Yep, it usually requires that you break and run out or your opponent breaks dry and you run out.
Not sure about this. What is different between MVP points and total points?

Practice last night, racked up nine ball "just for fun." Made the 2 on the break. Had a tough cut shot one the 1, then had to go around the table and through all sorts of traffic for the three...but why not? Prob gonna miss the 1 any way...

I make the 1 (!!!), but the white gets lost in traffic, no shot on the 3...but I've got perfect shape for the 2.

What? The 2???

Yup. It was the *4* that fell on the break.

So I knocked in the 2.

And ran the rack!

It counts. I'm taking it. Wow...that WAS "fun"!

Then I went back to practicing 8-ball. 9-ball is too easy.

MVP pts = pts differential, pts scored minus pts allowed. It belongs to those run-out guys.

That's what I thought, but I figured 9th in total points, you wouldn't drop more than 2-3 spots on the MVP list. Must be a lot of 10-3 type wins in there.

Bad beat this week.

First rack, tried a table-length, down-and-back, cross-corner kick shot, and miraculously, it went. I went on to win that rack easily.

Second rack, against their worst player, I'm on the 8, but I'm hooked... but its almost the identical kick shot that was still fresh in my mind, so I tried it again...and it went in....the wrong pocket.

Didn't see that coming.

Also lost to their best player, in a game that featured about 20 safeties.

I was delighted with the way I shot. I know I write this sentence a lot, but: best I've ever shot.

Couple of weeks ago, I played in an Open 9 ball tourney for the first time. I got smoked, of course, but I did learn something for my money: you gotta Bring It on every shot. If you want to get to the next level, you can no longer half-ass a shot, or an inning, and think, "oh well, this probably won't work, but I'm sure I'll get another chance this rack."

So I guess when I wrote:

...either I wasn't being honest with myself, or I had gotten away from that in an effort to run out every time up.

Since that night, I've played two matches in our league. All the top players in our league are concentrated on three teams, and we're in a stretch of the schedule where we play all three in a row. I'm proud to say I've gone 5-5 so far against these guys, and a couple of the losses were due to strategic errors, ,as opposed to missing shots.

There used to be a pool hall in Calgary that had signs hanging over the tables and one read "Don't come here and miss and expect to win because many have come here and not missed and still lost." That phrase rings in my head everytime I play.

Since this thread started about being able to run out I will share this recent tale:

So I agreed to sub for a few weeks on a friend's team until their regular guy was able to play again. These guys are in the bottom 1/3 of the league as far as skill is concerned so it was just for fun for me and to get my required play in order to participate in the state tournaments. A couple weeks after my last night of playing my friend says to me that he wants me to play the rest of the season out and that they want to dump this one guy cuz he's not much fun and he's an even worse player. So, to convince me to play he wants to make a bet. He is an average player that runs a rack maybe 1 out of 20 or worse, but he'll easily run 5-6 balls before hooking himself or missing quite often. Anyway, he says he'll bet me $X that he gets more ERO's than me for the year. At this point we are tied at 2 a piece. He has played several more weeks than me at this point and I'm honestly shocked he has 2 because it is hard to do in league and here's why. In this league, you have to run out from a full table in order to count as an ERO. There has to be 15 balls on the table when you take your first shot, so basically you break and run or your opponent breaks dry and you run out. Not that easy when you play only 4 games and get to break only twice each week.

This has my interest since A) "X" is a large enough amount to make it worth my time and B) I can run out on average 40-50% of the time with a full table.

The only variable that concerns me is that I don't make a ball on the break every time. In fact, in 7 weeks of league so far with 2 breaks each week (14 breaks), I have only made a ball on the break once. I'm running terrible in that department, but with 2 ERO's and only making a ball once I'd say I'm doing ok.

I told him I would accept if he also would bet me on points as well. We decided in the end to bet $X on ERO's and I would spot him 2 (I wanted to be fair, I'm way too nice) and we would bet half of $X on total points. Now, total points is going to be tough because he is way, WAY ahead of me already obviously since he has played more weeks. I figured out that I need to gain an average of 6.4 points per week in order to tie at the end. With only 40 points possible each week this will be interesting, but now I have a good reason to get out of the house again and maybe it will get me back into this game at a time when I was slipping away from it.

Nice. The ero bet is a lock so it shouldn't matter if you catch him in points or not. I'm assuming that $x is more than a hundred but less than a thousand?

Correct. Even if I lose the points bet it will still cover my league costs and then some drink costs too

Hopefully I remember to give an update when it's over to let you know that I lost both bets #KARMA

LOL played last night and broke and ran the first rack. Next rack, opp breaks dry and I run out to the last ball and get perfect. So perfect that I just slap at it and miss because I didn't take my time. Very next rack I break and run out to the last ball and exact same thing. I'm so perfect on it I just don't take any time and miss it. Should have had 3 in a row and instead got one. The two I missed I could make with shape on the 8 100 times in a row if I had to. So dumb I am.

After plateau-ing for a few months, I think I made a breakthrough last night.

As a former billiard player, I think I've always approached each shot with a greater emphasis on controlling the cue ball than the object ball. IOW, missing the shot because I was more focused on the leave. The conscious part of my brain focused on the leave, while the unconscious (autopilot) handled pocketing the ball.

Last night, I switched those two things. I chose speed and English while standing. Then, while over the ball, the conscious brain focused on pocketing the ball. Despite giving no thought at all to the leave while shooting, the cue ball still reported to the target area!

I'm very excited to get to league play tonight.

Results: 4-1, against a very bad team. The one loss was against a decent player, and I got stuck with THREE hopeless clusters. Two of the wins were ERO (but only one counts, as I didn't make anything on the break, but ran out next chance I got).

Improving = exciting.

Maybe you read this soon, derby city classic coming up, come play the 9-ball event. Louisville,Ky at the horse shoe casino. I'm thinking of paying the 160 just for chits and giggles as I really do suck but to participate in something like that would be a lot of fun. I've spent 160 in cards in two seconds, at least with pool I'll get a few min of losing but enjoyable nonetheless

I can get the same ass-kicking at my local room for $15 buy-in and $0 travel cost.

Tangent: Was out with an old friend last night, he told me Efren Reyes was in town doing some exhibitions. My gf thought that would interest me, but nah.

Friend went on to tell me about once watching Mike Massey playing 3-cushion billiards with Sang Lee once at an exhibition. The story had me on the edge of my seat. THAT is something that excites me.

Is this the "kissy" story?

where was he playing if you dont mind me asking

Of course.

Somewhere here in Minnesota. My friend telling the story (he and I hung around the poolroom in our youth almost 30 years ago) expressed frustration that when he went to attend, he got to see Reyes play one-pocket against some local guy. "I don't want to watch him play ONE-POCKET! I want to see him run some racks!"

This triggered a memory. I asked my friend if he remembered Dick "Rah Rah" Reid, a former champion 3-cushion player from our childhood room. He did. I related the story that Dick once played Willie Mosconi in a 150-pt straight pool match in one of those Champion vs Local Guy exhibitions. "Dick was ahead something like 75-15...and Mosconi RAN OUT on him!"

thanks.. he was a great player but i heard his eyes was getting bad, i didnt think he played still

Got on a 7-foot table the other night, for the first time since, well, before our 17-week season on 9-foot tables. I COULD NOT MISS. ERO's all over the place. No shot felt uncomfortable. Never once thought, "How am I going to get from this ball to that ball at the other end?", because "the other end" isn't all that far away.

What a confidence boost.

Oddly disappointing, though. This is how I wanted to shoot my whole life. Now I'm there...and it felt, strangely, too easy?

I'm sure that will pass, lol.

Exactly why my next big purchase is going to be a 9 foot Diamond Pro-Am

Back to the 9' last night. "Too easy" never entered my mind. I was an hour in before I realized I was putting too much junk on everything, trying to get around the enormous table.

I started making balls on the break again finally and got 3 ERO's in the last 2 weeks, so I am ahead by 1. Easy game.

Shouldn't have made this bet. I got no shot.

In this league, you have to run out from a full table in order to count as an ERO.

You mean like 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8? or 9-10-11-12-13-14-15-8? Or is this 9 ball so no combos allowed?

No. In order for the ero to count (8-ball), all 15 balls must be on the table at the start of the run. Say the opponent makes a ball on the break and scratches, and you come to the table and run out: That is a run out, but not an ero because there was only 14 object balls on the table to start.