15 Draw

I got bored today and decided to come up with a new pool game.  If nothing else, for practice.  I call it 15 Draw, since you use all 15 balls and a pill bottle to draw your next ball.  As you will see in the rules below, it is a game of randomness and creativity.

Here is the table layout I chose:

General rules of the game

Object of the game:  The object of the game is to pocket all 15 balls in the lowest number of shots.  The player with the lowest score at the end of the game wins.

Determining opening shooter:  For more than one player, a numbered pill shall be drawn from a bottle to determine shooting order.  Player with the lowest numbered pill shoots first, player with the next lowest numbered pill shoots second, and so on.

Called shots:  All balls are called shots unless it is blatantly obvious in which pocket the shooter is trying to make the ball.

Arrangement of the balls:  All 15 balls are to be arranged and ordered as diagrammed above.

Opening shot:  Incoming player shall draw a numbered pill from a bottle to determine first ball to shoot.  Once the opening ball is determined, player shall have ball in hand*.  Ball in hand only applies on the opening shot, or after a scratch or ball jumped off the table.

Legal hits:  Player shooting must hit the cue ball once, causing the cue ball to hit an object ball.  The object ball must then hit at least one rail after contact.  If an object ball is frozen to a rail, the cue ball must hit at least 2 different rails after contact, or the object ball must hit a different rail from which it was frozen.

The shooter is not required to hit the ball drawn by numbered pill from the bottle.  For example, in the diagram above, if the shooter legally pockets the 1-ball and stops the cue ball where the 1-ball was, then draws the 4-ball as the next ball to shoot, the shooter is not required to hit the 4-ball in the next shot.  The shooter may hit another ball first to get position on the 4-ball.  As long as the object ball was legally contacted and rules of a legal hit followed, then the shooter may continue until the 4-ball is legally pocketed.

A ball pocketed that was not called shall be spotted as closely as possible to the original location of the ball illegally pocketed before the next shot is taken by the player at the table.

Fouls:  A foul occurs if the rules of legal hits above is not followed.  Shooter is assessed a 1-shot penalty for each occurrence of the foul.  Cue ball shall remain in place for the next shot.  If the shooter scratches the cue ball, a 2-point penalty is assessed, unless the object ball was made in the called pocket, in which case, only a 1-point penalty is assessed.  The incoming player shall have ball in hand* for the next ball.   A cue ball jumped off the table is a 2-point penalty, unless the object ball was pocketed in the called pocket, in which case, only a 1-point penalty is assessed.  The incoming player shall have ball in hand* for the next ball.

*See rules of Solo game vs. Multi-player game for rules of ball in hand.

Solo game

1.  Draw a pill from the bottle to determine first ball to shoot.
2.  Give yourself ball in hand anywhere on the table for the opening shot.
3.  Shoot the ball that was determined by drawing a numbered pill.
4.  Record the number of shots it took to legally pocket the ball.
5.  Leaving the cue ball where it came to rest after legally pocketing the first ball, draw another numbered pill from the bottle to determine next ball to shoot.
6.  Repeat Steps 3 to 5 until all 15 balls have been legally pocketed.
7.  Total the number of shots it took you to pocket all 15 balls.

If you foul by scratching or jumping a ball off the table, assess a penalty as described in the general rules of the game and give yourself ball in hand anywhere on the table for the next ball as determined by a pill drawn from the bottle.

If a foul occurs by not following the rules for a legal hit, then the shooter is assessed a 1-shot penalty for each occurrence of the foul.



Multi-player game

1.  Draw a numbered pill from the bottle, player with the lowest numbered pill shoots first.
2.  Following the same general rules for the Solo game, draw a pill to determine first ball to shoot.
3.  Opening player has ball in hand behind the headstring.  If the first ball to shoot, as determined in Step 2, is behind the headstring, player must shoot past the headstring, legally contacting an object ball or rail before hitting an object ball behind the headstring.
4.  Shoot until the object ball is legally pocketed in the called pocket.  Record the number of shots it took to pocket the ball.  The object ball made by player A is then spotted as close to the original placement of the ball and player B has ball in hand behind the headstring.  Player B shoots until the object ball is legally pocketed in the called pocket.
5.  Continue drawing numbered pills to determine the next ball until all 15 balls have been pocketed.
6.  The player with the lowest score for the game wins.

If a foul occurs by scratching or jumping a ball off the table, assess a penalty as described in the general rules of the game and incoming player has ball in hand behind the headstring for the next ball as determined by a pill drawn from the bottle.

If a foul occurs by not following the rules for a legal hit, then the shooter is assessed a 1-shot penalty for each occurrence of the foul.


Let me know what you think.  I've got a few more games I've made up and I might post them some other time.

TAR 39: The Last One

Justin Collett of The Action Report announced they would no longer be doing challenge matches between the top professional pool players.  The Action Report was started in 2007 and had put many matches together in the 7 or so years since starting.  I unfortunately only got to watch 3 matches starting with TAR37, a rematch of TAR #1 (Corey Deuel vs. Shane Van Boening).

TAR39, the last one, was a matchup of Shane Van Boening vs. Efren Reyes.  I was really looking forward to this one as they were playing One Pocket, Rotation, and 9-ball.  I was really excited to hear Rotation was being played one of the nights, since I've never really seen it played, much less by the great Efren Reyes.

One Pocket

Efren had to be the favorite for this event.  He had just gone undefeated at the 2014 Derby City Classic One Pocket event.  It was not to be.

Efren won the first game and Shane won the next two.  Efren won rack 4 to tie it at 2 apiece, but that was it.  Shane won the next 9 games and defeated Efren by a score of 11-2.  It was not clear whether Efren was tired mentally, physically, or just having a bad night, but he was missing balls and coming up short on shots.  In a rare sign of frustration from Efren, on the last rack he sold out and broke the balls wide open.

Rotation

The Rotation event was something I was really looking forward to watching Efren play.  The rules were Filipino Rotation.  Corey Deuel was commentating alongside Robert "Cotton" Leblanc for the first half of the match.  Corey understood the rules, having played before.  It was definitely interesting to watch.  If your opponent plays safe and you get hooked behind a ball, you could spot the ball and give ball in hand behind the headstring to your opponent.  It is an aggressive game.  You don't get rewarded for playing safe in Rotation.

Efren looked a little better in the Rotation event.  He got the score up 9-3 early on Shane and was out maneuvering him, but after the player break, it was all Shane.  At the break,  I believe the score was Efren-11,  Shane -9.  Efren would only win 5 more games after the break.  Shane ran some racks and generally outplayed Efren during the second half, at one point winning 6 in a row.  Final score, SVB-20, Efren 16.

9-Ball

The 9-ball match, I thought, could go either way.  I gave the advantage to Shane because of his big break, but for some reason, he didn't put together any big packs.  Shane might have put together a 2 or 3 pack once or twice and that was it.  Only once or twice did I see Shane come up dry on the break, whereas Efren broke them dry most of the time.  Again, Efren missed balls he should have made.  He even missed the 9-ball.

This match went back and forth to some degree.  They traded games in 2's, 3's, and 4's until the break.  The match was tied at 10 and that's when Shane took over.  After that point, Shane won the next 3, Efren got a couple, then Shane won 5 in a row, eventually winning the match 25-16.

My thoughts on this final TAR match...

I was really disappointed Efren wasn't playing his best.  It was painful to watch him, especially on the One Pocket night, miss balls and get out of line on several shots.  He still made some miraculous shots, but overall, he wasn't playing his best game.  I was very surprised to see Shane win the Rotation match given that he claimed to not know the game.

I know one challenge match doesn't mean a whole lot, since Efren seemed to not be playing his best, but Shane, in my opinion, has proven that he is quite possibly the best men's player right now.  He has one of the most powerful breaks...with control and he can make balls from everywhere.  In the 9-ball match, I can only remember seeing him miss 2 or 3 balls all night long.

Sad to see these TAR matches end.  I really enjoyed watching them and listening to the commentators.

OB Classic Shaft Review

Low deflection shafts seem to be picking up steam over the last few years.  I remember several years back when Predator shafts were the ones to have.  They took pie shaped wedges and glued them together to create a stiff shaft.  Lately, OB Cues seem to be the rage.  I have wanted an OB cue or at least a shaft for a little while now.  I was impressed with the layered technology and the way the shafts are constructed.  Well, I finally took the plunge and bought one.

I purchased an OB Classic shaft (12.75 mm, 1/4" ferrule) with the radial pin to fit a Lucasi Ltd. cue I've had for maybe 3-4 years now.  I was excited after receiving the shaft to go hit some balls.

I first played a few racks of 9-ball with the shaft that came with the cue.  I had been using a different cue for a few months now, so I made sure to hit several racks of balls to familiarize myself with the way the Lucasi played.  As a side note, in my opinion, a radial pin is the way to go.  I have played with many joint types over the years and so far, I have found the radial pin feels like the most solid hit for me.

So after getting a feel for the cue again, I switched out the shaft for the new OB Classic.  It came with, I believe, an Everest layered tip.  When first hitting some balls, the short ferrule threw me until I got used to it, then I didn't even notice it.  The tip is a tad soft for my taste as I usually play with a little bit harder tip.  I will probably get a new tip soon.  The shaft itself needed a light sanding with some really fine grit sandpaper.  After a quick sanding, it was smooth as butter.

My first impressions of the OB Classic shaft was why did I just spend $200 for this shaft?  That is, until I hit some really long, firm draw shots.  You can put some terrific english on the cue ball using this shaft!!  I drew the cue ball back nearly 8 feet after pocketing a ball in the corner, but not only that, it seemed like it required less effort to do so.

After playing with it for about 3 days now, I believe it was a good purchase.  It's not something that is going to completely change my game, but due to the low deflection, will help improve my game over time.

So if you are thinking about getting a low deflection shaft of some kind, I would encourage you to go down to your local pool retailer and hit a few balls with the shaft you are considering or any low deflection shaft, really, to see how it feels to you.