Can't get through the lineup - tips and ideas

[thelongbomber]

I was at the club last night and had a chance for solo practice. Until last night, I wasn't a huge fan of the lineup. Previously, I have thought that the lineup doesn't allow you to focus on specific parts of your game (stuns, screws, etc). However, I'm now a big fan of the lineup. I found it very difficult to complete initially and then decided to change the practice slightly to give myself some reward and incentive to continue further. Here are some things I did which helped:

• Instead of 15 reds, use 10
• Remove reds that are near the pink and black to prevent cannons off the colors
• Don't place reds below the black
• Start with 5 reds, clear and then add more

One IMPORTANT thing I discovered was the necessity to become more consistent in my potting. I'm an excellent potter already with a natural ability to pot balls, but I'm not consistent. Until last night, I never noticed how inconsistent I was. The lineup made it much more obvious that I missed a lot of shots. I was actually quite surprised how often I was missing. Granted some of the pots are difficult, but overall, the lineup made it clear to me that I miss more than I should.

As a result of the lineup, I also worked out a system last night to become much more consistent in my potting which I will write about in detail soon. Here is my 30-second version: To become more consistent in potting, you need to become more consistent in everything else that makes potting happen: your stance, your feathering, your grip, your eyes, your delivery. Every aspect of your game - even how you structure your thinking around break making - can be made to be more consistent and repeatable. So for example, if you don't have a consistent system for cue ball control, or feathering, or approaching the table, that is something you can work on. If you watch the pros closely, you will see that each pro has his own "timing" or system and seems to follow it religiously. John Higgins slides his bridge hand and then feathers, Shaun Murphy has the same number of feathers and "pre-pumps" before striking, Stephen Maguire starts dropping his head, and then brings his feet in after on every shot. Consistency in your game will develop once you understand that it can only come when you have a method and system for every single thing you do.

I worked on creating a system last night (mostly to do with consistent feathering, pauses, and eye movement, and table approach) and found that I was able to achieve a 115 clearance with 12 reds: 6 blacks, 4 pinks, 2 blues, and all the colors.

Do you have tips for clearing the lineup? If so, share!

[hotpot]

Think you just hit the nail on the head , same pre shot routine on every shot regardless how difficult or easy the pot is .

[ADR147]

personally i find in line ups i end up playing too fast and will hit a shot badly and lose position in a way you don't if you are playing a random table, the line up sucks you into a false sense of security! my tip would be as hotpot says same routine and take the right amount of time.

[thelongbomber]

personally i find in line ups i end up playing too fast and will hit a shot badly and lose position in a way you don't if you are playing a random table, the line up sucks you into a false sense of security! my tip would be as hotpot says same routine and take the right amount of time.

Certainly the lineup is a limited dataset of red balls that one might see in a match. Having all reds in the middle of the table reduces cueing issues to near zero in that you can get your hand on the table each time and get down comfortably on the shot. In that sense, the lineup does induce the false sense of security you mention.

Initially, when I tried the lineup, I was hoping I could stay on all blacks, but it was proving exceedingly difficult to do so because near perfect position needed to be played (assuming you don't want to cannon and move balls). As I got more into the exercise, I slowed down, took time, and really thought about how I wanted to strike the cue ball each time. As a side effect, I ended up creating and paying more attention to consistency.

I suppose the lineup is a good benchmark for teachers to better understand the level a person can play at in that you can see how well they understand stun,screw, follow and positional play.

[cyberheater]

I think you've identified a key weakness in my game. That consistent approach to each shot.
Mark Selby is a good example of that. The same approach. Always 2 feathers and then the pot. I'm going to steal it and try to use that approach for every pot.

[luke-h]

personally i find in line ups i end up playing too fast and will hit a shot badly and lose position in a way you don't if you are playing a random table, the line up sucks you into a false sense of security! my tip would be as hotpot says same routine and take the right amount of time.

+1 i always start off with the intention of playing at a nice pace, same shot routine but that soon goes out of the window and im almost running round the table building up a sweat.....note to self...need to take more care

[vmax4steve]

Certainly the lineup is a limited dataset of red balls that one might see in a match. Having all reds in the middle of the table reduces cueing issues to near zero in that you can get your hand on the table each time and get down comfortably on the shot. In that sense, the lineup does induce the false sense of security you mention.

I guess this is why I am terrible at cueing over another ball.

I started doing solo line up twenty or so years ago after watching an interview with John Spencer who mentioned that this was how he himself practised. At first found it difficult but after a while I noticed that the real purpose of line up is to get a feel for cue ball control and that is done with setting yourself positional goals and sticking rigidly to them.
My goal is always to never cannon any of the other balls and my soft screw positional shots as well as using side without touching cushions to alter the path of the cue ball off the object ball is now well entrenched.

The use of cannons for position and learning to control more than just the cue ball came to me from playing Billiards but I guess the line up can be useful for this as well.

[DeanH]

I guess this is why I am terrible at cueing over another ball.

I started doing solo line up twenty or so years ago after watching an interview with John Spencer who mentioned that this was how he himself practised. At first found it difficult but after a while I noticed that the real purpose of line up is to get a feel for cue ball control and that is done with setting yourself positional goals and sticking rigidly to them.
My goal is always to never cannon any of the other balls and my soft screw positional shots as well as using side without touching cushions to alter the path of the cue ball off the object ball is now well entrenched.

The use of cannons for position and learning to control more than just the cue ball came to me from playing Billiards but I guess the line up can be useful for this as well.

agree with the comment that after awhile the straight line up is mainly for cue ball control and as you say I tend to play so not to cannon any other ball.
For cannons etc. the 10 Red practice on Fergal O'Brien's website is good for that, even though Fergal states not to cannon for even greater cue ball control
http://fergalobrien.ie/practice14.html

[j6uk]

lineup is bread and butter for someone who wants to be a bit of a player, and once you've cleared the lineup for the first time you feel like the your on your way.
apart form recognizing the all important 3/4 ball, the balls lined in the middle of the table means positionally you've gotta try pot, get position and keep the white in around the first quarter of the table between the line and the cushion. this is the first thing i look for when watching a player on it. Also staying the right side of the colors, high on the black and using the back cushion.

[dcrackers147]

I like to try and do the line up without touching a cushion. It really makes you think about getting the right side of balls and gives you a chance to perfect soft screw and stuns which is the real art of breakbuilding IMO.

[j6uk]

yeah after clearing it a few times you can really start playing with the lineup too push your game on. like as said above no cushions, doing a max, and a couple of my favorites is touching a cushion after every pot and sequential reds

[ADR147]

I like to try and do the line up without touching a cushion. It really makes you think about getting the right side of balls and gives you a chance to perfect soft screw and stuns which is the real art of breakbuilding IMO.

I have tried that a few times, it is much harder than people think it is!

[itsnoteasy]

I love doing the line up, for learning how the cue ball works it's great. In my own experience if I'm going to break down it's either poor position on the last few reds( I suppose when it really matters) or when I have say the last two or three reds round the blue, for some reason I can very quickly get out of position around the blue.
I would always advise reds or at least a red below the black, Terry recommended this as it's a very common shot to have to play, and I think he's right, it doesn't take long to learn the right soft stun off the Cush back up high on the black to play the same shot for the next red. Like others have said after about four or five reds I can end up playing too quick as I'm trying to get to the end part that is the challenge for me and of course the preshot routine goes and then a silly miss or a poor positional shot is played, sometimes I get on my own nerves doing this.
I can also go in and not get halfway through it when playing poorly say struggle to do seven or eight reds, then I know it's time to settle down and check what I'm doing.
I wouldn't set the table up to make it easier to do , I think this defeats the purpose of the line up, it's not really to clear it by making it easier, it's to clear as much as you can properly, by good shot selection and position.

[vmax4steve]

If you want to make the line up really hard try placing all the reds the baulk side of the blue. I have never managed to clear them when doing this, best is ten reds and colours. It's seems like a pointless excercise but gives you great practise at avoiding the baulk colours. Of course all breaks made are rather small but more difficult.

[thelongbomber]

If you want to make the line up really hard try placing all the reds the baulk side of the blue. I have never managed to clear them when doing this, best is ten reds and colours. It's seems like a pointless excercise but gives you great practise at avoiding the baulk colours. Of course all breaks made are rather small but more difficult.

Just got back from the club and had another session. Was going great and then got interrupted by one of the regulars. Was on 11th black!!!! Asked him kindly to seat and wait for me to finish, made the red, and then ended up 1 inch from the black! ARGH!!!

Seems I struggle with knowing if I should stun, screw, or stun run the cue ball. Especially early in the lineup, any of these can be used. Is there a recommendation on which to play first? Stun and screw as primary preference and stun run being the 3rd option? Would you say that using the cushion is a "backup" plan and indicates that you are attempting to come back into position that way?

I think Nic Barrow prefers to drop balls in with soft top spin and controlling via length of the back swing, but I'm not a fan of that approach as it seems to be less precise. I find myself using stun, screw, and stun run a lot more and have more cue ball control that way.