The Sorto String

Today's lesson consisted of a humbling 7-3 loss
in Masters' format (8 and 9 ball),
and a 100-57 loss in straight pool,
at the hands of El Maestro.
He seemed pleased with the new table.

For the ultimate in humility,
he challenged me again to practice
an exercise I call the "Sorto String".

Place the 1 ball on the cushion at the center of the foot rail,
and the other balls numbered 2-9 in sequence,
somewhat evenly spaced,
in a line extending through and past the foot spot.
Cue ball in hand on the first shot.
Now shoot all the balls into the same corner pocket.
On each shot the cue ball must touch the foot rail.
It is a foul to contact any other rail, or any other ball.

It took me a lot of shots just to get the right hit on the 1 ball.
And I can get to the 6 or 7 with some focus,
but I have yet to pocket all nine balls,
even after trying it at least 100 times.

The key to success with this exercise is precision position,
making minute adjustments to stroke and english as needed.

It seems easy for Tony,
but I have never seen anyone else do it.
He did it on his second try today.

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I finally achieved this exercise, and got it on video.
Click here for the video on youTube.com