What's the difference?

Hi Everyone,

I was reading the thread about "Speeding up the game." I read a post that our friend Twiztid Kid had written. He states he loves playing one pocket but he has to practice 9 ball for the tournaments that he, plays in twice a week.

I find this disturbing. One pocket will undoubtably help your 9 ball game. Knowing where the cb is going is key to any game. I had a guy the other day that equated playing one pocket with 8 ball. Straight pool with 8 ball from another. I find this interesting not one person equates One pocket with nothing.

First time I played one pocket I had to play in a 9 ball tourney that nite. I lost BTW but it seemed that playing One pocket for 6 hrs, threw me out for 9 ball. What was happening? Well, I played everything short of making the ball. I was trying to get close and in 9 ball close don't count.

Later, I thought about it and did some taping. I found something I should have realized to begin with. First, the differences in both games needed to be looked at. In one pocket my bridge length was 6-8" long. In 9 ball it was 8-10" long. In One pocket, I normally use a lag stroke where in 9 Ball I use a more of a firm stroke and follow-through length less than in One Pocket. mainly due to the difference in bridge length.

Now, to my question. What is your normal bridge length in your One Pocket game? I do admit my Straight Pool bridge is also 6-8" long for control. I also admit I wouldn't play One Pocket as well as I do if it wasn't for starting playing Straight Pool in the beginning of my early life.

One Pocket has given me a whole new outlook in all the games. Also, Carom pool. I shot 3 mths with Vietnameese players once just to improve my 9 ball game. It was cheap for me and learned some valuable knowledge. My second question. What games do you think have helped you in others?

Regards,

C.C.~~really like this place. hope I don't make a Carpal Tunnel of myself?

Well Chris, I don't know how much actual "direct help" 1-Pocket has had with other games, but I do know that 1-Pocket has helped me "see" safeties and ways to get out of opponent's safeties.
This I found to be true for both 9-Ball and Last Pocket 8-Ball.
Now if I just had a decent break for 8 or 9-Ball...

Troy

Playing on APA 8 ball league for a while I would say one-pocket helped with safety play and banking.The best rated players I played against couldn't bank and hardly ever played safe.Won a lot of games doing both.

Pete

Also, I would say One Pocket helps with fine-tuning your soft shots -- gaining confidence in slow rolling a thin cut to your pocket with just enough speed for the ball to drop in the hole. IIRC Straight Pool does that too (but it has been a long time...) At 9-ball you might have one slow speed, at One pocket that one slow speed has to break down in to at least 5 nuances, so to speak.

One hole also helps with banking. Of course bank pool helps with banking but in bank pool, speed control is in nuances at the medium-hard end of the spectrum, not the soft end of the spectrum. Bank pool helps for firmly hit banks; One hole helps for softly hit banks.

No pool game does as much for your thinking and creativity than One Pocket.