Who here has honestly hit a million balls?
And I'm talking about pool balls.
And I'm talking about pool balls.
Who has gone HAMB here?
- Thread starter Darkridder
- Start date
I seriously doubt, Dark, that anyone has counted the number of balls they have hit so I'm assuming you mean a ballpark figure, right?
Well, by my precise calculations I've hit somewhere in the neighborhood of eight hundred and thirty-five balls.
Now, I know that doesn't sound like very many balls, but I don't win that often so I'm not at the table that much.
Well, by my precise calculations I've hit somewhere in the neighborhood of eight hundred and thirty-five balls.
Now, I know that doesn't sound like very many balls, but I don't win that often so I'm not at the table that much.
Tramp, you do know when you go HAMB Your ferrule turns a shiny gold color, right?
Ok, let's fire out some numbers here....
I don't have a crazy long pre shot routine, but I'm still at a point where there is some thought and strategy time in between shots.
If I'm heavy into drills, I could pull off about 7 good shots a minute (depending on the drill, could be less) but I'll go with seven.
In an hour of table time, I would say 300 balls could be hit solid (whether they are all made is another issue).
On average, the last I checked in my training book, I'm around 9 hours a week of serious training (not playing with friends or going lightly).
So I'm ball park 2,700 balls a week. I started keeping records back in December of 2014. So in the last seven months I could say I hit 75,600 balls the right way. If I keep up this pace, on December I will have hit 140,400 for the year. And in 7.5 years, I'll be able to officially say I have HAMB.
I don't have a crazy long pre shot routine, but I'm still at a point where there is some thought and strategy time in between shots.
If I'm heavy into drills, I could pull off about 7 good shots a minute (depending on the drill, could be less) but I'll go with seven.
In an hour of table time, I would say 300 balls could be hit solid (whether they are all made is another issue).
On average, the last I checked in my training book, I'm around 9 hours a week of serious training (not playing with friends or going lightly).
So I'm ball park 2,700 balls a week. I started keeping records back in December of 2014. So in the last seven months I could say I hit 75,600 balls the right way. If I keep up this pace, on December I will have hit 140,400 for the year. And in 7.5 years, I'll be able to officially say I have HAMB.
Probably hit well over a million balls...aint saying I've made that many though...
ElCorazonFrio
Banned
I'd say that you are probably a bit generous on your estimation of 300 per hour as an average, but even if it were half of that, you'd still only be looking at about 6700hrs of playing. I played more hours than that while I was in college...forget about the six years before (literally just shooting balls, I didn't know anyone else who played) or all the time since.
Playing the ghost, or drills such as PAT level 1 small area position, 5 shots a minute is well within reach. Same for bowlliards. At the end of 2 hours, I'm exhausted mentally. But it can't always be five shots a minute....depending on the drill, out could be less. And I have to be realistic on my training time, if I lie and bump up the numbers I'm only short changing myself. So there's plenty of hours that I'm not going full out and I'll only give myself half hour credit.
Assuming ~ 50 balls hit /hr (just counting object balls that i intend to hit)
At an average of 10 hrs/ week for the the last 7 years Im looking at approximately 182,002 balls hit.
no wonder I get cant past C.
I would do drills, but thats only going to lower my balls hit per hour.
At an average of 10 hrs/ week for the the last 7 years Im looking at approximately 182,002 balls hit.
no wonder I get cant past C.
I would do drills, but thats only going to lower my balls hit per hour.
ElCorazonFrio
Banned
Sounds good to me, I mostly wanted to make sure people realistically think about their numbers instead of using your pace...which seems well thought out for you.
I've easily hit a million. In college, I played roughly 10 hours a day with probably 250 balls an hour average (rack of 8 ball solo would take me around 3 minutes) and I'm still being safe with this number. I was on campus for 8 months (roughly 240 days), and 2500 per day for 240 days is 600,000.
The year I played before going to Green Bay, and the few months I've been home; that 400,000 is busted for sure.
Problem is, most of those million were not focused. Only the latter portion were. So, U probably got to a million in the span of two and half years.
But, I may be off by a bit on the campus/college time. I did have many 10-14 hour days of pool, and others I was living life or with my gf. Monday nights were tournament nights at KKs. I'm still pretty close to a million. Kinda wish I knew for sure
The year I played before going to Green Bay, and the few months I've been home; that 400,000 is busted for sure.
Problem is, most of those million were not focused. Only the latter portion were. So, U probably got to a million in the span of two and half years.
But, I may be off by a bit on the campus/college time. I did have many 10-14 hour days of pool, and others I was living life or with my gf. Monday nights were tournament nights at KKs. I'm still pretty close to a million. Kinda wish I knew for sure
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I'm tackling the training like an apprenticeship for a union, you have to log so many work hours until you can be considered for advancement to journeyman. But for specialized aspects of the work, you can only get credit when you are specifically doing that work. In my experience working on high voltage power lines, while an apprentice, there may have been a 10 hour work day, but I had my hands on live power lines/bucket time for a total of three hours. So in my log book, I could only get three hours of hot time credit. By the end of four years, you were supposed to have a thousand hours of Hot time and therefore be ready for the final skills test and advancement to journeyman.
My thought was if I could lateral that time keeping regiment over to the pool table, I could have some idea where I'm at, and where I should be.
I'd be surprised if I haven't hit a million balls. I've played pool for about 22 years now. For the majority of that time, I've been really into drills. Plus, many of the drills I do involved throwing out the balls and running, either running a certain number or starting over, or else doing some drill until I complete it, or starting over. I use those pocket reducers sometimes, and will run all 15 until I run out. Sometimes that takes 1 or 2 tries, sometimes it takes hours. I play lots of tourneys, and hit balls between matches quite a bit.
I wonder what my lifetime ball pocketing percentage is haha!!
KMRUNOUT
I wonder what my lifetime ball pocketing percentage is haha!!
KMRUNOUT
I think the million balls is just an expression.
I feel it takes much fewer shots, maybe less than 10k total, to learn how to make most shots, with position.
If we start with a C level player that knows the basics of how the balls react and decent fundamentals, he can probably learn a troublesome shot by setting it up 10 times with doughnuts.
Then make small variations to the shot (speed, tip placement on CB, distance) and shoot 10 more shots within each variation.
I've done this with a series of shots. Just keep adjusting my aim until it pockets cleanly. It works for me.
I set up a shot with doughnuts. There are 9 tip positions. Center, low, high, left, low left, high left, right, low right, high right. And 3 speeds: slow, med, hard. For a total of 270 shots to learn one set of OB/CB positions and what every possible hit and speed can achieve. (Of course not every possible, but enough to learn the shot fully).
Now the next step is to repeat the same shot but with a longer CB distance. I'm trying for increments of 1 diamond and repeating the above. So let's say each diamond is 270 more shots, and we test 5 diamonds total. 1350 shots later and you will know every variation of that shot.
Repeat the same exact thing but vary the cut angle. Let's say 10 total cut angles. That takes us to 10 cut angles x 1350 shots per angle. = 13,500 shots.
I really feel this is very systematic and you will learn how to hit the ball by trial and error and play much better for it.
I'm currently only at the 270 mark and I got lazy
My goal is to get to the 13,500 mark.
I feel it takes much fewer shots, maybe less than 10k total, to learn how to make most shots, with position.
If we start with a C level player that knows the basics of how the balls react and decent fundamentals, he can probably learn a troublesome shot by setting it up 10 times with doughnuts.
Then make small variations to the shot (speed, tip placement on CB, distance) and shoot 10 more shots within each variation.
I've done this with a series of shots. Just keep adjusting my aim until it pockets cleanly. It works for me.
I set up a shot with doughnuts. There are 9 tip positions. Center, low, high, left, low left, high left, right, low right, high right. And 3 speeds: slow, med, hard. For a total of 270 shots to learn one set of OB/CB positions and what every possible hit and speed can achieve. (Of course not every possible, but enough to learn the shot fully).
Now the next step is to repeat the same shot but with a longer CB distance. I'm trying for increments of 1 diamond and repeating the above. So let's say each diamond is 270 more shots, and we test 5 diamonds total. 1350 shots later and you will know every variation of that shot.
Repeat the same exact thing but vary the cut angle. Let's say 10 total cut angles. That takes us to 10 cut angles x 1350 shots per angle. = 13,500 shots.
I really feel this is very systematic and you will learn how to hit the ball by trial and error and play much better for it.
I'm currently only at the 270 mark and I got lazy
My goal is to get to the 13,500 mark.
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On and off for over 40 so I would also be betting I am over
1 million
Some I actually pocketed !
hit a million?
hit a million? hell, I have missed a million and I have likely hit close to 10 million in my 55 years of playing.
hit a million? hell, I have missed a million and I have likely hit close to 10 million in my 55 years of playing.
That's also what Tor says...a couple hundred thousand balls hit the right way instead of a million balls hit the wrong way.
This was the subject of quite a debate here a while back, so why not rekindle it.
That's also what Tor says...a couple hundred thousand balls hit the right way instead of a million balls hit the wrong way.
This was the subject of quite a debate here a while back, so why not rekindle it.
If i could hit'm right to begin with i wouldnt need to hit ANY more.