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.)
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
See September's shot: Cluster Buster
See October's shot: Mighty Draw
See November's shot: On a Roll
See December's shot: Medina's Magic
See January's shot:
See February's shot: Corteza Cross-Side
See August's shot: German Ingenuity
See April's shot: Rafa's Rebound
See May's shot: The Prodigy
See June's shot: Doubling Up
See July's shot: Bank the Break
See August's shot: Busti's Solution
See September's shot: Winning Kick
See October's shot: Pulling Back
(Check out Accu-Stats’ full library of great shots and amazing matches at www.accu-stats.com)
