Ranking of Pool Fundamentals

Stance should be much higher, that's where your whole aiming line comes from and also how comfortable you are when shooting. I'm guessing by stance that means the overall alignment of your legs torso arm shoulder and head. I'm surprised that's not a 10 since standing incorrectly will make the whole process of learning to shoot the cue in a straight line follow it.
 
tableroll said:
Does it matter if your head is cocked a little even though the cue is under the dominant eye? Or does one's eyes have to be parallel to the floor and the dominant eye is over the cue. My vision center is offset from the center of the pupil of my dominant eye. Vision center is closer to the corner of the eye that butts up against my nose. One pool video guy said we all know our dominant eye and it is not important in the grand scheme of playing pool. He said "vision center" is the important factor in eye/cue alignment. What do you think?
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Doesn't matter, look at the Miz or Bustamante.
 
To me, vision center and eye dominance are mutually cancelling - in pool if the cue is centered - it is not under one eye- what about cross eye dominance - a righty cannot center the cue over his left eye and have any stroke clearance whatsoever and he could not stroke straight either.

The dominant eye will always control final focus , if the final focus is as intense as it should be. The cue does not have to be directly under one eye or centered under both eyes for this to occur.
Setting up with the cue on a straight line to your aim point is the key - once you do that, if you have a straight stroke - your eyes will get you there no matter where the cue falls under your eyes.
 
tableroll said:
A BCA instructor was asked about ranking of some pool fundamentals and some pool interests. Here is how she ranked them. 10 being most important.
1. Grip tension....9
2. Stance.....2
3. Grip position...6
4. Tip close to cue ball...5
5. Stable Bridge..9
6. Chalking... 7
7. Breathing...10
8. Level cue... 8
9. Elbow drop... 4
10. Still body.. 9
11. Shooting with opposite hand...1
12.Vision Center...8
13. Able to twirl cue around...0
14. Behind the back shot. 1
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How they rollin'?

Above list feels made up.
Taught over 30 yrs #14 a gaff, and the humor

weight distribution
 
a good pool player can just walk up to a table and plop his cue down and drill in a long shot. all because his cue goes straight. not where his feet ar or where he is tilting his head. its a natural swing you get used to.

of course you can do better if more careful with getting set up.
 
Focus on the white at strike just gave me a show. Using the small triangle as break pad. It flew married to the cueball. To impact on the 3 ball rack. 🤔 interesting observation. 🤷‍♂️ Here's the result.
20250929_072956.jpg

Edit: ooops wrong thread. 🤷‍♂️
 
I've seen a few of these players, and actually getting them to really play a game is almost impossible. I guess they don't want to ruin their reputation. So i'm going with those who can't teach. I've seen a few of these online women instructors and they should go back to playing pool and not trying to teach it.
 
Straightpool_99 said:
Everything starts with alignment. If you don't have your elbow, head, cue on the line, your fundamentals will never be good.
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Well, the ellbow and cue don't have to be in line as Efren, Bustamante, Tommy Kennedy and others have demonstrated but it sure helps if it is and probably does not need as much maintenance to play well with it.
 
mikemosconi said:
On a podcast that Gorst did with Joe Rogan , Gorst ranked breathing techniques as one of the main keys to his high performance level.

Strong final focus has to be on this list- it needs to be on the list of every sport or game that involves a ball that needs to be moved or caught. The body needs to be relaxed at final execution point ( for the pool stroke that means all muscles involved with the stroke) and the eyes have to be totally focused until the stroke is fully complete.

Every great athlete who has to move or catch a ball in their sport has superior consistent ability to relax at final execution while totally focused on the object point. Without this you just cannot be a consistent champion.
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It was for these reasons and others that I started telling my students that maintaining composure is essential to playing pool well, and that yogic or other deep breathing exercises that can be done from the chair or even at the table would help with that when they feel themselves tensing up.

I've been watching a lot of matches on TV and online lately and have seen Fedor and other pros taking the breath. I've also seen their reactions after missing easy shots that indicate bafflement and exasperation. IME that happens when the player shifts primary focus from the shot to the expected outcome, getting ahead of one's self.

[edit] in case it wasn't obvious, I was referring to mental focus, not visual focus.
 
Breathing is definitely at the top of the list. I played a match one time where I didn't breathe and let's just say it didn't go well.
 
mikemosconi said:
On a podcast that Gorst did with Joe Rogan , Gorst ranked breathing techniques as one of the main keys to his high performance level.
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PoolBum said:
Breathing is definitely at the top of the list.
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I just realized something - when my aim is on (at least, "on" for my hack ass,) I'm unconsciously breathing as I would in a rifle competition - ie, fire on the natural pause between exhale & inhale. It far simplifies keeping the head & upper body still.
 
pool all that matters is the stroke is straight and hits where you aimed. how you get it there is personal

golf all that matters is the club face is square at impact. same as above.

all the other things pale against that.

as proven by many or most top pros in all sports.

as a carpenter would tell you just hit the nail on the head.
 
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maha said:
pool all that matters is the stroke is straight and hits where you aimed. how you get it there is personal

golf all that matters is the club face is square at impact. same as above.

all the other things pale against that.

as proven by many or most top pros in all sports.

as a carpenter would tell you just hit the nail on the head.
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Fedor has said it doesn't matter how good a player is, they can work to improve their fundamentals.

Repeatability is the biggest thing. More things you have working in your favor, the easier it is to achieve.
 
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