You played 2500 hours a year for 4 years? Damn! Busy boy! That's 7 or 8 hours of play a day, everyday.
No job, huh? THAT might be the key?
Jeff Livingston
Poll: How long did it take you to become an "A" player
- Thread starter iusedtoberich
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You played 2500 hours a year for 4 years? Damn! Busy boy! That's 7 or 8 hours of play a day, everyday.
No job, huh? THAT might be the key?
Jeff Livingston
I said 4-5, and it was probably closer to 5, but yes I certainly did. Many, many 12-36 hour sessions. Not sure why the hateful tone, though.
I said 4-5, and it was probably closer to 5, but yes I certainly did. Many, many 12-36 hour sessions. Not sure why the hateful tone, though.
Sorry it came across wrong..no hate....just curiosity.
I know people play that much especially when young, but rarely that much consistently for that long.
Thanks for responding,
Jeff Livingston
I said 4-5, and it was probably closer to 5, but yes I certainly did. Many, many 12-36 hour sessions. Not sure why the hateful tone, though.
Even still, that is a lil over 38 hours per week, every single week (no weeks off) for 5 years straight. It just sounds like a monumental feat to keep up that pace, for 5 years straight.
I think that is all Jeff was saying.
Eric
If you played and received instruction for 9 years prior, it sounds like you were already taking the game seriously, at that point.
I hear what you're saying, and agree that an "A" player is much more than just being able to pocket balls, BUT......
There is not a single true "A" player I know that can't beat the 9 ball ghost, on a 9' table. Not one.
Eric
I worked at the game and worked very hard. I would get clos or what I thought was close and then lose focus. There just never seemed to be any money in it. I have always been more money motivated than pool motivated.
The day that made the difference, actually two days and will atempt to put in perspective but not sure if I can.
I was living in Denver and became roommates with a pretty solid player named Al Hogue, now deceased. AL was never a big gambler, but could play and played all games at least pretty darned good. He worked with and talked and lectured me for endless hours and hours. He taught me to play golf on the snooker table which was his best game seeing as he was barred from every game in town. He even at one point told me I was ready to make the jump at about age 30.
So, one day I walk into the Family Fun Center and get coaxed into a d chep $2 ring game with Henry Granis and Danny Medina. Either could give me at least the 7 and quite easily. But for whatever reason, I jumped in and felt suicidal. For whatever unexplainable reason , i didn't miss a ball and had the cue ball on a string. I ended up winning about $35 and wanted to scream i was so elated.
I went to the pay phone and called Al and he got big fun of my excitement and thought it was just great as he and Danny always had this personal battle or pissing contest going.
I was driving home and realized I never missed because of the intimidation and fear factor and didn't want to look like the biggest idiot in the world to the Denver nits!
Al and I sait up that night talking and I couldn't shut up about it. Finally, he said the First Denver Open was coming up in about 2 weeks and I should try it. He called it educational. I was terrified. I had only played on 9 foot tables for about 4 months and still not confident at all.
the Denver open came around and had a an entry of $250.00 and I ws busted out. A man called and I helped him move two 6x12 tables out of the basement of his house that day and he threw me $60. I went to the pool room that night and they were holding a qualifier for the Open. Entry was $50. i got in and lost my first match but came back and double dipped none other Lil Joe V. I had my entry into the open.
We begin the next day and I draw Dave Yager from CLinton Iowa, who gets me down 10-0 in a race to 11. Miracles do happen as I came back and eventually won the match and now I felt I could leap over the Empire State building.
I went on a roll but was knocked over the the left side by none other than the late Jay Swanson. I ithen wond a couple of matches and then was dumped on my ass by our very own Island Drive. We went hill-hill and he made a shot on the 9 ball that would kick Okey out of his grave and he has been dead 40 years!
I finished 4 th and I believe ID Finished 3rd that year behind JR Brown and Mike Segal who eventually won it. That ws when I met so many players including our own Jay Helfert.
I think I was given like $750 for 4th place and at that time it looked a million bucks. Two days later Danny medina sked me to go on the road with him, and away we went and he went on a rip roaring terror for the next year.
My point? I 'm not sure i have one. Sometimes we put so much time in and practice and then one day we get down and ashot comes up and how do we know? Not sure, we just know and it falls and many other things fallinto place with it.
I have always been more of and instinctive player, but I believe there is hardly any exact science to this game. We can sit with Dfren until the cows come home and he can explain everything he knows and we may end up not really learning much. He can explain how to hit the shot! I am not so certain he or any other human can explain how to feel the shot. But if you want it badly enough, keep working, one day you will see it and then feel it!
I'm not gonna go through my life history to detail the how and why, but suffice it to say that for some of us the pool bug is not just a bug, but a true sickness. And I actually believe that obsessive disorders are fairly common in the upper tiers of many sports/disciplines. What mentally healthy person could, for instance, hit thousands of golf balls every week for years on end without dying of sheer boredom? Would we even know Tiger Woods' name were it not for his obsession? No, not that one, the other obsession.
:smile:Aaron
I really think that the categorization of speeds is just too difficult to do accurately.
Is a players speed the same regardless of the game being played?
I only ask because i know several high end players in 9 ball, who are like C players in one pocket and 14.1, despite years of playing those games. It's almost as if they just don't "get it" when they actually have to think, but in 9ball, it's a no brainer. 1 to the 2 to the 3 to the 4....
The overall level of 9ball has elevated in 20 years, so the criteria of beating the 9ball ghost i feel has gone out the window.
It used to be that you had a handful of people in a room who might be capable of running a rack of 9ball
Now everyone does.
My personal belief is that speed fluctuates in a "range" for each individual person and is unique. You have consistency, shot difficulty, shot selection, position play, knowledge base.
Those all come into play.
Don't know what the new criteria would be for speeds.
Maybe that should become the focus of another thread.
Is a players speed the same regardless of the game being played?
I only ask because i know several high end players in 9 ball, who are like C players in one pocket and 14.1, despite years of playing those games. It's almost as if they just don't "get it" when they actually have to think, but in 9ball, it's a no brainer. 1 to the 2 to the 3 to the 4....
The overall level of 9ball has elevated in 20 years, so the criteria of beating the 9ball ghost i feel has gone out the window.
It used to be that you had a handful of people in a room who might be capable of running a rack of 9ball
Now everyone does.
My personal belief is that speed fluctuates in a "range" for each individual person and is unique. You have consistency, shot difficulty, shot selection, position play, knowledge base.
Those all come into play.
Don't know what the new criteria would be for speeds.
Maybe that should become the focus of another thread.
So, what's your point???LOL!I'm not gonna go through my life history to detail the how and why, but suffice it to say that for some of us the pool bug is not just a bug, but a true sickness. And I actually believe that obsessive disorders are fairly common in the upper tiers of many sports/disciplines. What mentally healthy person could, for instance, hit thousands of golf balls every week for years on end without dying of sheer boredom? Would we even know Tiger Woods' name were it not for his obsession? No, not that one, the other obsession.
Aaron
I think he was replying to the "inference" (innuendo?) that he -- and others -- are "F.O.S." concerning the ability to become an "A"-level player in 4 years or less.
-Sean <-- *did* become a recognized "A"-level player at Q-Masters in about 3.5 years, after being saturated in that environment nearly 18 hours a day.
Pig and elephant DNA just won't splice.
Lord almighty this forum ain't worth it sometimes.
I didn't claim to become an A player in that amount of time. I only claimed to put in 10k hours in 4-5 years. I was not an A player at the end of that time. Some expressed disbelief that I could put in that many hours during that short amount of time, but I certainly did.
Aaron
Well, for what it's worth, *I* believe you. I did it, and yes, it can be considered a form of OCD.
-Sean
FWIW, I was only joking and really happen to agree with you.
I heard DR J, Julias irving speaking of Pro Basketball. he stated that maybe 3-500 players from the inner city of New York should have a spot on an NBA Roster, but the difference himself and those kids, were that he could do it day in and day out with the same result.
I didn't mean to stir up hard feelings...I was just asking about the time frame and hours to do it. Forums don't allow emotions to be coveyed very well and this can cause misunderstandings. My bad sense of humor didn't help.
Posted in a thread a while ago, someone said they planned on shooting one million shots in one year, and had errorneous math to show how they were going to do it. I know that sometimes persons can't comprehend (not you) big numbers very well. That's one reason I invented the EZ Family Formula for understanding big money numbers....to break big numbers down into easyto-digest figures.
My plan is to shoot a million shots before I die. I'm at about 750,000 or so, I'd guess after close to 50 years of shooting pool. I'll be damn good just before I collapse dead.
Jeff Livingston
Posted in a thread a while ago, someone said they planned on shooting one million shots in one year, and had errorneous math to show how they were going to do it. I know that sometimes persons can't comprehend (not you) big numbers very well. That's one reason I invented the EZ Family Formula for understanding big money numbers....to break big numbers down into easyto-digest figures.
My plan is to shoot a million shots before I die. I'm at about 750,000 or so, I'd guess after close to 50 years of shooting pool. I'll be damn good just before I collapse dead.
Jeff Livingston
No hard feelings, Jeff. I agree it was a staggering amount of pool in a fairly short period of time, and I'm still paying the price for that obsession - in friends I alienated and more productive things I could have been doing - so it's not the happiest of topics for me. Sorry if I overreacted.
A million shots! So what are you figuring as the amount of balls pocketed per hour (edit: i meant shots per hour)? That's kind of tricky since practicing is obviously going to be a lot higher than playing with an opponent. I'm guessing maybe 50 shots/hour on the low end and perhaps upwards of 100/hour on the high end? If so, that would be 10,000-20,000 hours. It's a lot of pool for sure; probably more than most players do in a lifetime.
Aaron
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Yeah, that level of dedication seems to go beyond just having a solid work ethic, to me at least.
Aaron