Stage 2: Safety Play for Control Before the Run
- Raymond Linares
- Feb 8, 2017
- 5 min read
In yesterday's article we started this 3 part series and outlined two examples of how we can use kicking to both best control our position and exchange with an opponent, as well as use kicking in a very offensive strategy when your opponent has control of the table. Today we're going to dive right into stage 2, and take a look at how we can use a strong safety game to both open the position for ourselves and ensure we get the highest percentage turn at the table to run the balls and secure rack wins.
SAFETY PLAY: FOR CONTROL BEFORE OPENING THE RUN
In the short race to 7 format, there’s a huge precedence on control. Whether that’s offensive control outright through consecutive racks run, or more obviously positional control through top level safety play. The secondary option of course has it’s setbacks from time to time, but when it’s followed up by high powered offense can be really crushing for your opponent. Plus when you’re patient, take your medicine and play the right shot you tend to get winning results in the long run. In this particular position that was the exact situation that took place. I managed to get funny position on the 5 ball and was looking at either an overly aggressive shot on the 5, or a simpler and higher percentage controlled safety shot that would put my opponent in a losing position with limited options.
In this match I was playing super tough Florida grinder and top player from Jacksonville Bobby Garza. Bobby has always played me really tough and I was starting to really feel the fatigue of the tournament grind during this particular match. In this situation I needed to keep control and secure an important rack against Mr. Garza as he was also receiving a 1 game handicap from me in our match. The option I chose was this half ball cross table bank and carom off the 5 for safety.
The cue ball floated forward at a really controllable speed, nudging in underneath the 7. I played speed to bump the 7 slightly so I could get to the rail and hug against it after contact in case I nudged it on the way in. The 5 went cross table between the 8 and the 6, leaving Bobby a really tough shot with no real offensive opportunities. I was actually surprised he was able to masse around the ball to get to the opposite side rail, because from the sitting perspective it looked like he would be kicking up table. The safety resulted in me getting ball in hand and running an easy table for the rack win during a crucial part of the match. A key piece of info to note here is the ability to take a step back and be patient when you make a positional error. I believe I mishit the 4 ball prior leaving myself short on the 5. When fatigue starts to set in, it's easy to make rash decisions and write it off to fatigue and have a built in excuse for not playing the right shot. Despite the fact you might be tired, doing so boils down to laziness and lack of mental discipline. Before shooting the safety on the 5 I had to personally talk myself into the situation and take it as a standalone moment. I figured what would be the best way for me to secure a winning position from here and committed to that shot all the way. It may seem a simple thing to dismiss but entire games, matches and tournaments can be won or lost based on the accumulation of the small decisions we commit to before every shot.
WAX ON WAX OFF
Throughout the tournament, this particular safety has popped up several times and it’s starting to become a seriously reliable tool in my arsenal against all comers. The slightly fuller to slightly thinner than half ball safety, to 2 rails and freeze your opponent behind object ball comes up all the time in rotation play. In this particular example I had a little in play breakthrough that helped me understand this shot and pattern at a deeper level.
Through my own construction of the shot, I knew that at contact (cue ball & object ball) I needed to apply slightly more than 1 tip of (left) english to spin the cue ball on the appropriate line to freeze my opponent on the back of the object ball and bank the 1 ball to the middle of the table. Doing so would leave my opponent in search of either a respirator or their nearest friend who has Efren’s contact info. The distinction for this shot is that because I’m so far away from the object ball with the cue ball I need to apply more than the needed english to make sure I still have the needed amount at contact. Based on my time on the table for this match, I had to use my feel to estimate how much english would wear off the cue ball over the distance traveled and add that much to what I needed at contact. My guess was that about 2 tips of left english would turn into just over 1 tip by the time I made contact for the safe.
The estimation turned out to be spot on and I stuck whitey to the back of the object ball and came away with the winning position and the rack win from there. The amount of english you’ll need to add to make up for the spin decay will vary based on the table conditions you're on. If you’re on a new cloth tournament table with very slippery conditions then the spin won’t wear off as much and you’ll need to compensate less. If you’re on a worn in, high friction sticky table then you’ll need to add more english to account for the spin wearing off over the bed of the table. Play around with this on your home table and adjust the cue ball distance to the object ball. Try the spin that makes the shot at a close distance, and play the same shot and spin at a longer distance to get a feel for how the shot changes. Definitely something you should hone in on for future competitive play.
These are just a couple examples of how a strong, informed and developed safety game can really put a lot of pressure on your opponent during a match; but can also be a reliable tool to control the position on the table and set yourself for easier run-outs during your inning. This is an important part to a well balanced attack against the talented players you're bound to encounter during your tournament play. Across all levels whether you're a beginning league player, a top amateur, seasoned pro or world class competitor, you're going to see strong safeties like these winning players extra innings and games and eventually tournaments. Tomorrow we wrap up this 3 part series with a dive into situational offense and look at how to tie all these principles together. I hope you've enjoyed this article and the first two parts to the series. If so please make sure to like and share this post on Facebook and instagram. If you have any questions about these particular shots or safeties of your own feel free to message me directly as I love taking your questions and sharing what info I can to help improve your game. Also please make sure to let my sponsors know that you appreciate their support for my game. For more about them visit the sponsors section linked here. Thanks and see you tomorrow!
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