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A few months ago, I started testing my initial alignment on shots by doing zero warm-up strokes. I just get down on the shot, allow my tip to naturally fall into place at the cue ball, freeze for about two seconds, then pull the trigger. Sometimes I look at the cue ball and my tip during this...

The strongest players in my area pretty much all have somewhat poor PSRs and mechanics, at least in comparison to what's textbook. They also play very fast and hit the balls too hard with somewhat spastic strokes. But they're (mostly) accurate, and I suspect that trying to slow down or change...

Extremely unlikely. He's 27 and has made about $1.4 million from tournament victories alone since 2017. Now count his sponsorships and the other trappings of being a top 3 pool player in the world for nearly a decade. He's already made $150k and 2025 isn't even half over yet. Made over $300k in...

I know it's not a true major, but would Sky's win at the 2019 DCC 9-Ball be the best trophy won by an American not named SVB since Schmidt's 2006 US Open?

Tyler is tantalizingly close to being an elite player. He can beat anyone, anytime, but usually can't maintain his form for entire tournaments.

Sounds crazy because it's a dead straight-in shot... but you might not even be aiming it correctly. What looks straight to you standing up might not be. Or, you might be seeing it straight while standing up, but when getting down on the table, your head moves and when you're down, you are no...

This is the double-edged sword of practicing straight-in shots specifically (and I believe Dr. Dave's website even touches on it). Once you start practicing them, it's hard to not think of them as "special" shots. Especially if you chose to practice them because you struggle with them. Knowing...

How so?

The PIITH aiming system works great for these shots:

A room like that opened up in my smallish, very LCOL hometown in TN about 15 or so years ago. I think it lasted a year or so before folding. It was actually VERY nice but it had absolutely zero ambience or atmosphere, in addition to having no food or alcohol. The place was lit up like a...

I'm left-handed and right-eye dominant. This video from Scott Rohleder helped me more than anything: I lean over as he recommends to get my right eye on the shot line while keeping my back foot on it as well. Then I freeze my head/eyes on the shot and step forward into my stance. Before, I...

I agree. I remember being hill-hill in a playoff league match with $500 per team member on the line. Not a lot of money, sure, but I, and my team, desperately wanted to win. I had this to close out the rack and I swear it looked impossible to run. I managed to close it out but I felt like I was...

Next time that happens, reset the shot but make it easier. OB closer to pocket, CB closer to OB. Increase the distance with each successful pot. I think that's a better way to troubleshoot repeated misses than just repeating the same shot over and over when you're struggling with it.

Yeah, I think Wu being sidelined from international competition for so long was honestly a great loss to pool. He would have been neck-and-neck with SVB for dominance through the early- and mid-2010s, IMO. Before the emergence of Filler and Gorst, he was the only person who challenged SVB for...

Wu Jia-qing circa 2008 (age 19) vs 19 year old Filler/Gorst/Kaci. In 2008, he was already a 2x world champion, an All Japan Championship winner, and a runner-up in the World 10-Ball.

"Last updated: 1/26/2025 6:52:28 PM EST" They just didn't update the banner at the top of the page. It's for 2025's results.

Playing poorly is more motivational than upsetting to me, although I have occasionally gotten really down on myself after a bad night (usually after losing to someone I really want to beat). But mostly, it's just part of the cycle for me. I play poorly -> I get upset with myself -> I start...

Maybe it's the elusive "Efrem" we heard the commentators talk about so much at the IPT.

I've found that my tip accuracy on the cue ball is often better when I speed up. Particularly when my warm-up strokes are more Efren-like (loose, floaty, and never coming to a pronounced stop) instead of SVB-like (with a very pronounced pause at the cue ball). With the Efren-style warm-up...

Thorsten recommends something similar to that here: Someone in the comments says he likely learned it from Ralph Eckert. I think it's a good starting point because many amateurs don't stand correctly, and their stance is biased in favor of their eyes while their bodies/elbows aren't on the...