Croquet Professional's Blog - Croquet Answers

Answer to Lift Problem

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:41:00 +0800

Here is what Jerry actually did in his match, and in his own words!!

First the furniture was not close enough to be in the way. Lift Yellow about one foot from Blue, roll Blue to rover getting rush on Red to penultimate. Make penultimate with Yellow, getting rush towards Black. Hit Black and roll to peg, going to Blue at rover. Make rover off of Blue, then send Blue wide of 2-back going to Black. Peg-out Black and retire to Yellow. Fairly decent trap if Blue shoots at Red or Yellow.

Thanks again to Jerry for his insight!

Wrong Ball First Turn: Answer

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:12:00 +0800

The normal answer is to place your ball in corner 3 (or 1). The witty response is for opponent to place a ball in corner 1 (or 3), forcing you to play a difficult cross-diagonal roll to dig both balls out or give them the innings. An alternate continuation on a difficult court is to approach hoop 1 from corner 1 directly and hope to use the ball in C3 as hoop 3 pioneer.

Some better options are:

West end of B Baulk (or east end of A Baulk)
Just outside corner 3 so that the ball can be rushed west. This can be cheekily done in a manner to suggest the ball is actually in corner 3
Just outside corner 1; this can be effective against top players if they make a couple of hoops (auto-pop) but there is the danger they will go round

Again our thanks to Chris Patmore for supplying a great question and answer!

How to continue: Answer

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 08:40:00 +0800

The answer submitted by Samir Patel was excellent, and in particular (c) was our answer of choice. This is where Red croquets Yellow to corner IV (or I) and sets a leave there, with Blue and Black as shown.

Use of a full roll would also give you a chance of wiring Red and Yellow from Blue, which is shown here

Black Hits the Tice Ball: One Answer of Many

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:02:00 +0800

This situation occurs all the time, and so we all need to be aware of the many alternatives available. The biggest thing is to go out and try these for yourself to see which suits you. Remember that a World Class player will no doubt tackle things a lot differently! You could:

try to make hoop 1?
roll both balls to the west border level with hoop 6 and set your self a rush on the opponent's ball to your east border ball?
send the opponent ball to about 5 yards SW of hoop 2 and set your partner a rush to it?
hit the opponent ball out of court about a yard north of your partner ball while running your striker's ball 3-4 yards past the peg?

The standard method for State Level and higher players would be to play a slightly thick take off moving opponent to the maximum distance spot and about 2 yards in lawn on the Western side and then leave a good rush to just south of this ball for partner at the max distance spot on the East boundary....This ensures:

A higher likelihood of leaving a good rush and not a double
The ability to croquet partner to 2 from closer, moving the strikers ball less than 2 yards
If you succeed, you will leave your oppo with a 19 yard shot

The animated example (NOT a definitive answer!) shows a pass roll where the opponent ball is left several yards from the peg and the striker ball ends up near partner. A rush can be then left which does not leave a double target.

If the pass roll leaves the striker a long way from partner, then the setting of a rush could be problematic. In this case it may well be better to hit out quite close to partner. A true double target may well not be left for yellow due to hoop #3 being in the way, and a miss by Yellow will leave many great options for Blue and Black.

Question #2 Answer

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:19:00 +0800

Even the very best players in the World successfully roquet at 15 yards less than 50% of the time. How much less the rest of we mortals - especially if the price for missing will be high?!

Therefore, the shots on offer here are NOT as easy as they seem. If you think that (in this example) the chance of an immediate break is less than 50% for you, then probably the best thing to do is to take the shot at Black with Red. If you miss then the pressure is still high for Black, as he knows that Yellow will next go to the A Baulk where partner lies.

If Red hits then there is a great leave here as illustrated, with Red located in a wired position from Black at Yellow's wicket!

Question #1a Answer

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:17:00 +0800

For most players the chance of an immediate break failing is fairly high. Therefore, it may be wise to consider an ideal leave for yellow.

The rush for yellow could be set to the opponent ball at #6, as well as that shown.