First of all it's worth noting that I got this problem from Grady Matthews, just to give credit where due.

So there were some interesting solutions put forth, most of which focused on shooting at either the nine ball or the one ball, which are both decent enough shots but in my opinion are both flawed in that they fail to take into account the score, which is always vitally important in all end-game situation. In one pocket, in fact in all pool games, you should never shoot a shot that you can LOSE with, that you can't WIN with, and as the table lies that's exactly what an offensive shot on the one or nine is. Even if you make one of them you can't get at that third ball you need to win the game.

As such what can you do? Obviously you can play safe off the nine, but that really doesn't gain very much. Instead, let's think outside the box. Why not just shoot the two ball straight in and stop the white?



We're all familiar with the fact that when an opponent hangs up a ball by his hole you can play a sacrifice by pocketing it yourself, however there's no hard and fast rule that you have to wait until then to do it! In this situation if you simply pocket the two ball and freeze him to the high side of the three, there's virtually nowhere that he can play a shot where you're not going to have a shot to win the game the very next time you come to the table. And all it cost you was a ball. It would be a bargain at twice the price.