See you in a while.
A little update
- Thread starter SamLambert
- Start date
See you in a while.
edited. I'm done.
Last edited:
Sam...You can still contact me via email: poolology@aol.com
Shawn Armstrong...You don't know anything about how our pool school works, or anything about Randyg as an instructor...other than the huge accolades posted here by students. We're not talking about just any instructor, but one of the best in the world, hands down.
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Shawn Armstrong...You don't know anything about how our pool school works, or anything about Randyg as an instructor...other than the huge accolades posted here by students. We're not talking about just any instructor, but one of the best in the world, hands down.
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Yes, he must have been approaching it all wrong.
He only had a pro as an instructor, good equipment, read as much as he could, spent 20, 30, 40 hours a week practicing, etc, etc, etc. On top of that he reached out to the largest pool playing community on the Internet to critique his play and squeeze everything he could out of it.
Say what you will about playing "pro speed" NOT BEING A PRO being an achievable goal, sam worked his a$$ off and used every resource he could find. What if he said shortstop speed? Would that have stopped all this bickering?
I think a lot of true colors have been shown and I'm not talking about Sam.
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
Yeah I still think I can reach pro speed in 5 yrs! Lol
U won't ever know cuz u quit.
Burn out on pool? Never
Shortstop speed. Waaaaay more achievable in 5 years yet still insanely tough. He was basically at this a year and from looking at his most recent videos reached a low B skill at best. Now sure in the pool world, low B isnt really anything, but to get there in less then a year is impressive.
Along the lines of "good equipment" though, I think Sam kinda fell into a trap there getting super shafts, black ferrules, etc etc instead of just focusing on his game and fundamentals. I think that kind of contributes to the burn out. He spent a lot of money, fast, on decent equipment, table time, and lessons. Most people work there way up to that level of equipment... kinda like having something to look forward too. He goes with it right out of the gates. I also think he had some level of expectation of it making him play better than what it did.
Yesterday I almost quoted Sam's first post and responded with:
"Translation: After nearly a year of intense effort with all the best resources I now realize I have neither the talent nor the perseverance to become a pro within 5 years, but instead of being humble enough to admit to being wrong, or learning any lessons from it, I am going to make excuses and stop trying, because people can never say you tried and failed if you stop trying." It was all about trying to save face.
I refrained but it looks like many or most see it the same way. He just seemed like a real narcissist who thought he was somehow special and different than everyone else and that the one in a million chances didn't apply to him because he was a superhuman like that who was so much more superior in every way to mere humans. Confidence is good, but so is maintaining a grasp on truth and reality.
The truth is that becoming a true pro level player takes both exceptional talent and as well as great dedication and determination. Few people truly have either one of those in the necessary amounts, and very, very (insert a few more very's here) few people have both.
"Translation: After nearly a year of intense effort with all the best resources I now realize I have neither the talent nor the perseverance to become a pro within 5 years, but instead of being humble enough to admit to being wrong, or learning any lessons from it, I am going to make excuses and stop trying, because people can never say you tried and failed if you stop trying." It was all about trying to save face.
I refrained but it looks like many or most see it the same way. He just seemed like a real narcissist who thought he was somehow special and different than everyone else and that the one in a million chances didn't apply to him because he was a superhuman like that who was so much more superior in every way to mere humans. Confidence is good, but so is maintaining a grasp on truth and reality.
The truth is that becoming a true pro level player takes both exceptional talent and as well as great dedication and determination. Few people truly have either one of those in the necessary amounts, and very, very (insert a few more very's here) few people have both.
The shortstop comment was because I think what Sam was getting at is that he wanted to get as good as possible and set a goal for himself. He never wanted to be a pro. Never said he wanted to be a pro.
For all intents and purposes on his end he probably could have said play 'shortstop' speed. Some people on here read 'play pro speed' and thougjt he wanted to have a life playing pro pool. They immediately went off the deep end and started railroading Sam.
Shoot for the stars and if you only make it to the moon that's fine but if you only aim for the moon you will probably never leave the ground.
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
I think a couple of others who came across as real assholes in their posts oughta get the ban hammer also. Just my opinion of course.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought " pro speed " is exactly what he has always said?
Was there malicous P.M.s or something cause far worse has been said many times? Guess we will probably never know?
Here is what you are missing. Many of us don't believe your reason. Many of us have played many, many years of pool and have also seen every type of person in our lives. Frankly, what you "say" as the reason doesn't mean much, because as most pool players know, talk is cheap.
Having a goal of playing pro-speed and then saying that the reason you stopped was because you are burnt out, frankly is so unreasonable, I can't believe anyone is buying it. Most people realize that to become a "pro" in anything takes extreme dedication and perseverance.
I would contend that if you are the type of person that can become burnt out rather easily, there is no way you could become a pro in anything. I mean, if you stopped playing COMPLETELY two months ago -- that means you have entirely given up on the very thing that you wanted to play at the highest level!
It's almost as if I would pick a hobby, like knitting, something that there is a good chance I wouldn't like to do, and say that I want to become a pro knitter. I've played pool every day for two years, and I am definitely not burnt out. Either you picked the wrong sport, you're really not burnt out, or what I suspect is true -- you don't have the talent that you thought that you had.
Why is no one laying the blame where it belongs?
WITH THE PROS!
Thorston, john, and neils running 2-300 for fun
Espn ladies playing near perfect 9ball
Scott, efren, and tony moving 5 balls across and freezing the opponent to the stack
Over,and over again
Its clearly an easy game
B.s. is all im saying, I blame the pros
WITH THE PROS!
Thorston, john, and neils running 2-300 for fun
Espn ladies playing near perfect 9ball
Scott, efren, and tony moving 5 balls across and freezing the opponent to the stack
Over,and over again
Its clearly an easy game
B.s. is all im saying, I blame the pros
There is no confusion about what "pro speed" means, although Sam did eventually back pedal a bit and say he only wanted to be lower tier pro level.
Dreaming and shooting for the stars is good, but only if you are aware of the odds and realities and make an educated decision to take the risk. When you don't bother to educate yourself about the true odds and realities of things, no matter what it is, you will end up wasting lots of time and money in your life. There has to be balance between dreaming and dealing with reality.
Anyone have a link to his videos? I'd like to see his progression.
"If you’re serious about a goal, you may want to call off the presses and hold the social posts until you’ve made some real progress with the whole endeavor."
https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself?language=en
https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself?language=en
Your goal of achieving a high playing level while maintaining having fun is internally contradictory. It is precisely when something is NOT fun anymore and it has become work and someone pushes through anyway, that they demonstrate that it was something real, not some silly fantasy. The world is full of people who quit when it stops being fun, whatever "it" is.. They are not the high achievers.
And despite what you may think that is not a put down. It is reality. It is very very hard to be great at anything, Very few people can do it and that is why there are so few people who are great at what they do. And most of them are so driven that they almost can't help themselves. But if it burns out, it was never really passion or ganas in the first place.
Now be honest with yourself, does any of that sound like you? There is no shame in it. The only shame is if you didn't learn something useful from this, And I'm not talking about pool technique.
To be quite honest, when you wrote this it was obvious to anyone who really thought about it. It is why I said in that other thread, you never excelled because when it got hard (i.e., stopped being"fun) you quit) But pool is different. These were your own words and here they are from one of your earliest posts in the initial thread. But now you are giving up because it stopped being fun. You want the glory but can;t or won;t do the work.
You did know yourself and pool is not different.
Last edited:
There is a certain sense in which that very goal is kind of insulting to all of the players who actually HAVE achieved that level of play.