What are some great safeties you've witnessed?

Dear All:

What are some great safeties that you've witnessed? I think great safeties can be aggresive and game-winning, and they stick out in my mind more clearly than awesome, difficult shot-making.My best shots have been defensive ones, probably due to leaving myself so far out of position.

1)
Here I was playing a fellow far better that me, and saw no option but a safety foul. There was no benefit in trying to hit the five; if I left an open table he would run out. I froze the seven against the six perfectly; the six couldn't be made. Even with BIH, he sold out trying to break out the six, and I ended up winning.
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2)
This is a brilliant and offensive safety that I saw Johnny Archer play, when he was playing challenge matches (for a fee to the PH ) on his way to the Japan Open. This was in a large PH in Nagoya, several years ago.
His opponent was a low-intermediate player, but part of the deal was the challenger got to break every time. After his challenger glanced off the one and scratched on the break, Archer had BIH, but a horrid cluster of balls. He hardly hesitated in playing this safety, which taught me that safeties can be aggressive.

He could have easily pocketed the one, but instead sent it back up-table, up into the pack, and besides that following the cue ball to roll so close to the ball by the corner pocket that getting a hit on the one was impossible. A is where the cue ball came to rest, almost frozen to the interfering ball, and also so close to the pocket that the poor fellow had to jack up just to contact whitey.
(2a)
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As soon as the challenger failed to make his attempted jump shot, Archer (with BIH again) reminded him that he had two fouls, and simply knocked the one back to it's initial position after the break, leaving whitey in the center of the poorly broken rack, at B. His opponent three-fouled out (what else could he do?). Safeties can be just as aggressive and crushing as making a super tough shot. Actually, maybe more so, because it shows you're smart, not just lucky.
(2b)
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If anyone knows what stroke Archer used for that 4a shot, I'd like to know. I was unable to see where he cued whitey from where I was standing.

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I did (and still do).

Regards, Isshi.

[cheesemouse]

I saw Dan Louie hit this safty in a case game to win an eightball match. The two object balls came to rest at the end of the arrow points to cover the eight from his opponent. It was just a neat simple safety that no one saw coming. Elegant!
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[#### leonard]

The greatest safety I ever saw played was on a shot by Irving Crane at the 1964 Worlds Tournament at the Commodore Hotel in NYC. Irving is playing a shot into the side pocket over balls. I said to the fellow with me on my left he is playing himself safe. The fellow to my right questioned me, who was I to predict that he a Worlds Champion was playing himself safe. I said to him not only is going to play himself safe he will throw his hands up in the air as if he got a bad roll. Irving plays the shot the cueball goes three cushions and comes up behind the ball and freezes leaving himself safe. Then his hands go up in the air just as I predicted. The look on my neighbors face and the smile on my face was priceless. How did I know that was going to happen? It is all in the new cloth the cueball keeps rolling. To this day I get a warm fuzzy over that call.####

[Pogue]

Here is mine.. I was playing on a bar box with some sorta loose rails, which is why I was able to do this shot..

I was in a horrible trap.. My opponent had two balls hung up in the corner pockets, I was on the eight, with no makeable shot.. Had won about 20 games in a row on this table, and didn't want to sit down.. Wondering how the hell I was gonna get out of this mess. Was playin bar 8 ball, so if I scratch, I lose.. No intentional foul for that reason.. Then I saw it.. A vision of beauty.. I noticed in these sorts of situations, if I bank the 8 ball into the corner with natural english, I always come close to scratching in the same corner..

So I played it that way, calling "Bank the 8 ball into your ball (8 ball didn't have to go clean in this bar), and the cue ball is gonna come two rails to knock in the 8.." Had to explain the shot twice, but since I was shootin so far up in the air here, my opponent says, (snickering to his buddies) "Sure knock yerself out, chalking his cue for his shot.. Then I played this..

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Didn't make the exquisite time shot, because the table wasn't level.. The cue ball rolled about two inches out of line, but left him this position... There was no way for him to hit his ball.. And I won this game from a position that only Eddie Taylor could win from... Heh heh

Here is what I left him..

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Well, might not look like much.. But play the time shot a few times.. A good shot for a trick shot routine..

Pogue

[phil in sofla]

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This one wasn't hard, if you have the 3 rail kick line from some system or another.

I didn't like any of my options, but decided to see if there was 3 rail line available on an 'off the table' sight line system. I went to position A to sight it (exact position of the object ball, but mirror image reversed), imagined a ball sitting at A, and took my aimline off the upper edge of the imaginary ball. From there, I looked out to and past the 2nd diamond on the top left side of the table, and saw an object about 6 feet away. Returning to where the cue ball was, I looked to the object I'd sighted to, and I barely had enough rail to hit along that line.

The 3 railer went deep into the corner, came to the 3 ball's bottom edge, feathered it, pushing it gently to the rail and slightly out, passing it, and came to rest at point B, snookering him behind the 5.

I got the off table aiming system for 3 rail kicks from tapes by Jimmy Reid and Burt Kinnester, and the speed for the 3 railer from the Monk's book. A little knowledge can take you far, because although my speed on the 3 rails I have down from shooting it a lot, I never had shot those 3 rail lines so close to center table, and I figured maybe I'd scratch in the 1st corner instead of coming out with such a great line.