Strategic Differences

I had my second league night last night and it went much better - meaning I wasn't asked to dumb it down any.  Even so, I still only went 1-1.  Oh well, it was a good night.

I noticed something about my own strategic process last night.

I had this layout last night: (or very close to it, based on memory)



It was my shot and I had ball in hand.  As I was looking around the table, I thought I'd start with position A, sink the 3, then the 6, and either play safe with a breakout, or possibly breakout the 5/7 on the 6. But before I could even set the CB down, a senior member comes over and says to play position B - shoot the 4 off the 12, breaking out the 2, while drawing back for the 3 and starting my original plan there.

I understand that breaking out clusters is very important - I also understand that this was not a rack I was going to run-out on, so I didn't want to free up my opponent's ball - but I don't think I would've ever saw that shot.  I always try to break out clusters through caroming with the cue ball off a shot.  It's risky, I know - but I'd rather be at the table with a risky shot, than miss because I was trying to carom/break-out with the object ball.

I've spotted another big difference: playing a safety by sinking your opponent's ball.  I can't remember the exact situation, but the most suggested move was to carom off my ball to make the opponents, leaving him totally snookered with nothing to shoot at.  I would never intentionally make the opponent's ball.  "There has to be another way to get safe." is what my brain says.

Maybe it's a league thing? Maybe it's an 8-ball thing?  I don't know for sure, but it's interesting to learn the little tricks.

I've joined a league!

So, long story short, a guy approached me over the weekend asking if I'd be interested in joining his league team. They need a 7th and he's noticed me playing over the last few months and thought he should ask.  After a bunch of internal debating, I've decided to go ahead and do it - but not without making a list of pros/cons:

Pros:

1. Meeting new people.
2. Playing new people.
3. Learning how to deal with pressure.
4. Learning different patterns.
5. I'm playing with 3 other 5s, a 6 and 2 7's. I'll start as an "unrated 4" and be adjusted from there.
6. Nearly all the tournaments in this town are on bar-boxes, so getting used to this should mean I could make some progress towards getting into the money zone.

Cons:

1. It's 8-ball.
2. It's on bar-boxes
3. It's on Tuesday nights
4. It's a single-game per person format, no "sets" in between players. A break'n'run might be the only thing I see during my game.
5. It might mess with my 9-ball game on the 9 footers I'm trying to get into on Monday nights.

All of the pros I mention fall under the goals I listed a few weeks ago, so... while it might not be an idea solution, it is the best currently on the table.  So... for the next 14 weeks (starting tonight) I'll be an 8-ball bar-box player on tuesdays.

I went to the hall last night to try the game. and a) twice as many balls on b) a table that's considerably smaller makes for a really cramped looking layout after the break.

They don't seem to keep score or track info like they do in the APA, but I will be tracking my own progress, for sure.  I finally printed off a nice new stat-track sheet, made a bunch of copies and put them in a binder for easy carrying. 

If anyone is interested, this is Missouri 8-Ball I'm talking about.  This is not part of the APA.

5-Rail Kick Shot

I mentioned earlier that the other day I talked to a guy who gives lessons at C&C.  We were kinda joking around and he said, if you finding yourself like this in an 8-ball situation, in this instance, I say go for it:

Then he shot this:

Now, I'm assuming that was his cue position and the path is just a rough guess based on my memory. He missed the first try, but he made it the 2nd attempt.  I just stood there and laughed - someone across the hall called out "Who is that guy?!" (another regular, joining in on the fun)

I did not try it as I know I don't have the stroke to transfer the required english and power to the ball.  But, rest assured, I will try this someday. :)