Short version: if you're in the New England area, Joe is a great guy and an excellent instructor. Lessons with him will be a solid investment in your game.
Long version: I took my first lesson with Joe last week, and had a tremendously positive experience. By way of background, my experience in cue sports is mostly playing snooker in my late teens and early twenties. No formal instruction. Fast forward 20 years and I've just been starting to take pool seriously for the past couple of months.
I'm at the point where I can make shots pretty consistently, but I lack good control of the cue ball. I can occasionally run a rack on an opponent, but even if they're all there I manage to run out of position or misread getting from A to B way too often.
I booked a 3 hour lesson with Joe to see how good or bad things were with my game. To my surprise they're not bad fundamentally, and we spent much of the 3 hours working on applications of English. I'd never heard of Backhand, Forehand, or Parallel English before, so it was a real eye-opener.
Joe was exceptionally patient with me as we worked through various combinations of BHE and FHE to try and find what worked for me and my cue. Most importantly he also showed me how to evaluate my misses, figure out what went wrong, and correct the problem(s). Teach a man to fish and all that.
I left knowing that I have a great deal to work on, but also with the knowledge that I'm quite capable of doing it. That alone was worth the price of admission i.e. knowing that I can get to where I want to be if I apply myself and practice what Joe taught me.
The lesson also came with access to Joe's library of video lessons and drills. I spent a very happy 7+ hours on Sunday running mostly 1 and 2 rail position drills, and I could already see an improvement in my game by the end of the session. I played a few racks of 9 ball against the Ghost, and then a few more against a couple of guys who were also practicing alone. I had some good runs and beat everybody except the Ghost. He's going down one day though!
I'm already looking forward to my next lesson after I've practiced, practiced, and practiced some more.
On a more personal level, Joe is just a great guy to be around and chat with. That was and is important to me as I get enough stress during the rest of the day. Pool is supposed to be fun, albeit competitive fun, and he hasn't lost sight of that. He's also been very helpful with a couple of follow up questions via email. Fast and detailed responses which is greatly appreciated.
Not sure if posting a link is ok, but search Joe Tucker – Professional Pocket Billiards and you'll be good to go.
Long version: I took my first lesson with Joe last week, and had a tremendously positive experience. By way of background, my experience in cue sports is mostly playing snooker in my late teens and early twenties. No formal instruction. Fast forward 20 years and I've just been starting to take pool seriously for the past couple of months.
I'm at the point where I can make shots pretty consistently, but I lack good control of the cue ball. I can occasionally run a rack on an opponent, but even if they're all there I manage to run out of position or misread getting from A to B way too often.
I booked a 3 hour lesson with Joe to see how good or bad things were with my game. To my surprise they're not bad fundamentally, and we spent much of the 3 hours working on applications of English. I'd never heard of Backhand, Forehand, or Parallel English before, so it was a real eye-opener.
Joe was exceptionally patient with me as we worked through various combinations of BHE and FHE to try and find what worked for me and my cue. Most importantly he also showed me how to evaluate my misses, figure out what went wrong, and correct the problem(s). Teach a man to fish and all that.
I left knowing that I have a great deal to work on, but also with the knowledge that I'm quite capable of doing it. That alone was worth the price of admission i.e. knowing that I can get to where I want to be if I apply myself and practice what Joe taught me.
The lesson also came with access to Joe's library of video lessons and drills. I spent a very happy 7+ hours on Sunday running mostly 1 and 2 rail position drills, and I could already see an improvement in my game by the end of the session. I played a few racks of 9 ball against the Ghost, and then a few more against a couple of guys who were also practicing alone. I had some good runs and beat everybody except the Ghost. He's going down one day though!
I'm already looking forward to my next lesson after I've practiced, practiced, and practiced some more.
On a more personal level, Joe is just a great guy to be around and chat with. That was and is important to me as I get enough stress during the rest of the day. Pool is supposed to be fun, albeit competitive fun, and he hasn't lost sight of that. He's also been very helpful with a couple of follow up questions via email. Fast and detailed responses which is greatly appreciated.
Not sure if posting a link is ok, but search Joe Tucker – Professional Pocket Billiards and you'll be good to go.
