Weighted Ghost

[av84fun]

I recently posted about a new version of Ghost called Ghost Plus wherein a safety option is allowed and I got some favorable reactions.

So...here's another crazy idea that I'll call the Weighted Ghost.

Playing the Ghost has several thing to recommend it including creating some "pressure" not present in most drills...learing pattern recognition etc.

And it also serves to RANK a player's skill although I've never seen any extensive research on how top pros might actually do in playing the normal Ghost.

But in any event, there are LOTS of players who are not top roadies...short stops etc. who are nevertheless willing to gamble serious amounts of money if given enough weight.

So, I came up with the idea of attempting to determine HOW MUCH weight a player might need when playing against an opponent who never misses...the Ghost.

The rules are simple....just pick the weight that you THINK you would need to be competitive with a TOP player.

Say you need the 5/7 (not wild on the break)

OK, just rack the 5 and 7 behind the 1 ball as you normally would on your own break and fire away.

Now, your objective is simply to beat the Ghost as always but you win if you pocket the 5 or 7.

If you can win more than half the time, that does NOT suggest that the 5/7 is enough because YOU are always the breaker and always get BIH after the break.

So, I would guesstimate that you would have to beat the Ghost 8 out of 10 times to feel pretty sure that you can hold your own with that weight. 9 times out of 10 would be required to feel that you have an excellent chance of winning.

The other rule change would be that scrathing on the break is a LOSS...IF there are no troublesome clusters. Without such clusters, a top player is likely to run out with BIH after the break so you just have to take your medicine.

If there is a cluster, I would disregard that rack and break again.

Finally, all this assumes that you would REFUSE to play any top player in a winner breaks format...RIGHT???

If you do play winner breaks with a top player, you must just LIKE to lose money because that format is just the oldest "hustle move" in the book because the player getting the weight is STILL the likely loser in a race to, say, 11 if the score is as much as 9 or 10 to 5 in favor of the banger because if he breaks dry...or has to play a safe or push out or misses, the top player can EASILY put a six pack on you for the win.

Roadies...put your flame throwers down...I'm just telling the truth!!

(-:

[DSAPOLIS]

Jim sounds like a good idea for players to gage their speed.

When I am practicing for an event, I train with the ghost in 3 different stages.

Stage 1
Race to 7
Ball in hand after the break
Scratch on the break doesn't count
No ball on the break, you can still shoot
No safeties

Stage 2
Race to 9
No ball in hand after the break
I must get a shot on the lowest ball or I'm in deep du-du
Scratch on break is loss of game
No push out
No safeties

Stage 3
Race to 11
Must make a ball on the break
No balls on break is loss of game
No ball in hand after the break
Scratch on break is loss of game
No push out
No safeties

I never have tried spotting myself 1 or 2 balls, but recently to add to the difficulty, I have given the ghost a few games. I started doing that because I was having trouble during tournament matches when I got behind. FOr a few weeks, everytime I played the ghost I was giving up 3 games in a race 7, 4 games in a race to 9, and 5 games in a race to 11. It forced me to fight to get back in the match. I'm not going to be able to come back and win every time, but it does acclimate me to the pressure involved with being down a few games.

I also play several matches against the ghost in a tournament format - playing match after match - I do this once or twice a week - I usually go to a race to 7 using the stage 3 rules. Most of the regional tournaments are usually race to 9 or race to 7 - it depends which tour I will be playing on - if its the SE Open Tour, I usually go race to 7. I do this with 10 ball and 9 ball, when I feel adventurous I switch it up with some 12 ball.

[av84fun]

Thanks David. Very interesting.

Regards,
Jim