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I agree. So could Shaw. 🤣 Seriously, I have top respect for Mosconi. I understand that for a modern day player to pick one aspect of the game (offense only) with favorable conditions and unlimited tries doesn't prove that they play better straight pool than he does. It's akin to a player...

As I've said, my best pool has been under pressure, as has my worst. I've seen every top player from Varner and Sigel and Strickland and Reyes to Soquet and Alex and SVB and Albin and Dennis melt down at times due to pressure. Either you are better than them, or you don't compete in as high of...

One attempt? Mosconi played straight pool full time for 40 years! I get it. He was at an exhibition and they asked him to continue that one run. I get it. But to say someone gets one attempt to beat his run is a little bit of a misrepresentation. And I know "Players back in his day didn't...

Thanks for the thoughtful replies. Half of my posts are directed to myself. I've been hitting the balls well in practice but haven't been in enough competition this year. My bootcamps have been very busy (thank you for the support to those who have come and trained with me!) but I overbooked...

Pressure can definitely improve performance. All of my best performances have been under pressure. The thing is, all of my worst performances have been under pressure too. You take the good with the bad. My point is that too many people want to get the good without the bad. That didn’t work...

I couldn't agree more. Fundamentals are ONE LINK in a chain. Yes, I can hear the people screaming now that without a straight stroke nothing matters. Yes. True. Fundamentals are required. That said, the vast majority of people spend way too much time working on this one link at the neglect...

I agree with both points, however the risk is to lose the main purpose of my thread. It is true that experiencing ONLY defeat can be a negative. Confidence is built through incrementally greater successes, and to have a diet of ONLY loss would be detrimental. And it is also true that with a...

Yes, it's a balance. Funny thing about balance. It's easy to fall out of balance if we lack awareness. Just like it's easy for me to not have enough vegetables and have too many empty carbs. What I am trying to do is create that awareness among competitors. Pressure can be so uncomfortable...

That's it. I've watched all the top players break down due to pressure. SVB, Shaw, Alex, Ralf, etc. In my view melting down is like missing, totally part of the game, and the only way to stop doing it is to stop playing.

I'm sure there are exceptions. Maybe every few thousand people there is someone with a brain that is wired a little differently. I think that was the case in the Alex Honnold, the climber featured in Free Solo. This could be you. Generally when people tell me they don't struggle with...

Nothing wrong with that Tennessee! There are a lot of ways to enjoy this game and competition is only one of them. I totally respect those who simply enjoy the game for what it is without attaching undue importance to external results. Many of us do enjoy the competition, and that is who I...

I believe it was Titanic Thompson who said "Put a balance beam one foot off the ground and anyone in this room can run across it. Put that same balance beam fifty feet in the air and no one in this room can walk across it." He was referring, of course, to how competitive pressure can...

Some funny stuff. At 0:30 I think he was trying to get to the side rail for the second rail and go five rails, and he fluked into the shot. Or was he playing this strange pattern? He gave a little wave as if it was a fluke, and that is a really strange way to play that shot. But then at 2:03...

BBB is spot on. Asking who would win in 9 ball between Mosconi and Filler is like asking who would win at golf between Mickey Mantel and Tiger Woods.

100% agreed. If we took Mosconi and dropped him into today's world unprepared with no experience playing Texas Express 9 ball, no break knowledge, underdeveloped jump skills, and threw him into tournaments, he wouldn't be competitive. Then again if you took a new age player and threw them on a...

For those who say rules should be changed to avoid this issue, that is a fair point. Under the current rules, however, Jayson Shaw should indeed inspect the rack. Those who don't understand this haven't competed at this level. Everyone can run out. Whoever has better success making a ball...

Thanks Varmin! My road gets a lot tougher and very quickly. I play next round against a top regional player that I met in the January event. That set went 9-8 me and I got a bit lucky to win. I know he's coming for me tomorrow and I certainly don't know if it will go my way. And even if I...

You don't think that before Filler played T-Rex or before Fedor played Chip they had never studied the matches of their opponents to develop a game plan? They just screwed their cues together and asked what the rules were?

I think as recently as 2000-2005 there was still a knowledge edge that allowed second tier pros who specialized in one pocket to be competitive. Several things have changed since then. One big factor has been Youtube and other technologies that make strategies that used to be trade secrets...

You bring up some interesting points and options JV. I agree it would be fun to play these out in person. One thing I'll say is that I am 100% on each intentional foul. When people start typing about easy caroms and kick safes it always surprises me. My definition of easy isn't whether I'm...