Efren - One of the best shots!

[matoski]

9-ball has nothing to do with luck. It's the most demanding of all pool games regarding the cue ball positioning.
I guess those 9-ball players who appretiate White and Drago more than Ronnie is just because they have more relaxed style of play which is common in american pool.

[murdock]

9-ball has nothing to do with luck. It's the most demanding of all pool games regarding the cue ball positioning.
I guess those 9-ball players who appretiate White and Drago more than Ronnie is just because they have more relaxed style of play which is common in american pool.

9-ball has nothing to do with luck? What a ridiculous comment! Even snooker has quite a sizeable luck element! Much smaller table, many fewer balls, pockets like buckets. First person in almost always clears up because it's so easy to pot balls. Need I say more? The fact that snooker players are able to turn their hand to 9-ball so easily whilst 9-ball players are incapable of doing the reverse shows how much more demanding snooker is. I'm sure the vast majority of people on this forum would agree with me.

[wildJONESEYE]

what nonsence

you break off hoping for a fluke....1st luck

then you hope to finish on the lower number ball ....2nd luck

then you end up snookered and you go round the angles and just happens to pot a ball ....3rd luck

if he pots every ball out of a snooker its skil.... if he pots a percentage of them its not skil only the fact it could happen if youre lucky enough to make a correct contact...

[matoski]

9-ball has nothing to do with luck? What a ridiculous comment! Even snooker has quite a sizeable luck element! Much smaller table, many fewer balls, pockets like buckets. First person in almost always clears up because it's so easy to pot balls. Need I say more? The fact that snooker players are able to turn their hand to 9-ball so easily whilst 9-ball players are incapable of doing the reverse shows how much more demanding snooker is. I'm sure the vast majority of people on this forum would agree with me.

First i'm not saying that 9-ball is more demanding from snooker. I said it's most demanding from pool games. Second, there is luck as much as in any sport, flukes happen in snooker as well. Third, not allways a player in clears up the table. To be able to clear up the table consistantly it takes years if not decades of practice. The players you see on youtube are the very best, and they still don't clear up the table each time they are presented with an oportunity. The size of the table as much as it's an advantage, it is an disadvantage as well. The positioning must be dead accurate, because there is less space and there is a big chance of snookering your self or leaving a very difficult pot. Also there is much bigger chance to go in-off than in snooker. Wildjoneseye said something about the breakoff shot. There is a place from where you break off in 9-ball from which the cueball doesn't goes in off, but it is allways possitioned on the 1 ball to the bottom corner pockets. Offcourse there has to be some element of luck, but the rule says that at least 5 balls must make contact with the cushion after the break off shot, that's why the pack must be hit very hard.
Realy, i understand why some of you don't appretiate 9-ball, but i assure you that it's a very, very tough and demanding game.

[murdock]

First i'm not saying that 9-ball is more demanding from snooker. I said it's most demanding from pool games. Second, there is luck as much as in any sport, flukes happen in snooker as well. Third, not allways a player in clears up the table. To be able to clear up the table consistantly it takes years if not decades of practice. The players you see on youtube are the very best, and they still don't clear up the table each time they are presented with an oportunity. The size of the table as much as it's an advantage, it is an disadvantage as well. The positioning must be dead accurate, because there is less space and there is a big chance of snookering your self or leaving a very difficult pot. Also there is much bigger chance to go in-off than in snooker. Wildjoneseye said something about the breakoff shot. There is a place from where you break off in 9-ball from which the cueball doesn't goes in off, but it is allways possitioned on the 1 ball to the bottom corner pockets. Offcourse there has to be some element of luck, but the rule says that at least 5 balls must make contact with the cushion after the break off shot, that's why the pack must be hit very hard.
Realy, i understand why some of you don't appretiate 9-ball, but i assure you that it's a very, very tough and demanding game.

Fair enough, but in your previous post you did quite clearly say that "9-ball has nothing to do with luck".

As I commented, that is clearly rubbish as it has a sizeable luck element. I also said that even snooker has a lot of luck in it. Yes there are flukes, but given the size of the table and the more demanding elements of the game, it is not as much down to luck and the more skilled/in form player generally wins at the end of the day.

I've watched a lot of 9-ball pool and it seems to me that it's almost random who wins each match. Might as well play paper, stone and scissors at the start to determine the winner!

Okay, I'm exaggerating slightly, but let's be honest, an average amateur player could beat a world champion at pool on a good day. The proof of this is that one player can pot all the balls bar one in 9-ball and still lose the rack. In snooker, this would never happen - all your hard work in not simply undone by missing the last ball. An average amateur player would have no chance of ever beating Ronnie O'Sullivan however many times they played.

[ace man]

One cannot deny that 9ball has the highest percentage of luck of all cuesport games.
Least amount of luck is in 14.1 continous straight pool. Every single ball must be called. It's a shame that this game is not nearly as popular as 8ball or 9ball. I'm sure most snooker players would appreciate 14.1 straight pool far more than 9ball. After all, it has a lot of similarities with snooker like opening soft breakoff, separating clusters of balls, etc.

[dantuck_7]

We have had this discussion before. The famous 3 cushion bank shot versus Strickland - he meant it. You can just tell by how he lines the shot up.

If he just wanted to escape from the snooker he could have slammed into it of 1 cushion. He risk's leaving the frame on far more the way he plays some of these. Why I wonder?

[matoski]

One cannot deny that 9ball has the highest percentage of luck of all cuesport games.
Least amount of luck is in 14.1 continous straight pool. Every single ball must be called. It's a shame that this game is not nearly as popular as 8ball or 9ball. I'm sure most snooker players would appreciate 14.1 straight pool far more than 9ball. After all, it has a lot of similarities with snooker like opening soft breakoff, separating clusters of balls, etc.

O.K., maybe at some point luck is a part of 9-ball, like unintenional flukes and at some part the break off shot, but on the other side the cue ball positioning is far more difficult than in 14/1 where you can pot any ball you wish. In 9-ball you should think 3-4 shots ahead, leaving the correct angle on every shot. Once you don't achieve that and start with the recovery shots, it gets bloody difficult.

[wildJONESEYE]

O.K., maybe at some point luck is a part of 9-ball, like unintenional flukes and at some part the break off shot, but on the other side the cue ball positioning is far more difficult than in 14/1 where you can pot any ball you wish. In 9-ball you should think 3-4 shots ahead, leaving the correct angle on every shot. Once you don't achieve that and start with the recovery shots, it gets bloody difficult.

yes that is the skil in 9 ball but not because of positioning the cloth so fast you could play all sort of deep screw with side to get on the next ball no matter what angle you leave however less the cueball travels the better off a ball because you havent got control over the fact the pockets are so big they will swallow up the white ball.

[ace man]

...but on the other side the cue ball positioning is far more difficult than in 14/1 where you can pot any ball you wish...

Mega LOL...find any pro pool player who thinks position play and pattern play is harder in 9ball than in 14.1...
"you can pot any ball you wish"...with that type of thinking you won't get into second rack, let alone run many balls.

Decent amateur players can get close to good pro players in 9ball tournament sets sometimes (rare but it happens), but in 14.1 they would get destroyed every single time believe me.

[RaNeN]

The famous 3 cushion bank shot versus Strickland - he meant it.

Which shot are you talking about? Do we have it somewhere on YT?

[matoski]

Mega LOL...find any pro pool player who thinks position play and pattern play is harder in 9ball than in 14.1...
"you can pot any ball you wish"...with that type of thinking you won't get into second rack, let alone run many balls.

Decent amateur players can get close to good pro players in 9ball tournament sets sometimes (rare but it happens), but in 14.1 they would get destroyed every single time believe me.

If it's so easy, then join the 9-ball Eurotour, maybe you will win some tournament.

[wildJONESEYE]

If it's so easy, then join the 9-ball Eurotour, maybe you will win some tournament.

Tony Drago did it.

[RaNeN]

The break off shot is'nt a fluke! Almost every player tries to put the 1 ball in the centre pocket and maybe others have other ways of breaking. They also try to keep the cue ball in the centre of the table so that they get a good shot at the next ball on the table.

9 ball is'nt an easy game!

[MaartenM]

Although I wouldn't even want to go near the 9-ball/snooker debate, I really think some of you should watch some three-cushion billiards.
When you see what the highest standard players are capable of in that sport, I don't think you'll brag about the technical skills involved in snooker anymore.
Although I firmly believe that snooker is a much more mentally exhausting game, and harder to grasp because of the more complex game situations, the amount of detail involved in professional three cushion carom makes this shot by Efren seem like an exercise and nothing more.