Recently I visited Toronto, Ontario, for the Border Battle. It was the third year for the event, and it was close again. Team events are hard to beat for excitement.

    While in Toronto, I had the opportunity to visit Millie’s Billiards. They were having a weekly tournament, and during the tournament a shot came up on the 9 ball where the player got out of line for position and ended up missing the 9 ball. Not hard to understand the miss; it was a tough shot. The layout in question is shown in Diagram 1. He played the 8 ball into the corner pocket and the cue ball up table for position on the 9 ball. He went too far and ended up at position C-1 with the cue ball frozen on the rail.

     Besides hitting the shot too hard, he played straight up the table for one-rail position. My choice for position would be to go two rails. One advantage of going two rails is you are coming off the second rail for position, so you will very seldom, if at all, freeze on the rail. Not being frozen on the rail will leave you a better chance to pocket the ball or recover with a safety.

     Second, you will usually fall closer to full on the 9 ball. Having the cue ball full on the 9 ball with the cue ball off the rail makes the shot a lot easier. You have to contact the cue ball with a little left English and slightly above center. It may take a little practice to get the feel for the right amount of left English, but it shouldn’t take too long before you start to feel confident.

     Besides the proper amount of left English, speed control is crucial. My goal on this shot would be to end up at position C-2. Hard to miss the 9 ball from C-2, no matter how tough the pressure is. However, another key thought on this shot is to try to at least have the cue ball make it to the side pocket. Notice position A in the diagram. From position A, the 9 ball is still a shot you should be comfortable making. Your speed will vary somewhat, so don’t be too disappointed if you don’t fall perfectly at C-2 every time. You should be happy to be anywhere from position A to C-2. It is only about 12 inches between the two points. It shouldn’t take you long before you have the speed control down close to perfect.

     Usually when the 9 ball is around the spot or slightly below the spot, the worst-case scenario is to go too far for it. I talked to the player after the match and asked why he only went one rail for position. He answered that he tried to go two rails but didn’t get enough left English on the cue ball. To compound the error in judgment, he shot too hard and ended up frozen to the rail. That left him with a tough shot, because it was almost a dead scratch off the 9 ball for both the side pocket and corner pocket. He ended up missing the 9 ball and losing the match.

     It was only a race-to-5, and before the missed 9 ball, he was in the lead. As so often happens after a miss or mistake, he never really had any more chances to win a game, and the momentum changed in his opponent’s favor.

     Probably the real issue here is lost concentration. Sometimes when we fail to get out from a position where we would expect to run out nine times out of 10, it is because we’ve taken the shot or layout for granted. Always remain focused, because the layout in Diagram 1 is only easy to run out with good execution.

     Our friend in Toronto paid the price for his error in execution. He shouldn’t feel bad, because all players make mistakes. The key to winning more games is to learn to make fewer mistakes. Use your mistakes to learn, and next time you’ll remember to go two rails for position.