Bad Habit #3: The inability to effectively deal with clusters and problem
balls.
This is the Achilles heel of many players. Many of the younger players of
today are at a disadvantage compared to players of twenty of thirty years ago. I
have always maintained that the game of straight pool (14.1) is and always will
be the game's best teacher. Many of today's players have never played straight
pool or one pocket, and that is a shame. The game of straight pool forces you to
learn how to break up clusters and eliminate problem spots within the rack. So
how does this relate to nine ball? Simple. Many times clusters develop and make
our path to the nine ball seem impossible. A seasoned player knows that these
clusters serve a dual purpose:
a) They can stop our opponent dead in his tracks as he attempts to run the
rack.
b) We can use these clusters to our advantage by using them as target
areas if and when we have to play safe.
But, what if we are the shooting player and we are forced to either duck, or
break up the cluster? As with anything else, this can be learned through
practice. Remember how I spoke earlier about some of us just aimlessly toss nine
balls out on the table and start shooting away as opposed to practicing a
specific part of our game that needs work? This is what I was talking about. All
of us could use work in this area. Set up a few clusters and see how you can
effectively break them up after shooting in the lowest numbered ball. Leaving it
up to chance, or hoping that our opponent will do the dirty work for us is not
very smart. We want to be in control of the table, and we want to keep shooting.
That is how we win games. Problem balls can be classified in two categories.
a) They can be the "key shot" in the rack.
b) They can be that ball that
has the least pocket availability options.
Either way, these balls must be dealt with accordingly. Perhaps you can start
by setting up for the key shot from the get go. This bad habit goes hand in hand
with effective rack reading, and problems can be avoided by utilizing proper
planning. If we are weak in this area of our game, it will be exploited by a
more experienced player.
