Hey guys, Wamy is off to Cuba , and I'll try to do the problem of the week for the next 2 weeks

We are playing an US 8ball tournament match on a well maintained tight pocket 9ft table.
Our opponent is a skilled amateur, who will not make major tactical mistakes.

Question 1 : We are shooting the 8ball as shown in the diagram.

Question 2 : Our opponent scratched on his last shot. We now have ball in hand and we're shooting the 8ball.

Whats the best shot and why ?



Answer:

I'd park the cue ball right against the 8 ball, against the rail. Give it a light nudge but strong enough so the 1 ball and 8 ball now have some separation while the cue ball is essentially right behind the 8 ball. The only shot our opponent could take is trying to bank it off the opposite cushion and it's highly unlikely that he would sink the 1. If he scratches, park the cue ball behind the 8 ball and knock it in the top right corner for the win. If he doesn't, your 8ball is still pretty near the pocket and you'd have a relatively easy cut shot most the time.

number 2, put the cueball in between the 8 and the pocket, stun into it leaving a snooker tight behind it. will basically be impossible for him to both hit and leave it safe. number 1 i'd try to leave it somewhere similar, having to play off the rail though.

i might be tempted to play the snooker with a bit more power, move the yellow ball away from the black and white, then its harder for him to get safe as the angle will be greater

i.e. http://CueTable.com/P/?@3AaYO2HXfx2PYut@

the black is away from the rail and easier to pot, whist hes got an easier escape getting the cue ball in behind the yellow and snookering us back on the black is alot harder and we are left with a longish but straighter shot on the black rather then a tricky cut down the rail....

1: play a safe. kick the short rail as lightly as you can leaving the cue/8/1 ball all next to each other.

2: id probably just bank the 8 in, since its such a gimme. but the best shot is another safe, keeping cue ball behind the 8.

see diagram:

excuse the whitespace... goddamn windows7 paint, I dunno how 2 get rid of that yet.

Notice how the 1 ball is semi-jammed into the rail.
You sink the 8, it's all over, baby.
Position the cue ball to ENSURE first contact w/ the 8,
contacting the 8 as far let as possible w/o touching the 1.
Stroke must be hard, and w/ gnarly english, to get 8 to spin off at that acute of an angle.
Worst case, opponent still should have a tuff shot w the 1 still close to the rail,
[the 8 pinning it in from immediate rebound b4 it spins off, dampimg the rebound from the rail]
w/ the cue ball way out back [so long as it doesn't end up resting to the left of the side pockets.
Also good place 4 a jump shot [only partial blockage by the 1, short path to the corner pocket for the 8, if that's in your repertoire [not in mine ]

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image should work this time...

having looked at some of the other reply's I'm not 100% sure. how tight are "tight pocket 9ft table"? I don't play on US table much so don't really know what kind of shots can be pulled off, I'm just assuming that to make a rail shot you want to be shooting it fairly straight.

sorry guys... the 8ball is not makeable in the top right corner (as you look at the picture) even with ball in hand.

put the cue ball behind the 8 such that there's a straight line between the 1 and the cue ball. Then hit the cue ball with centre and slow-medium stroke, 1 ball goes up table and cue ball is wedged behind the 8..

Tight pocket means that the pocket width is about one-and a half ball - definitely not as tight as an snooker table. Balls that are close/frozen to the rail can be cut in.

Bump with Answer added.

Can you not place the cue ball in such a way that you sink the 8 ball in the bottom right pocket?

you can. but it's not the best shot given the tightness of the pockets.