jimpatro said:
I said that you’ll get masse’ with an elevated cuestick any time you strike the ball off-center. This is a true statement. The thing is, poor players don’t have the tip control to always strike the cueball dead center. This causes its own problems even if the cue is level, but with an elevated cue the cueball will swerve, compounding their errors. So get the cue level first. Then practice hitting the cueball dead center - a good drill for this was already mentioned: Shoot the cueball down table, and have it rebound off the far cushion and come straight back and touch the tip of your cue. If you can do that consistently, you can hit the cueball dead center and aim straight.
Only if you don’t know the game or have experience playing at a high level, in my opinion. I’d MUCH rather watch 9-ball than 8-ball, and I’d much rather play it. There’s a good reason why 8-ball hasn’t caught on at the professional level - the game is too unbalanced. There’s too much luck involved. After the break, because the players are shooting at different balls, one often has a huge advantage over the other. In 9-ball both players are shooting at the same balls, so one does not have a positional advantage over the other due to luck (there’s still luck in the game, of course, but not nearly as much as in 8-ball). 9-ball is more fun to watch as well because the players have to execute a lot of shots with english and really move the cueball around.
But I wasn’t thinking of 9-ball. If you want to watch a really good strategy game, watch some one-pocket. I love one-pocket. The big problem with it is that you need two very skilled players to have a good match. I’ve tried teaching friends who aren’t great pool players, and it’s just no fun. They’re always coughing up the cueball.
Another great game is straight pool. Great for learning, too. And it’s a great solo game, because you can challenge yourself. When I’m playing pool with others, it’s usually 9-ball. But when I play by myself, I find I play a lot of straight pool. Nothing like running a rack, leaving the cueball in a good position to break open the next rack, and executing a good break. It’s a good feeling. I’m not that great at the game - my high run is around 70 balls, and I’m happy if I can get through 2 racks. Good players can run 100 or more. I have a playing partner who’s one of the best 9-ball players in the world (top 50 or so), and watching him run a straight pool rack is a thing of beauty. I made my high run of 70 against him in a friendly match - and still lost. We were playing to 100.
