My favorite drill is placing the 9 ball just off the top rail in the center of the table, then placing the other odd numbered balls at the same end of the table, and the even numbered balls on the other end, but otherwise all randomly distributed. This helps you to learn how to navigate the cue ball from one end of the table to the other, 8 times per rack. If you place the 8 ball just above the spot, that makes getting from the 8 to the 9 even more of a challenge, and makes it even more important to get the right angle on the 7.
New Pool Player Observations.
- Thread starter CageyCraigey
- Start date
Buy more books that are recommended for influential players and get them to sign it.
The first thing I did because I grew up going to the Queens Public Library in Flushing was make a goal for what I want to learn about.
At the time Blatt Billiards in Manhattan was the only supplier of billiard texts, this predates AZBilliards. Billiards Digest had columns and editorials, but it wasn't a book.
I thought today there would be more international players like Ralf Eckert ready to sell their story in book form digitally. I can afford to support a digital marketplace for creative storytellers. CJ Wily does great selling subscriptions and yt vids. Is there an OnlyFans for pool fans? I would spend a ton on audio books for pool players but they give it away for free.
On this forum I found Bob Jewett who was mentioned in Byrnes book. Then I met the promotion companies and talent scouts.
Imagine what the youth today are experiencing with the ability to livestream to one another. Pat Fleming hosts chats on his yt which is now run by AZB. Accustats is historic in New Jersey, that was my only reason to cross the GWB George Washington Bridge.
There should never ever be a safety issue with livestreaming and high speed connections between devices wireless and independent of a centralized server. Carom Cafe has specialists in streaming technology and they don't know how to brag about it. Streaming with cybersecurity is a mix of a few different tech skills, its best to hire people don't be cheap with IT training or IT staff equipment.
Pool is a game, but it is part of a well established business community. If anyone does translations of texts, I am interested in Arabic language translations.
The first thing I did because I grew up going to the Queens Public Library in Flushing was make a goal for what I want to learn about.
At the time Blatt Billiards in Manhattan was the only supplier of billiard texts, this predates AZBilliards. Billiards Digest had columns and editorials, but it wasn't a book.
I thought today there would be more international players like Ralf Eckert ready to sell their story in book form digitally. I can afford to support a digital marketplace for creative storytellers. CJ Wily does great selling subscriptions and yt vids. Is there an OnlyFans for pool fans? I would spend a ton on audio books for pool players but they give it away for free.
On this forum I found Bob Jewett who was mentioned in Byrnes book. Then I met the promotion companies and talent scouts.
Imagine what the youth today are experiencing with the ability to livestream to one another. Pat Fleming hosts chats on his yt which is now run by AZB. Accustats is historic in New Jersey, that was my only reason to cross the GWB George Washington Bridge.
There should never ever be a safety issue with livestreaming and high speed connections between devices wireless and independent of a centralized server. Carom Cafe has specialists in streaming technology and they don't know how to brag about it. Streaming with cybersecurity is a mix of a few different tech skills, its best to hire people don't be cheap with IT training or IT staff equipment.
Pool is a game, but it is part of a well established business community. If anyone does translations of texts, I am interested in Arabic language translations.
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CageyCraigey
Member
Would it also be helpful to set up the 9 balls in a diamond as just play them as a a solo game? Thanks.
Yes. Practice the break that way. When you miss, just take ball in hand and continue the rack until the 9 is made.
boogieman
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
I was probably 5 or 6 years old so I don't remember many stories.
Now, I don't mean it as a slight to their character. Most were good people, didn't cuss in front of kids or women (except Cowboy, I kid you not he was the cussingest dude you ever met and he was an old alcoholic farmer, mean as hell but even then he had his good points). But when you got them on a pool table my goodness did the competitiveness come out. Usually well mannered but there were a few hot heads. Put your quarters on the rail to get a turn. This was the mid to late 80s in a rural-ish area. It wasn't bad necessarily, just how people are. They were more real than most people nowadays. Draft beers for the most part and old country western bumping on the jukebox. A little rough around the edges but not so rough that the place wasn't frequented with families and folks out on a date night.
The proprietor was something else. He collected hats, so on the rafters you saw everything from baseball caps, to "viking" helmets complete with horns. As a kid I loved looking at them. He also had a penchant for breaking the law. He drove to the next state to buy cheap liquor, refilled the bottles that had our state's tax stamp and broke the "illegal" glass bottles into fine pieces to get rid of the evidence and disposed of them on a farm. He had a heart of gold and when they moved I remember them leaving on a plane and watching from about 50' away next to our car and he and his wife waving out the window. It was the first time I remember seeing my dad's eyes water. Really good folks. And man was this place just jumping on the weekends. Fast service but you still might have to wait for half an hour to get a seat.
It was the place where folks came from miles around for a good steak. He used to drive around in a radius of about 40 miles (back when there were supermarkets as well as butcher shops) and pick out the best steaks they had at each place. My dad drove around with him to do this quite a bit. My mom worked as a cook/bartender there for several years. It was funny because she wasn't/isn't a drinker but it was a job close to home. And man can she cook a mean steak (as well as about anything).
I wish I had some pics of the place but I don't. There were 2 valley (or that style) 7' in the top and 1 in the basement, which had a second fully furnished bar. The top had a wooden bar, the basement was that black leather and chrome type deal. The front door was ancient but well build, a huge oval glass in the door and intricate wood carving. An old style brass pull with the thumb piece you had to push down to open. Schlitz signs/clocks and such. Hardwood floors, etc. Really a neat place from a bygone era.
I remember there was a couple that came in that just stank. Gary (the owner) confronted the guy about it. The guy said that his smell just drove his wife wild in bed. Natural smell or something
. Gary handed him a bar of soap and told him to go wash up on the sand bar if nothing else because it was making people sick and was bad for business! 
Now don't ask my how he did this without getting punched, but the guy did go down and scrub himself some and came back like nothing had happened! I think Gary gave him one on the house. He was kind hearted and he had the gift of gab.
Badpenguin
Well-known member
You don't have to play people for money to get better. No more than you have to invite someone to rob your home to learn how to get a better security system, or get speeding tickets to learn how to drive faster. It might have been true for some people in the past, but it isn't now. Now it is just a stupid way to lose your money to assholes (grifters) and feel terrible.
Find like minded folk who treat pool more as a sport to get better at, they are out there. APA is probably not the league to find these folk, BCA and USAPL are more likely to treat pool more seriously, at least in my area. The added bonus is that they are fargo rated.
Some good youtube channels to learn from:
Darren Appleton
Dr Dave Billiards
Jasmin Ouschan
Niels Feijen
Sharivari
Tor Lowry
Last but not least you can search for instructors at the PBIA site.
Find like minded folk who treat pool more as a sport to get better at, they are out there. APA is probably not the league to find these folk, BCA and USAPL are more likely to treat pool more seriously, at least in my area. The added bonus is that they are fargo rated.
Some good youtube channels to learn from:
Darren Appleton
Dr Dave Billiards
Jasmin Ouschan
Niels Feijen
Sharivari
Tor Lowry
Last but not least you can search for instructors at the PBIA site.
USAPL would be good for the OP I think. For our area an SL-4 (roughly Fargo 375) would move from middle of the pack in APA to bottom 3rd in USAPL, but not be so outmatched that they find the league unplayable.
I think pool would benefit from having more people like you participating!
Some people like to just play and others like doing drills. If you've been playing for only four months I'd recommend you dedicate some time to working on fundamentals and not worry too much about which game to play.
There are "billiard" cues, which have smaller tip diameters...and maybe a different taper profile. The balls are larger in diameter, so I'm guessing that a smaller tip allows further offset from center ball, and possibly more spin is achievable.
If you can get on a table, you can start with Straight billiards first, which is contacting both (non-cue ball) balls, without the 3-cushion-before-2nd-ball requirement. That will start you on a path to understand using spin and the cushions--seeing multiple cushion rebound patterns, for instance. In between Straight and 3-Cushion, there was a variant called "Balkline", but if you find that you can play Straight and want to level up, I would suggest learning some repeating 3-Cushion shots/patterns, and skipping Balkline. [Disclaimer: I am not really a (non-pocket) billiards player, but have looked into the games, and shots within them. The more you know....]
As your (CageyCraigey) awareness of position, and skills in making position, increase, you can also not take ball in hand on a miss, but instead move to the next ball, and leave the missed ball in the rotation after the 9. For example, you sink balls 1-4, then shoot the 5 and miss. If your position is (basically) where you wanted it to be for the 6, go ahead and shoot the 6. If you get to the 9, shoot trying to position on the 5.
DaWizard
Well-known member
My only different take is: taking affordable lessons is great bang for your buck in early levels. Yes the info is out there, but having someone pointing out, explaining, giving drills that match your level of play, etc is very worthwhile.
- use timers for timeouts
- find a more serious place to play
- read the rules and then practice
- find a non-league place to play
- it is hard to recruit responsible and reliable new players for APA even though APA thinks the exact opposite plus if the team gets top heavy, players are dismissed (wash, rinse, repeat)
- sounds classy
- a good cue can go a long way. fine tuning that cue with shaft diameter and tip style as you learn is the next step. further steps include better / more forward weighting and hit feedback. pool is very similar to golf, with progressive equipment steps, this way.
- join a BCA league or qualifier that reports to Fargo.
- no one plays call shot anymore unless they are more worried about the rules than their ability to play.
- APA has rules to help lower level players. in APA you can play 2 ways that make it look like you are trying to pocket a ball and then hide the cueball or other preventative measures as a legal shot (getting a ball to a rail after legal contact) non-called safety. BCA allows safety shots, which is when you intend to pocked your own suited ball but do not want to keep shooting, this is the only time you have to call a safety.
dquarasr
Registered
After playing very casually for decades, and fairly seriously for three+ years now, I think I can contribute to the discussion.
There are definite levels and different skills (and coaching topics) required as one progresses:
Phase 1
At the beginning, fundamentals are key. Alignment, body mechanics, stroking, how to aim, etc. This can be done unilaterally, but it's MUCH faster to have a coach watching and advising. A newbie doesn't want to ingrain poor habits or technique. These are the building blocks. There is *some* attention needed when it comes to the mental aspect (i.e., how to perform in a relaxed, unthinking fashion), but at this point it should not necessarily be the focus, although it should at least be on the periphery since good mental acuity and "grooving" the unconscious actions can accelerate progress. This is the phase where external fundamentals coaching can be extremely beneficial, as can self-directed learning via books and vids. Walk before run.
Phase 2
Fundamentals are getting pretty good. Now the key switches from learning the basics to being able to consistently execute them. One needs to learn how to perform in a variety of settings. Fundamentals break down when stress is present. During this phase, one learns how to summon the unthinking shot, allowing the subconscious to take over. This phase cannot be entered until fundamentals are sound. This phase can also be frustrating, because inconsistency here can either be fundamentals aren't nailed down on a consistent basis, irrespective of mental control, *OR* lack of mental control is causing fundamentals breakdown, chicken/egg. (Let's assume that when I say "mental control", I really mean both mental and emotional control.) This phase can be accelerated by instructors savvy in marrying in the mental game with the physical game. In this phase, an individual can leverage various resources on their own, such as vids and books on mental control. Learning can be accelerated by engaging in stressful situations, such as league play, local tournaments or small stakes wagering.
Phase 3
This is where performance really starts to cook. The variance between floor and ceiling narrows considerably. Fundamentals are usually very sound, and mental control is the variance. THIS is where the variability between poor and great performance is truly and mostly between the ears, mental and emotional control. This phase can be enhanced by learning how to perform under extreme stress, such as large tournament play with very strong competition, or higher-stakes gaming.
At least that's how I see it. I'm a C player. I think I'm somewhere in Phase 2, hopefully about to enter Phase 3. I'm just now starting to marry good fundamentals with the ability to summon "automatic" execution, but I very often break down under stressful situations or those with many distractions.
So, in my mind, the skills required at each phase are pretty different, but inter-related, with the mix of physical/mental control moving from the former to the latter as proficiency increases. So it's not a single absolute one-size-fits-all answer. Which is why the response "You need to gamble" isn't always the right answer.
Lemme know if I'm totally off base here.....
There are definite levels and different skills (and coaching topics) required as one progresses:
Phase 1
At the beginning, fundamentals are key. Alignment, body mechanics, stroking, how to aim, etc. This can be done unilaterally, but it's MUCH faster to have a coach watching and advising. A newbie doesn't want to ingrain poor habits or technique. These are the building blocks. There is *some* attention needed when it comes to the mental aspect (i.e., how to perform in a relaxed, unthinking fashion), but at this point it should not necessarily be the focus, although it should at least be on the periphery since good mental acuity and "grooving" the unconscious actions can accelerate progress. This is the phase where external fundamentals coaching can be extremely beneficial, as can self-directed learning via books and vids. Walk before run.
Phase 2
Fundamentals are getting pretty good. Now the key switches from learning the basics to being able to consistently execute them. One needs to learn how to perform in a variety of settings. Fundamentals break down when stress is present. During this phase, one learns how to summon the unthinking shot, allowing the subconscious to take over. This phase cannot be entered until fundamentals are sound. This phase can also be frustrating, because inconsistency here can either be fundamentals aren't nailed down on a consistent basis, irrespective of mental control, *OR* lack of mental control is causing fundamentals breakdown, chicken/egg. (Let's assume that when I say "mental control", I really mean both mental and emotional control.) This phase can be accelerated by instructors savvy in marrying in the mental game with the physical game. In this phase, an individual can leverage various resources on their own, such as vids and books on mental control. Learning can be accelerated by engaging in stressful situations, such as league play, local tournaments or small stakes wagering.
Phase 3
This is where performance really starts to cook. The variance between floor and ceiling narrows considerably. Fundamentals are usually very sound, and mental control is the variance. THIS is where the variability between poor and great performance is truly and mostly between the ears, mental and emotional control. This phase can be enhanced by learning how to perform under extreme stress, such as large tournament play with very strong competition, or higher-stakes gaming.
At least that's how I see it. I'm a C player. I think I'm somewhere in Phase 2, hopefully about to enter Phase 3. I'm just now starting to marry good fundamentals with the ability to summon "automatic" execution, but I very often break down under stressful situations or those with many distractions.
So, in my mind, the skills required at each phase are pretty different, but inter-related, with the mix of physical/mental control moving from the former to the latter as proficiency increases. So it's not a single absolute one-size-fits-all answer. Which is why the response "You need to gamble" isn't always the right answer.
Lemme know if I'm totally off base here.....