This is very true...well said imo. John B.
Pool teaching philosophy
- Thread starter Straightpool_99
- Start date
This is very true...well said imo. John B.
I tell you the real "unfortunate reality": when you see someone who is good, I mean *really good* they make the game look so damn simple you want to go out and kill yourself.
Lou Figueroa
or at least
take up bowling
You really don't think someone could stay at their own table at home,for say like 10 years hittin pool balls for like say 10 hrs a day and not become good or even maybe a champion?? And I mean without a book dvd tv or anything. Please tell me that's not what you are trying to say cause if you are,I'm calling BS
It's knockin balls in a hole on a flat surface with a stick!! It aint rocket science...Neil. John B.PS: another BS is that ol crap that people said Efren said about watching bangers.What a load of.......
TheThaiger
Banned
You really don't think someone could stay at their own table at home,for say like 10 years hittin pool balls for like say 10 hrs a day and not become good or even maybe a champion?? And I mean without a book dvd tv or anything. Please tell me that's not what you are trying to say cause if you are,I'm calling BS
PS: another BS is that ol crap that people said Efren said about watching bangers.What a load of.......
Everyone is selling something. Dreams, in this case.
As an outsider looking in, America has a huge problem with instruction. You need to agree a template and replicate it, for I'll tell you something straight, if you have instructors advocating playing standing up, you are Donald ducked as a pool playing nation.
I don't believe instruction is all that important - you've either got it or you ain't IMO - but old, outdated instruction is truly disastrous.
Trouble is, people don't know what they don't know - nor do they know any better.
I assume that's some rhyming slang in there.
On the other hand, below is an illustration from the best English billiard instruction book from a while ago. The game evolves -- but notice the forearm perpendicular at contact.
But,But... his bridge looks kind of short, it's also open,thumb pointed up, oh boy.
He did stay with the dress code
This is an interesting thread that has an interesting mix of ideas. My take is this:
While pool is not an overly physical game, the ability to play high level pool requires excellent hand eye coordination, an ability to repeat your stroke the same way over and over, and an ability to adjust your feel for different shots and tables. I would suggest that pro players have these abilities at a level that the normal person will never realize. Because of this ability, as long as they put the time in, they can hone many types of strokes and make them effective...a la Bustamante vs Hopkins vs McCready. Because of this, emulating their stroke may be reaching for something that the average person can not attain because of their lack of the abilities stated above. I think the average person will thus benefit from learning some basic fundamentals relating to stance, grip, stroke etc., leaving enough room for differences related to comfort, body type and your physical make up. I think instructors who have not played at a pro level, but have committed great amounts of time to the game, but themselves are unable to perform it at a pro level, can be very beneficial in accomplishing this for most students at many levels. They can also help with progressions into pattern play, spin, knowledge of throw, banking etc as one progresses.
That being said, I love watching the pros play and watching their patterns, strokes, ball speed etc, and feel I have learned a lot from doing that. I can remember watching Corey Deuel play Efren and picking up the simple fact of how effortless they cued, and how little power they used. That stuck with me, and my game progressed immediately that day, and has progressed at many times from watching them and emulating other things.
Their is something to be said for experience when trying to teach something. I played college baseball, and can tell you that the game was taught at another level every step I went up. I learned a lot more having played college ball than I knew after high school. Their is also something to be said for actually facing 90-95mph fastballs, and then teaching someone how to hit them, vs teaching it without ever doing so. However, I do think you can reach a level where the knowledge of the game becomes similar, and those better equipped with the tools needed to succeed move on, and the others now play once a week softball. I'm sure the vast majority of major leaguers possess more baseball knowledge than me, but just because my arm strength, bat speed, and running ability doesn't match theirs, doesn't mean I could not effectively teach the game (although I wold certainly listen to Derek Jeter tell someone how to play shortstop over me).
Pros have an ability, knowledge, and experience level related to the game that should be well respected, and carries great value to someone that wants to improve. They can likely teach certain things that the average person will never be able to teach. However, their are many people that can play the game at a level and have an understanding of the game combined with an ability to teach that can make them very effective tools for the average person to utilize in improving their game.
I guess i am making a few points here.
1. You have to be able to experience, thus play the game at a certain level to to be able to teach it.
2. Some people can overcome fundamental deficits due to their superior tools for the game. Those people probably won't be great teachers of the average student, unless they recognize that, even if they are pros.
3. Some people may be able to do something well, but not relate how to do it to another person.
I see value in both sides of the coin. I watch as much pool as I can for both the enjoyment of it, and to learn about the game. I have also taken instructions from non-pros that I felt did a lot to help my game.
While pool is not an overly physical game, the ability to play high level pool requires excellent hand eye coordination, an ability to repeat your stroke the same way over and over, and an ability to adjust your feel for different shots and tables. I would suggest that pro players have these abilities at a level that the normal person will never realize. Because of this ability, as long as they put the time in, they can hone many types of strokes and make them effective...a la Bustamante vs Hopkins vs McCready. Because of this, emulating their stroke may be reaching for something that the average person can not attain because of their lack of the abilities stated above. I think the average person will thus benefit from learning some basic fundamentals relating to stance, grip, stroke etc., leaving enough room for differences related to comfort, body type and your physical make up. I think instructors who have not played at a pro level, but have committed great amounts of time to the game, but themselves are unable to perform it at a pro level, can be very beneficial in accomplishing this for most students at many levels. They can also help with progressions into pattern play, spin, knowledge of throw, banking etc as one progresses.
That being said, I love watching the pros play and watching their patterns, strokes, ball speed etc, and feel I have learned a lot from doing that. I can remember watching Corey Deuel play Efren and picking up the simple fact of how effortless they cued, and how little power they used. That stuck with me, and my game progressed immediately that day, and has progressed at many times from watching them and emulating other things.
Their is something to be said for experience when trying to teach something. I played college baseball, and can tell you that the game was taught at another level every step I went up. I learned a lot more having played college ball than I knew after high school. Their is also something to be said for actually facing 90-95mph fastballs, and then teaching someone how to hit them, vs teaching it without ever doing so. However, I do think you can reach a level where the knowledge of the game becomes similar, and those better equipped with the tools needed to succeed move on, and the others now play once a week softball. I'm sure the vast majority of major leaguers possess more baseball knowledge than me, but just because my arm strength, bat speed, and running ability doesn't match theirs, doesn't mean I could not effectively teach the game (although I wold certainly listen to Derek Jeter tell someone how to play shortstop over me).
Pros have an ability, knowledge, and experience level related to the game that should be well respected, and carries great value to someone that wants to improve. They can likely teach certain things that the average person will never be able to teach. However, their are many people that can play the game at a level and have an understanding of the game combined with an ability to teach that can make them very effective tools for the average person to utilize in improving their game.
I guess i am making a few points here.
1. You have to be able to experience, thus play the game at a certain level to to be able to teach it.
2. Some people can overcome fundamental deficits due to their superior tools for the game. Those people probably won't be great teachers of the average student, unless they recognize that, even if they are pros.
3. Some people may be able to do something well, but not relate how to do it to another person.
I see value in both sides of the coin. I watch as much pool as I can for both the enjoyment of it, and to learn about the game. I have also taken instructions from non-pros that I felt did a lot to help my game.
I tried to do some analysis of pro players by watching the CSI 8 ball bar table tournament on youtube.
Basically I was looking for things that they all consistently do to figure out what is important and what isn't so that I can focus on that.
Instructor advice is well intentioned and has some logic to make it sound reasonable at first glance but it doesn't mean that it is important or right. All of the things you list are talked about because the instructor whats to minimize variables in your stroke and reduce the effects of bad strokes when they happen.
Take bridge length. The logic is that the closer the fulcrum is to the contact point of the cue ball the less you will be off your intended contact point on the cue ball if you inadvertently move the back of the cue stick while stroking. Sounds good, logical. But really it can just allow you to mask a cueing issue. In Mark Wilson's book, he talks about going to the Philippines and having to lengthen his bridge to power the ball around the table. When he came back to the states and resumed his normal bridge he was more accurate than ever. Maybe a longer bridge forces you to learn how to become more accurate. It will certainly provide a lot more feedback if you are snapping your hand 3 or 4 inches towards your body while you stroke.
From my watching the pros:
Bridge length doesn't matter. Bridge length averaged 12-16 inches - and they weren't doing it for power.. most position shots where less than 3 feet of movement after contact. Bridge length varied over all from 4-24inches. It is variable on a lot of different shots. Best to learn how to shoot with variable bridge length.
Elbow drop - After contact with the cue ball - doesn't matter. All of the pro's shooting forearms were perpendicular to the ground (like in the picture Bob posted earlier in this thread). This is like 1 of 5 things they were all consistent on. You can't drop your elbow ( with a level cue close to the table) before you hit the cue ball or you would hit the table with your cue. So the elbow drop you are seeing is after contact and doesn't matter one way or another. If your forearm is forward of perpendicular (hand closer to the cue ball) it is possible to have an elbow drop before contact and will play havoc with you consistently hitting the cue ball where you want on the vertical axis. (This is what I'm working on right now. And the reason why I'm shortening my bridge up. I'm basically out of cue and have to shorten my bridge to get my right forearm perpendicular else I would have to buy a new (longer) cue.) Only shortening to 12-13 inches in my case.
Spin - Pros spin the ball for sure. Even if they don't hit a rail after contact. To throw the ball just to hold a line to minimize cue ball movement. You got to learn it eventually. I say learn it early so you might better be able to understand why you miss sometimes. Wrong aim gets the blame way too often. So at least understanding that hitting off vertical center can affect where the object ball goes could help them look for more information as to why they missed when they do.
Experiment and have fun. I think if new players are trying to stay on the vertical center then they should elevate the back of their cue 6 inches. This will help provide a lot of feedback when they don't hit in the middle. They might get their cue straightened out a lot faster.
Joules
Basically I was looking for things that they all consistently do to figure out what is important and what isn't so that I can focus on that.
Instructor advice is well intentioned and has some logic to make it sound reasonable at first glance but it doesn't mean that it is important or right. All of the things you list are talked about because the instructor whats to minimize variables in your stroke and reduce the effects of bad strokes when they happen.
Take bridge length. The logic is that the closer the fulcrum is to the contact point of the cue ball the less you will be off your intended contact point on the cue ball if you inadvertently move the back of the cue stick while stroking. Sounds good, logical. But really it can just allow you to mask a cueing issue. In Mark Wilson's book, he talks about going to the Philippines and having to lengthen his bridge to power the ball around the table. When he came back to the states and resumed his normal bridge he was more accurate than ever. Maybe a longer bridge forces you to learn how to become more accurate. It will certainly provide a lot more feedback if you are snapping your hand 3 or 4 inches towards your body while you stroke.
From my watching the pros:
Bridge length doesn't matter. Bridge length averaged 12-16 inches - and they weren't doing it for power.. most position shots where less than 3 feet of movement after contact. Bridge length varied over all from 4-24inches. It is variable on a lot of different shots. Best to learn how to shoot with variable bridge length.
Elbow drop - After contact with the cue ball - doesn't matter. All of the pro's shooting forearms were perpendicular to the ground (like in the picture Bob posted earlier in this thread). This is like 1 of 5 things they were all consistent on. You can't drop your elbow ( with a level cue close to the table) before you hit the cue ball or you would hit the table with your cue. So the elbow drop you are seeing is after contact and doesn't matter one way or another. If your forearm is forward of perpendicular (hand closer to the cue ball) it is possible to have an elbow drop before contact and will play havoc with you consistently hitting the cue ball where you want on the vertical axis. (This is what I'm working on right now. And the reason why I'm shortening my bridge up. I'm basically out of cue and have to shorten my bridge to get my right forearm perpendicular else I would have to buy a new (longer) cue.) Only shortening to 12-13 inches in my case.
Spin - Pros spin the ball for sure. Even if they don't hit a rail after contact. To throw the ball just to hold a line to minimize cue ball movement. You got to learn it eventually. I say learn it early so you might better be able to understand why you miss sometimes. Wrong aim gets the blame way too often. So at least understanding that hitting off vertical center can affect where the object ball goes could help them look for more information as to why they missed when they do.
Experiment and have fun. I think if new players are trying to stay on the vertical center then they should elevate the back of their cue 6 inches. This will help provide a lot of feedback when they don't hit in the middle. They might get their cue straightened out a lot faster.
Joules
One big area Fundamentals
Fundamentals are a huge area and Ive seen it all like many of us have where people do wholly unorthodox things with their stance, stroke etc. So you ask yourself how did that happen to get in a players game?
It could be a million reasons but that doesn't make it right for you.
I don't think I want to emulate Stevie Moore's shaky stroke, but he sure has one. I think emulating the pros is a good thing to do but you have to have a little common sense about who you emulate. Pick the guy with all of the good habits....then yes emulate the pros with the best fundamentals. Once you get his habits down move on to a better player and compare the two if you choose well chances are emulating great fundamentals. I don't think you can ignore good fundamentals and emulate the chickenwing stroke or both bent knees stance. If you have to have an idol to work off of at least use just a little common sense.
Fundamentals are a huge area and Ive seen it all like many of us have where people do wholly unorthodox things with their stance, stroke etc. So you ask yourself how did that happen to get in a players game?
It could be a million reasons but that doesn't make it right for you.
I don't think I want to emulate Stevie Moore's shaky stroke, but he sure has one. I think emulating the pros is a good thing to do but you have to have a little common sense about who you emulate. Pick the guy with all of the good habits....then yes emulate the pros with the best fundamentals. Once you get his habits down move on to a better player and compare the two if you choose well chances are emulating great fundamentals. I don't think you can ignore good fundamentals and emulate the chickenwing stroke or both bent knees stance. If you have to have an idol to work off of at least use just a little common sense.
Experiment and have fun. I think if new players are trying to stay on the vertical center then they should elevate the back of their cue 6 inches. This will help provide a lot of feedback when they don't hit in the middle. They might get their cue straightened out a lot faster.
Could it be the elevation helps cancel the english effect generated by the stroke steer when hitting off center CB a bit! which appears as if they are hitting center CB!
Aiming all the way to the Pocket
I find it simply amazing in this sport that the first thing that we probably ought to learn to do which is "aim a shot" so we would have something to build our ability to "feel" the game off of. Seems to be the one thing that most of us are absolutely on our own with.
It seems we take a Outside In approach to the game while we develop this ability instead of and Inside Out. Sort of the Cart before the Horse really.
Successful execution of a shot and playing by feel is located is such a small area and some recognize where its located from the beginning and some of us never find it.
For those that seem to know what they are doing, these crazy windups are what they have to do in order to assure themselves that they can deliver to the right place perfectly and that seems to be goal of all of them.
I think its going to be really hard for a player to finalize what they do until they know for sure what they are looking for when it comes to a place to send the cue ball to. Just my humble opinion.
I find it simply amazing in this sport that the first thing that we probably ought to learn to do which is "aim a shot" so we would have something to build our ability to "feel" the game off of. Seems to be the one thing that most of us are absolutely on our own with.
It seems we take a Outside In approach to the game while we develop this ability instead of and Inside Out. Sort of the Cart before the Horse really.
Successful execution of a shot and playing by feel is located is such a small area and some recognize where its located from the beginning and some of us never find it.
For those that seem to know what they are doing, these crazy windups are what they have to do in order to assure themselves that they can deliver to the right place perfectly and that seems to be goal of all of them.
I think its going to be really hard for a player to finalize what they do until they know for sure what they are looking for when it comes to a place to send the cue ball to. Just my humble opinion.
Sometimes just changing your perception will give sudden breakthroughs in performance
I don't think it's challenging to spin balls in with outside English however, it does bring in two different variables to adjust for therefore it makes the "shot speed" more important. Also in humid conditions your stroke must be fine-tuned to spin the ball very much and still be extremely accurate.
When you spin a ball you're cutting to the right in with left English two things happen.....first the cue ball deflects slightly to the right, THEN the spin will curve it back to the left (if you shoot it too hard it deflects MORE than it spins back and if you hit it too soft it will spin back MORE than it deflects and this is tough for most players to judge consistently) .
The most important thing is to create "pocket acceptance English on the OBJECT BALL...this is done with VERY LITTLE SPIN....certainly not enough to curve it at all.
This is something that certainly isn't common knowledge and there is a whole system involved in doing it consistency (The Touch of Inside) ...so if you hear me refer to "overcutting balls", "deflecting to the short side of the pocket" or using the "three part pocket system", realize that these are just parts of the puzzle.
I learned it from something Mike Lebron said many years ago about how Efren looked at the pocket....and with a lot of work figured out the rest over the course of the next two years of playing against Efren, Hall, Sigel, Strickland, etc.... they all know how to "throw" balls in, and create more margin for error in their ball pocketing.
They also probably know better than to try to explain it in writing.....I'm just slow to learn how difficult it is to explain different perceptions and look at it as a challenge Even in a personal lesson it takes a couple of hours to truly communicate this paradigm of how to perceive the pocket as a zone, instead of just an opening, hole or target.
Sometimes just changing your perception will allow sudden breakthroughs in performance. However, to achieve this one must be willing to change certain attitudes, ideas and believes about the game.....at least be willing to "put them on a shelf" for the time being to allow the professional's information to have a chance to process.
'The Pro Game is the Teacher'
I don't think it's challenging to spin balls in with outside English however, it does bring in two different variables to adjust for therefore it makes the "shot speed" more important. Also in humid conditions your stroke must be fine-tuned to spin the ball very much and still be extremely accurate.
When you spin a ball you're cutting to the right in with left English two things happen.....first the cue ball deflects slightly to the right, THEN the spin will curve it back to the left (if you shoot it too hard it deflects MORE than it spins back and if you hit it too soft it will spin back MORE than it deflects and this is tough for most players to judge consistently) .
The most important thing is to create "pocket acceptance English on the OBJECT BALL...this is done with VERY LITTLE SPIN....certainly not enough to curve it at all.
This is something that certainly isn't common knowledge and there is a whole system involved in doing it consistency (The Touch of Inside) ...so if you hear me refer to "overcutting balls", "deflecting to the short side of the pocket" or using the "three part pocket system", realize that these are just parts of the puzzle.
I learned it from something Mike Lebron said many years ago about how Efren looked at the pocket....and with a lot of work figured out the rest over the course of the next two years of playing against Efren, Hall, Sigel, Strickland, etc.... they all know how to "throw" balls in, and create more margin for error in their ball pocketing.
They also probably know better than to try to explain it in writing.....I'm just slow to learn how difficult it is to explain different perceptions and look at it as a challenge Even in a personal lesson it takes a couple of hours to truly communicate this paradigm of how to perceive the pocket as a zone, instead of just an opening, hole or target.
Sometimes just changing your perception will allow sudden breakthroughs in performance. However, to achieve this one must be willing to change certain attitudes, ideas and believes about the game.....at least be willing to "put them on a shelf" for the time being to allow the professional's information to have a chance to process.
'The Pro Game is the Teacher'
To be fair I did practice a lot of other things that synergized my pool game
I understand the points you're making and yes, there are pros that practice 6-8 hours a day (although I have no idea how or why). Realistically there's only about 50 players in the United States that come close to this regiment.....and I believe they'd be better off spending more time on physical fitness.
Personally I never averaged over 2 hours a day of practice even when I was on top of my game (I did my fair share of gambling though). To be fair I did practice a lot of other things that synergized my pool game like martial arts, hypnosis, NLP, Zen mediation, golf, tennis mountain biking, Silva, Huna, etc.
"Pool practice does not make perfect, perfect pool practice makes perfect".
I understand the points you're making and yes, there are pros that practice 6-8 hours a day (although I have no idea how or why). Realistically there's only about 50 players in the United States that come close to this regiment.....and I believe they'd be better off spending more time on physical fitness.
Personally I never averaged over 2 hours a day of practice even when I was on top of my game (I did my fair share of gambling though). To be fair I did practice a lot of other things that synergized my pool game like martial arts, hypnosis, NLP, Zen mediation, golf, tennis mountain biking, Silva, Huna, etc.
"Pool practice does not make perfect, perfect pool practice makes perfect".
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Oh sorry there Neil must have hit a nerve eh??,lmao. Well ya got the pros doing what they do..then you have these (other) people that think they know...You can take it from here buddy.have a nice day,broJohn B.
PS: is that all you got??
CJ always talks about how great of a coach Hank Haney was for Tiger Woods.
Remind us all again how many majors Hank Haney won. Oh that's right, none.
I would agree with you, if i read your post 35 years ago; nowadays, things are different, instructors, books, dvds, youtube, AZB, and top of all, pool tables are in many more homes than ever before, pool is about in every country in the world. So i would consider cutting down the 10 and 20 years to say 2-3 years for A level, and maybe 5 for pro level if they have the time to compete. Oh forgot to say! there are many people working from homes too "working !! wink wink" :rotflmao1
;Another very interesting thread with great input.
Every Pool player has to acquire knowledge needed to play the game, no amount of knowledge may be considered "too much" and it's quite rare to acquire knowledge without learning from somewhere/somehow.
Knowledge alone is not enough and things depend on how you handle it, an "over mechanical" approach usually does not help, mainly due to excess amount of energy spent.
That has nothing to do with playing without knowing what you are doing, it has to do with allowing yourself finding solutions in most variations of the infinite kind of shots you will come up against.
This is something you won't be able to do if you need to know every single case rather than knowing the tools to figure it out.
There are two other major factors playing part in a player's progress, perception and the mental game, both needing a lot of personal work with emphasis to quality over quantity.
After this intro please allow me to repeat a quite well known saying:
"No book can substitute an instructor, no instructor can substitute personal practice and no practice can substitute competition of any form".
Now, we all know there are pros that can teach and pros that can't, as well as instructors that can teach and those that can't. Pros that can't usually don't have an appropiate theoritical background in transferring knowledge, and instructors that can't usually lack of enough perception about choices in the game.
Watching the pros is important, I'd say trying to emulate them should be done with care, you don't want to end up being a bad copy of any other player even if she/he is a pro.
After all, it's a lonely road to "perfection"...
Petros
Every Pool player has to acquire knowledge needed to play the game, no amount of knowledge may be considered "too much" and it's quite rare to acquire knowledge without learning from somewhere/somehow.
Knowledge alone is not enough and things depend on how you handle it, an "over mechanical" approach usually does not help, mainly due to excess amount of energy spent.
That has nothing to do with playing without knowing what you are doing, it has to do with allowing yourself finding solutions in most variations of the infinite kind of shots you will come up against.
This is something you won't be able to do if you need to know every single case rather than knowing the tools to figure it out.
There are two other major factors playing part in a player's progress, perception and the mental game, both needing a lot of personal work with emphasis to quality over quantity.
After this intro please allow me to repeat a quite well known saying:
"No book can substitute an instructor, no instructor can substitute personal practice and no practice can substitute competition of any form".
Now, we all know there are pros that can teach and pros that can't, as well as instructors that can teach and those that can't. Pros that can't usually don't have an appropiate theoritical background in transferring knowledge, and instructors that can't usually lack of enough perception about choices in the game.
Watching the pros is important, I'd say trying to emulate them should be done with care, you don't want to end up being a bad copy of any other player even if she/he is a pro.
After all, it's a lonely road to "perfection"...
Petros
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I am going to try to give an honest opinion hopefully without offending anyone too much, but the truth does sometimes hurt.
1) Hank Haney has instructed students who have won every major championship in golf. This accomplishment goes a long way in producing credibility.
2) Becoming a world class player yourself goes a long way in producing credibility. If a player like this tells me something then I will consider it much harder than say if a c player instructs me.
3) Now when someone plays at a b level tops and has never produced any great players goes to chirping about being a master instructor, they don't receive the same credibility from me as the ones who have done more to earn their credibility. Then when the instructor preaches that pros cant teach. They lose all credibility in my eyes.
I personally have seen a "good" player mentor a player who became great so I know there are those who can teach better than they can play. I am not going to say that is untrue. But that good player really knew his stuff.
I have also seen some good players go on the road with great players and the great player did in fact teach the good player to become great, so I don't buy into the players cant teach philosophy either. The pros know what does what when stroking a ball and they know the mindset needed to win and they know the strategies to get there and all of those they can and have taught. Maybe a guy like Shane is not as well spoken and a "professional instructor" can use that as a way to market himself as being the guy you want to come to if you have a question, but I know if I had a question I was searching for an answer to and I had access to both Shane and the "professional instructor" who can not play and has never taught anyone how to play world class, I'm going to Shane for my answer. He is the one I trust knows the correct answer.
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Performing a task and teaching it are 2 different animals. There are MANY that play great but have no idea of how to convey it to others. There are also MANY who while they play quite proficiently are not world class players but understand how to convey the principles of world class play to others & do so very successfully. When you find one who can play world class & they also understand how to convey it to others then you really have something special.
There are millions of teachers in schools all over the world teaching science, math, physics, you name it; they all are not trusted teachers because they did not produce rocket scientist, or Nobel prize winners?
Teachers/instructors show you the road, you have to drive your way every day! set and reach goals, and try to reach the stars.
Thats pretty much spot on. Great post!
Average level players arguing with a professional pool player about what it takes to play professional pool is laughable at best.
Chuck