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Stroke of Genius

Presented by PoolDawg.com
Video provided by Accu-Stats Video Productions
March 2010: Deuel, Part II




Player: Corey Deuel
Event: U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship
Date: September 29, 2006


IN LAST month's Stroke of Genius, we saw Corey Deuel pull off a neat mini-massé to pocket the 1 ball in a match against Johnny Archer at the 2006 U.S. Open. Unfortunately for the "Prince of Pool," it wasn't long before he found himself in another tough spot.

With the cue ball on the head rail near the left corner pocket, Deuel pocketed the 2 ball in the top right corner, letting cue ball drift down near the foot spot for a tricky position play on the 3. With the layout shown in the diagram, most players would accept their medicine, knowing they'd have to pocket the 3 ball and follow forward, going three or four rails for an angle on the 4.

But over the last dozen years or so, Deuel has repeatedly proven he's not afraid to play the unconventional shot - often a shot nobody else in the house sees. Instead of following forward to the head rail, Deuel loaded up on low, right English. With a firm stroke, he sent the cue ball into the long rail a millisecond before it hit the 3 ball straight into the corner pocket. From there, the draw and right English took over. The cue ball went nearly straight across the table, hitting the opposite long rail with plenty of spin to help bend its angle down toward the 4 ball sitting on the foot rail. With the perfect amount of speed, the cue ball hit the left long rail for the second time on its way to landing in perfect position on the 4.

"He hit a warp shot!" said Accu-Stats commentator Martin Courtois. "That was amazing. [The cue ball] did, like, seven different things after impacting the object ball."

While it took Deuel two fantastic shots to get a third of the way through the rack, he didn't have much trouble from there. He ran out to tie the match at six games apiece, on his way to a razor-thin 11-10 victory.

(Video clip provided by Accu-Stats Video Productions.)


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