I was on a nice run in straight pool yesterday and came across a situation that I want to share with you. I fell on a ball funny and didn't really have a clear idea of which ball I wanted to fall on next. Rather than take a flyer, I played position on two balls, figuring to take the better shot next.
Now this idea is mostly for straight pool, 8 ball and pocket apiece players, but the idea is akin to the two way shot in rotation games.
Here is the layout:
As you can see I'm below the 6. I've left the 3 as my break ball and the 7 as the key ball. The question is; How did I want to take off the rest of the balls?
I really had options here. I could the 7, 15 and then 3 or 13, 7,and then the 3. After scratching my head a bunch and walking around the table, I really didn't see an easy way to do this.
So what I did do was play position for the center of the triangle connecting the 13, 15 and 12. By playing multi-ball position, I gave myself the best of it.
Depending on how I landed, I could play 12 stop, 15 stop and then 13,7 and 3. Or if I fell on the 15 in the side I could roll the 15 in, stop on the 12, one rail over from the 13 and then 7 and 3.
Finally, if I went too far, I could play the 13 first to bail myself out.
I know when I read these articles I sometimes tend to skip over the ball to ball description. Please don't do that!
You may agree with my approach or not, and that is great, but please try and understand my thinking. My underlying assumption is to do as little as possible with the cue ball.
Good luck with playing two ball position. When you are in doubt this approach will help bail you out.
See you on the road! Next stop is the Marietta Billiards Club in Marietta, GA.