What's it called Cue Ball Safety
10/23/2008 3:19:37 PM
What's it called Cue Ball Safety
You hide the cue ball behind your own ball(s) so that your opponent has very little or no access to their balls?
I use this sometimes when playing Yahoo! Pool when I'm in a tough situation. Works like a charm.
GarekWhat's it called Cue Ball Safety
Replies & Comments
dlabout on 10/28/2008 9:43:01 AM
I believe it is just called a safety. In eightball it works well and the movement of the cue ball is all that your concerned about. 9 ball proves to be a little more challenging. You will find that bar shooters tend to look at safeties as a chicken way of shooting. I would argue that there are few games that don't have a defence side of them. Football wouldn't be worth watching if it was all offence.
-Doug
quickshot on 10/28/2008 7:36:47 PMYou will find that bar shooters tend to look at safeties as a chicken way of shooting.
I think I disagree with you on this Doug. I play in an APA league and have never heard of anyone complaining about safeties. Or if there are, then they are the ones who never took the time to learn a good defense game and get pissed when they lose the match. Pool power is pool knowledge.
I agree Quickshot,
I think most league players understand that safeties are part of the game, but casual bar bangers will often give you hell for playing them safe. Generally it is because they ALWAYS go for the shot and have no concept of the defensive game. We're still on the same page. I've had many APA matches go into the night playing safeties back and forth.
Mitch Alsup on 10/30/2008 10:27:56 AM
I have even been congradulated by making really good safety play in bar games.
And I have been routinely chastized.
It says more about the opponent than about the location.
However, becomming good at gentle masses and jumping balls goes a long way in supressing your opponents desire to play safeties against you.
Karlton79 on 12/10/2008 10:07:22 PM
I personally don't care too much for playing safeties while playing "bar rules". I've noticed many people get upset when someone does that against them. The ones getting upset are usually people who aren't any good at safeties, don't understand safeties, or are just upset that it's "bar rules" and your playing like that. Another reason I don't care too much for playing safeties in those situations is that you don't have to make contact with a rail after contact with the object ball. So..I feel like I'm cheating myself. BUT..if I do decide to play it safe..I just try not to make it so obvious. Like calling a shot, even though you know it's not going to go in, while leaving yourself with a nice safety. While any "smart" pool player will figure you did it on purpose..a lot of people will just think you got lucky to leave the ball there by "accident".
I did tell my friend to play it safe the last time we went out...and when he did..the other guy got pissed, threw his pool stick on the table, and said a few words while leaving..haha I personally thought that was hilarious. But..that's just me!
Three Brothers Billiards on 3/31/2009 8:49:37 AMpeople who get upset about safeties know nothing about the actual game of pool. They just like to whack balls around the table.
"You hide the cue ball behind your own ball(s) so that your opponent has very little or no access to their balls?"
When you put your opponent in this kind of position, you have 'snookered' your opponent.
chaulkisfree on 7/18/2009 5:49:21 AM
Another reason it is used a lot more in APA is the ball in hand rule. In bar rules, it doesn't mater if you miss the ball, the player just shoots from where the Q stops.
In APA that's ball in hand and gives the "defender" a huge offensive advantage.
guest on 4/16/2012 11:44:11 AM
For those of you who would play a safety in a "Bar Rules" situation by not making contact with the correct object ball + a rail need to rethink their ethics. A legal safety is great in my eyes, an illegal one however is just a chicken way of playing pool. I've had this happen one time and I was like "dude, you can shoot again" and he goes "nope, it's your turn".
I just went up and tapped the cue ball 1 mm. OK dude, you're up again. Play a LEGAL safety or just don't do it. It's entirely not fair to your opponent if you are just going to snooker the CB against a pack of other balls.
gibson on 8/18/2012 9:14:52 PMWhen I examined the general rules of pool they pretty much confirmed my ideas about safeties. The previous poster made a good point about safeties being played properly. I saw a couple of big bettors playing 8 ball and they were shooting bar rules safeties. Moving the ball only slightly so the other player couldn't get on his object ball. This was forty years ago, so bar rules haven't changed much and their seconds were paying each other off in 50 and 100 dollar bills. If you play in a league, you probably have the standard safety shot rule that you need to pocket a ball or drive at least one ball to a rail. What I like is when you have a ball in hand penalty for any foul including safety fouls and table scratches ( no ball struck at all ). The one I never knew was that you could call a safety and pocket one of your object balls. No foul but you give up your turn to the OP. I think players like bar rules because it makes the game longer and you can stay on the table longer for each game. Bar owners don't like "bar rules", "no slop", "bank the 8" or "last pocket on 8" because it slows down the table turnover and there are less coins played. They love "slop counts", call only on the 8 ball pocket and full ball in hand on fouls, because it makes the game go faster. I probably could not prove it, but they generally would dislike safety play because it slows down the game and once again slows down the coin deposits. (They still use coins don't they?)
allanpsand on 5/2/2013 11:17:51 AMThe response I get on my defensive shots depends on the playing skill of my opponent.
Every good player accepts safeties as a standard tactical toolset. I have received and given compliments on good safety shot execution.
Every bad player complains because they don't have an easy shot.
Unless you feel in some sort of danger of physical retaliation, tell the complainer to learn how to play defensively.
RayMills on 6/25/2020 5:11:18 PMAnother reason safeties are legitimized in APA is that each one is supposed to be noted in the scoring, subtracting that inning from that player. The less innings used over the long run, the higher that player's skill ranking.
There is a large grey area when not-quite playing a safety and not-quite trying to make a ball, either.
These two-way shots are difficult to incorporate into the APA statistics. Did you really try to make he ball AND the CB eds up where the opponent has no shot; or did you just get lucky ?
If I were the APA, I would have a rule by which the player chooses 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 of a well executed safety on 2-way shots.
On the other hand there is plenty of opportunity to ignore the APA guidelines on player conduct and just ignore the call, giving you a LOWER rating than what an accurate assessment your skills would provide.
What's it called Cue Ball Safety
- Title: What's it called Cue Ball Safety
- Author: Garek
- Published: 10/23/2008 3:19:37 PM
