What massively improved your game?

I have played pretty good since I was 16 or so.
In the 80's I played a ton of pool with a world class player named Neptune Joe Frady in NJ and I watched him closely and asked questions and it moved my game up at least two levels to pretty good short stop speed.
I don't play that good these days due to age and I don't play everyday.

I have played you and I realize you had a higher gear then most not long ago. I also had a higher gear but I was not in your league when you were in your prime. Having said that....I want a rematch soon:D. Maybe Saturday if the weather permits.:groucho:
 
Understanding squirt, where it belongs on the food chain of english, how to compensate for it, and how to use the compensation in conjunction with an aiming system (comprehensive or not).

Freddie

Freddy<----- Reads Lock N Load threads and post also! He is a good pool player now....
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.
 
I have played you and I realize you had a higher gear then most not long ago. I also had a higher gear but I was not in your league when you were in your prime. Having said that....I want a rematch soon:D. Maybe Saturday if the weather permits.:groucho:

At least ya'll HAD a higher gear! Hell, if I gear down any lower, I'm gonna be in REVERSE!!! :thumbup:

Maniac
 
I have played pretty good since I was 16 or so.
In the 80's I played a ton of pool with a world class player named Neptune Joe Frady in NJ and I watched him closely and asked questions and it moved my game up at least two levels to pretty good short stop speed.
I don't play that good these days due to age and I don't play everyday.

Hey Measureman,
I bet you still buy World famous Hank's bottle water!!! He, he, he. I bet you wont lose a pool game with a bottle of hank's water on the line. Take care my friend!
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.
 
Making friends with VERY good players. If you aren't friends with good players, like A+ to shortstop speed, and/or don't play with them often, your odds of reaching a high level of pool are not good. That's not to say that everybody who has friends that are good players will play good, but generally speaking, you only get as good as your peers.

Just gambling with good players isn't good enough. You want people that will help you raise your game over the long term, even if you aren't paying them.
 
3 weeks and you will be amazed at the results.

CJ, I watched the Pay_for_View TOI on your website, ordered your CDs, and practiced for 4 hours drooling all over the pool table after trying your TOI. I was so thrilled the only thing that stopped me from shooting more was old age.

The light bulb must have turned on for me, as it must have for Fred above. I finally realized what the cueball was doing (squirting) coming off a shot when english was being applied. Heck, I took TOI one step further and developed my own TOO (Touch of Outside). It works exactly the same (actually opposite) as TOI except you get unwanted spin which CJ doesn't like. But at least I finally figured out after all these years why my outside english shots down the rail slammed into the rail time after time. What an idiot I have been.

Once I get the CD, I will study TOI again and try to integrate this into my everyday play.

To me playing pool now is like navigating through time and warped space (the cueball deflecting and swerving). I don't need a Guild Navigator (Dune) to fold space for me, nor the spice. Just TOI :grin-square: And what's funny about this whole TOI thing is that PJ is still stuck in a black hole/singularity hahaha. He will never get it. Dr. Dave is still trying to get his 2 dimensional equations to work this out, but we all know he will never come up with a scientific solution (it's all feel and only the human brain can understand this). He is now most likely trying out a rubber protractor to make its way around the mobius strip. All the aiming people don't understand feel. I love it. Someone give them some spice and maybe they will get it.

WW

That's a great feeling isn't it? When we start intentionally using deflection to create positive things in our games, the GAME CHANGES. That's why I've said over and over "you have to experience it for yourself" and there's no easier way than the proven TOI method of learning it.

I recommend using TOI exclusively for 3 straight hours and then I think you can start experimenting and finding your own special style. However, for the best results I would encourage anyone that wants to raise their levels a few notches to stick to the healthy TOI Diet for 3 weeks and you will be amazed at the results. I've said this for 5 months now and everyone that's tried it has liked it.

All the back ordered TOI DVD's went out in the last 3 days so everyone should be receiving them starting today. I look forward to helping anyone that's truly interested in discovering a better way to play pool. The TOI technique will certainly change your game for the better, quicker than anything I've ever experienced. 'The Game Will Be Your Teacher' www.cjwiley.com
 
what improved my game the most

I use my own SEE-system now since 1.5 years and modified it in Juli/August 2012.
Working on any aspects and effects of different speed (acceleration) and different kind of strokes on the OBJECT BALL with and without using side spin helped me immesively. Since January 2013 I was experimenting with TOI and bought the PPV. I invested around 80 hours playing on my own with TOI and combined TOI with the SEE-SYSTEM creating different sighting lines when using TOI and my game went up again! Now my repertoire considering making balls from anywhere, beeing able to kill the cue ball like I never thought I could do and learning about new patterns using TOI made my game go through the roof now more consistently than before!
Yesterday night I played Wolfgang for 3 hours, I guy from my club, after having had a long day at work and after having given my weekly pool clinic and my heart was jumping when I broke and ran 8 consecutive racks of 9-ball for the first time in my life!SEE and TOI supported me and I would have run even 9 racks but overpaced position for the 8 ball using TOI a little careless and because of still learning the different paths the cue ball takes with TOI and had to bank the 8 which I did but then the long 9 ball with an angle of around 60 degrees rattled in the 4.25 inch pocket...

Well a new personal record and new motivation to keep on using SEE and TOI.

I recommend every one to buy the PPV of TOI!
It is well worth the money you will spend for the video x 10!

Thanks CJ!

Ekkes

http://infinite-billiards.com/en/SEE.html
http://www.cjwileybilliards.com/
 
When I started playing around with pool I cared way too much about what others thought about me and didn't really care when I lost if it didn't hurt me financially. Once I really started to hate losing I started noticing improvement.

I swear sometimes that if I really, honestly, didn't give 2 flying f$*$s about other people I would be a champion level player. A few months back I came across an old Michael Jordan quote about being selfish and I really connected with it and, once again, I am seeing improvement.

Of course, most of us really don't want to lose and most of us don't want to be labeled as a selfish bastard but it's really about how we function deep down within ourselves. If your reaction to losing causes you to practice non-stop and play until you feel like you will never lose to that person, or similar person, again then it can be viewed as good and a catalyst to future improvement. Als0, accepting and believing that your game is most important to you can allow you to shed some of the negativity and avoid some of the landmines that others may plant in your path.
 
Learning EXACTNESS when addressing the cue ball

Understanding squirt, deflection and learning to use it to my advantage. Not fearing it.

Stop over thinking!

TOI
 
I think when I learnt to accelerate the cue slowly rather than go from still to fast in the first few centimetres, that's when my game suddenly got a LOT better.
 
Not to sound like an infomercial, but TOI. Also, once I learned that visualizing a miss is a sure way to miss, I got out a lot more by not calculating the odds on missing during my PSR. Either shoot a safety or shoot a shot...Once you decide to shoot a shot that can see a pocket, there's really no excuse to miss, and you should only visualize success. If you visualize a miss (or think "what if I miss") while you're down on the shot, stand back up and reset. Shoot like you've been there before. :smile:
 
i have improved my run out rate by a factor of two in 4 months. Massive improvement caused by: 1) getting a pool table, playing with a lot with focus and attentiveness 2) pleasures of small motions, read it. 3) dont waste your money to scammers out there, aiming by deflection is self explanatory. 4( confidence in your ability.:thumbup:
 
When I first started playing, joining a pool league massively improved my game.

After playing for 12 years the same pool league started to drag my game down, I quit and noticed more improvement.
 
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I play mostly One Pocket and playing against lot better players made me play to another level. What was just good enough to win against players of my level , was nowhere good enough. Keeping the CB under control was a must.--Smitty
 
A few things for me...

1) I bought a cue without a wrap. I have a long wingspan, and I had the habit of always grabbing my old cue between the bottom of the wrap and the butt cap. Once I got the wrapless cue, my hand started going on 'automatic', and my shotmaking started coming around a little more.

2) Pausing a little longer before taking my first shot at the table. Taking a few more moments to assess the situation, and play the rack backwards. That has been HUGE !!!!

3) Taking the 'easy' shots. I always tried to do more than I needed to with the cueball, and I've finally realized that if I utilize #2 a bit more, the runout is 'easier' (less "work" with the cueball).

Mickey <----- Learning a little more every day...
 
Pete,

Your spelling of my name was right.

The more important thing was mentioning that I taught you a lot about the game. I pride myself in having the ability to teach the game of pool. I also like to share my knowledge with people that have the willingness to learn and get better.

__________________________________________

http://tommcgonaglerightoncue.com
 
I agree that watching the pros or any good player very closely, particularly technique, helped me more than other instructional sources.

Another thing that helped my game jump, surprisingly, was taking breaks. I played/practiced/gambled etc. every day for several years, and during that period it never felt like I had my stroke settled and could trust it, some days it was on others it was off, sometimes I felt like I would practice until I unlearned how to make a friggin ball. I was forced to take a long break, and when I got back on the table, although it took me a little bit to regain my ability to shoot, I found that I was distilling my technique into its most essential elements. Practicing so much earlier surely helped but it also led me to obsess over minute, relatively unimportant things that would eventually make me loose sight of the important elements of the game. Nowadays if I take a break every once in a while, usually from 1-6 weeks, I find that when I get on the table I get my game in gear faster and I'm more comfortable with it. I don't think I could be where I'm at without all the practice but I would have never discovered the benefits of a break without being forced into it. Before I'd worry that if I took a few days off my game would tank (it did), now I don't sweat it and look forward to playing with enjoyment when I want to.

Psychology studies have shown that people work with information best when they are given a chance to learn it gradually and sleep on it or otherwise have a break period before they are required to use it. This is not true for everything, a break won't help you memorize numbers unless you do so repeatedly. However, this is the case for so-called procedural knowledge, knowledge of how to perform a series of motor actions where you might not necessarily be able to verbalize what you are doing easily (i.e. tying your shoe). I knew that procedural knowledge benefited from a so-called consolidation period, but fear of having my game drop off kept me from taking breaks that probably would have only helped in the end. Breaks also keep you hungry to play the game, so you don't end up playing bored and developing bad habits.

I agree taking a break helps, but the reason you give is not correct IMO, what i believe is once you master the advance knowledge/secrets of the game you should function flawlessly anytime, but what happens is we forget an item or two of the check list that are essential in making a long shot, for argument sake say follow through; but once you take a short break say bathroom break, or get a chance to shoot couple of easy shots in the match then shoot a hard shot it seems to reset your checklist in order until you forget other item such as making sure your tip is hitting CB at intended point..and so on.
What helped me is write those check list on paper or iphone note and if i miss couple of times i pull out and read it seem to refresh the memory and help, Serena Williams, the tennis player used to do that at end of match when she misses a shot
 
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