Most "others" consider you an A player:grin:
Poll: How long did it take you to become an "A" player
- Thread starter iusedtoberich
- Start date
Most "others" consider you an A player:grin:
I'm still working on it! :grin:
I was always around real good players (A+) so I felt pretty inferior to them. Still do as a matter of fact.
I was always around real good players (A+) so I felt pretty inferior to them. Still do as a matter of fact.
That would be two of us........ 9 footer kicks mr arse... can't see that far...
A long time
16 years to be exact. I started playing when I was 14 and became an "A" one pocket player at Johnston City in 1970. I finished 5th. I was always a pretty good bank pool player but my one pocket game went up two balls in 1970 due mostly to the help of old time top player. Gene Skinner.
Shows you that there is always hope and one should never give up.
Beard
16 years to be exact. I started playing when I was 14 and became an "A" one pocket player at Johnston City in 1970. I finished 5th. I was always a pretty good bank pool player but my one pocket game went up two balls in 1970 due mostly to the help of old time top player. Gene Skinner.
Shows you that there is always hope and one should never give up.
Beard
37% of AZB players are A players. God we are good!
Beating the 9 ball ghost on a 9 footer without buckets better than 50% of the time is a pretty high standard for an A player. I don't think most people realize how difficult it really is (or just ignore that part of the OP).
I am considered an A just about everywhere I go, but wouldn't jump into the box against the ghost with my own money.
I am considered an A just about everywhere I go, but wouldn't jump into the box against the ghost with my own money.
We never called it the Ghost back in the day. But we were gambling at this game many years ago. It was played two different ways. The first and hardest was to break the balls and have to run out after the break. The second and most common way was to break the balls and get ball in hand to start the rack. Larry Lisciotti busted a lot of people at this game. Only the very best players could win playing this game. Efren was the first guy I saw who could beat the Ghost from the break, although Larry may have been able to do it as well. I suspect Buddy could have done it too, but he wasn't into playing that game. He'd rather match up and play someone.
A good friend of mine who lives in Virginia talked with me at length on the telephone about predator shafts (to solve the deflection problem) and an aiming system. My game jumped to "A" level within a month or two after I learned how to play with LD Predator shafts and my new aiming system to solve the problem of those long cut shots that had been stopping me from running out 9 ball racks on a 9' table. I thanked my friend many times for his help in convincing me to switch to Predator shafts and for teaching me a simple aiming system that works for me and elevated my game to a level that I never played at before.
Young players today have access to videos and the internet to help them learn how to play, but it was a struggle for me since I didn't start out playing with the right fundamentals and I had to over come many years of playing wrong to start playing the game correctly. I switched cues over and over thinking I was going to find a magic wand that would help me play better, but it wasn't the cue that was my problem and a good player can play well with any descent cue with a good shaft.
James
Young players today have access to videos and the internet to help them learn how to play, but it was a struggle for me since I didn't start out playing with the right fundamentals and I had to over come many years of playing wrong to start playing the game correctly. I switched cues over and over thinking I was going to find a magic wand that would help me play better, but it wasn't the cue that was my problem and a good player can play well with any descent cue with a good shaft.
James
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I have been stripped.
Agreed.
It takes at least 10,000 hours of actual playing, per Malcolm Galdwell. IF a person could play 5 hours a day, EVERYday, that's 2,000 days of play or about 6 years or so....not watching the other guy, but actual play: practice, drills, gambles, tourneys, leagues, lessons, etc.
I'm no A player, but have been beaten by a few. They put their time in.
Jeff Livingston
I think that goes for a lot of people.....good post Jim.
I have never been an "A" player but I would like to gamble with a few of the "A" players that post here.
I would like to see some of the "A" players in this poll beat the 9ball ghost on a 9foot table
:happy-birthday::happy-birthday::happy-birthday:
Happy Birthday to the Banking Bearded Wonder!
:happy-birthday::happy-birthday::happy-birthday:
Happy Birthday to the Banking Bearded Wonder!
:happy-birthday::happy-birthday::happy-birthday:
Gladwell is an interesting reference, but I wanted to add to it.
The "outliers theory" had a portion that alluded to the theory that after someone has put in 10,000 dedicated hours towards an achievement, they would theoretically have reached their maximum potential.
Around my area, "A" player isn't considered a top player. "A" speed is a very good amateur, but we also have "A+", then "Open", then "Pro". Open would be the equivalent of "shortstop" or "developing pro".
Using Gladwell's outlier theory, you don't necessarily have to have 10,000 hours in to be an "A" player. You might be a miuch better player, after you reach 10,000 hours. Then again, if after 10,000 hours, you are still an "A" player, then you prolly have hit your peak. Or, so the theory goes.
Eric
I would like to see some of the "A" players in this poll beat the 9ball ghost on a 9foot table
I hear what you (and CherryShine D) are saying...this is the Internet, after all (I'm usually the guy bashing the "fiction writers", lol).
In my area, a true "A" player beats the 9 ball ghost fairly easily.
I'm no great player, but, I will play any player in the world, for any amount of money, playing 9 ball on a non gaffed 9' table IF I can get the breaks AND BIH after (even if I scratch). Efren, Orcullo and Yang are not barred :wink:
Eric >legitimate offer
Just in the last 3-4 months, I have broken through to a new level of play. I am consistently placing in the DCT open events now, beat two good A players last weekend to place 7th, took Mitch Ellerman (open speed player) hill hill but scratched on the break in the case game. Just yesterday I played the 10 ball ghost on a diamond pro am and the ghost beat me 18-15. The ghost never got more then 4 games ahead but the closest i could get was within two games of the ghost. If I broke and made a ball and had a shot on the 1 ball, i did not take ball in hand and just ran out. I think I had around 4 break and runs in that set.
Been playing consistently since I was 18 and I am now 26, minus two 1year deployments to Iraq, so really I have been playing consistently for 6 years.
I feel i am playing A speed but not A+ yet.
Been playing consistently since I was 18 and I am now 26, minus two 1year deployments to Iraq, so really I have been playing consistently for 6 years.
I feel i am playing A speed but not A+ yet.
Good points....thanks. I was assuming A was the highest level.
Another thing Gladwell points out is that more than sees-the-eye goes into a highly successful person's process. Things, such as culture, life experience, coaching, access to pool halls or home tables, the right buddies, etc. He says that too often, the person's seen actions are the only things noticed and that there are many, many more things in the process of success than those. Many of the A players here have eluded to those things in their posts about pool success.
Jeff Livingston
I"m one of those people who said less than four years...
Let me put it into perspective. I had actually a;ready played and recieved instruction from my dad for nine years, but I am considering from when I started taking it seriously and I started playing all the time. For about two years I played 8-15 hours a day six to seven days a week.
I would bet against the nineball ghost after about a year and a half of doing that. Although beating the ghost has little to do with being an A player. There are A players who couldn't beat the ghost, and others who could beat it fairly easily depending on the conditions.
A lot of being an A player is cueball control and shot selection and knowing your limitations. If you can't make a shot, you should duck. Unless you play the ghost differently than I do, ducking is an automatic loss.
Jaden
Let me put it into perspective. I had actually a;ready played and recieved instruction from my dad for nine years, but I am considering from when I started taking it seriously and I started playing all the time. For about two years I played 8-15 hours a day six to seven days a week.
I would bet against the nineball ghost after about a year and a half of doing that. Although beating the ghost has little to do with being an A player. There are A players who couldn't beat the ghost, and others who could beat it fairly easily depending on the conditions.
A lot of being an A player is cueball control and shot selection and knowing your limitations. If you can't make a shot, you should duck. Unless you play the ghost differently than I do, ducking is an automatic loss.
Jaden
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I started playing seriously when I was about 18, that would have been 1986. First, the appeal to challenging pool to me was tournament play, not gambling so I don't see how gambling has anything to do with this poll. Anyway, I started when I was about 18, got better and better, when I was 23 or 24, already in Japan, I won tournaments that lifted me up to an official A rank. Then it was probably another year or 2 before I was raised up to SA. I had offers to take the pro test, yes, they have a test for it over here, but had I taken the test I wouldn't be allowed to join amateur tournaments anymore. Passing that test wouldn't have been a problem, but I know I'm not good enough to hang with the top pros and there is no way I could afford to travel around the country for pro tournaments. Much happier just staying where I'm at.....er.....was. Had a 6 year layoff from pool from 2000 to 2006 and haven't put the time in to get my game back. I just don't have the desire anymore. I'm content playing with friends and joining the occasional house tourney.
MULLY
I crossed the 10,000 hour mark within the first 4-5 years, but "today me" could probably give "10,000 hour me" the last 3 or 4. The 10,000 hour mark might be a good goal for someone aspiring to reach a high level of proficiency, but I'm sure there are plenty of players who are beyond 20,000 hours and still improving.
Aaron