I met up with Fred Agnir Monday night at The Bank Shot in Louisville. I'd really been looking forward to playing against Fred since I've been assuming that he and I played about the same speed.

I was right. We ended up playing two sets of 9 ball and one set of 8 ball. In the first (9 ball) set, Fred had me down 7-2 racing to 9 but I finally found my focus and squeaked out a 9-8 victory.

The next set was race to 9 in 8 ball, and again we went hill-hill and I somehow managed to put the final 8 ball into a pocket 2.26" wide to take that set as well.

The last set was a race to 7 in 9 ball. Fred pulled ahead 4-2, then I pulled ahead 5-4, and inevitably we ended up tied on the hill at 6-6. I won that game on an el-cheapo 1-9 combination to take the final set.

Any of the sets could have easily gone the other way. My breaks were working a little better than Fred's. His safeties were a lot better than mine. Fred's shotmaking was very good, my speed control was a little better than his. If a few rolls had gone the other way Fred could have taken all three sets.

Fred may correct me on this, but I think we were both playing at about our average speed. You know how sometimes you just play good enough to win? Well I think Fred and I were both doing just that. When I stepped it up a notch Fred followed suit easily, and vice-versa. It would be interesting to match up against Fred for some serious play, but I think we'd still end up pretty even.

I really enjoyed playing against Fred, though I was a little concerned he'd pop a vein or something because of this magic corner pocket that seemed to deflect all his shots while letting mine go right in no matter how much I cheated the pocket.

One final note: Don't scratch on the break playing Fred in 8 ball. He will apparently run out on you every time.

Greg Miller wrote...
> How about these rules:
> 1. Alternating breaks.
> 2. A legal break would require a specified number of balls
> to hit the head rail rather than the now 4 balls hitting any
> rail(s).
> 3. Break from a very narrow box, say 4" wide, centered on
> the long string from the head string to the head rail.

Of these, I like number 3 the best, but my all-time favorite solution would be the one I suggested a while ago in another thread about the Sardo:

Lag for first break, trailer breaks all subsequent games. If another tie develops, the person that just got tied (not the person who caught up) breaks the next game. Then back to trailer breaks, and so on.

This still allows for multiple-rack runs if someone is making a comeback, and if both players are making a ball consistently it should make for some pretty close matches.

Plus I think this option has the advantage, like alternating breaks would, of not changing the rules of the game or the placement of the rack or the cueball at all.

Frank Brent wrote...
> Barenada disposed of Frank B 7-4 in 9-ball and 7-2 in 8-ball to claim
> KOH's in the Louisville, KY area. Despite an off night Barenada easily
> handled his opponent at the Bank Shot on a Diamond pro-cut 9' table. In
> a post match interview Barenada expressed hope that other RSB/ASP
> players would come forth and challenge him in future Louisville area
> KOH matches.

We also snuck in a game of banks which was a joke, taking nearly a half hour to complete. I officially won it 5-4, but we had both lost count at one point so the game may have really gone to Frank 5-4.

Once I finally found some semblance of a stroke, and Frank managed to bring his tall frame into alignment, we had a pretty decent set of 9 ball where I squeaked out a 7-6 win. I think at that point we both decided to quit while were somewhat less disgusted with ourselves than we'd been the rest of the night.

One of the interesting things (to me anyway) was that after dropping a 3-rail and a 4-rail bank during the first set, I realized I had a chance at the cycle. Alas, it was not meant to be as I made several 1-rail banks but scratched on my only 2-rail attempt. I think the shot went in, though.

A true pool nut, Frank dug into his case and whipped out a bunch of pictures of cues and tables. The pictures of his very old Brunswick table showed it to be absolutely beautiful.

I'd been hoping to get in some one-pocket, and we had earlier discussed making one-pocket the last set of the night, but we were both shooting so poorly that the regular one-pocket shooters that hang out in there would probably have heckled us mercilessly.

SSinn78667 wondered...
> I am curious, after reading the reaction to the Post
> on Allison's win in Georgia at the Viking tour event
> I wonder how many members of RSB actually think they
> can beat Allison Fisher even 9 ball.

Well SSinn78667, I predict that you'll get replies that are either too humble or too ambitious. I'll start with my honest opinion that Allison would kill me. Ditto for Jeanette, Karen, Ewa, and Vivian.

Gerda and Loree Jon wouldn't even have to shoot - their beauty alone would destroy any chance I'd have.

On a really good day I think I could take Jennifer.

Ken Bour wrote...
> I thought about trying some other thing to put there
> that wasn't round and slippery, but nothing quickly
> came to mind.

Now I think this is a pretty strange exercise, but here goes anyway:

TOP 10 THINGS TO PUT IN YOUR ARMPIT TO HELP YOUR STROKE

10. Baby chicken
9. Bar of soap
8. Snowball
7. 2 lb. barbell
6. Small child's head
5. Cat
4. Raw egg
3. Scrambled egg
2. Shoe
1. Tennis ball

Ken Bour wrote... (snip)
> My problem is having the discipline to work on the
> above. It seems that I would rather just toss 5 or
> 6 balls on the table and try to run them in sequence.
> When I miss, I curse, mutter, and stammer. When I make
> them, I toss another 5-6 out there... (snip)

I've always been pretty bored with drills as well, but I also realize that just throwing the balls out and shooting them in is not the best practice. I've started to combine the two methods like this:

1. Throw balls 1-9 and the CB onto the table so that each ball has at least one pocket - no tight clusters.

2. Use ten hole-reinforcement stickers to mark the balls' positions.

3. Run the balls without missing, getting way out of shape, or hitting any other balls unnecessarily. Don't cheat, even if you're kicking at the one. If you screw up, put the balls back and start the run again, making changes to your plan as you see fit.

4. Once you've successfully ran out, throw the balls back onto the table. Put the one on the closest spot, the two on the closest empty spot, and so on. The CB gets the last unoccupied spot.

5. Repeat steps three and four until you're learned about all you're going to learn from those spot positions. About 10 times seems to be average for me. Then take off the spots and go back to step one.

I've found this to be really good practice. Many times I've found myself kicking at the one because it's the only way to get on the two. It's really reminded me of the importance of planning ahead. And if (when) I do make a mistake I can just respot the balls and start over.

Just thought I'd throw in my report of the goings-on so far. When I left this evening the 9-ball was down to 48, with the 8 PM matches just beginning. I noticed quite a few more pros there for the 9-ball than I'd seen for the other two events.

So far, my pick to win the 9-ball is Buddy Hall. He shot .886 in beating Howard Vickery, and regrouped after a couple of mistakes to take care of Dennis Hatch. Last year's winner, Troy Frank, won a long, tough match against an older guy (Hal White I think), and I know he must have been pretty mentally exhausted by that match - I know everyone watching the match was.

Nick Varner is, well, Nick Varner. I don't think he's really been tested yet in the 9-ball. Ginky and Banks winner Shannon Daulton were just starting a match on the TV table when I left. Daulton seemed pretty unbeatable in his earlier matches.

While I was watching the Frank/White match I sat behind Danny DiLiberto, and listening to him chatter away with his old crony buddies was pretty interesting. Every few minutes Grady Matthews would stop by and tell some story or another. I'd really like to see Grady do an autobiography some day as I know it would be hilarious.

The big action upstairs is just ridiculous. They're playing 10- ahead for $90,000. Apparently they've agreed that if they don't finish by the time the tournament ends, they're going to buy the table from Diamond, rent the action room themselves, and finish no matter what. I don't know the names of the two players, but the older guy was 3 ahead when I left.

Some tidbits:

Shannon Daulton has the worst taste in clothes on the planet.

Bill Stroud is a heckuva nice guy.

If you're Buddy Hall, and you've got Dennis Hatch 6-3 in a race to 7, Dennis will half-ass his way through the rest of the match.

If you've never seen Dennis Hatch or Roger Griffis in person before, you might get them confused (I did).

Howard Vickery uses an open bridge a lot - even on his breaks.

Nick Varner is using a soft break in 9-ball, and making the corner ball almost every time. Isn't this what Corey Deuel did that pissed Earl off in Milwaukee?

Ginky and I are exactly that same height.

Patrick Johnson opined... > Less squirt.

Of course you're right. When I took away most of the squirt then the swerve became the dominant factor, whereas with my old shaft I had them working in pretty good harmony.

After several hours tonight I've got my stroke adjusted to eliminate the swerve effect (for the most part), and so I reran my spin test. I can now report no appreciable difference in sidespin range between the new 314 and my old shaft. I did notice a tendency to over-draw the ball alot with the 314, but I'm prepared to assign responsibility for that to the fact that the 314 has a softer hit than the Schon shaft.

I still can't do a valid squirt test with the 314. The pivot point is somewhere in my butt (of my cue :)) and the friction caused by the finish, along with the very awkward stroking position, makes a consistent squirt test impossible.

Another thing - I'm unable to jump very well at all with the 314 on my cue. Even with the Schon shaft I'm no Sammy Jones, but I can clear most reasonable obstructions. With the 314 it pretty much needs to be a Hellen Keller jump shot for me to be able to clear the obstructing ball.

And another thing - When I first played with this thing this afternoon it was 52 degrees in my basement. Tonight for my practice I had the temperature at a more reasonable 70 degrees. This certainly affected my cushion performance but I'm not sure how.

I have two. First is a "stun-run-thru" shot where you hit slight above center and firm to, in theory, follow a short distance. This is supposed to be better than slow-rolling in many cases. My control of the amount of follow with these shots is laughable.

Also, controlling the amount of draw when I have to elevate my cue is very tough for me. I can stop the cue-ball, and I can draw it back the length of the table. Anything in between is pretty much random for me. My draw control is fine unless I have to elevate my cue.

Just purchased a 314 shaft for my Schon from Joe Salazar's table at the Derby City Classic. After I got home I knocked some balls around with it. Here are my initial impressions:

1. Sound. The sound is a lot quieter than with my old shaft. The familiar "tink" is gone, in fact there is no metallic sound at all. It sounds like my cousin's McDermott.

2. The squirt test. I couldn't get the CB to spin in place before I ran out of shaft to pivot from. I guess this means that it's a lot less squirty than my old shaft, which had a pivot point of 14".

3. Maximum spin. I put the CB on the foot spot and shot at the center of the head rail with maximum right. With lag speed, and using a conventional straight stroke, I consistently hit about 4" to the far side of the side pocket. With my old shaft the best I could do with a conventional stroke was to hit the point on my side of the pocket (to my great shame). With a swerve stroke and my old shaft I could hit the far side of the pocket by 4" fairly consistently. With a swerve stroke and the 314 I can regularly hit the rail 8" to the far side of the pocket. I am getting more english with the 314.

4. More squirt. When shooting the shots in #3 with the 314 I noticed that the CB was hitting an inch or so to the right of the head rail's center diamond. With my old shaft, and a swerve stroke I hit the center diamond dead-on. I could not see any obvious CB curve to the right with the 314, so I don't know why I kept hitting to the right of my aiming point.

5. Things that make this unscientific. My 314 shaft is about 12.5mm, and my old Schon shaft is about 13.25mm. The 314's tip is tighter than a dime radius, and the Schon's tip is right at a dime. The 314's tip was a little thicker, but my Schon's tip is only a couple of weeks old so it's still pretty thick.

6. Things that bias the observer. I bought the 314 expectng it to behave exactly the way it is, except for the noise which I had no preformed notions about. It is possible that I subconsciously modified my stroke to favor the 314 in these tests.