Critique LuckedOut's game please....video

L

LuckedOut

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Table 8.5 foot, 4.75" corner pockets, 760 cloth.

I've finally gotten around to videoing myself playing pool and would love feedback.
Watching myself has been a big help, I can see the things I'm doing or not doing like never before.

Here's what I'm seeing:

I'm stabbing at the ball too often, need to smoothen out the followthrough.
My bridge looks a bit long sometimes and weak, especially around the rails.
Speed kills on 760, don't know if this cloth is helping or hurting my game.

Ran the first rack out with a stroke of luck, 8-ball, spotted the 8 and continue pocketing the other balls. Second rack, miss on solids after a few, ran the stripes out, spotted the 8 and finished the rest.
Sorry for my slow play at one point, not used to a camera on me.
I hope this link works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2XNuDpVW1E&feature=plcp
 
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I think you already have noted some fundamentals to work on. Your next job there is to decide on specific things to do to improve them. "I'll pay more attention to them when they come up, if I remember," is probably not sufficient.

A couple of questions: On the first shot after the break, what were you playing position on? On the next-to-last stripe, did you consider drawing the cue ball?

Videos of practice games are not best to look at fundamentals especially because most of the shots are not challenging. If you have the time, try doing the level 3 drills in http://www.sfbilliards.com/progpract.pdf (diagrams 3A-3D). Do 15 shots in each diagram and tape the last five shots for each diagram. The idea is to put you at the edge of your comfort zone.

Good luck with your game.
 
To Bob Jewett:

Thank you for your review.

After the break in the first game, I wasn't about to play safe against myself. So I comboed the stripe and left the cb in a window to either 1 rail the ball I did or bank the ball I had just used in the combo. I thought I had enough room to get out of the corner, but got hooked and escaped.

The stripe before my last ball I chose to follow to the bottom rail because I felt I had too much angle to get on the 8 properly. The 8 going in the bottom right corner was tighter than it looked next to the solid, so I just wanted to cinch the last stripe and give myself a shot on the 8 in the side. I feel good enough with my aim to go at the sides on this table.....but not others with tighter pockets of course.

My position play could have been better leading to my last key stripe in the corner, but the 8 only had 1 pocket in my mind.

I'll do the test you advise and get back with the results.
 
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I am only going to suggest one thing for now (because it is going to cause you to change a number of things).

At your start position (what we call set) start with your tip a quarter of an inch away from the cue-ball.

This is going to require your bridge to shorten up some, and you will have to adjust your backhand so that it is directly under your elbow at the set
position.

What I am seeing is your starting position looks like it is all different lengths, very little consistency. This game is all about consistency in trying to do things the same way every time.


LuckedOut said:
Here's another video, ran the solids choked the 8, ran the stripes .....scratched the 8 for a complete double chocker session. Made some decent shots but missing the 8 is a big lesson always lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euE9dqDXmkI&feature=youtu.be
Click to expand...
 
Thank you Tony, I see what you are saying about the inconsistencies in set up.

So with my set up now from what you are saying, at impact I'm most likely way past where I should be, and poking at it.

So by setting up 1/4" away, hand under elbow, shorter bridge........I'll be hitting the ball at the bottom of my stroke so to speak and through it. Makes sense. I've got a mirror nearby and I'm now seeing how over extended I am, or would be, at contact.

So in a golf sense, I've got the ball to far forward in my stance so move it back so I can hit down through it instead of picking up at it.

This is a good ahh haa moment, thanks Tony.
 
One thing I noticed, that others have not mentioned is. It appears that you are left eye dominent.

When down in the shooting position your right eye is leading and your left eye is behind. In other words your eyes are not square with the shot.

I'm not an instructor, but this is what I noticed. Try watching some of the pros play on youtube and pay close attention to their fundamentals.

John
 
LuckedOut said:
Table 8.5 foot, 4.75" corner pockets, 760 cloth.

I've finally gotten around to videoing myself playing pool and would love feedback.
Watching myself has been a big help, I can see the things I'm doing or not doing like never before.

Here's what I'm seeing:

I'm stabbing at the ball too often, need to smoothen out the followthrough.
My bridge looks a bit long sometimes and weak, especially around the rails.
Speed kills on 760, don't know if this cloth is helping or hurting my game.

Ran the first rack out with a stroke of luck, 8-ball, spotted the 8 and continue pocketing the other balls. Second rack, miss on solids after a few, ran the stripes out, spotted the 8 and finished the rest.
Sorry for my slow play at one point, not used to a camera on me.
I hope this link works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2XNuDpVW1E&feature=plcp
Click to expand...

Yes, you're definitely stabbing at the ball, which means your stroke timing is off, but do you know how to fix that?

You need to take conscious control of your backstroke. This is harder than it sounds because you're going to have to break a habit that has probably been ingrained very deeply. You have two options: Either bring your cue back slowly on every shot or bring it back at any speed but take a fairly long pause at the end of your backstroke. I think the first choice is better, but other players have mastered the art of the long pause, like Allison Fisher and Buddy Hall, so it's definitely doable.
 
One other thing I wanted to mention. I hope you don't plan on playing against someone while you're wearing shoes because you're training yourself to play barefooted. Shoes will add a bit of height to your stance and it can make a big difference in your stance. You may find that suddenly you can't make a ball and you don't know why.

This is a very subtle game. Every little thing counts.
 
Thank you all for your comments. I will practice in the next month those things that need worked on and post another video after changes have been made with better camera angles that show the whole stroke better.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Paul

I did play in a tournament once, Kent State 8 ball open in '89 and placed 3rd, in bare feet:)......<< I know it's not recommended, but all my shoes have poison oak on them so they stay at the door:( I understand what you're saying FranCrimi, I ought to get a pair and practice in them and make them my pool shoes only.

Yes, I was most likely poking/stabbing at the ball back then too......<<<<<< I'm going to rewind this bad habit.
 
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Your break was inconsistent. You really lost the cb on the first break, hit the long rail and almost scratched in the side, and then almost scratched in the corner, and the only shot you had after the break is a combo....not a good position to be in when you make a ball and have an open table.

You need to leave the cb in the middle of the table, without hitting any rails, which is simple to do if you hit the heed ball solid and use center ball, the cb will bounce back nicely..... if you break softer than you will need to hit a little lower on the cb.

Also, you jump up when you are breaking, so stay down on the break to ensure you are hitting the cb dead center, and have the best chance of controlling the cb on the break. Scratching on the break or losing the cb into a cluster is a rookie move and you are not a rookie......

I'm not going to go into too much detail on the rest, though it did appear you were just "winging" a few shots without really knowing what your next shot was going to be....

You hit a little hard, and the first game you made the 8 but hit it too hard and let the cb fly around the table when it was not necessary.

I"m not really sure about the entire "blinking" one eye before you shot the 10 ball in the first game..... you hit it too hard and hit it pretty bad, missed the pocket by over a diamond, but it still went in, and the cb was lost at sea but you lucked out, yet once again.... you did get lucky a few times so your name is most appropriate :)

You have decent ball pocketing skills, and thus you have good start in reallly improving your game even further..... Good Luck....

PS: Noticed you "steering" your cue on seveal cut shots.... stop that :)
 
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Hi, i am by no means an instructor and continually try to improve myself. while there were only a few opportunities for me to see your stroke from a frontal view, i noticed more thn once when the opportunity presented itself, especially when you broke the 2nd rack, your stroke is not in line (back to forward). you have a slight right to left movement on the end of the backstroke when about to start the front stroke. it is ever so slight but certainly needing correction. i am not sure if you do it on every stroke either. go back at look at the 2nd rack break and look at the back of your stroke and the slight right to left movement. i once had a habit sometimes of bending my wrist inwards at the finish of the stroke. be assured, it is always something, that is why we keep trying to improve. heck, heretofore, i have always been one of the best bankers around, then an AA tells me to work on my cuts, now that i have...guess what....now my banking abilities have weakened. there you go. keep up the work. i also agree with the other assessments aforementioned.
 
one last comment, i do not really see any kind of pre-shot routine (PSR). you need to get one and stick to it.everytime..like they said before, consistency!
 
Need more cue control, while you made the shots, you were out of position for pretty much all of them. It's your table, so your speed should be down pretty well, yet you seem to over or under hit your shots. Did not see a lot of planning for the next shot, for example on the first shot you hit the combo, you needed to see exactly where the first ball was going. If it was heading to the rail, you need to play shape to get the cue ball to where you have a shot, or hit the shot faster or slower to control the first ball.

On the 3rd to last ball when you were just shooting the first rack, you rolled the ball forward but did not seem like you picked an exact place to stop it so you had another shot. Need more planning for the run.
 
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I'm not an instructor, but one thing I noticed is that you are using your upper arm a lot in delivering your stroke, and your elbow is dropping significantly before you contact the ball. One effect of this is that since you are lowering the butt of the cue during the stroke, you therefore raise the tip. As a result, you contact the cueball higher than you intend on draw shots, and this caused you to stop, rather than come backwards, on a couple shots where it appears your were attempting to draw the ball from some distance.

Part of this, I think, is due to the fact that your set up, as noted in earlier posts, has you finishing the best part of your stroke well before you contact the ball. Thus, only your upper arm is left to keep the stick moving forward. While changing your setup will help, you might also want to concentrate on developing more of a pendulum swinging motion.
 
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