As a practice experiment, I will start streaming all my practice sessions

SamLambert

SamLambert

Daydreaming about pool
Silver Member
Hello AZB!

Yesterday I had a really great practice lesson with Sylvain. One thing that we definitely noticed together is that my best game comes out when playing with some challenge.

So as an experiment, I will start streaming all my practice sessions. The goal of this is to prevent me from messing around during practice. I certainly don't want to look like a goof and so that would more likely force me to take my time and try for a good shot everytime. I think this will add a pressure similar to that of Sylvain challenging me to do something.

I certainly don't expect to have many viewers if any at all, but I also don't plan to look at the "viewers" count, so that I never know if someone is actually watching or not, and thus should always try my best regardless.


Link to the stream : https://youtu.be/HoHxDfeNqxE

Usual practice time (EST) :
- Monday/Tuesday/Friday : 16:30 to whenever I'm tired
- Wednesday : 16:30 to 19:00
- Thursday : Lesson with Sylvain & weekly tournament so no streaming
- Weekends are relatively random, usually morning and/or afternoon
 
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Way to go, that's confidence!
I always say:
Success breeds Confidence
Confidence breeds Success.

I'll try to watch a few, maybe I can learn something.
 
SamLambert said:
Hello AZB!

Yesterday I had a really great practice lesson with Sylvain. One thing that we definitely noticed together is that my best game comes out when playing with some challenge.

So as an experiment, I will start streaming all my practice sessions. The goal of this is to prevent me from messing around during practice. I certainly don't want to look like a goof and so that would more likely force me to take my time and try for a good shot everytime. I think this will add a pressure similar to that of Sylvain challenging me to do something.

I certainly don't expect to have many viewers if any at all, but I also don't plan to look at the "viewers" count, so that I never know if someone is actually watching or not, and thus should always try my best regardless.


Link to the stream : http://www.ustream.tv/channel/qKPNNbqhmdz

Usual practice time (EST) :
- Monday/Tuesday/Friday : 16:30 to whenever I'm tired
- Wednesday : 16:30 to 19:00
- Thursday : Lesson with Sylvain & weekly tournament so no streaming
- Weekends are relatively random, usually morning and/or afternoon
Click to expand...


Awesome, I'll try to tune in a few times.
 
SamLambert said:
Hello AZB!

Yesterday I had a really great practice lesson with Sylvain. One thing that we definitely noticed together is that my best game comes out when playing with some challenge.

So as an experiment, I will start streaming all my practice sessions. The goal of this is to prevent me from messing around during practice. I certainly don't want to look like a goof and so that would more likely force me to take my time and try for a good shot everytime. I think this will add a pressure similar to that of Sylvain challenging me to do something.

I certainly don't expect to have many viewers if any at all, but I also don't plan to look at the "viewers" count, so that I never know if someone is actually watching or not, and thus should always try my best regardless.


Link to the stream : http://www.ustream.tv/channel/qKPNNbqhmdz

Usual practice time (EST) :
- Monday/Tuesday/Friday : 16:30 to whenever I'm tired
- Wednesday : 16:30 to 19:00
- Thursday : Lesson with Sylvain & weekly tournament so no streaming
- Weekends are relatively random, usually morning and/or afternoon
Click to expand...

Keep at it!

Buy "The Pro Book" by Bob Henning, or "Modern Pool" by Ralph Eckert. Work on the standard/reference shots. Work smarter, not harder.

Good luck!
 
I'm watching you do the line-up drill. I understand the frustration of missing. But, you have to learn to not get frustrated. This is practice. You are to always learn from practice. One of the biggest things to learn is, why did you miss? Fine, you missed, but WHY? What caused that miss? Was it your aim, your improper fundamentals, your inattention to detail, ect. WHY?

Without learning the whys, you are only dooming yourself to repeat the same mistake again very soon.
 
Neil said:
I'm watching you do the line-up drill. I understand the frustration of missing. But, you have to learn to not get frustrated. This is practice. You are to always learn from practice. One of the biggest things to learn is, why did you miss? Fine, you missed, but WHY? What caused that miss? Was it your aim, your improper fundamentals, your inattention to detail, ect. WHY?

Without learning the whys, you are only dooming yourself to repeat the same mistake again very soon.
Click to expand...

Very true Neil, another thing is you may not see the benefits of your practice session that day, week or even month but it will show up down the road.

I am watching you play the five ball ghost and Casper is owning you, but your not giving up. Playing the Ghost is a great drill and will take you far but take it seriously and finish the set even if you are way down on the score.

The seven ball Ghost and I have been at it all day and I am afraid to say he is ahead but I did win the last match:grin:
 
Neil said:
I'm watching you do the line-up drill. I understand the frustration of missing. But, you have to learn to not get frustrated. This is practice. You are to always learn from practice. One of the biggest things to learn is, why did you miss? Fine, you missed, but WHY? What caused that miss? Was it your aim, your improper fundamentals, your inattention to detail, ect. WHY?



Without learning the whys, you are only dooming yourself to repeat the same mistake again very soon.
Click to expand...


Thanks Neil. This is great advice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Watching some of your practice on kick shots. What are you trying to accomplish there? You set up a shot, try and two rail kick for the hit. You don't come close with it. Then you immediately set up a different kick shot.

You learned next to nothing doing it that way. If you don't hit the shot, set it back up and shoot it again until you figure out how to hit the ball. When you leave the shot, you want it in your head how to hit it, not how to miss it.

Eventually, you will get to the point that you learn how to hit it every time, not just once. You do that by not moving on after a good hit, but by shooting the same shot over and over until you own that shot.

(for the one and two rail kicks, there are some easy to learn systems that will make it much easier to get the hit)
 
Neil said:
Watching some of your practice on kick shots. What are you trying to accomplish there? You set up a shot, try and two rail kick for the hit. You don't come close with it. Then you immediately set up a different kick shot.



You learned next to nothing doing it that way. If you don't hit the shot, set it back up and shoot it again until you figure out how to hit the ball. When you leave the shot, you want it in your head how to hit it, not how to miss it.



Eventually, you will get to the point that you learn how to hit it every time, not just once. You do that by not moving on after a good hit, but by shooting the same shot over and over until you own that shot.



(for the one and two rail kicks, there are some easy to learn systems that will make it much easier to get the hit)
Click to expand...


Thanks again for the good advice Neil. This drill came from Sylvain after practicing kick shots with him. There is no reason really for not retrying a missed kick here. Sylvain just told me that if I missed I should go back to 1 rail and retry to move up to 4-5 rails. mostly to develop my kick shot intuition. I am aware of the mirror method and such to kick, I very often use it! Works very well.

I could indeed just retry every missed kick shot until I get it, but it would be a bit different in it’s purpose ’as a drill then! Although I do retry them sometimes. I think I will retry them more often after reading your reply.
 
SamLambert said:
Hello AZB!

Yesterday I had a really great practice lesson with Sylvain. One thing that we definitely noticed together is that my best game comes out when playing with some challenge.

So as an experiment, I will start streaming all my practice sessions. The goal of this is to prevent me from messing around during practice. I certainly don't want to look like a goof and so that would more likely force me to take my time and try for a good shot everytime. I think this will add a pressure similar to that of Sylvain challenging me to do something.

I certainly don't expect to have many viewers if any at all, but I also don't plan to look at the "viewers" count, so that I never know if someone is actually watching or not, and thus should always try my best regardless.


Link to the stream : http://www.ustream.tv/channel/qKPNNbqhmdz

Usual practice time (EST) :
- Monday/Tuesday/Friday : 16:30 to whenever I'm tired
- Wednesday : 16:30 to 19:00
- Thursday : Lesson with Sylvain & weekly tournament so no streaming
- Weekends are relatively random, usually morning and/or afternoon
Click to expand...

This is exactly why some of us in the know here strongly advocate gambling if you truly want to get better. BTW, didn't u just say u were quitting AZB? ALL good brother glad to have you here. I will not be watching your practice but good luck none the less!
 
If you really want any shot at being pro in 5 years, you better stop the nonsense right now and get serious. What I mean by that, is NEVER hit ANY shot without giving it thought on just what you want to accomplish with the shot, and without giving it the attention to detail that it requires.

You want certain things ingrained into your subconscious, and certain other things to never enter it. One of the big things you want in it is to perform each shot the same way whenever possible. That means a solid PSR that you don't deviate from on SOP shots, thought given on what you want to accomplish, attention to all details of the shot, both before, during, and after.

NEVER just hit balls around to kill time like you are now doing. That is not proper practice, that is ingraining being sloppy at the table. Being sloppy only holds you back.
 
BmoreMoney said:
This is exactly why some of us in the know here strongly advocate gambling if you truly want to get better. BTW, didn't u just say u were quitting AZB? ALL good brother glad to have you here. I will not be watching your practice but good luck none the less!
Click to expand...


Not quitting, just not active as much as I initially was.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Neil said:
If you really want any shot at being pro in 5 years, you better stop the nonsense right now and get serious. What I mean by that, is NEVER hit ANY shot without giving it thought on just what you want to accomplish with the shot, and without giving it the attention to detail that it requires.



You want certain things ingrained into your subconscious, and certain other things to never enter it. One of the big things you want in it is to perform each shot the same way whenever possible. That means a solid PSR that you don't deviate from on SOP shots, thought given on what you want to accomplish, attention to all details of the shot, both before, during, and after.



NEVER just hit balls around to kill time like you are now doing. That is not proper practice, that is ingraining being sloppy at the table. Being sloppy only holds you back.
Click to expand...


Thanks Neil. I will make sure to keep all of this in mind for future practice sessions.
 
SamLambert said:
Thanks again for the good advice Neil. This drill came from Sylvain after practicing kick shots with him. There is no reason really for not retrying a missed kick here. Sylvain just told me that if I missed I should go back to 1 rail and retry to move up to 4-5 rails. mostly to develop my kick shot intuition. I am aware of the mirror method and such to kick, I very often use it! Works very well.

I could indeed just retry every missed kick shot until I get it, but it would be a bit different in it’s purpose ’as a drill then! Although I do retry them sometimes. I think I will retry them more often after reading your reply.
Click to expand...

Here's something I posted years ago, and Dr. Dave added to his site here- http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/drills.html#why

Doing fundamental drills will "groove" your stroke. Without a repeatable, straight stroke, all else is nothing more than a crap shoot.

Doing pocketing drills will increase your confidence and ability in making balls. It will also show you which shots are low percentage for you.

Doing pocketing drills combined with positional drills will increase your confidence and abilities in pocketing and positional play.

Playing the ghost will enable you to take your individual skills and combine them. It will teach you pressure. It will teach you how shots tie in together. It will teach you the best routes to take to make things as simple as possible.

Doing drills will enable you to set up the same shot, and see exactly where you had a problem with it. Is it a shot that you feel you should make most of the time, but in reality you actually make less than 50% and didn't even realize it?

In any case, drills, or playing the ghost, will do you little good if your goal is just to perform the drill a set number of times. The drills are to reinforce your muscles and your subconscious on how exactly to perform it. So that under pressure, you will perform as you trained. During drills, you should be paying very close attention to details. ALL the details, so you can actually learn something and improve.

To those that think drills are a waste of time- good luck with that. Don't be surprised when in 10 years you find out you aren't much better than you are now.
 
Neil said:
Here's something I posted years ago, and Dr. Dave added to his site here- http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/drills.html#why

Doing fundamental drills will "groove" your stroke. Without a repeatable, straight stroke, all else is nothing more than a crap shoot.

Doing pocketing drills will increase your confidence and ability in making balls. It will also show you which shots are low percentage for you.

Doing pocketing drills combined with positional drills will increase your confidence and abilities in pocketing and positional play.

Playing the ghost will enable you to take your individual skills and combine them. It will teach you pressure. It will teach you how shots tie in together. It will teach you the best routes to take to make things as simple as possible.

Doing drills will enable you to set up the same shot, and see exactly where you had a problem with it. Is it a shot that you feel you should make most of the time, but in reality you actually make less than 50% and didn't even realize it?

In any case, drills, or playing the ghost, will do you little good if your goal is just to perform the drill a set number of times. The drills are to reinforce your muscles and your subconscious on how exactly to perform it. So that under pressure, you will perform as you trained. During drills, you should be paying very close attention to details. ALL the details, so you can actually learn something and improve.

To those that think drills are a waste of time- good luck with that. Don't be surprised when in 10 years you find out you aren't much better than you are now.
Click to expand...

In regards to your last paragraph, regardless of technique or drills is it not true that at some point ALL players will reach a ceiling?
 
Neil said:
Here's something I posted years ago, and Dr. Dave added to his site here- http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/drills.html#why

Doing fundamental drills will "groove" your stroke. Without a repeatable, straight stroke, all else is nothing more than a crap shoot.

Doing pocketing drills will increase your confidence and ability in making balls. It will also show you which shots are low percentage for you.

Doing pocketing drills combined with positional drills will increase your confidence and abilities in pocketing and positional play.

Playing the ghost will enable you to take your individual skills and combine them. It will teach you pressure. It will teach you how shots tie in together. It will teach you the best routes to take to make things as simple as possible.

Doing drills will enable you to set up the same shot, and see exactly where you had a problem with it. Is it a shot that you feel you should make most of the time, but in reality you actually make less than 50% and didn't even realize it?

In any case, drills, or playing the ghost, will do you little good if your goal is just to perform the drill a set number of times. The drills are to reinforce your muscles and your subconscious on how exactly to perform it. So that under pressure, you will perform as you trained. During drills, you should be paying very close attention to details. ALL the details, so you can actually learn something and improve.

To those that think drills are a waste of time- good luck with that. Don't be surprised when in 10 years you find out you aren't much better than you are now.
Click to expand...

Excellent post. I always like to quote Michael Jordan who said that the difference between the regular pro players and the superstars is knowledge of the fundamentals.
 
BmoreMoney said:
In regards to your last paragraph, regardless of technique or drills is it not true that at some point ALL players will reach a ceiling?
Click to expand...

I believe that only happens when they stop learning. They usually do that when they are satisfied with their level of play or lose interest. I believe ceilings are self imposed.
 
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