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Video provided by Accu-Stats Video Productions See other shots in the series: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Nov. 09 Dec. 09 Jan. 10 Feb. 10 Mar. 10 Apr. 10 May 10 June 10 July 10 August 10 February 2008: Varner’s “astonishing” five-rail draw
Player: Nick Varner
Event: Sands Regency XX Date: Dec 7-11, 1994 For the second installment of our new monthly feature detailing amazing plays on the cloth, we take a close look at a tricky position shot that’s executed as well as you’ll ever see: Nick Varner’s five-rail draw shot in his match against Rafael Martinez at the Sands XX Professional Billiards Tour 9-ball Open in Reno, Nev.
Varner had the 1994 Player of the Year race sewn up already when he arrived at the event. And he was performing well in Reno before running into a hot-shooting Martinez in the fourth round. Inheriting this layout below, Varner took about 50 seconds to size up the situation before getting into his stance. Sinking the 1 ball wasn’t the issue; rather, he needed to get the cue ball back downtable for the next shot on the 2.
“Normally you’d hit this with high-left English, but the three balls by the head rail were blocking the way,” Varner said, with a chance to review the shot 13 years later. “I ended up using extreme low-right, hitting the cue ball at 4 o’clock as close to the edge as I could.” The difficulty was in cutting the 1 ball at just the right spot. Too thin, and the ball would jar in the pocket. “The toughest part was hitting it full enough. ... And you have to hit it just a little under warp speed,” Varner said, laughing. Another concern was hitting the cue ball with enough low-right English to get the long angles off of the rails. Varner assumed that the new, slidey tournament cloth helped in that regard. Martinez won the match, but Varner’s shot has achieved a level of notoriety. As Accu-Stats match commentator Grady Matthews intoned in his trademark deadpan, “I’m electrified and astonished. That might be the single-greatest position shot I’ve ever witnessed.” See January's shot: Reyes' "Greatest Shot Ever" See February's shot: Varner's "Astonishing" five-rail draw See March's shot: Strickland’s two-rail kick-combo on the 9 See April's shot: Van Boening’s jump-kick safety at the U.S. Open See May's shot: Souquet’s force-follow in Derby title match See June's shot: Davenport Doubles the Points See July's shot: Reyes’ Cross-Side Bank Break See August's shot: Deuel’s Electric Draw at U.S. Open See September's shot: Frank’s Killer Kick at Derby City See October's shot: Deuel's Big Idea See November's shot: Hogue’s Bank-a-thon See December's shot: Cohen Gets Creative See January's shot: Reyes Takes a Turn See February's shot: Deuel, Part I See March's shot: Deuel, Part II See April's shot: Martinez Makes A Move See May's shot: Harriman's Drawing See June's shot: Efren's Jump-Draw See July's shot: Rafael's Long Way Home See August's shot: German Ingenuity
(Check out Accu-Stats’ full library of great shots and amazing matches at www.accu-stats.com) |
Featured Video: Harriman's Drawing
(courtesy Accu-Stats) MORE VIDEO...
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