SJM, you couldn't have described it more perfectly as to my practice sessions. I am just an average player, and when practicing I can have those wild swings. Sometimes practice goes extremely well, to the point that I almost never miss, and my confidence level is really high. Then the next time, well lets just say, doesn't go so good at all, and really gives me a dose of reality. What really hurts is the simple mistakes on shots that should be easily makeable, or loosing control of the cueball on position for the next shot. I used to practice with the thought that the more I practice, the more consistent I would become. While I still feel that is true to an extent, I now really look at my off days, as to areas for improvement, and try to focus more practice time on problems that show up. Fortunately my better days are getting more often, and off days, less often. For perspective, in the 70's and early 80's, I played alot of pool, and was very confident in my abilities, quit pool for about 30 years, and have now been playing for about the last 4 or 5 years now, the first two years sociably, and the last years with a more focused interest. I do not have that confidence that I once had, but really hope to be able to get back to that level again.