Where to start?

N

nzjase

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi all, I have just joined these forums after a week of scouring the net and watching videos.

I want to improve as an 8-ball player and I just don't know where to start. I am at best an average player and have never played competitively.

I see the general consensus is watch videos, read books, play better players etc but I am curious if you all have any better/more detailed guidance on how to structure my pool development.

I am a father of two so my time is limited but as I have a table at home (8 by 4 slate) and I work from home it helps give me some time to sneak to the shed and play a bit.

I am aiming to play 2 hours a day (minimum of 1 for sure) but I don't really just want to run racks for 2 hours every day, I could see that boring me immensely.

So my questions:

1) What should I be practising?
2) How should I structure my practice?
3) What resources (videos/books etc) should I be looking at?
4) How should I gauge my improvement (if any) when I am just playing at home?

I appreciate any help and guidance you can give. I love the game and I would love to be able to play it at a good level (what this level is I do not yet know!)

Thanks in advance
Jase
 
I don't know what your level of play is, but a really good practice game
for 8 ball IMO is to throw all the balls out on the table.... if you're not
much good a banking, or at a lower level keep all the balls a foot or so
off the rails.... start with ball in hand and shoot all the balls in w/out
touching a rail with the cue ball... if you're at a higher level then do it
twice or three times. You should be able to do this if you're above a c
player. That's a good start.

td
 
grindz said:
I don't know what your level of play is, but a really good practice game
for 8 ball IMO is to throw all the balls out on the table.... if you're not
much good a banking, or at a lower level keep all the balls a foot or so
off the rails.... start with ball in hand and shoot all the balls in w/out
touching a rail with the cue ball... if you're at a higher level then do it
twice or three times. You should be able to do this if you're above a c
player. That's a good start.

td
Click to expand...

Thanks, sounds like an interesting change to running racks. Any other suggestions on where to start?

Also, I probably should have posted this in the instructors section, anyway to move it?

Cheers for your help
 
Cheeky bump to see if there are any others out there that can help with a training/practice schedule
 
Shots you have trouble playing set those shots up practice those until you can make them 7 out of 10 times that will help alot you must be a student of the Game
 
Cheers, what do you mean by a student of the game?

Also what would be the best instructional video(s) to buy to start my game off?

I see good things being said about Mika Immonen's videos and also Dr Dave has a lot on the net.

Thoughts?
 
HI There!
Sharing my experience, I can suggest 2 things, that work for any game:

1- put only 3 balls on the table, randomly, plus the 8 ball, and BEFORE thinking to grab your cue, just look at their position, STARTING FROM THE 8 AND BACKWARDS!!
Meaning: you look at the 8 and decide wich out of the other balls will give you an easy path and position to pot the 8!! That's gonna be your KEY BALL.
Than, you apply the same, backwards, to find the ball to shoot BEFORE THE KEY (also called key to the key!)
Than you know where to start! ;-) (u have only 3 balls, so....)
Doing so several times, helps your mind to construct and immediately recognize "familiar paths".

Once you get used and confident to 3 balls, than add a 4th one!

Or step to:

2- Rack only 8 balls in diamond shape . All solids (or stripes, it's same) plus 8 ball.
The rack should look like a 9 ball, missing the foot-string ball.

Than break.

Than set yourself ball in hand and study the position of balls from the 8 and backwards, like explained before!

This work for me, and I found it a fast self-learning way.
Hope can help you enjoy the game more and more!

BTW, all this is just my opinion, of course!
I'm sure in the Instructors section you'll get better advices!

Cheers!
 
Instructors...

nzjase said:
Would love to mate but not such an easy solution in New Zealand.
Click to expand...

Sad if you don't have any instructors in NZ.

As an instructor, one of my specialties is 8-ball strategy. It takes time and imagination to learn the countless moves in 8-ball. There are some great books out there: Dr. Dave's, Phil Capelle's, R. Givens' and others. Another great resource is Youtube. I've had the good fortune to have played Nicky Varner and watched Efren for many hours; they may be the greatest 8-ballers of all time.

I'm in the process of re-building my website and adding an extensive page on 8-ball rules over the years. Should be up to snuff in a week or two. If you have specific questions, please contact me through AZ or my website.

Donny Lutz
PBIA/ACS Instructor
 
swisslife77 said:
HI There!
Sharing my experience, I can suggest 2 things, that work for any game:

1- put only 3 balls on the table, randomly, plus the 8 ball, and BEFORE thinking to grab your cue, just look at their position, STARTING FROM THE 8 AND BACKWARDS!!
Meaning: you look at the 8 and decide wich out of the other balls will give you an easy path and position to pot the 8!! That's gonna be your KEY BALL.
Than, you apply the same, backwards, to find the ball to shoot BEFORE THE KEY (also called key to the key!)
Than you know where to start! ;-) (u have only 3 balls, so....)
Doing so several times, helps your mind to construct and immediately recognize "familiar paths".

Once you get used and confident to 3 balls, than add a 4th one!

Or step to:

2- Rack only 8 balls in diamond shape . All solids (or stripes, it's same) plus 8 ball.
The rack should look like a 9 ball, missing the foot-string ball.

Than break.

Than set yourself ball in hand and study the position of balls from the 8 and backwards, like explained before!

This work for me, and I found it a fast self-learning way.
Hope can help you enjoy the game more and more!

BTW, all this is just my opinion, of course!
I'm sure in the Instructors section you'll get better advices!

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot mate, great advice. I have just finished practicing for the last 2 hours my stance, grip and stroke then had a couple of racks. I think I will do what you just suggested tomorrow instead of racks.

:)
 
Donny Lutz said:
Sad if you don't have any instructors in NZ.

As an instructor, one of my specialties is 8-ball strategy. It takes time and imagination to learn the countless moves in 8-ball. There are some great books out there: Dr. Dave's, Phil Capelle's, R. Givens' and others. Another great resource is Youtube. I've had the good fortune to have played Nicky Varner and watched Efren for many hours; they may be the greatest 8-ballers of all time.

I'm in the process of re-building my website and adding an extensive page on 8-ball rules over the years. Should be up to snuff in a week or two. If you have specific questions, please contact me through AZ or my website.

Donny Lutz
PBIA/ACS Instructor
Click to expand...

Finding an instructor in NZ is hard and the only potential one I have found is in Auckland, hours away.

Regarding youtube, it indeed seems to be a great resource. Any suggestions on what to dig out on there? I have a number of Dr Cue and ForceFollow videos bookmarked that I am working my way through.

Re: Dr Dave, I am considering buying his DVDs or Mika's. Which would you suggest (Dr Dave seems to have a couple VEPP and VEPS)?

I need some good practice drills also, any ideas?

Is it possible to move this to the instructors section (if that is where it should be?)

Also Donny what is your website?
 
AZB has reached New Zealand. Has this site ever had a post from New Zealand before? This might be a first.
 
nzjase said:
Would love to mate but not such an easy solution in New Zealand.
Click to expand...

You should check out the Bert Knister material if you really have two hours per day to practice. He has some really good stuff that helped my game. He covers most topics and the 60 min workout is great! Check it out. $35 for one month is worth trying.

http://www.bertkinister.com/
 
JMW said:
You should check out the Bert Knister material if you really have two hours per day to practice. He has some really good stuff that helped my game. He covers most topics and the 60 min workout is great! Check it out. $35 for one month is worth trying.

http://www.bertkinister.com/
Click to expand...

Any other comments on Bert Knister's material?

Thanks for the suggestion
 
If you are able to benefit from videos, or the printed word, by all means do so. You can find instructional books, and dvd's scattered all over the internet.
Find a pool room where you can quietly play with yourself. Hold on a second. I meant play by yourself. If you like drills, do them. If not, simply shoot shots or play the ghost.
Watch good players play. In my opinion, this is one of most beneficial things you can do to improve your game.
If I can be of any further service, drop me a line at Steamer Cue Sports, Ltd.
Good luck. :smile:
 
Get the three PAT booklets that Hohmann and Eckert endorse. They are fantastic and will keep you busy for years and years.
 
This is just my personal exprerience and it may or may not work for anyone else. I have been playing for several years, always a very mediocre player, sometimes good, sometimes bad, in a situation similar to yours- have my own table, but just mostly for knocking balls around. My game took a huge leap when I began to work the stop shot. Prior to that every shot I took had some sort of english on it and I couldn't shoot more than two shots before I'd be out of line, working the simple center ball stop shot at different lengths improved my game a ton.
 
TX Poolnut said:
Get the three PAT booklets that Hohmann and Eckert endorse. They are fantastic and will keep you busy for years and years.
Click to expand...

Those seem intense but very good. I need to sift through a few of those type of sites (Dr Dave, Mika's vids, iPAT booklets) and see what would be useful.

Thanks for the tips.

Any one have a daily practice schedule for a beginner they would like to share =)

p.s. in answer to an earlier question, yes I really do have two hours a day to practice (that is my aim anyway)
 
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