LSJohn
Verified Member
Kicking at the ten also might work but if you're thinking along those lines than why not just try to kick in the two?
Tom
Right-hander or left-hander would determine which shot is easier, right?
Kicking at the ten also might work but if you're thinking along those lines than why not just try to kick in the two?
Tom
Right-hander or left-hander would determine which shot is easier, right?
Yes! Seeing the possibility is the first step in learning how to execute any shot.
Exercise your imaginations. That's the fun of this game. What other pool game offers such wild opportunities?
Tom
You tell me, John. The cue ball is just about centered between the side rails and for the most part you're shooting directly toward the head rail. So, what difference would it make?
Tom
he will simply roll into the ball up table into the ball up there and your spotted ball will block the shot on the two ball. no way is he going to trade scratches with you and give up his one ball to win advantage.
Yeah, I'd mentioned kicking in the 2 as well. However when I went to the table I could not reach the CB for up and down shots without the bridge-- which makes those shots much harder.Doc. I realize it is hard to see but there is a hair of separation between the cue ball and the nine. Still, you could shoot through the nine and drive the cue ball to the foot rail. It's a foul, but you might get away with it. That is unless you sell out a bank on the two.
Kicking at the ten also might work but if you're thinking along those lines than why not just try to kick in the two? Tom
How did he get out of the trap. Now all 4 balls will be up table..
why not kick the 2 in. Might be able to bank out if he makes it. Can't be worse off. Or leave him up table with the 2 hidden and a long shot on the ten with sellout angle.
How did he get out of the trap. Now all 4 balls will be up table..
why not kick the 2 in. Might be able to bank out if he makes it. Can't be worse off. Or leave him up table with the 2 hidden and a long shot on the ten with sellout angle.
Given that player A is in such a dire trap, but that the cue ball location as it sits would also be a dire trap for his opponent, the first thing player A should do is take one touch foul right in place. That pretty much forces the opponent to scratch back, meaning the score now goes to A needing 5 and his opponent needing 2 -- that is considerably better odds than A needing 4 and his opponent needing 1 in a trap like this.
Next up is to kick somewhere as best you can to get safe -- who cares whether you get a legal shot or not because needing 6 vs opponent needing 2 is still looking pretty good compared with the trap A was in.
I don't see trying to hit the 10-ball -- just try to get under the 2-ball near YOUR OWN pocket, because that is about the only way you can defend against the cross corner bank. If you succeed in getting a better cueing approach after your opponent scratches back, then I do like kicking at the 2-ball.
One more thing -- when taking that first foul, I would try to move the cue ball over a tiny bit -- in an effort to create an angle that would make a one rail kick possible without shooting over the crown of the 9-ball.
I like your shot of rolling up on the 12 ball to leave your opponent straight in on the 10 -- but only after a back scratch or maybe two in that case, since rolling on the 12 should be pretty doable even on two scratches.
Well, when it comes to the kick -- your guy kicked 5 rails under the 10-ball right? I was talking about kicking below the 2-ball in order to defend against the bank. I know my opponent will follow with knocking away the 2-ball but when I am in this kind of trouble my first thought is survival, lol. It looks to me like I could kick three rails at or under the 2-ball but on looking at it more, now that the balls are spotted and seeing that the 2-ball appears to be in the "big ball" position, then I am kicking directly at the 2-ball. It blocks a direct scratch into my pocket which is something that could happen if I miss-kicked 3-rails. If the 2-ball happens to fall I am definitely back in the game, and if it doesn't fall, as long as my speed is good enough to land in the ballpark, I am likely to survive.[/B]
Steve, thank you for your analysis of this situation. I would however want to know how you plan the part where "you kick safe as best you can." Can you be more specific? Remember, if you and your opponent each take a foul, the five rail kick will now be eliminated as a possibility. The cue ball path off the third rail leads through the foot spot.
So you are willing to leave him straight in on the ten and give up the bank on the two if he makes it? The two is not frozen to the side rail.
I doubt this guy is going to take a foul which provides you access to the middle of the cue ball in the direction of the head rail.
Tom
rolling up on the 12 ball to leave your opponent straight in on the 10 -- but only after a back scratch or maybe two in that case, since rolling on the 12 should be pretty doable even on two scratches.
PS I tried the kick on the 2-ball four times. Once I did hit it badly enough that I missed the 2 completely and left a cross corner on it. But the other three times I tried it I hit the 2 either on the way down or once on the way back, and all three of those times (including the first time I tried it, lol), I was satisfied with my result. Because the 2-ball is so close to the rail it is almost impossible to hit it without coming up with a legal shot (i.e. catching a rail with the 2-ball). One of the four tries I would have made the 2 if I had rolled a hair harder, but it was still a legal shot and I would have been very happy with my result. I had earlier said kicking under the 2-ball but in setting it up, there is no need to get under it -- on top is tougher for your opponent anyway. You see I have put the two balls on the spot assuming both my intentional and my opponent's intentional back.
PS I tried the kick on the 2-ball four times. Once I did hit it badly enough that I missed the 2 completely and left a cross corner on it. But the other three times I tried it I hit the 2 either on the way down or once on the way back, and all three of those times (including the first time I tried it, lol), I was satisfied with my result. Because the 2-ball is so close to the rail it is almost impossible to hit it without coming up with a legal shot (i.e. catching a rail with the 2-ball). One of the four tries I would have made the 2 if I had rolled a hair harder, but it was still a legal shot and I would have been very happy with my result. I had earlier said kicking under the 2-ball but in setting it up, there is no need to get under it -- on top is tougher for your opponent anyway. You see I have put the two balls on the spot assuming both my intentional and my opponent's intentional back.
Steve, are you a righty or a lefty? When I looked at this from the angle you showed, it looked a little problematical as a righty.