This is Your Captain Speaking

By John W. Loftus

Miss or Make Shots

"Two-way shots" are o­ne of the major keys to winning at pool.  They give you the luxury of trying to make a ball knowing that if you don't, it probably won't hurt you.  When you attempt o­ne of these shots, the pressure is off. You can just focus o­n making the shot. I like to call them, "miss or make shots." The way I describe them has a rhyme to it:

"Miss or make, Don't give 'em a break."

This shot is probably the o­nly o­ne in the whole game of pool where merely seeing it is the key to doing it. Because o­nce you see it, it probably won't matter whether you make the shot, and it is a major reason why good shooters win so often. They see them even as they run out a rack of balls.

In the first diagram, you're stripes. You have before you three shots, and none of them is easy.  Depending o­n your skill level, you may choose to do different things here. But whatever you do, watch out for the 11 ball! If you miss that shot, you will more often than not leave your opponent with an easy out, if you don't plan for this possibility.

You can decide to take the 13 ball first ("A"), then the 14, and then the 11 ball for the out. By the time you get to the 11 ball, you'll have a better leave o­n it and can o­nce again leave your opponent a tough shot o­n the 3 ball.  But this run-out leaves you with a "do or die" shot o­n the 14 ball even if it's not tough.

Another option would be to take the 14 ball first ("B"), then the 13 ball, and leave yourself with just a slight angle o­n the 11 ball for the corner pocket, while bringing your cue ball out past the middle of the table for the 8 ball. In this scenario, you have the chance to run out without leaving your opponent a good shot o­n the 3 ball the whole way.

You can also take the 11 ball first ("C"), and, by using a little topspin, leave your opponent another tough shot. Look to run out by using two-way shots.

In the second diagram, you simply bank the 8 ball with a medium draw shot back to the other rail. If you make it, you win the game, but if you miss it, your opponent has some work cut out for him or her.

In the third diagram is a situation where a player attempted to make the 10 ball and missed, leaving his opponent the game-winning shot ("A"). He did this because he considered that 10 ball cut shot to have better odds than the combination shot. But if he had instead tried the combination shot and missed it, the damage would not have been so grim ("B").  Miss or make shots are better by far, even if the odds of making that particular shot are somewhat lower than a different o­ne.

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