Bob Jewett TECHTALK A Modest Proposal Thoughts on the double-hit rule

The rule that causes the most problems in an inch of movement forward is for the cue rule. The shot may still be a foul according is the one about hitting the cue ball stick to hit the cue ball again. Or, suppose to the rule above, depending on exactly twice. Here is the wording in a proposed you play the same shot with a level stick how the player shoots. That is, you can foul revision of the World Standardized Rules: and aim high on the cue ball and use one of on close shots even with a nearly vertical "If the contacts the cue ball more the techniques I described in August to cue stick, and you can also foul when cut- than once on a shot, the shot is a foul. If the avoid the double hit. The cue ball will ting a close ball 45 degrees, especially if cue ball is close to but not touching an pause after hitting the object ball and then you use outside English. The other problem object ball, and the cue tip is still on the follow forward. The guideline would rule is that few players understand how high a cue ball when the cue ball contacts that such a shot a foul if the cue ball follows for- 45-degree elevation is, and I suspect that object ball, the shot is most of the league a foul." players who "avoid" The problem is that the foul by jacking up most players and are not in compliance many cannot with the special figure out when the league rule. rule has been violated. It's not just leagues There is a guideline in that make up their the current rules that own rules for double talks about the situa- hits. In the 1980 tion when the cue ball World 14.1 is within a chalk's Championship, the width of the object rule was that if the ball. It suggests that if couldn't actu- the cue ball penetrates ally see the cue tip hit the space occupied by the cue ball a second the object ball to more time, the shot was than a half-ball dis- fair regardless of the tance, the shot is prob- action of the cue ball. ably a foul. In the PBTA rule Unfortunately, that is book — the PBTA only a guideline, and was the former men's not a rule, although pro association, now many have assumed it defunct — the rule is a rule. Further, ille- was that it was OK to gal shots might be shoot directly at a judged as legal if peo- close ball as long as ple only pay attention you elevated some to the guideline, while and used draw. Also, some legal shots in at least one official might be judged as set of rules for illegal. English 8-ball (which By legal, I mean is very different from according to the rule American 8-ball), it is quoted above. Here permitted to play a are two examples: double hit provided Suppose the cue ball that the referee can- is half an inch from not see the double hit the object ball and with the naked eye. I suppose it is permitted to line up for the you shoot straight toward it with elevated ward more than a half-ball distance. Some shot and then wait for the referee to blink draw. The cue ball penetrates the space of leagues have developed their own rules to and shoot during the blink. It helps to shoot the object ball by an inch and then draws cover this shot. One invokes the 45-degree with a lot of speed for such shots. back. This is almost certainly a foul, but by rule: When the cue ball is close, the cue the guideline it is OK. On such shots the stick must be angled to at least 45 degrees, By contrast, at and snook- cue ball usually stops dead as soon as it hits either vertically or as cut angle. I think er, the rule is that you can only hit the cue the object ball, and the only way to get even there are a couple of problems with this ball one time. Judging double hits usually

3 2 B D • J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 6 seems not to be a problem. In any case, action of the draw, passes through to the one-pocket, you would have the additional there seems to be quite a lot of sentiment in tasty combo. advantage of having so many balls in favor of a rule change at pool with the goal Shown in Diagram 2 is a situation that motion that two or three of them would of removing the problem of judging double could be from 14.1 or one-pocket. Your also go into your pocket. hits. My proposal for such a rule is: "It is opponent has left you nearly frozen on the Finally, Diagram 3 shows a shot from permitted for the tip to . The 15th strike the cue ball more object ball (the break than one time, provided ball) is just over the line. that is it done with a sin- You have left the cue gle forward stroke of the ball in the , so you cue stick." can place it anywhere This doesn©t require behind the line. Put it 1 the referee to have fast or millimeter from the slow eyes. This would object ball so the line is certainly eliminate some straight to the side pock- of the arguments that et. Aim your stick happen currently. roughly along the line Assuming that such a shown and shoot hard. rule is adopted, what The cue ball will smash new shots become avail- straight into the front able that are not played two balls on the rack. normally today? Should these three In Diagram 1 I©ve shots be allowed? If you shown a situation from 9-ball. Your oppo- side of the rack, perhaps two millimeters have a better solution for a modified rule to nent has scratched, and you would like to from the first shaded ball. You notice that cover double hits, please send me an e- play the 1-5-9 combo, but the 3-4 cluster is the line of shaded balls points straight to mail ([email protected]). If you in the way. Just put the cue ball down an the corner pocket. Under the current rule, missed the August article, it is now avail- inch from the 1 ball and shoot straight there is no way you could get enough able online along with all my previous toward the 3-4. Use just a little draw on the power into the first ball to activate the Billiards Digest articles at www.sfbil- cue ball. The 1 ball takes out the 3-4, and chain reaction without a double hit, but liards.com/articles/BD_articles.html. the cue ball, which arrives after the block- with double hits allowed you could just lay Some other articles in 1993 also discussed ers have vamoosed due to the slowing into the shot with break-shot speed. At close ball situations.

B D • J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 6 3 3 Bob Jewett TECHTALK Better Safe Than Sorry Poor shot selection left a foul taste in 's mouth

The 's "King was puzzled when I saw he was about to using the 3 ball. It was close enough to the of the Hill" tournament, which took place play this, since it was sure to leave a direct cushion to make the shot in Diagram 2 in Orlando, Fla., in early December, was path to the 11. Of course, Bustamante had relatively easy. Hit the 3 ball thinly and an event you should not have missed. little chance to make the 11 on the shot, just hard enough to come off the cushion What amazed me was that I actu¬ ally enjoyed watching 8-ball, although it was not the kind of 8- ball you see at "The Rack and Roll" on Friday night. Diagram 1 shows a situation that came up in the match between and Marlon Manalo late in the final round-robin stage. The shot was pivotal in deciding the win¬ ner of the tournament, in that the winner of the stage would go on to face for the crown. Bustamante had just fouled, and Manalo had to decide what to play. There was no particularly good way to break out Manalo's 7 ball, which was stuck against Bustamante's 11 ball. A major factor in the choice was that the tournament was using the three-foul rule: If you fouled and was likely to break out the tied-up to rest against the 3, which is a little far¬ three times in a row, you lost the . solid. Disaster struck when Manalo hit the ther up the rail. (The before and after posi¬ This rule had been in the Billiard cushion rather than the 6 ball first and got tions have been moved apart for clarity; Congress of America rules for 8-ball from no cushion after contact, committing a the balls don't actually move that far up 1980 to 1985, but foul of his own. At the the cushion on the shot.) You have to prac¬ was dropped presum¬ time there was some tice this shot, or else it won't work when ably because the confusion about the you need it. Try the 3 ball at various dis¬ clumped and clut¬ referee's foul call, but tances from the cushion and see where to tered layouts com¬ a later video replay place the cue ball and how full to hit it to mon with bad bar- showed that the referee end up with the cue ball frozen against the table breaks often led had made the right 3, so that there is no direct path up the to "cheap" wins. (See decision. Bustamante table. If the 3 is very close to the cushion, my February 2002 banked the 11 to pock¬ the shot is dead-simple unless you hit the column for a brief et P and ran out the ball like King Kong. history of 8-ball match. See how far you can move the ball out rules.) Three fouls What would you have before you can't get the hook. For prac¬ came up maybe only played from the com¬ tice, see how many times you can play the 1 percent of the time fort of your armchair? shot, while each time leaving the 3 ball in the "King of the A better choice than where you've moved it from the previous Hill" tournament, nudging the 6 toward shot, but with cue ball in hand. Let's say perhaps because the the pocket would be to that the direct path up table must be very tight racks left play a soft shot, plac¬ blocked and the cue ball must end within a few clumps. ing the cue ball at A ball of the 3 to avoid any hope of a jump The shot that and against the 6, leav¬ shot. Notice that this is a one-ball safety. Manalo chose was to ing Bustamante jacked Usually in 9-ball this doesn't work, softly nudge the 6 up for any shot toward because you can't hide behind the ball you ball toward the pocket the 11 and likely to just hit. In 8-ball, and sometimes in and leave the cue ball accrue another foul. straight pool and one-pocket, it's often near that same rail. I My choice is a safety exactly what's needed.

30 BD FEBRUARY 2006 Diagram 3 shows another one-ball safe¬ ion first to get to the back of the 3 ball. If These one-ball safeties can come in very ty. Imagine that you have another ball the cue ball starts close to the cushion, you handy, but most players never shoot shots that's locked up by your opponent's ball, will need considerable left spin to get the at the very soft speed needed to make and there is no good way to break from angle off the cushion. With this shot, it's them work well. That's why you have to the position shown, even though you have important to hit the 3 ball before the sec¬ practice them. Practice them now, and a very easy shot. To play the safe, barely ond cushion or you might give up ball in you'll have shots in your arsenal that some skim your ball and duck behind — the 3 hand. champions apparently don't have. After ball should barely move. Depending on Diagram 5 is not with ball in hand. The Manalo's loss to Bustamante, his first loss the starting position of the cue ball, you cue ball is roughly straight out from the 3 of the tournament, he had to play Efren may want to hit the 3 fuller and drive it to and you have to drive the 3 to the cushion Reyes, and although he led 4-0, he ended the rail and back out a little while the cue and hide on one side or the other. If the 3 up losing 4-8 as Efren advanced to the ball comes off the cushion with a little ball is close to the cushion, the shot's easy, final match and a $200,000 prize. Manalo right spin. At one-pocket, this shot can so move it out and find your limit. ended up with just $60,000 for want of a leave your opponent very cramped. Finally, Diagram 6 shows a safe like single safety. Again, you need to spend a few minutes Diagram 3, but you have no second cush¬ of practice before you try the shot in a ion to help out. Can you freeze or nearly Bob's past columns from Billiards Digest game. freeze the cue ball to the back of the 3? are available online as the first item in Diagram 4 requires you to go to a cush¬ Experiment. http://www.sfbilliards.com/misc.html.

BD FEBRUARY 2006 31 Bob Jewett TECHTALK A Carom Puzzle This puzzle will turn your grey matter red, white and yellow.

Here's a chance to win a free one-year subscription to Billiards Digest! Solve this carom puzzle with the high¬ est score, and the prize will be yours. Ties will be broken by random draw — only one prize will be awarded. But first, a little back¬ ground: Carom billiards is played on a pocketless, 5-by- 10-foot table and uses three balls that are slightly bigger and heavier than pool balls. The yellow and white are the cue balls, one for each player, and the red is always an object ball. The goal is to make your cue ball hit both the other balls. If you suc¬ ceed, you get a point and the chance to shoot again. A cen¬ tury ago, players mastered the easy form of diamond lengths away from the side rails. within five tries. The table I will be using the game, which requires only that you In his 1942 essay, "Mechanics of for all tests is a century-old Brunswick strike both balls, and they made runs into Billiards, and Analysis of 's with cloth and rails fast enough to make a the tens and even hundreds of thousands — Stroke," Professor A.D. Moore claimed nine-cushion shot, but not 11. (There are literally. Restrictions were added to make that he knew a position of the balls that tables lively enough to get 11 cushions, but the game more challenging, and the cham¬ yields 14 different solutions. We can do they are newer and heated.) If the shot is pionship game now requires that you con¬ better than that. Of course, special posi¬ too outlandish, I'm not even going to try it. tact at least three cushions before hitting tions, like the one shown, have many solu¬ As an example, I'd be willing to try the second ball, hence the name three- tions, but it's always good to find several XAEFY, although I don't know yet if I can cushion billiards. shots that will lend to success when play¬ come close in five tries. It's hard to draw A typical situation in a carom game is ing a game. At the Pendennis Club in between Y and the cushion. If you list a shown in Diagram 1. The challenge is not Louisville, Ky., which is a hotbed of carom shot that turns out to be unreasonable in to find a shot, but the opinion of rather to decide the judge, you which one is the lose one point. most advantageous Also, for among the many every shot that shots available. One hits ball X way would be to before Y, there play off the right is a mirror- side of ball X, as image shot that shown, and then hit hits ball Y cushions C, D, and before X E before hitting ball because the lay¬ Y. For the purposes of this puzzle, that shot activity, the general rule of thumb among out is symmetrical. In your list of shots, would be called XCDEY. That pattern is a the players is to find four shots. The goal is only show the "X first" shots, and I'll give freebie. Your job is to find the rest and send to not overlook the best shot. you credit for the mirrored "Y first" shot. me a list of them. Note that the rules do not require that you XCDEY gets you YEDCX for free. You For measurement's sake, all three balls hit an object ball first. If you shoot along should not mention F or G just before Y are located the distance of one and a half path Z, there is at least one reasonable unless those contacts are required for three balls away from the bottom cushion, so a shot. As for what I consider reasonable, for cushions. For example, XCDEFY is the ball could pass through the gap, if needed. the purposes of this puzzle, let's say that I same as XCDEY. Getting that last little Balls X and Y are located one and a half have to come pretty close to making it kiss of a cushion doesn't change the shot

30 BD • MARCH 2006 Bob Jewett enough to get little, in the credit, just as hit¬ remaining dia¬ ting the rail by grams there are the pocket just some small shots before the ball near a corner goes in at bank using only one or pool doesn't two cushions to count as a bank. make three-cush¬ XCDEY can be ion shots. As a played with left, tiebreaker, tell right or no spin, me what spin or but only the let¬ special tech¬ ter order is niques need to important. be employed to About masse make each shot. shots: There are For example, several possible you might say shots involving "lots of left draw only X, A, G and for ABXAY," but Y in some order. that's not the I'm not averse to correct answer. trying these shots For shot since I have a XABAY, X and masse cue and I'm ready to use it, but the Y always last. You get two points for each Y are exactly one ball apart. table is not mine, and I predict a rather reasonable shot due to the mirror-image Send entries by e-mail to jewett@sfbil- loud veto coming from the desk on about shot. You lose one point for each unreason¬ liards.com, or by land mail to this maga¬ the third vertical miscue. Vetoed shots able shot. If I don't get to test a particular zine [122 S. Ave. Suite 1506, don't count one way or the other. shot, it's null and void. If there is a tie, I'll , IL, 60603]. I'll cut off entries So, here is a rule summary: Write down a draw from among the highest scores, but one month after I get the first one, and list of shots for the above position as strings there is also a tie-breaker below. announce the winner in my first column of letters from the list ACBDEFGXY with Just to get your imagination working a after that. Good luck.

BD MARCH 2006 31 Bob Jewett TECHTALK Straight-Pool Wrinkles Smooth out your straight-pool game with this overview on offense.

This January, I had the pleasure of watching all of the straight-pool competition at the Derby City Classic in Louisville, Ky. I also had the duty, since I was the main score- keeper and helped run the event. The com¬ petition was not -to-head play, but rather each player against himself, starting from a good break shot to see how many balls he could run. This is pure offense. After the last major U.S. 14.1 competition, which was the 2000 U.S. Open at the Roseland Ballroom in City, my column covered safety plays. Now we get to look at the other side of the game. There were eight runs of 100 or more during the whole competition in Louisville, and I got to see them all from the scorer's seat next to the table. Danny Harriman had the high run in the prelims with a 139. In the finals, where the number of tries was determined by the player's best run in the prelims, from was the winner with a 128. I was hoping to see a player set a new com¬ petition record. The old record was 182, set in 1951 by Joe Procita against , who holds the record for the high¬ est exhibition run of 526. The equipment that was used during the straight-pool tour¬ nament at Derby City, 9-foot Diamond tables, dictated that any high run would be hard-earned. These tables feature pro-cut pockets, and two balls would fit only part way into the jaws of the corners. Diamond Billiard Products was offering a bonus prize for any run of 200, but it turned out to be a safe bet. One thing I would change about the tables is the sticker on the foot spot. While such a the table was the triangle outline, where the was ever spotted. cloth or paper patch is useful protection in balls are generally racked. This marking There was one rule that players overlooked like 9-ball or 8-ball, where the smash allows the player to judge more easily that ended two long runs. One player was breaks tend to drive the apex ball into the whether the 15th ball will be in the rack or faced with the situation in Diagram 1. He cloth and can create a crater, there is no such not. Many poolrooms are reluctant to add had the perfect break ball in position and a problem at 14.1. Several times when the this marking to the tables, leaving 14.1 play¬ reasonable, if not perfect, key ball left as the player was maneuvering in the rack area, the ers with the difficult determination of final ball of the sixth rack in his run. The cue ball caught the edge of the spot sticker whether a ball will make a good break ball or problem was that he left himself straight in and rolled a little off-line. In 9-ball, such not. While the rules don't permit touching on the key ball. Drawing back to the side minor adjustments of the cue ball's position the triangle to test for in/out, the rules also cushion and out to A would have been hero¬ are less important, because the player usual¬ require the outline of the triangle to be ic. He went for the more prudent shot of ly stays back farther from the object ball, marked. I feel that if the latter rule is broken, rolling the cue ball to B and playing the break and such a small change in location makes the player should be able to ignore the for¬ ball into pocket C. He made the shot, but the little difference to the cut angle. The solution mer. In addition, the long string (the line resulting weak break soon ended the run. is to mark the foot spot with a small X made down the middle of the table) should be A second run-ender occurred with the shot in pencil instead. marked to allow accurate spotting of the shown in Diagram 2. Again, a minor error One major marking that was missing from balls, although for the DCC format, no ball in positioning caused the problem — the

30 BD APRIL 2006 Bob Jewett

shot into the side break shots. Diagram 3 pocket is too straight. displays four that were If the cue ball were tried at the Classic. Shot 1 slightly lower, a sim¬ is to bank the corner ball ple follow shot back to the head pocket. would take the cue Use inside English on the ball to perfect break cue ball to help the angle position, but a very and hit as much of the ball soft follow is as you can. required in the posi¬ Shot 2 requires that you tion shown. The play one of the two head raised spot sticker balls of the 14-ball rack may have also con¬ cross-side. You need a tributed to the run- tight rack for this one. ending miss. Experiment with the cue In both cases, the ball approach angle that shooter overlooked a works best on your table. very important end- This was made and missed of-rack rule in 14.1: If the cue ball is left in Diagram 2, and it's the only reasonable once in the competition. You'll probably the rack area (as defined by the triangle out¬ break shot left on the table. The angle need¬ find that the ball banks wide most often, and line), the cue ball is taken in-hand anywhere ed is the problem, because it needs to be that more speed will help shorten the bank. behind the head string. In both of the dia¬ within a narrow range to break the rack well. Shot 3 was tried in desperation. The head grams, ball-in-hand behind the head string This is especially a problem if the cue ball ball didn't go in the side pocket A, but two for the break shot might be frightening to has a long run from the 14th ball to the other balls from the rack did. Worth further you or me, but it shouldn't phase a player break-shot position. If you leave the cue ball study? who is likely to run 100 at any time. In both in the rack, your problem is solved. With the Finally, Shot 4 was tried once, but missed. diagrams, a simple stop shot would easily freedom to place the cue ball anywhere This is my favorite of the bunch, as I feel have left the cue ball in the rack. Sometimes behind the line, you can select the best angle you can adjust the angle more than with the it's a good idea to play to leave the cue ball for the break. other choices. in the rack even when you're not forced to. Finally, since this format is solely offense, See you at Derby City in 2007. Have your Suppose you have an object ball at C in it's important to know some non-standard offense ready.

32 BD APRIL 2006 Bob Jewett TECHTALK Where's The Rub? More aspects of throw and spin transfer.

About 15 years ago, I had a conversation the harder the two surfaces are pressed How does this theory apply to the problem with Don "The Preacher" Feeney. Don is a together, the more difficult it is to slide them at hand of draw and follow increasing or student and teacher of the game and plays all against each other. decreasing the cut angle? Diagram 1A three disciplines — pool, and bil¬ There are a couple of wrinkles I've shows the contact patch on the object ball for liards. Don mentioned that he felt that draw observed in this nice simple theory. If the a cue ball cutting it without draw or follow. and follow changed the cut angle on shots. I speed of sliding increases, the friction actual¬ The motion of the cue ball's surface is remember that he felt that one would ly decreases some. The exact result depends straight, sideways across the object ball, and increase the angle and the other would on the hidden details of the surfaces. the force of friction is also across the ball as decrease it. Since I saw no easy way to test Fortunately, Wayland Marlow in his 1996 shown. The length of the arrow represents the hypothesis, I put the idea aside for a book, "The Physics of Pocket Billiards," has the size of the force, and the direction of the while. already done the measurement for us. He force. This force will do two things: First, it Since that time, pool researchers have been says that friction does decrease significantly will throw the object ball off-line from the looking at the problem, and there have been ideal cut — it will not go straight away from considerable advances in the theory. The the contact point, but will be pulled to the important factor is the force that the cue ball side that the rub is acting toward. Secondly, generates on the object ball, not by pushing some spin will be transferred to the object on it (that is what drives the object ball ball by this tangential force. towards the target and away from the contact What happens if we add follow or draw to point), but rather by rubbing on the object this situation? Diagram 1B displays a situa¬ ball. Ideally, the object ball leaves the colli¬ tion that requires draw on the cue ball. sion with the cue ball along the line joining Because of the back spin on the cue ball, the their centers at the instant of contact. The front part of the cue ball, which contacts the term "throw" refers to the departure from object ball, will be moving up. It will also be that line due to friction between the balls. moving sideways, just from the cut angle. The pushing force is called a "normal between pool balls as the speed of sliding The combination of up and sideways is at an force" by physicists because it is perpendic¬ increases. This is why less throw is observed intermediate angle on the surface. ular to the surface of the ball, and "normal" for faster shots. Now, let's go back to our basic theory. The is another word for perpendicular. The force A second observation is that the friction amount of sideways rub is the same, and we pushes the two balls apart, and in an ideal seems to decrease with more pressure. have added the upwards rub. This means that world, would be the only force players would Pressure is just force per area, so you would the speed of rubbing will be increased over have to worry about. get more pressure if you shot harder. the case where there is no draw. The faster The rubbing force is called "tangential," However, we can change the speeds of the speed of the surface of the cue ball can be because it acts along the tangent, or kiss line surfaces without the cue ball moving any expected to reduce the net force (according of the two balls. This is caused by the motion faster. This is done by applying sidespin. The to Marlow's measurement). This means that of the surface of the cue ball across the sur¬ predicted result is that, by using lots of inside the angled arrow will be smaller than the face of the object ball and due to the fact that English (left English on a cut to the left), sideways arrow in 1A. the balls are not perfectly smooth. To a physi¬ there will be less throw than if you play the In addition, the angled force needs to be cist, this is "sliding friction." shot with no English. Looking into the further divided into two parts: One that rubs Let's look at a few basic ideas of sliding details further, this doesn't apply to nearly up only and one that rubs sideways only. friction. Imagine you have a cardboard box full shots, where you have little sideways From physics, we know that the three corre¬ of stuff on a linoleum floor. You want to slide motion from the cut angle. sponding arrows form a right triangle, as it across the floor, but it will take a little extra During the collision, the balls compress at shown in Diagram 1C. We can see that the effort to start it sliding because "static fric¬ the contact point. You can observe this by sideways force must be less than the angled tion" is usually stronger than sliding friction. covering the surface of one ball with a thin force, which is the hypotenuse of the right Once moving, the box will require a constant film of something (such as wax) and then hit¬ triangle. This is a further reduction of the size sideways force to keep it moving. ting it with another ball. The coating will of the sideways force, which gives us throw. The force required is usually a constant reveal a round spot. Theory predicts such a Similarly, if we play with follow instead of fraction of the weight of stuff in the box. For spot, and says it depends on the hardness of draw, the cue ball's surface will be moving example, if the contents weighed 100 the balls and the speed of the shot. If you down as well as across on the surface of the pounds, it might take 10 pounds of sideways know the time of the contact, you can figure object ball. Again the starting frictional force force to keep the box moving. If we doubled out the size of the contact spot. will be reduced due to the increase in surface the weight to 200 pounds, we would need 20 Again, Marlow made the necessary mea¬ speed and further reduced by the hypotenuse pounds of pressure to keep the box moving. surement, and got a time of about 200-mil- to side ratio of the right triangle of compo¬ In this case, we would say that the "coeffi¬ lionths of a second. In a future column we nent forces, as shown in Diagram 1D. cient of friction" was 0.1 or 10 percent. So, will see why the contact patch is important. This theory predicts that both draw and fol-

30 BD • MAY 2006 Bob Jewett low will have an identical Here's a question for you: Is effect, and both will reduce a change in cut of 4 inches in throw during the collision. 80 (the length of about six and The theory is nice, but how a half diamonds) big enough can we test it? to worry about? Remember Diagram 2 is a test setup I that a corner pocket, after sub¬ tried, and I urge you to try it tracting the width of the ball, also. The object ball and cue is less than three inches wide, ball are both placed on donut- and if you shoot for the center shaped paper reinforcements of the pocket, you have to be to make sure they go back to within an inch and a half of the same spot each time. They that to pocket the ball. are about 1/4-inch apart. The Question 2: Have you ever idea is to play a cut shot with consciously corrected the cut draw, follow and no spin (a angle when using draw on a stun shot), and see where the shot? It was with some trepi¬ object ball goes. on the far cushion about where the object ball dation that I approached the obvious next Because the balls are so close to each other, would land. I repeated the shot a dozen times step, shoot the shot with follow. Theory pre¬ a small change in your cue stick angle will until I felt that the chosen spot was repeatable dicted that the ball would follow the same make very little difference in where the for that (lack of) spin on the cue ball. I also path as with draw, but it just didn't feel right. object ball goes, but it's still important to noted the landing spot on the cushion I was I should have trusted the theory. The follow repeat the cut angle as precisely as possible. shooting from, and of course the distance the shot landed in exactly the same places on the For this purpose, I put an extra ball on the ball traveled. cushions as the draw shot. The theory is cor¬ table, and I always shot the cue ball toward Next, I tried draw. The ball — same speed rect. it. I chose a speed that would send the object and cut — landed on the far rail, four inches What does this mean for your play? Maybe ball up and down and halfway back up the from the spot for the stun shot. I was stunned. nothing if you already play stun, stop and fol¬ table. I threw out shots that were the wrong While I did expect some reduction in throw low shots accurately. If you have trouble with speed by more than a diamond or so. I only from the extra spin on the cue ball, I didn't cut shots, especially when they are stun shots tried a half-ball cut, which is a 30-degree cut expect it to be that large. The landing spot on (without draw or follow, but rather just slid¬ angle, neglecting throw. the second cushion was a full 10 inches from ing into the cue ball), then maybe you need I began with the stun shot and placed a coin the original spot for the stun shot. some practice with the above ideas in mind.

BD-MAY 2006 31 Bob Jewett TECHTALK Straight Statistics Knowing the odds can help you improve on your high-run record.

Watching a lot of pretty good straight cent shot per rack, then the average percent- on the 527th ball of the run. This turns out to pool at the Derby City Classic 14.1 age on the rest of the shots has to move up to be a 1/1468 chance given that 100 balls was Challenge event this past January got me to about 98 percent to maintain 60 percent for a 1/4 shot for him. In 40 years of exhibitions thinking about the chances that a high-run getting through the whole rack, and if he has and perhaps 200 exhibitions per year, we record might be set in the competition. The two 80 percent shots per rack, he can afford could actually expect several runs over 500, format had just one player on the table. He to miss only one shot in 200 of the easy if only he had continued in all of them. began with a typical 14.1 break shot of his shots. Table 1 Arthur "Babe" Cranfield was choice, and continued until he missed or Table 1 breaks down the another high-run . It scratched. single-shot percentages Rack Shot Misses is said that, on five consecu- It turns out that a run of 183, which would (labeled "Shot") and likeli- tive nights, Babe ran 200 or have been a new record for competition, had hood of a miss ("Misses") that 10% 84% 1/6 more balls. While we don't about a 25 percent chance of happening will occur based on various 20% 89% 1/9 know how many innings he given the players and conditions. Some of rack-clearing percentages 30% 92% 1/12 had on average before the long the following may help you increase your ("Rack"). For example, a 40% 93.7% 1/16 runs or whether this was an personal record. player who has a 30 percent 50% 95.2% 1/21 exceptional week for him, this First, let's start with some data. There were chance of clearing the table 60% 96.4% 1/28 puts him at a single-shot per- about 175 score cards with a total of 301 will miss once out of every 12 70% 97.5% 1/40 centage of about 99 percent, attempts in the preliminary phase of compe- shots, which is the same as a 80% 98.4% 1/63 which gets us very close to a tition and 55 attempts in the finals, which 92 percent chance of making 90 percent rack-clearance rate. were limited to the top shooters in the pre- each individual shot. To figure out your aver- Cranfield's lifetime longest run in practice liminaries. A good statistic to look at is the age rack clearance percentage, try 100 was 768, which is nearly 55 consecutive percentage of "table clearances." When start- innings of the competition format. From racks. This turns out to be a 1/2250 chance if ing with 15 balls on the table, getting to the there you can figure out about how often you accept the assumptions of his percent- next break shot counts as a clearance. you'll miss. ages. Given that Cranfield practiced often In the prelims, the average clearance rate Can anyone get to be 90 percent likely to and didn't stop at 150, a run of this length was 55 percent, which meant that for the clear a rack? Maybe. That means that, on was quite likely to happen. average player, getting through a rack was average, the player misses one shot in 133. Getting back to modern reality, why slightly better than a 50-50 proposition. Of Besides being much more accurate than you weren't the percentages at Derby City high- course, the first break shot, which was set up or I, such a player must have very few run- er? I think one major factor is that 14.1 is no just the way the player wanted, should give a ending events, such as scratches, miscues, longer the main tournament game. It is still higher percentage of clearances, compared to and skids. For an average player, I suspect played in the European Championships, and the subsequent break shots in a run, which that such things happen at least once in 100 there are high-run contests there, which helps had to be played from wherever the player shots. For our hypothetical super-champion, explains why German Thomas Engert got the left the 15th object ball and the cue ball. The they need to be once-a-week or once-a- high run in the finals at Derby City with a clearance rate from first break shots was 58 month occurrences. 128. In the finals, he had only two innings, percent, which was a smaller advantage than What can we say about the high-run with a total of 185 balls pocketed, one I had predicted. records of past champions? Many people scratch and one miss for a single-shot per- In the finals, which had stronger players, who saw several of Willie Mosconi's exhibi- centage of close to 99 percent. His lifetime the likelihood of table clearance was slightly tions report that he ran 100 or more balls in high run is 491, but I think we can expect higher. The overall clearance percentage rose each one. In a match, he might get several better. to 60 percent, and the first-rack percentage chances to start a run, so let's suppose that he Many of the players at DCC seemed to went up to 64 percent. had a 25 percent chance to run 100 from any struggle with patterns, and the runs were not Since a rack clearance is composed of 14 particular open shot. Taking the 100th root of of the Mosconi, Crane or Cranfield-caliber consecutive shots (usually), we can calculate 0.25, we can conclude that his average pock- elegance. Another factor was the stingy the average chance for each individual shot. eting percentage was 98.6 percent, which pockets. Two balls would fit between the If we take 60 percent as a reasonable rack would make him better than 80 percent like- start of the jaws, but they would not get back value, the single-shot percentage, or chance ly to get through any particular rack. to the quite deep drop. With tight pockets, of making the next ball, is just the 14th root Mosconi also holds the exhibition high-run every high run was earned, but for setting of 0.6, or 96.4 percent. In terms of misses, record of 526. Was that a total fluke, or is it records, buckets would have been better. this is one miss out of 28 shots, on average. reasonable to expect such a long run given How much better? To examine this, let's Of course, not all shots in a run are equally his assumed 98.6 percent pocketing accura- consider where the ball arrives at the pocket difficult. Often runs end on very hard shots. cy? This is a hard question to answer. In most as a plot of distribution, as in Diagram 1, By hard I mean shots the shooter will make exhibitions, Willie stopped when the score which is for a hypothetical player. I don't only 80 percent to 90 percent of the time. In got to 150, but on March 19,1954, he agreed think the exact shape of the curve has ever terms of statistics, if a player has one 80 per- to continue until he missed, which happened been measured for a real player, but we can

30 BD-JUNE 2006 Bob Jewett

expect it to be some even if the cloth wasn't kind of bell curve, with quite new, the slippery most of the shots near balls would tend to the center of the pock- slide in rather than hang et, and shots with a up. Skids should also larger margin of error be less frequent with becoming much less clean, polished balls. frequent. The height of Another advantage of the curve in the dia- slippery object balls is grams shows the rela- that there is less throw tive likelihood of any both on combinations particular amount of and on regular shots error. When the shooting error puts the ball this change will boost the rack-clearance rate where you have collision-induced throw beyond the edge of the pocket, the shot miss- from about 50 percent to 80 percent — a from the cue ball. With less throw, there is es, which is represented by the two shaded huge difference. less aiming compensation and less error if regions outside the pocket edges. As drawn, How can you increase the size of the pock- the compensation is not quite right. I once the player will miss about 5 percent of his et without actually making it bigger? I played with a set of balls that had been in a shots. already mentioned one way — center your fire. I'm not sure what that did to the surfaces For this player, you can see that his shots shots. Of course, improving your pocketing of the balls, but they had about twice as much are falling a bit off-center. If he did center his accuracy in general will also help. Imagine if throw as normal balls, and every shot was an shots better, and maintain the same accuracy, you cut your typical error by a factor of 2 — adventure in guesswork. You don't want to his percentage might go up by 1 percent. that would effectively make the pocket twice be guessing all the time if your goal is to run In Diagram 2, the pocket width is as large, and if you missed 5 percent of your 100 balls. increased by just 20 percent. While this shots before the improvement, you would be A final way to improve your pocketing per- makes what seems like a negligible differ- down in the one-miss-per-year range. centages is to play shorter position — leave ence in the percentage of balls pocketed, it Another way is to play on new cloth. the cue ball closer to the object ball. A longer will make a huge change in the percentage of Pockets tend to play much tighter when the shot will have more room for error at the balls missed. If you assume a "normal" dis- cloth loses its new-cloth slide. Mosconi used pocket than a shorter shot. Similarly, taking tribution, which is the common bell curve, a related technique in his exhibitions. He smaller cut angles and choosing patterns that the pocketing percentage goes to 98.4 per- always brought a set of polished balls to use. utilize the closest pocket will also increase cent. Looking at the table, you can see that My suspicion is that they were waxed, and the effective pocket width.

BD-JUNE 2006 31 Bob Jewett TECHTALK Carom Conundrum Creative readers had Jewett working on the rails, all the livelong day.

In the March issue, I proposed a carom column, but I'm not complaining, because path marked Z) fits into the general puzzle. The problem was to find as many I learned a lot along the way. framework of the "corner-five" system, three-cushion shots as possible from the Of the 82 shots, I managed to make 30 of which will tell you pretty closely where to position shown in Diagram 1, in which them and came close on another 14, for a hit on the second (D) cushion when using the cue ball must hit both object balls and total of 44 reasonable shots, or 88 once running (right) English. must make at least three cushion contacts doubled by mirroring. Another shot that has a system for plan- before striking the second ning it is XCDAY, which is object ball. the purple path marked P in Here's a rundown of the the diagram. Note that you rules: Because the shot is have to get cushion A just symmetrical, for every before the Y ball for three shot that hits ball X first, cushions. The system to use there is a mirror image here is the "plus" system. For shot that hits Y first. this shot, the system says that, Therefore, only shots that if the cue ball is coming from hit X first had to be men- the X ball and you want to go tioned, and the mirror to a point four diamonds far- image shot was also count- ther down the table, you need ed for a total score of two to send the cue ball toward P4 points. All three object on the rail. The system is balls are one and a half ball somewhat sensitive to how widths off the long cush- much running English you ion, so the cue ball can fit use, and will vary from table between the ball and rail, if to table. Place the cue ball at necessary. The shots had to X and shoot directly towards be "reasonable," or I had to spots around P4 to get a feel be able to come close to for it. This is a good system the shot in five tries. I for kicking out of safeties in ended up taking more than pool. five tries on some shots A shot that doesn't follow because I first had to figure a system that I know of is out the best way to hit XCEDCY+, the red path them. Also, if I lucked into marked U. I had success one shot while trying with almost no English and another, I counted it as a thin hit. This is certainly being made. If it was not the shot you would deemed unreasonable, the choose willingly in this entrant lost a point. The position, as it is very sensi- shots were submitted as strings of letters, tive to the hit and the spin. such as XCDEY for the shot shown in On a side note, when faced with a sym- Diagram 1. I did not count XCDEFY as a metrical position in actual play, you would In Diagram 3 are three of the 22 good separate shot, since the fourth cushion at usually chose which ball to play first shots that start by hitting a cushion first. the end of the shot doesn't change the shot based on the safeness of the leave. For The easiest is DCAXY+ (labeled 1). I call much. My notation for the shot would be example, in Diagram 1, if I play as shown, this a lag ticky. A ticky is a shot in which XCDEY+ meaning that there might be a I can leave my opponent's cue ball (X), in you hit the cushion just before the object little something extra at the end. The mir- the CD corner and with the right speed, he ball and then go back to that same cush- ror image shot would be YEDCX+. will be far from the other two balls if I ion, getting an easy second-rail contact. miss. Playing off the red first has less For DCAXY, the cue ball will naturally When I first thought about the proposi- chance of coming out safe. stay close to the cushion after hitting X, tion, it looked like there might be 15 to 20 In Diagram 2 are several of the good and you might score with or without going different shots to try, or 30 to 40 if you shots that start with XC. There are systems back to A after X. The similar shot that count the mirror image shots as well. I for some of these. (I am going to call the lands on the "outside" of the X ball underestimated the creativity of the read- rail that the cue ball starts next to "A" (labeled 2) is harder because, if you hit X ers. I ended up with 82 different shots to from now on to simplify the diagram and a little full, the ball will come off the cush- try, which took about six hours of testing. to make the listing of shots unambiguous.) ion and double-kiss the cue ball. Shot This is the hardest I've ever worked on a For example, the shot XCDEACDY+ (the EDCAXY (labeled 3) is easier than it

32 BD-JULY 2006 looks once you get XX means that the hang of where to there is a double hit the first cushion, kiss. The cue ball and the amount of hits the X ball full; running English to the X comes back use. This shot ends off the short rail and like the lag ticky. hits the cue ball, If you want a cush- sending it to three ion-first challenge, or more cushions try ADCXY+, and then the Y ball. which is shot into Those should keep cushion A with you busy: reverse (left) A C A X Y + , English, and then ACXAY, ACXDEY, follows the path of ADCXY+, AED- shot 2 in Diagram 3. CAXY+, AE This shot does not C X Y + , work well if the AXACDEACDY+, cushions are sticky, A X A C D E Y + , as that destroys all the left English on the unreasonable ones, making him the win- AXACDY, AXACY+, AXCDY+, first contact. ner. Ray used a 9-foot Olhausen table with AXDAY, AXDEY+, CAXAY, CDEAX- The contest yielded six entrants, one of carom rails and fast cloth, which probably CDEY, CXDEY, DCAXY+, DCXAY, whom wants to remain anonymous, so accounts for his large percentage of rea- DXADEY, DXADY, EDCAXY+ he©s not in the running. They were from sonable shots. He plays other forms of EDCXY+, XACAEY, XACAY, , , New Mexico, North carom billiards as well, having won the XACDEACDY+, XACDEY+, XACDY+, Carolina and . Second place 2005 Championship at New XACEDCEY, XACEDCY, XADAY, went to Lloyd Welcome of Greensboro, Mexico Tech in Socorro, N.M. And I bet XADEY, XCDAEY, XCDAY, XCDEAC- N.C. He came up with 36 shots for me to you thought there were no balkline com- DAEY, XCDEACDEY, XCDEACDY, try, but I only made 19 of them for a score petitions in the U.S. any more. XCDEY+, XCECEY, XCECY+, XCED- of 21 (19x2-17). Ray Piworunas also pro- If you would like to try all 44 "good" CEY+, XCEDCY+, XDEAY, XXADEAY, posed 19 good shots, but only had four shots, here is a listing of them. Note that XXDEAY.

BD-JULY 2006 33 Bob Jewett TECHTALK The Perfect Tournament An abridged version of "Cue- Event Direction for Dummies."

I get to watch at least part of a bunch of Monte Carlo, Monaco, where a billiard tour- corner of the hockey rink-sized floor, and major tournaments each year. The last seven nament is in progress as I write this. Herb Lehman, an accomplished 14.1 player months have been particularly busy with Admission is free, and the best three-cushion from Connecticut, was studying the layout trips to the International Pool Tour's King of players in the world are there. It's amazing on the near table looking for a safety. With a the Hill event in Orlando, the what can happen when the money part is rumble, the doors at that corner of the arena in Las Vegas, the Derby City Classic in taken care of by a billionaire. Most of the blew open, the projector screen fell onto the Louisville, the U.S. National 3-Cushion time, organizers have to settle for less posh scorers' table, and all the balls on Herb's Championships in Miami, a 3- surroundings. Cheapest is in a poolroom. table blew to one end. This was the second Cushion tournament in Porto, Portugal, the Cheap isn't necessarily bad, as it means less time I had seen rain blowing horizontally BCAPL Nationals and the Enjoypool.com 9- money down the drain that can go back to the across a pool table, the first having been in Ball Championship in Las Vegas and the players. The next level up is in a hotel, which Saigon. The staff secured the arena, and Herb World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship in is a much nicer venue, but adds cost, which was able to restore the position and play a . I'm glad I sleep well on air- is usually borne by the people who rent good safety. I was reminded of Belle by the planes. rooms at the hotel, whether they be players or recent "indoor rain experience" at the 2006 Here are some miscellaneous ramblings on fans. In return, the hotel provides the ball- World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship, running and watching billiard events. I think room and possibly support services. The which was also in New Jersey. Before I prospective tournament organizers especially hotel will be looking to fill its rooms during arrived, a leak in the newly-renovated roof of will find something useful below. Lord a slow season, and while the room rates will the hotel ballroom had required one table to knows that some of them need all the help not be rock-bottom, they may be very attrac- be moved out of the drip line and designated they can get. tive. The tournament I went to in Portugal a practice table. While I was watching was held at the nicest hotel I've ever stayed matches, a growing line of trash cans and I FINDING THE MONEY at, with champagne and caviar at the break- waste-paper baskets started to appear on the fast buffet and complimentary wine at check- tournament floor, to catch what the roof It's much easier to run a tournament with in, all for $130 a night. The rooms were could not. Eventually the ceiling tiles got money rather than without it. Most open amazing. waterlogged and let loose to plop onto the tournaments at the city and state level in the practice table. U.S. are funded from entry fees, with the host If you are a promoter, you will need to sign poolroom sometimes adding a few hundred a contract with the hotel, and this may have And speaking of earthquakes, back in the to a few thousand dollars. It is rare to have to be a year before the event. Typically, you 1970s a 6-or-so quake interrupted one of any commercial sponsors for such events. will guarantee a certain number of room Fred Whalen's 14.1 tournaments in southern While the poolroom might have higher food nights during the event, and the hotel will California. Dallas West, who was in the lead sales to make up the gap, this kind of event is reserve those and a few more for players and at the time, packed up and left. The rule in usually for promotion rather than profit. The fans. A hefty deposit may also be required. If these matters is "no blood, no foul," and for- better players like to hang out at poolrooms you are a fan, you should help support the tunately none of these acts of God caused that have tournaments. At the national level, event by staying at the host hotel, even if it is any injury. They did make each event more it is possible to find sponsors and have tens a little more expensive than the motel across memorable. To be safest, stay away from of thousands of dollars of added money. the street. It will be the most convenient New Orleans and New Jersey in hurricane Admission fees are important, possibly cov- place to stay, and if the organizer loses season and California in earthquake season. ering all of the added money, but incur money, the event is unlikely to be repeated. expenses noted below. It is also possible to OFFICIALS AND OFFICIATING find "angels" — people who are willing to SAFETY For the top-level tournaments, it is nice to donate funds just so the event will happen. At You might not consider physical security have referees and score keepers. This takes the international level, TV-related sponsor- when running a pool tournament. Think hur- planning and organization. While you may ship starts to become important, as we see ricanes. The 1976 World 14.1 Championship be able to find volunteers for these positions, with the Mosconi Cup, the World 9-Ball was held by the beach in Asbury Park, N.J. A it is not fair to offer no compensation at all. Championships and the IPT events, none of major player that year was Hurricane Belle. Free admission or a small amount per match which would happen without a TV connec- My flight into Newark was among the last to served is better than just a hearty handshake. tion. For most events below that level, TV is land that Friday night, as the wind and rain A pet peeve: The tournament director should a possible revenue source, but you won't find increased beyond safe levels. As I was dri- not play in his own tournament. The conflict ESPN and Fox begging to let their ving down the coast to the arena, I thought, of interest is obvious. Beyond that, there is camera crews in. If you have hired a produc- "Earthquake," but it was just the rising wind usually more than enough for the TD to take tion company and have tape in the can, they that was rocking the car. Once safe and dry- care of, and time spent playing matches is may talk to you. ing off in the bleachers next to familiar faces, time he can't use to do his TD duties. It's not I settled down to watch an early-round so easy to find good referees. Most people LOCATION match. We could hear the storm beating on with enough knowledge to ref correctly My favorite tournament site is in the city of the roof. There were four tables, one in each would rather play. The BCA has a referee

30 BD-AUGUST 2006 training program, if you are interested in need at least two people trained for each promoter hadn't done the proper paperwork helping at future events — sometimes you position, since they need breaks. That or paid fees to the county. Suppose you pay might even be paid for your work. If a refer- requires 40 people putting in 17 hours each cash prizes. Do you withhold taxes? Do you ee is not trained to a certain level, he may be over about three days. That's just the prelim- file IRS form 1099? Forms 1042-S and worse than no referee at all. This is particu- inaries. Is that level of cost and effort worth 1042-T? The law may require you to do all of larly the case for calls on close hits. It takes it? I've been to events that did have a full these, and as we all know, ignorance of the considerable experience to tell a good hit complement of officials, and it can add a lot law is no excuse. Gambling is another issue. from bad, and both players usually know to the experience. Some towns consider any cash prizes in tour- immediately which it was. When the referee naments to be illegal gambling. More prob- says something else, there is a big problem. SEATING lematic is having a Calcutta. This is a separate Score-keeping doesn't require much train- The seating at most major cue sport events is prize fund formed by spectators bidding on ing, but it does require attention. I have to lousy. If most spectators can't see the layout players according to who has the best chance admit to the occasional brief nap with a pen- on at least half the tables, the event planner to win the tournament. Bidders "buy" players cil in my hand. I was particularly disappoint- did a bad job. The usual problem is that the and then collect from the Calcutta pool ed to see that the recent 14.1 Championship seats are too low. Often the VIP seating is on according to what place the players finish in. didn't have usable score sheets. Ball-per- the same floor as the tables. Psssst! Put them When third parties get involved in the trans- inning statistics are important results for up at least 18 inches. This means that the fer of money, the constabulary takes interest. straight pool, and the number of innings in bleachers will have to come up even more. each match was not recorded. Due to the This costs money. So will padded seats for POLITICS very large number of matches, the players the bleachers. The best viewing I've encoun- Finally, there is the matter of whose feathers sometimes had to keep their own scores, and tered was at the Roosevelt Hotel in New you do or do not want to ruffle. There are there seemed to be no uniform way of mark- York City, which had a balcony in the hotel various organizations trying to assert their ing the sheets. Maybe next year. ballroom with perfect sight-lines to all tables. control over various aspects of , Let's use the recent 14.1 Championship as and there are good reasons to try to avoid irri- an example of the effort needed to "fully offi- LEGALITIES tating them. There are so few people active in ciate" an event. This year, there were 224 If your tournament is above a certain level, promoting cue sports that battles among our matches in the preliminary (round-robin) you will have to deal with the government. small number makes no sense to me. phase of the tournament on 10 tables. Those Some jurisdictions, such as Las Vegas, matches took about 90 minutes on average, require you to have multiple business licens- Bob Jewett organized the three largest pro- so there were potentially 670 hours of offici- es to run a tournament. I heard one event was fessional three-cushion events ever staged in ating with referees and score keepers. You in danger of being shut down because the the U.S.

BD-AUGUST 2006 31 Bob Jewett TECHTALK One-cushion Precision I'll tell you where you can put that cue ball.

Here is an intensive workout to improve To add even more difficulty, move the cue For this drill, you have control over the your control of the cue ball when you run an ball back away from the object ball. To keep position of the object ball and the angle of object ball along the rail and come off one the same angle, your cue stick should pass the cut. For the first shot, I use a 30-degree cushion to position. I'll start with a drill and over the same spot on the rail, which is the cut on the object ball with inside follow. then explain a game that can be a fun way to side pocket. If you were using draw to help You will probably discover what not to do refine your skills. come back to the on your own, but here are some suggestions: The ball position- later groups, you Although it's nice to pocket the 9 on the ing for the drill is will probably find first shot, using that much speed is danger- shown in Diagram that you have to use ous. If you have the angle slightly wrong, 1. The object ball is sidespin instead. you might well drive the 9 to point B. This is on the long cush- This drill so far not insurmountable, since you can place the ion, one diamond has been with a sin- object ball at C for your next shot and have away from the cor- gle cut angle for the a good chance with inside English and/or ner pocket. The cue object ball. You can follow to herd the 9 back towards the pock- ball is on the long try additional cue et. string, which is the ball starting loca- You can be careless when pocketing the line that runs tions at A and B. Is first ball when it is close to the pocket, but between the centers it easier or harder the resulting cue-ball angles off the cushion of the end cush- to hit pair 1 from A will be haphazard. Imagine another five feet ions, and through or B? Is it easier or of rail stretching out past the pocket and the head spot and harder to get the drive the object ball along that extended rail. foot spot. Sometimes this line is marked for cue ball out past the side pocket from A or Pocket the ball with precision. Each degree games where you would spot up object balls. B? A very important thing to note during you are off on the cut angle will cause a sim- The cue ball is about half a diamond toward your practice is the range of resulting angles ilar error in the billiard angle. the center of the table from the spot. Also, possible from a starting cut angle. During There are two ways to control the angle off the object ball should not be frozen to the practice, you need to discover how to the cushion for these shots: You can vary the cushion. While that's also an interesting sit- increase your sidespin or you can uation, it makes position play quite a bit "range of motion" vary the angle of the harder. Once you master the non-frozen as well as what cut. For the first shot case, try the exercise with the ball frozen and range is comfort- of the exercise, I see if you need to make changes to your able for you. think using sidespin technique. A final wrinkle is easier, but see if The goal of this drill is to hit each pair of is to vary the you can get to the 9 object balls on the diamonds around the speed of contact. ball with just follow. table. Here are three ways to work the exer- Can you just bare- On the other hand, I cise: ly get to the target think getting from • Easy level: Try to hit the pairs in order. balls? Can you an object ball at C to Pocket the object ball and use the spin need- contact them fast a 9 ball at B is most ed to get the cue ball to contact at least one enough to break predictable with just ball in the first pair (labeled 1). Once you hit them apart? follow on the cue it, you can move on to the second, and so on. If drills don't ball. How much the Once you have gotten to all the pairs, start captivate you, cue ball comes down over and see if you can do it with fewer here is a challenge shot that gives you a con- the table from C depends on how far up the misses. If you can't get to groups 1 or 2 stantly changing target. Try it with a friend table the cue ball starts. I described a simple because you haven't mastered the spin need- to see who can finish it in fewer strokes. The system to do the calculation in my March ed, skip them. beginning setup is shown in Diagram 2, 2005 column, which is available at • Intermediate level: This is the same as with the 9 ball on the end cushion, a dia- http://www.sfbilliards.com/articles/BD_arti- the easy level, but you have to hit each pair mond away from the pocket. The goal is to cles.html. twice in a row. pocket the 9 ball in pocket A, as if you were The one-cushion challenge shot is similar • Advanced level: You only have to hit "riding the money" in a game of 9-ball. The to the third drill discussed in my April 2001 each pair of target balls once, but you have object ball goes near the side cushion, as for column. For that, the object ball goes on the to start over on any miss. This is harder, the drill above. The 9 stays wherever you end rail by the pocket rather than the side because each shot is different from the one drive it until you pocket it. You must pocket rail, and each shot uses draw to move the 9 before. Can you get to an additional pair on the object ball on each shot or you automat- ball. I find the draw form quite a bit easier. the other side of the side pocket? ically lose the game and have to start over. How about you?

3 2 BD-SEPTEMBER 2006 Bob Jewett TECHTALK The Cutting Edge You may need to order more chalk after this experiment.

Recently on an Internet discussion forum, that Q to the fourth power is equal to 50 per- I next tried outside English. There are two a player by the handle of " Joe" cent, and after a couple of square roots and a competing things that happen on this shot asked, "Do you think a ball can be cut more subtraction, which I won't bore you with, with outside English, which is left for this by using inside or outside English?" Inside, says that P is 16 percent. diagram. First, the cue ball will curve away outside, center-ball, high and low were given So, for this test, a reasonable shot is one from the object ball some. That increases the as options. that has roughly a one in six chance of work- cut angle, and makes the shot harder. In com- Think about this for a while before reading ing. Why the groups of four? I want to shoot pensation, the outside English tends to throw on. Which shot is more comfortable for you? the shots in groups so that I have several the object ball backwards if there is enough Which shot is easier to line up? Which shot chances at a particular angle before changing English. How much is enough? You want the gets you into less trouble? Can you cut the the shot. You will see below why I want to surface of the cue ball at the contact point on ball more than 90 degrees? change the shot after each group. the object ball to be moving backwards. I call If there is no other qualification on the We need a specific test shot. See Diagram this "retrograde" spin, and you really have to question, the answer is inside English with a 1 for the one I chose. The object ball is on the hit the cue ball well off-center to achieve it. lot of elevation. That is the same as a masse center spot, which is sometimes used in Chalk. I find it's also helpful to have a low- shot, and with the right stroke and alignment straight pool and is in the exact center of the squirt stick for this. (For a definition and of the stars, you can cut a ball 180 degrees — table. The cue ball is on the head string. The explanation of squirt, or "deflection" as it's that is, you can make the cue ball go out and problem is to find how far over I can move sometimes incorrectly called, see several previous articles which are online at the come nearly straight back and drive the the cue ball and still have a reasonable www.sfbilliards.com Web site.) object ball straight toward you. If you have chance at making the ball. ever watched a good exhibi- After shooting sets of shots tion player, you have already for about 15 minutes, the posi- seen something like this tion ended up at 81 degrees. shot. This is slightly thinner than Another way to cut the the first case with no side- object ball 180 degrees is to spin, but since I was adjusting play a jump shot and land the angle one degree at a time, the cue ball on the far edge the difference is negligible. I of the object ball. I've done noticed that even though I was this by accident, but would- not hitting the cue ball as hard n't take 1-to-100 odds to do as with the no-spin shot, the it on purpose, object ball was still making it OK, let's put circus shots to the pocket with plenty of out of the question. To do speed. My conclusion is that that, I propose limiting the the throw must have allowed shot to a reasonable, if not me to hit fuller for more speed great, percentage. The resulting "reasonable" I put the cue ball as shown, with my stick but still get the same cut angle. shots will vary from person to person. I fig- over the corner pocket, and started my first Next I tried inside English. In theory, this ure that if I can make a shot in four tries at set of four shots from that location. For the should have prevented any swerve, which, least half the time, the shot is one I can play first test, I played without any side-spin. I with inside English, would be toward the under very trying circumstances when noth- marked the position with a coin. I made the object ball, reducing the cut angle. This was ing else is available. That is, four tries for a second shot, so I moved the coin half an inch really uncomfortable for me, as I don't like to dollar should be an even-money proposition toward the head spot. I made another shot in use inside English, but the final angle turned on the tough cut shot. the second group of four from the slightly out to be 80 degrees. One thing to note is that A mathematical side note: You might con- harder position, so I moved the coin another the object ball didn't have nearly as much clude that a one-in-four proposition is 25 per- half inch. Eventually I missed all four in the speed as with outside English at about the cent on each shot. This turns out not to be set, and I moved the coin a half inch away same cut angle. My conclusion from this is true if you look into the probabilities from the spot. I continued this until the coin that the throw is more important than the involved. If you have a chance of making a seemed to have found its natural resting spot. swerve. single shot of P and a chance of missing a This turned out to be a 79-degree cut, with I also tried a few shots jumping the cue ball single shot of Q (where Q = 1 - P), the one- the edge of the cue ball about six inches from onto the object ball, but quickly came to the in-four proposition is an even-money bet if the head spot. conclusion that I would need a lot more prac- you are 50 percent likely to miss four in a For that much cut, I found I had to hit the tice or a much easier cut angle. row, The chance of four events happening in cue ball hard enough to go four lengths of the If you try this experiment yourself, I think a row is just the product (multiplied together) table. Clearly, you have to maintain good you'll discover a lot about your own play and of each individual probability. So, we know mechanics at speed for this test. what's possible on the table.

30 BD • O C T O B E R 20D6 Bob Jewett TECHTALK Round-Robin Revisited All's fair in love, war and my favorite tournament format.

Those of you who read my series Hsia from Taipei, and four against of articles about tournament formats . The small number on at the end of 2001 know how much I the right is the number of 8 balls sunk hate double elimination. It was with on the break, which is a game win delight that I heard that the under IPT rules. There were no such International Pool Tour would be wins in the 117 games shown on this using round-robin for all stages of its chart. events, except for the final match, An important thing to note is that which is a dramatic head-to-head three players were tied at 2-2 for their confrontation. Someone is finally placement in the group. Ties are possi- doing things right. ble in all round-robin groups, so a tie- Well, maybe I shouldn't say "final- breaker is needed. The IPT uses game- ly," since the round-robin format, in winning percentage, or the number of which each player in a group gets to games a player won divided by the play every other player, used to be total number of games played. The very common when championships statistic is listed in the final column of were held with relatively few players the group summary as "GW%." Not in the field. Some events were "dou- surprisingly, Beaufils led convincing- ble round-robins." which meant that each player got to play each of the Among the three tied players, only other players twice, leaving no two of whom would advance, excuse for either a bad draw or an off Garrahan was eliminated with a day. games-won percentage of 46. If you The amazing thing about the IPT look at just the won games you might format is that it is being done with as put him ahead of Fisher, since he had many as 200 players in the field. seven "extra" wins in his two losses That takes a lot of tables — perhaps compared to her four, but if you look over 60 — to get the tournament at the games against. Fisher takes the done in a week. lead because she whomped both As an example, the tournament at Garrahan and John Di Toro with 8-1 the end of July at The Venetian scores, while Garrahan allowed 11 Resort Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas games in his two losses. had 200 players. A hundred of them The bracket shown can be thought of played in 20 groups of five on the as a 4-2-2-2-0 result if you list the first day, with three advancing from wins in descending order. While this is each group. Each player got to play four match. Both of those players had played 12 a pretty bad case for ties, the worst case is 2- matches. The second day saw the other 100 hours per day for six days, with time off only 2-2-2-2, which I don't think has occurred yet playing. Since in a group of five only four in the case of short matches. in the IPT. Any result must have a total of 10 can be playing on two tables each round, Let's take a look at a typical first-round wins, but not all such combinations are pos- "only" 40 tables were required. The matches chart of Group 35. This is the chart after the sible. For example, you can't have two win- were races-to-8 and the five rounds of play completion of the round. The scores for each less players, since when they play each other started every two and a half hours, running player are listed on the line for their name, someone has to win. It turns out that there from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. so you can see that Frenchman Yannick are only nine possible results in a five-play- The third day was the most hectic. All 120 Beaufils ("Bo-fee") led the group with four er group, and five out of those have a tie for players remaining from the first two days wins. (Maybe you didn't know that there are third-fourth. This means that a player's played in 20 groups of six, and 60 tables some pretty good 8-ball players in France.) game-winning percentage is extremely were in continuous use. To see what his opponents scored, find his important most of the time. Half the players advanced to form 12 name in the top row and look down. For If you have some spare time, List the nine groups of five for the third round, and 36 of example, Theodore Garrahan scored six possible results for a group of five and the those 60 advanced to the fourth round. There games against him. Also included in each 22 possible results for a group of six. It turns they formed six groups of six, with 18 score square are two other small numbers. out that a six-way tie is not possible in a advancing to make three groups of six, and The one on the left is "break and runs," in group of 6, because you can't divide the 15 only six advancing to the "semifinal" round- which the player allowed his opponent no wins evenly among six players, but you can robin round. The two leaders in that round trip to the table. You can see that Beaufils have a five-way tie for first or last. met for Sunday's single, head-to-head broke and ran five racks against Hua-Kai The partially completed chart for Group

BD • N O V E M B E R 2006 shows how the chart can become so interest- chance to pass Deuel on average than The other match — Reyes vs. Shaw — ing in the final matches. At this point in the Daulton. Since the results mean tens of thou- was quite a bit more interesting. If Efren round, two matches are left, denoted by the sands of dollars difference in prize money, were to win, he would have a lock on sec- boxes without scores. Thomas Engert is to you will see a lot of calculators and scratch ond. If he lost, he was still guaranteed to play Cory Deuel and Edwin Montal is to paper near the tournament scoreboards. As it advance because he was well ahead of play Shannon Daulton. Will Deuel be one of turned out, both Deuel and Dalton lost, and Beaufils and Shaw on percentage. Beaufils the three to get through to the next round'.' Cory advanced from round 3 with a 1-3 hoped that Efren would win to keep Shaw First, there is no way he can catch the two record. down. If Shaw were to win, he'd pick up 1 leaders, so he needs to concentrate on Finally, look at the nearly completed chart percent on GW, and edge out Beaufils for whether he can get ahead of both of the other for Group 70. At this point of the round, third. If Efren were to lose, Beaufils needed players. If he wins, he will be 2-2 and Beaufils is finished and praying for the right him to win at least six games against Shaw. Daulton has a chance to tie on match wins. outcomes in the remaining matches. Efren This illustrates another problem of the Could Daulton possibly improve his GW% Reyes and Jason Shaw are to play, as are round-robin format: Sometimes a player will enough to take the lead? and . Archer is 0- have the fate of another in his hands at no No. To be sure, you would have to look at 3 and has no chance to advance. The story is risk to himself. I'm not suggesting that Efren the total games each had played and figure told by the break and runs of his opponents would ever let someone slip by, and in fact, Deuel's win as 8-7 (the weakest possible — 11 in three matches. His opponent, Peach, he beat Shaw, 8-2, making Beaufils very win), and Daulton's win as 8-0 (the strongest also had little interest in the match, since happy. Also, losing any game in any match possible win). To be pretty sure, you can fig- only Reyes could catch him for the lead of will bring your GW% down, and even I per- ure the GW% like this: At this stage of the the group, and three players would advance. cent can mean an awful lot of money in a tie- tournament, each player had about 150 A problem with the round-robin format is breaker. Another thing that can be done to games played. One win more or less makes that there are often matches in which neither prevent any problem with this kind of situa- a percentage change of about 50/150 or 1/3 player cares about the outcome. The IPT tion is for the tournament director to sched- percent. A seven-game swing for Daulton adds interest by scaling the payouts by ule matches so that any pairs of friends in a boosts his average against Deuel by about GW% for the dropouts of each round. If group play in the first one or two sets of 2.3 percent, but he needs an 11 percent Archer can improve his GW%, he has a matches. That keeps the "right" person from boost. chance to move up in the payouts. In fact, he "surprisingly" winning at the end. What if Deuel loses and drops to 1 -3? If won his match 8-5 and his GW% moved up Oh, and as I'm sure you've heard by now, Daulton wins his match to go 2-2, Deuel by the estimated 1 percent (for three net Efren went on to win the tournament and exits. If Daulton loses, there is a three-way wins) to 50 percent. A loss would have cost $500,000. Are round-robin charts more tie for last at 1-3, and Montal has no more him about $3,000. interesting to you now?

HI) • NOVEMBER 2006 31 Bob Jewett TECHTALK Don't Blow It You'll bank and kick better if you can contact the rail right on the nose.

Do y o u know where the think the "opposite" nose of the cushion is? Of method is better. If you course it's as plain as the shoot through the second nose on your face, but the diamond, the ball is clearly details might surprise not coming "from" that you. The nose of the diamond as it comes back cushion is the tip of the across the table; it is com- rubber that the ball can ing from a spot about two touch normally. When a balls farther up the table. If fist hits a face, the first you want a second opinion thing it encounters is the on the opposite method, I nose. When a ball hits a might mention that cushion, the first thing it also encounters is the nose. recommends it in his book The exact location of on diamond systems, "Mr. where you need to contact 100." the nose is important for If you do decide to use bank shots, kick shots and some tricky situ- have to contact the cushion at a location "through" as your standard diamond ations. even with the second diamond, which is method, you can still find the spot on the In Diagram 1A there is a typical illustra- roughly a whole ball farther down the table. rail where the ball will hit by placing your tion of a bank shot, calculated by the "dou¬ The reason the "double-the-diamonds" stick along the inbound path of the ball and ble-the-diamonds" method. The object ball system works, when it does work, is that the noting where it crosses the rail gutter. is on a line between the side pocket and the rail is not a perfect mirror, and the error Short kick shots (when you have to play second diamond from the opposite corner introduced by taking the simple (but wrong) the cue ball rail-first to hit an object ball pocket. The usual theory is that if the object target of the diamond compensates for inac- which is close to that rail) are sensitive to the ball is shot directly toward the diamond, it curacies in the rebound. difference between through and opposite will go to the corner pocket, since the out- We could as well calculate our spot on the aiming. For more details, see my May 2004 bound angle is equal to the inbound angle, if banking cushion by finding the ideal spot at article, which is available al www.sfbil- you don't shoot too hard. the rail gutter even with the diamond and liards.com/articles/BD_articles.html. My first comment is that the diagram sending the ball there. That might actually Another characteristic of the nose of the shown is very inaccurate. The drawn path work better on some tables. cushion is important on some shots: It's should show the path of the center of the The two main styles of aiming with the soft. When a ball strikes the cushion it is not ball. Here the center of the ball is shown diamonds are called "through" and "oppo- reflected instantaneously. Instead, it sinks touching the nose of the cushion. That's not site." You aim "through" the diamond when into the cushion, encounters greater and possible, so something in the diagram is the ball's path greater push- broken. The path needs to be drawn so that goes directly back and eventu- it only reaches the "rail gutter," which is towards the spot ally reverses its about half a ball from the nose of the cush- on the top of the path and is eject- ion, and is under the center of the ball that is rail. You aim ed. How far does frozen to the cushion. This is how Diagram "opposite" the it penetrate? IB is drawn. diamond when That depends on So, the first answer to the opening question you send the ball the speed. On the is that the nose of the cushion is half a ball to a point on the J a c k s o n v i l l e from the center of a ball that is touching it. rail gutter that is Project video Note that many pool and billiard diagrams even with the dia- (see BD, April are drawn with the path of the ball touching mond. In addition, some carom players aim 1999), a ball driven straight into the cushion the nose of the cushion. All of those dia- the left or right edge of the ball to either the was recorded at 2,000 frames per second. It grams are wrong. Billiard illustrators, diamond or the spot on the nose of the cush- was traveling at about 16 MPH and went for- please stop doing that! ion that is even with the diamond, but let's ward into the cushion about 17 millimeters, Now we can see another problem. The not add those complications. I suspect they which is two-thirds of an inch. It spent 6.5 ball clearly makes its turn well before it is have been developed to eliminate various thousandths of a second in the cushion. even with the diamond, so that if it really poorly understood errors. If we assume that the cushion push-back does indeed go to the corner pocket, the Which way of lining up a bank is more goes up directly as the ball goes deeper into angle out must be different from the angle accurate? As far as determining where the it, there are some interesting conclusions in. For the angles to be equal, the ball would ball will be when it leaves the cushion. I we can draw. First, the peak force, which

I BD • D E C E M B E R 2006 occurs when the ball is at maximum pene- percent farther back into the rail, giving 26 when it first contacts the cushion, when it is tration, is about 135 pounds. Also, if we millimeters in from the gutter for the faster at maximum penetration, and when it leaves shoot softer shots, the time spent in the shot. That's a full inch. However, if you are the cushion. The drawing is roughly to scale cushion is not expected to change much. not shooting straight into the rail, there for a 16-mph shot. Finally, the amount of penetration should won't be as much penetration — 70 percent The moral of this story: Aim a little farther go directly with the speed of the ball into for a 45-degree angle. up the rail for faster kick shots, all else the rail, so a ball going into the cushion at The path of the ball while it is in the cush- being equal. You will need to practice with only 1.6 MPH will go in this in mind. less than 2 millimeters There are two neat shots before rebounding, and that illustrate sinking into reach a peak force of 13.5 the nose. Diagram 3A pounds. shows the standard For reference, 16 MPH is "impossible bank" in approaching break-shot which a ball frozen to the speed, and 1.6 MPH is cushion is banked to the down around lag-shot far corner pocket in spite speed. of a blocker being frozen What does this mean on straight out from it. The kick shots? second is an impossible The real nose of the combination. You would cushion is not where we like to play the 1-9 combo, thought it was. If the ball but the 2 ball keeps you sinks in some, it is effec- from cutting the 1 toward tively being reflected at a the 9 — you can at best hit point some distance from it full. The 1 and 9 are the rail gutter. For the slow shot above, 2 ion is not a straight line as is usually drawn. about an inch apart. Shoot straight at the 1 millimeters seems like not much correction It is expected to be a curve like a sine wave with good speed, and the 1 will follow a to worry about, but 17 millimeters is almost as shown in Diagram 2. This idea was path like Diagram 2 and emerge from the a third of a ball diameter. In addition, explained briefly in my February 2005 col- cushion just as it meets the 9. How far up because the push-back builds up gradually, umn about getting out of kisses on bank the cushion can you move the 1 ball and still the effective reflection point is about 50 shots. The ball is shown in three positions: make the shot?

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