The Mature Marble Eater

By David Horrigan

Well, the Marble Eater episode drifted out of my consciousness until years later I realized that it was back. I had become a pool sharp and the game had become a key part of the marketing program for my marine engineering support company. 

It went something like this… I would hang out at a popular burger joint on Shelter Island called the Boll Weevil. It also had a few pool tables and it was a popular destination for yachts returning from a cruise. The skipper or owner would bring the whole crew there for a celebratory burger and beer for a cruise well done. 

When I saw a team of five to ten scruffy, unshowered, boisterous hooligans often with matching hats or t-shirts enter the place all at once It was my job to size them all up and make some money. I had to identify the owner, skipper, engineer, and various crewmen. 

I would challenge anyone who played pool by placing a couple of quarters on the table and I would play the winner of that game. The rule was I would gently beat all players but the Owner or whoever was paying the bills. When the owner challenged me I would make it very close but his superior skill would just win out. Of course everyone else was fare game including their “ringer“ or expert player. This bought me into their hierarchy as an expert at everything important, such as pool. 

Listening to their conversation I  would soon learn of all the things on the boat that had failed during their voyage and after a while I would introduce my business card to the mechanical decision maker. My expertise in their sensitive mechanical deficiencies would soon win hearts and minds and an invite to the boat the next day. 

So how did I predictably win pool games as part of my business plan? First I would practice against the best I knew. Those who weren’t shy about explaining their philosophy on style and winning.  

One pool guru, Wayne McMahon operated on the belief that he could only win. He was very good. And he was very good at bending reality to accommodate his preference. The outcome seemed predetermined. However If I did come close to beating him he would have a heart attack. Not a real heart attack, he would just clutch his chest and become weak in the knees and cancel the game as not a good time to finish.

I never felt the need to challenge his reality as he taught me many valuable things and introduced me to some very good friends. 

Another billiard guru, Fred Wagner used to be a military cop and submarine commander among other things. He was communications chief on our submarine and he knew everyone. I kid you not, everyone. We would walk down a street in any small town in a strange state or country and someone down the pier would yell his name and sure enough he would know the guy and that guy would make introductions to open doors for all of us.  

Wayne taught me the value of grace. Or more specifically the value of operating in one reality while socializing in another. You would be completely unaware that he was intensely focused on a specific result while he apparently would be devil-may-care in the social world. He was having boundless fun in both worlds and that was the trick. They both looked the same. Wayne was a hoot. 

Fred taught me the basics. Perfect (the verb) straight and simple shots. Practice shooting the length of the table and have the ball stop within a quarter inch of the cue tip. Never shoot a trick shot when a simple one would do. And of course always leave the cue ball precisely where you need it for the next shot. And, like you want to play pool in Carnegie Hall, practical, practice, practice. 

Anyhow I was practicing as per Fred’s advice and I had an epiphany. All the pockets had a geometric relationship with the cue ball and the object ball. If you hit the cue ball to contact the object ball at a certain point it would always go into a pocket even if it was after two or three banks or more.

This was an awesome discovery!

There were two exceptions. There are points where the object ball will go directly to the bumper and straight back toward its starting point. However those points are pretty obvious and easy to avoid if you so choose. 

By now you should be ready for the secret. 

So, send $20 dollars… OK, ok, I’ll show you. 

Above you will see two illustrations. The upper one shows the lower one in relation to the bumpers and the table at large. The lower one is a close up. Here are the instructions with the number as guides.

1. Draw an imaginary straight line through the center of the object ball (Black) from the center of the cue ball.
2. Draw an imaginary straight line through the center of the object ball to the center of ANY pocket. 
3. Take the angle created by those lines and divide the arc by three (or six for advanced players)
4. Shoot the cue ball so as to contact the object ball at one of the two (one-third) marker points. Of the two shown, the upper one will drive the object ball to the returning course so use the lower one. The object ball will take a course to the bumper then to the back corner pocket (one bank) assuming its path is clear.

This model also has the advantage that you can escape obstacles with alternate paths to pockets.

Also note that any of the other angles around the object ball (2) divided by three will also path the object ball to a pocket or fender to pocket or to a fender and back to its start. Each object ball has ten points to four simple ones (two to the left and two to the right of the cue ball-Object ball imaginary line) that will plot a course to a pocket. 

The model is perfectly portable in that it works with any object ball you can hit with the cue ball.

This model is based upon the idea that you don’t put any left or right “stuff” or spin on the cue ball. You can however put drag or run on the cue ball if that is appropriate for shortening or lengthening the shot or positioning the cue balls placement.

Play with it and practice, practice, practice.

And when you win your first game for money send me a bit so I will know you found the Mature Marble Eater worth while.