We are playing UK 8-ball, opponent has broken but not potted. we come to the table with it open. what colour do we take and what pattern do we use to clear the table and win? or do we try and play safe....



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id go with yellow cuz we'd have to cannon into black if we took reds and that would add variance. middle yellow into centre, one to its left into bottom left, rolling forward. One on cushion, one near black into centre rolling forward, far right yellow near cushion. Leave white near centre on the breaking line. then ball 2nd from right into top right, come off far cushion, last ball in top right screwing back for the black in bottom left. Quite a hard clear up but that would be answer if we had some skillz

My reading of the table. All Reds are near pockets without obstruction. Only problem is the black that we can pot only with a small window in the top left corner. So first shot is red in the top middle with top spin and moderate speed to break up a little bit the black and yellow balls. I would aim for the right corner of the black without sending the sticking yellow ball too far and moving the other yellow ball to open the way for a pot in the top left corner. If the shot is well executed, the rest is pretty simple.
If not, there are plenty of red balls left to fix the problem.

You probably want to hit the yellow into the middle and screw back to bang where the white already is. Then you play the yellow down the rail on the far left of the diagram, with enough pace to knock into the black/yellow combo.

If it opens it and you sink the yellow you win, if you miss the yellow you steal the pocket and probably win, and if you miss the split on either side you travel out enough to see the shot on at the far top right of the table and still have a lot of options.

i should clear something up your not straight on the yellow to the middle. you got an angle so playing a screw shot would take the white up table.

Then you just play it off the red hanging over the bag. If anything is an easier shot as it allows you to hit the yellow harder and screw back further.

I think you can go out on either red or yellow.

Both have issues - i think the positional side of yellows is generally harder - almost every yellow only goes into 1-2 pockets.

Playing red I suspect you could open the yellow/black when potting the first red over the middle. That would leave a red-red combo that if missed leaves a tough shot, and if potted leaves an out with few real challenges.

My vote goes to red as the higher percentage out.

Yellow is the play here in IMO. I would open with the far left yellow and play into the black immediately. You would have be extremely unlucky to come away with no shot or tied up balls if you had the proper pace on the white.

Red from this position has big issues with the black and no easy access to move it, yellow has that problem solved with the first shot and no other balls tied up.

If you are going to play yellow and break the black then Wamy's option is a better start as you close the table in case you miss the rail shot.

If you miss your shot and break the black out, you lose on your next shot a high percentage of the time. If you miss and leave the ball over the hole after closing the table, red is not in an easily won position.

Personally If I was to take on yellow I don't think i'd disturb the black.

- I'd take the middle for position on the rightmost ball, and clear the balls that that end.
- The last two balls would be the leftmost along the rail, then the yellow touching the black into the middle.

To hardest positional shot would be the transition from right side of the table to get straight on the ball just above the black.

ill post this up now (I know its a little less then a week)

I agree with your pattern on a regular pool table, but on the English tables with the snooker pockets the shot down the rail to open the black is no good. You'll miss it a high percentage of the time, I think.

By the same token I'm never taking red on this layout. Not only is the black/yellow cluster a big problem, but on the tougher pockets the reds in the lower right-hand corner are also going to cause big problems. You can't really play the combination like you would on a normal US table, and there's not really any good key balls to land the cueball between them, so I think they've clearly got to be moved. Now you could do that by starting with the the red to the left of the upper side pocket, playing a little high left english and going one rail between the reds and the black, but that's a fairly difficult shot to both execute properly and develop the reds to end up with a shot, since there's no real insurance ball AND you still have the problem of the black later in the game.

So with that, I'm taking the yellows, especially since the way I see it, all the balls go to a pocket.

To start with I'm going to shoot the straight yellow to the side, and walk the cue ball forward to play the two balls in the upper right to the lower left hand corner. That should be fairly easy to execute.

After clearing those three balls, I'm going to leave myself a thin angle on the yellow by the upper right hand pocket, maybe a quarter ball or so, and then float down near the side pocket to try and land straight on the yellow by the black to the lower left corner, and favoring staying above straight as opposed to going to far - that would be death.

If I end up straight on that yellow, then I'm going to roll through to leave a straightish angle on the yellow on the left-hand rail, planning to land on the last yellow to the side pocket. Make that, draw back slightly, and shoot the eight in the same pocket and we're out.

If I end up slightly above straight (or to the right as we look) then I'm going to play the shot slowly and try and nudge the yellow/black cluster loose, running through to the ball on the rail. This will be the key shot, but if I leave a good angle and don't hit the cluster too hard I should have that yellow in open play and a good angle to play on it, and the eight should be in relatively close proximity as well. From there we just count the money.


NOTE: next time you poast a problem at English pool, you should diagram it using numbered balls. It makes it easier to discuss if we can refer to the 1 ball, 4 ball etc