How would you recommend I structure my practice?

pmata814

pmata814

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was hoping some of you more experienced players/instructors would be willing to help me out by steering me in the right direction.

I just purchased a pool table and am getting back into the game after many years without playing. I was never very good but now that I have my own table I really want to put in some time to improve. I plan to spend 1 hr/day on weekdays and 2hrs/day on weekends practicing. My question is how would you suggest I structure my practice? For example how much time or how many days of the week should I spend on position drills, shotmaking drills, banking, single player games etc.?

I am a true beginner. I scored a measly 30 points on the fargo game never being able to run more than 7 balls in a single inning. I have purchased Capelles "play your best pool"; Martin's "99 critical..."; Byrnes "power pool workout" DVD and I just ordered Joe Tucker's drill book as well. I really feel that I do better when I have a structured planned practice session as opposed to just winging it.

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
 
pmata814 said:
I was hoping some of you more experienced players/instructors would be willing to help me out by steering me in the right direction.

I just purchased a pool table and am getting back into the game after many years without playing. I was never very good but now that I have my own table I really want to put in some time to improve. I plan to spend 1 hr/day on weekdays and 2hrs/day on weekends practicing. My question is how would you suggest I structure my practice? For example how much time or how many days of the week should I spend on position drills, shotmaking drills, banking, single player games etc.?

I am a true beginner. I scored a measly 30 points on the fargo game never being able to run more than 7 balls in a single inning. I have purchased Capelles "play your best pool"; Martin's "99 critical..."; Byrnes "power pool workout" DVD and I just ordered Joe Tucker's drill book as well. I really feel that I do better when I have a structured planned practice session as opposed to just winging it.

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Probably these items would be early in the agenda.

1. Consistency of stroke. Test = Long straight-in shots.
2. Put at least 1/2 your practice time practising run outs with the game that you are trying to master within a difficulty level you can achieve at least 50%... ie if your main game is 8 ball practice with 3 solids and 8 ball, take BIH.

The rest is up to you and particular to your game and the type of game you wish to get good at.
 
I strongly recommend Bert Kinister's 60 minuter workout for 8-ball and 9-ball. If you make this purchase and follow the drills, do not get hung up on the Shot 2 power draw shot.
 
When I feel like practicing I do pretty much what Geometry said.

Also, I sometimes like to practice rail shots. I put a ball on each of the six rails and practice pocketing them in the corners. I try to pocket all six without repositioning the cb as that adds the extra dimension of working on my cb control as well.

No matter what you are doing, be it drills or just racking 9 and trying to run out, make sure you always try to bring all of your focus to the table. We tend to play like we practice. If you're at the table but thinking about everything but what you are doing there, you might as well not be there at all.

Gratz on the table BTW:thumbup:
 
This is along the lines of what geometry said. Once you're at a level where you can follow, draw, and use sidespin... setup short "outs" and try to run them out as carefully as possible.

For your level, I'd start out rolling 3 balls to random spots on the table. Figure out the easiest possible way to run those balls... the safest routes for the cue ball to take from one ball to the next (hint, stop shots that lead to other stop shots are GREAT). Then run the balls exactly as planned.

If you need to keep track, mark up 1 win for every time you run out as planned. If your cue ball goes too short or too far, to the point where you must shoot in an unintended pocket or do a really thin cut or bank... it's a loss. It's a loss even if you could make a recovery shot and finish off the rest of the balls. Just rake the balls and start again. When that happens, try to run the same layout according to your plan. If it takes more than 3 or 4 tries, your plan may be a little tougher than it needs to be. Try coming up with a different pattern.

The idea is to execute what you intend to execute. Shooting your way out of trouble and "winging it" prove nothing. You want to play for and get specific leaves over and over. Personally I think lower level players should keep away from 9 ball entirely, except maybe playing for fun or practicing at home. You have to learn to walk before you can run... so if you can't run 7 balls in any order, you have no chance of doing 9 in a specific order.

But if you're determined to learn to play games like 9 ball, approach it the same way... roll out 3 or 4 balls and plan which pockets the balls are going in and which routes the cue ball will take to get position on those shots. Run them as planned and reset the whole thing until you can do it. If you can't do it after several tries... try using 1 less ball or see if there's a better pattern you can use. Note that the balls don't always have to go into the closest pockets.
 
I like drills for practice. Bert Kinisters "Mighty X" is good for stroke development (shooting straight).

The "L" Drill & Circle Drill are good for cue ball speed.

Using "Ray Martin's 99 Critical Shots" book is a good way of learning cue ball path off the rails. (1 2 3 & 4 rails)

"The Beard" can help you learn to bank real well.

This will work for starters...

Learn somethng about the Diamond System, two Plus System
 
A lot of the time, practice does not produce results for many players because they do not practice in a way that accurately mimics the competitive environment.

Physical practice is one thing - and it is what most players concentrate on.

Mental practice is something completely different and often ignored.

Practicing how to make tough cut shots is not as effective as practicing how to quiet your mind while you are attempting to rebound from a mistake that just occurred, or when your opponent is at the table and not missing.

Thoughts are internal. Sitting in the chair, you have to remain positive - which is hard to do when you are playing someone that doesn't miss.

However, if you are prepared for the negative occurrences as well as the positive occurrences - you will have an advantage over the players that are not prepared.

Regarding practice, my advice has always been to find a practice partner that can challenge you to play your absolute best.

Iron sharpens iron.

Your abilities must be tested - your mental game must be exercised and trained in much the same way a marathon runner would train for a big race.

Doing drills or working on your mechanics has its place, but the effectiveness of that will only take you so far. The competitive pool environment is more about the mental mechanics than it is about the physical mechanics. I have seen guys that seemingly never miss, fold up like a cheap lawn chair when they finally do miss (and its usually at the worst possible time).

Don't just practice running out, practice what you have to do mentally and physically when you don't run out.

Anybody can make wide open shots. However, many players are bewildered when faced with a 3 rail kick or an off angled bank shot. That should tell you something.

It's real easy to practice a table-length bank shot, but the true champions will practice having the faith in their ability to make it under pressure.

Faith is the opposite of fear. A wise player pulled me aside one day and said, "As a pool player, you have the choice of riding two horses - one named "I Know I Can" and the other named "Scared Shitless". One goes forward, and the other one... it only goes backwards. Which horse are you on today?"

Having faith in yourself and your ability to deal with those types of situations is what separates the champions from the contenders.

Practice should have that balance of having the mental supporting the tasks of the physical - and vice-versa.

Find that balance - find a good person to assist you in your journey, work hard, stay positive, cut yourself off from the whiners and stick with the winners - and you'll learn that success comes to those that have prepared for it - and those that believe that it is within their grasp.
 
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Play equal offense to improve your shotmaking, break and cue ball control. Break, ball in hand behind headstring, run balls until you miss in 14.1 fashion. Perfect score for one inning is 20, forcing you to execute a 14.1 break shot and continue the run. Write down your score. One set is ten innings.

When you get to where you can average around 100 then work on kicking and safety play. If you commit to playing two or three sets a day of equal offense I guarantee your shotmaking and position play will improve.

You can also use this to experiment with your bridge type and stance, keeping track of how well you do with each variation.
 
pmata814 said:
I was hoping some of you more experienced players/instructors would be willing to help me out by steering me in the right direction.

I just purchased a pool table and am getting back into the game after many years without playing. I was never very good but now that I have my own table I really want to put in some time to improve. I plan to spend 1 hr/day on weekdays and 2hrs/day on weekends practicing. My question is how would you suggest I structure my practice? For example how much time or how many days of the week should I spend on position drills, shotmaking drills, banking, single player games etc.?

I am a true beginner. I scored a measly 30 points on the fargo game never being able to run more than 7 balls in a single inning. I have purchased Capelles "play your best pool"; Martin's "99 critical..."; Byrnes "power pool workout" DVD and I just ordered Joe Tucker's drill book as well. I really feel that I do better when I have a structured planned practice session as opposed to just winging it.

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Before you can really learn much, you have to develop a certain amount of coordination and touch for the game and that takes playing time. This can best be accomplished by playing certain games rather than doing a bunch of drills.

Drills are great later on to strengthen your weak areas. They are best assigned by an instructor specifically to strenthen your game. I would take a couple of lessons on the basics of bridge, stance, stroke, etc. first.

For home practice:

- I always recommend starting off with straight pool (14.1) practice. Once you feel like you can pocket most straight forward shots and can run a rack now and then, then you can work on 3 ball, six ball, and 9ball.

Practicing straight pool, crack the rack wide open to start and keep track of the count on each run. Write down your highest 3 or 4 runs of each session. If you miss, continue on anyway and start counting again. If you keep track of your runs, you keep track of your progress over time and it's encouraging to see improvement.

- the more time you can put in, the quicker you will get better.

- Always find your weaknesses and work on them. Pool is a game of angles and thinking ahead. The rule of thumb is "you want an angle". Making the ball is the first priority, controlling the cue ball is the second.

- You have to be able to execute certain simple shots and position plays to be able to advance to the next level.

- Playing position - be very deliberate in your attempts. Try to land on a certain spot or a line. The more deliberate you are, the more you will learn from each shot, even if you miss the shot. Feedback is big in pool - if you are playing with vague goals, there is vague feedback.

- Moving the cue ball around can be explained by science but doing it is an art. It comes from years of developing feel. That's why you have to play the game. Pool is about making manageable mistakes.

- there are certain basic shots all players make over and over again. Get some 9 ball tapes and watch the pros, how they play angles ahead to get to the next shot. Once they are in-line, you will see distinctive patterns they repeat over and over again. Pay attention to the angles they are using and copy them. One of my favorite players for patterns to watch is Buddy Hall. While many players get by on shotmaking and powerful strokes, Buddy connects the dots and makes it look easy - like anybody can do it.

- have fun!

Chris
 
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It's so easy to get into the rut of constantly repeating things you already can do once you get to a certain 'acceptable' level of playing. Certain repitition of skills you already have can be a good thing for the reason of keeping the muscle memory up to date. But practicing that which you cannot do is always going to make you better and take you to new places.
dave
 
Thank you all very much for your replies. It seems like the general consensus is to play games, wether it be straight pool or runout games of 8ball or 9 ball. I'm actually pretty surprised. I thought it was going to be drills and more drills (which I don't mind because I actually like drilling). But I'll get to work on your suggestions. Thanks again.
 
practice should be harder than you can perform reliably..

if your practice is to easy you are working on things you already do well... netting you 0 gain...

there is a fine line between just hard enough to get better... and to hard

and that line is different for every player and even for the same player over time..

starting out one of the first things you need to do ...once you get your mechanics straight... is learn the stop shot line... and it will be difficult at first... but if you work at it you will learn it...

and you get the satisfaction of the work you did paying off...

but don't let off the gas... as you progress. the difficulty of your shots should progress..

you can't learn precision draw.. until you learn the stop shot..

you can't cheat a draw to gain a new angle...until you can draw precisely..

thats the best thing about this game.. there is always a new rung to reach for..

don't get to busy patting yourself on the back that you forget to reach for the next rung...

if your practice is to easy... you are not learning anything..

good luck
 
just to piggy back on my last post

I have a friend who is a former bodybuilder.. won Mr Minnesota several times and placed in Mr America and Mr Olympia several times

we were playing some pool at his place and I look over and he has a

200 pound dumbbell

you read that right

200 pound dumbbell


and I'm like what the hell are you going to do with that???..

he doesn't compete anymore... he's much smaller than he was at his peak...

but all of us mortals would consider him RIPPED..

he may be smaller.. but he is just as strong

(getting back on track)
and I'm like what the hell are you going to do with that???..

and he says." You always have to have someplace to go ..or you will never get there""

and that statement applies word for word to pool practice..
 
TATE said:
Before you can really learn much, you have to develop a certain amount of coordination and touch for the game and that takes playing time. This can best be accomplished by playing certain games rather than doing a bunch of drills.

Drills are great later on to strengthen your weak areas. They are best assigned by an instructor specifically to strenthen your game. I would take a couple of lessons on the basics of bridge, stance, stroke, etc. first.

For home practice:

- I always recommend starting off with straight pool (14.1) practice. Once you feel like you can pocket most straight forward shots and can run a rack now and then, then you can work on 3 ball, six ball, and 9ball.

Practicing straight pool, crack the rack wide open to start and keep track of the count on each run. Write down your highest 3 or 4 runs of each session. If you miss, continue on anyway and start counting again. If you keep track of your runs, you keep track of your progress over time and it's encouraging to see improvement.

- the more time you can put in, the quicker you will get better.

- Always find your weaknesses and work on them. Pool is a game of angles and thinking ahead. The rule of thumb is "you want an angle". Making the ball is the first priority, controlling the cue ball is the second.

- You have to be able to execute certain simple shots and position plays to be able to advance to the next level.

- Playing position - be very deliberate in your attempts. Try to land on a certain spot or a line. The more deliberate you are, the more you will learn from each shot, even if you miss the shot. Feedback is big in pool - if you are playing with vague goals, there is vague feedback.

- Moving the cue ball around can be explained by science but doing it is an art. It comes from years of developing feel. That's why you have to play the game. Pool is about making manageable mistakes.

- there are certain basic shots all players make over and over again. Get some 9 ball tapes and watch the pros, how they play angles ahead to get to the next shot. Once they are in-line, you will see distinctive patterns they repeat over and over again. Pay attention to the angles they are using and copy them. One of my favorite players for patterns to watch is Buddy Hall. While many players get by on shotmaking and powerful strokes, Buddy connects the dots and makes it look easy - like anybody can do it.

- have fun!

Chris
Click to expand...

tap,tap,tap *hats off*

A session with a good and qualified instructor will help you a lot- he will teach you how to play drills and patterns right- and also he should tell you about the mental part of the game. As BlackJack shown up, the mental part is extremly important in our game.
For sure you first have to get a good fundamental technique and a straight stroke (without straight-stroke-no good billiards possible ^^).

Get a session from a really good instructor and let him open your eyes!
 
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