.

There is a quote from the DC player named Buck that I feel is pertinent and worth remembering.

"I may miss more shots but I will never play a dumb or lazy shot or not put any thought into what I'm doing. I give every shot 100% and always know where the cue ball is going and what my opponent is going to have available or un-available when I leave the table."

Cheers,
Bill