Carom Shot: Nine Ball in the corner pocket every time.

This is a sweet carom shot that you can use to play safeties or to make an object ball sitting near or in the pocket. It is a simply half ball hit. Get used to recognizing the angle that the cue ball is positioned in relation to the object ball and look for it in future games. It comes up far more often than you would think.

Ronnie Alcano (Easy Money)

Two friends and I decided we would attend the U.S. Open 9 Ball Championship 2007 but only for the last three days of the tournament.

Normally, I don't attend a tournament unless I play in it. I enjoy donating. :-) Actually, I just enjoy supporting the tournaments. If I "come in the money", it is lagniappe. My goal as in all tournaments is to win every match. LOL. It really is. The reality is that no one wins all of their matches all of the time.

My two friends, David Walters and Duane Bourgeois and I had reservations close by, a rented car with Duane operating the portable GPS. The little women had given their permission to let us make the great escape and we went at it with a vengeance. We had permission, money, transportation, good seating reservations, time and couldn't wait to get after it.

The tournament was superb. It was difficult to make the choice about which matches we were going to watch. The seating is so good that you could watch several matches at one time. Duane had the foresite to bring each of us a pair of binoculars. There were many attractive ladies that caught our eye, I mean there were many attractive ladies there but we used the binoculars to watch different matches at the same time and to update our less fortunate neighbors who lacked the vision to see clear across the tournament room and report scores which were mounted above each table.

I could have sworn that some of the people who noticed that we were using binoculars actually were flirting with Duane, I mean our male egos thought some of the ladies were using body language to make contact with us. Just goes to show you what egotistical pigs even the good guys can be. I guess its the way we are wired. Oink, oink. We didn't let our toys get in the way of what we came for and we used them to watch matches of our choice. I recommend bringing binoculars to this tournament. It was a lot of fun.

I'm not going to tell you all of the matches we watched. The last two days were pool, pool, pool. We set aside just a small amount of time to eat and get limited rest.

Shane Van Boening took the final match, competing against Ronnie Alcano who put up a very good fight. Shane edged Ronnie out but not without feeling some of Ronnie's fire. After the tournament on Saturday night, David, Duane and I decided we would go over to Barry Berman's pool room, Q Masters. This was the largest pool room I had ever been in.

As we walked in, we slowly took in all of the surroundings, tables and players everywhere. We were looking for ACTION and our initial gaze saw none. We wanted to rent a table but all of the available tables had been reserved for the players who played in the Open. I thought that was kind of regal and didn't whine nor did my two buddies. We cruised around the cavernous pool room looking for money piled high on the lights or wads of cash being freely distributed about. We saw little of that, although there were pockets of gambling going on, we didn't feel brazen enough to get close enough to disturb the players concentration so we watched from afar.

An hour had passed and in walks Ronnie Alcano and his traveling companions. Since most of these fellow were from another country and might not have the skinny on the tables, I volunteered the information to Ronnie's front man who acted like he knew what he was doing, leading the pack. In perfect English he thanked me and they got a table on the spot over in the corner of one of the rooms in the large pool hall. I watched from a distance and all I saw was Ronnie knocking balls around by himself. He would look around the room with a forlon look on his face. I knew that look. He was looking for action but no one was looking to give him any. That's when I made my move. I sauntered up to his table and walked right up to him and politely asked, "Ronnie, would you like to play some $10 one pocket?". He grinned and said, $10 one pocket? "SURE!", followed by more grins from he and I.

I racked the balls, giving him the first break and was just as excited as I could be. This was SWEET. Here I was playing one of the best pool players in the world for $10 a game and at a game I enjoy quite a bit. Ronnie broke the balls and made a good break and he gave me a couple of easy shots the first game and I muffed the easiest of each of the easy shots. Ronnie grinned and cajoled in his high pitched voice, "EEEEEEasy MONEY!", much to everyone's delight as he easily won the first game. I paid off quickly and broke the next rack eager to make up for my faux pas(s). The same thing happened again, I missed easy shots one after the other. I ordered another beer to boost my courage and missed again. Ronnie, squealed with delight, "EEEEEasy MONEY!". I laughed and grinned and paid again. One of my Internet buddies, Dead Poked from AZ Billiards, slipped up along side of me and whispered "Can I play him next game, Joey?" I whispered back, "Let me win the next two games and you can play him the rest of the night". DP looked at me like I was crazy. DP had never seen me play pool before and what he saw was a bumbling, stumbling, BANGER--ME. DP was kind enough not to put up a fuss and continued to watch and drink a beer. The next rack I got out of Ronnie's break and had a good run at him and beat him quite soundly 8-2 at which time, I squealed, EEEEEEEasy MONEY" and all of the Filipinas and Filipinos and especially Ronnie, laughed loudly grinning and chatting animatedly. The next game proved similar and I got out on top and stayed on top to win 8-5. I didn't squeal with too much delight because I knew I was fortunate and didn't want to be an ass, but Ronnie unscrewed, probably bored with the $10 bet but I was happy as I could be. Ronnie had some business to discuss with some of his friends and I could only hope that I had made a good impression with him. Ronnie and the rest of his entourage were great fun to be around and you can be sure that I will be hunting him down for some EEEEEasy MONEY. :-)

Unique Shots And How To Make Them

Many people play one pocket and this shot comes up all of the time. You should be able to make this shot and similar shots EVERY TIME. This is a secret so don't let Jay Helfert see this one.

Any time the object ball is slightly off of the side rail as in the picture below and within the first diamond from the foot rail and the cue ball is parallel like in the picture or even a little closer to the foot rail, you should be able to make this shot EVERY TIME. If you don't make it EVERY TIME, you should at least hang it up in the hole.

Yes, there is a secret to doing this, EVERY TIME. As soon as I have it confirmed that GingerBread Man cannot see this thread, I will edit the shot and post how YOU CAN MAKE THE SHOT EVERY TIME.






This shot comes up for the side pocket frequently too. It is quite different when you have to bank it long rail.

I am interested in seeing your specialty shots, whether they be a safety, a Godzilla shot or simply smart play. But please detail exactly how the shot is made. I will do the same as soon as I have the GingerBread Man Jeffed from this thread.

Trust me when I tell you that you will never look at this shot and say "Gee, I hope I get it close to my hole".

After reading my "secret" you will be saying, "I'll shoot and make this shot EVERY TIME!"

OK, some guy named Rocky Pinochi or something like that pmed me and said Mike has got the GingerBread Man blocked off so here goes. One of you guys got it right but there is a lot more to executing than just shooting at the edge of the object ball. And the same poster who suggested that also suggested adding some side spin if the object ball is just passed the diamond spot is spot on himself.What you have to do each and every time is to: Besides or in addition to your regular pre-shot routine.....

1. Find the perfect center of the cue ball.

2. Place the cue tip in the center of the cue ball(on the vertical axis), 1/2 of a cue tip above center.

3. Aim the CENTER of the tip/shaft at the edge of the object ball.

4. Make sure that you have as level a cue as the rail allows. (Don't jack up an extra inch for any reason).

5. You should also have chalked up as part of your pre-shot routine.

6. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE SAME LIGHT GRIP each time you stroke the cue ball, especially on the final stroke.

7. WHEN YOU SHOOT THE CUEBALL AT THE EDGE OF THE OBJECT BALL, MAKE out AS IF YOU ARE SHOOTING WAY PAST THE OBJECT BALL. Many people aim toward the edge of the object ball but steer into the object ball resulting in hitting the object ball in the wrong spot.

8. WHEN YOU PULL BACK ON THE LAST STROKE, DO NOT PULL BACK A SHORT STROKE, PULL BACK A LONG, FULL, SLOW, SMOOTH BACK STROKE AND GENTLY CHANGE INTO A smooth, accelerating MOTION/ FINAL STROKE (but not fast, just accelerating), KEEPING YOUR HAND PRESSURE CONSISTENTLY LIGHT THOUGHOUT THE STROKE. The cue will tighten up in your hand as you follow through naturally but make a special effort to have the same light grip all of the time.

9. When you miss this shot or at least do not hang it up in the hole, start back over and make sure that you were properly aligned in the first place, then go through the whole procedure, AIMING AT THE SAME SPOT/EDGE OF THE OBJECT BALL. Another thing you can do is the place stick on the table behind the cue ball aiming at the edge of the object ball while you are standing up and simply move your body and bridge hand into place without moving your cue except for raising it up off of the table. I have used this technique with student and have seen REMARKABLE results.

10. If you miss this shot, you have not refined your stroke enough and you may have to straighten out and smooth out your stroke. A punchy stroke gets mixed results.11. Pay attention to the speed of the hit also. If you are consistently coming up too short, you may just be hitting the shot too hard. If you are consistently coming up too wide (which is the case most of the time) the reason is that you may be shooting too soft, or that you are not aiming and shooting PAST the object ball, or that your grip is too tight. In one pocket you should be hitting the object ball at pocket speed. The bottom line is that if you are missing this shot, look at the things above and make sure that they are all being followed.You can watch your cue tip and see if it continues toward the edge of the object ball. If your shaft veres off, you won't get the result you are looking for. The CENTER of the tip should be precisely aimed at the edge of the object ball. And finally, don't start putting side spin on the cue ball if it is not going in the hole. That's covering up a problem that needs resolution.Good luck and good shooting. Let me know how you do.

JoeyA (whew, I'm tired).

P.S. Although this description of the shot is lengthy it is lengthy because any or all of these things can determine whether you will make this shot consistently or not. This is a kind of micro-correcting formula is something that you can use to discover why you are not making this shot. You could probably apply most of these techniques to any shot. :-)
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The next shot is also an easy one if you practice it for a short while. At first it looks risky and impossible. With a little practice you will add this realistic shot to your weapons cache. If you have trouble with the shot, you can give me a shout at one of the tournaments I go to and I will be happy to work with you on the shot.
Good luck and good shooting.
JoeyA

Fun Memories from Derby Classic This Year

The Curse Of One Pocket

One pocket has been recongnized by many as the best of the pool games for various reasons. It is a great gambling game and involves skills from different disciplines such as banking, kicking, safety play, creative shots and shot making as well. For me and many who have taken the time to learn the game it is by far the most interesting. As a gambling game it is easy to hide one's speed and barely beat your opponent if they lack all of the experience that is necessary to play the game.

While I have never been a great player, I have had the honor to give some of the top players fits on occasion, especially in tournaments and small money matches with the right spot. A working man has trouble achieving the highest honors in pool but I won't make excuses for that. It is what I chose to do. Pool is a wonderful hobby that I take very seriously and I enjoy it immensely at least when I can see semi-positive results from my efforts.

All that being said, I have come to a personal conclusion and it may not be one that most agree with but I think that if you choose to play one pocket as your game of choice, you will never be a very good nine ball player and vice versa. I have seen many good nine ball players get beat in one pocket by players who couldn't run three racks of nine ball if their life depended on it. I have always tried to play different disciplines with a modest amount of skill. After years of attempts to play the best one pocket I am capable of I have become convinced that this attempt to play the best one pocket has come at a cost. The cost comes in the form of poor nine ball play. I have on occasion played fairly decent nine ball but for the most part have always failed to play up to what I THINK is my ability in nine ball. I believe that my ability to play one pocket, inhibits my ability to play nine ball so for a period of three months I plan to discontinue playing one pocket and will make attempts to play only nine ball and straight pool to see if I can achieve better results with my nine ball game. If my nine ball game was even close to my one pocket game, I wouldn't attempt to discontinue playing one pocket because I truly love the game. As an amateur player, while I may lack the consistency of the pros I still can be competitive at one pocket but I cannot say the same thing about nine ball and so I plan to do this experiment.

I have witnessed many pool players whose game is nine ball and when they switch to playing one pocket, their nine ball game suffers immensely. For one pocket players when they attempt to become nine ball players they revert back to being one pocket players. The stroke that it takes to play one pocket and the skills that it takes to play one pocket are different from each other. For amateurs, I think one pocket is a better game because if you learn the moves and safety play you can compete even if you are not constantly in stroke. With nine ball, you have to not only develop and maintain a different type of stroke, you must have a different mentality about the game.

You can name many players who have played one pocket well and most of them cannot play nine ball at the same level. It is the curse of one pocket. I hope that in three months I will be able to increase my level of play at nine ball to the point where I can be comfortable with that game and continue playing both games. At this point in time, I am disgusted with my speed at nine ball and am almost ready to quit the game altogether. It is really disgusting to play 50% worse at one game over another. Anyway, I'm going to give it a shot and see if I can discover any new Epiphanies.

All Pool Players Are Not Scum!

Mark Moore, the cuemaker and I, decided to put pool players to the test.

Mark had a used cue case that he donated for the experiment. We stood the case outside the hotel room door to perform the test. The test was to determine if pool players were really as low down POS as people say they are.

Our first knock came on the door 5 minutes after setting the case outside. We thanked the player and repeated the test a few minutes later. This went on for over an hour, with pool player after pool player letting us know that we left our cue/case standing outside our hotel door. Approximately, 7 pool players let us know that the case was there. We could see the case standing just outside our door through the crack under the door and were hoping to catch a thief in progress. We never did. Finally after much laughter we decide to leave the room to go eat and left the case standing there. As we were walking down the stairway some very young children passed us in a pack and Mark grinned at me and said, "They will get it." When we returned the case was gone. While we don't know what percentage of pool players are scum, we are happy to report that all pool players are not scum.

Mark said he would be soon be going to stay with Vagabond for a few months.

The DCC tournament is great. Meeting lots of new AZ faces and old ones as well. Speaking of old, I did see Williebetmore. (in memory of Breakup only). Williebetmore had the difficult task of hanging out with Jeanette Lee for most of the day and she would come by the AZ Room often and say nice things to Williebetmore to get him to take her to dinner. It was kind of sad, really. I could tell that he had no idea what to do with his new good fortune but being the gentleman that I am, I allowed him to stumble along without my help.