How to teach/learn strategy?

BRussell said:

it takes time and watching good players to develop that sense.
So what's the best way to teach it or to learn it for yourself?

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For the most part you answered your own question.
As for being taught the things you mentioned from an instructor, it can't be done.
Unless, of course, you have a spare bedroom and plenty of cash. :smile:

BRussell said:

The recent instructor threads got me thinking about how to teach strategy: Shot selection, when to play a safety, how to play a safety, when to play two-way shots, push-out strategy, group choice in 8-ball, shot order in 8-ball, the strategies and shots of one-pocket, etc.

There are obviously some principles that you can boil down and apply in a wide variety of situations, but so much of it is just developing a sense of what's high-percentage and what's dangerous, and it takes time and watching good players to develop that sense.

So what's the best way to teach it or to learn it for yourself?

Click to expand...

The bold is especially important. Time and observation.

Something that has worked for me as far as group choice and/or shot order for 8 ball ? At the start of my practice session, after hitting a few balls in and warming up, I throw anywhere from 6 to 15 balls on the table, and play them in rotation.

Here's the catch: I can start with any ball, but then I have to play them in sequence. Once I play the highest number ball, I go around to the lowest number ball and continue the rotation.

The benefit from this is that it forces you to find a solution, versus simply starting with the lowest number ball (where the decision is already made for you).

BRussell said:

The recent instructor threads got me thinking about how to teach strategy: Shot selection, when to play a safety, how to play a safety, when to play two-way shots, push-out strategy, group choice in 8-ball, shot order in 8-ball, the strategies and shots of one-pocket, etc.

There are obviously some principles that you can boil down and apply in a wide variety of situations, but so much of it is just developing a sense of what's high-percentage and what's dangerous, and it takes time and watching good players to develop that sense.

So what's the best way to teach it or to learn it for yourself?

Click to expand...

Well, for those playing below A level, I think you need to be a highly intellectual person with zero natural pool ability learning the game from scratch working your way up from D level up to AA. Because the right strategy depends heavily on the ability of the two players involved and to some extent making the right choice cannot be taught, it's something you have to intuit as you grow.

I remember coming up in the game intentionally playing less than a lock up safety against someone in 8 ball because I knew at their level level they'd attempt the shot on the 8 and scratch whereas I wouldn't have dared let an A level player see one fraction of the ball. If you assume an A level opponent and you yourself have a generalized skill set, sure there's a generalized strategy you can learn and teach in most formats (14.1 and 1P perhaps have the most set dogma) but in other formats if you have some particular strength (or weakness) that's far outside the norm, somebody else can't really tell you your business.

Nobody can tell Shaw he should push on an 87degree cut on the 1 when he makes them more often than not. For instance I won a 10 ball set this afternoon switching to my left and and plucking the 10 down the rail at nearly a 90 degree angle when any sane person would have feathered it and left distance between the CB and 10, but I happen to be fairly ambidextrous and good with thin rail cuts so the right choice for me was the one I was feeling.

Decision Making

Here are my thoughts...You can hire an instructor who can set up various scenarios and explain basic options or you can go online or go to Accu-Stats and pick out a very knowledgable player like Nick Varner or Mike Sigel, and watch as many matches as you can. Instructors can give you a good understanding of basic strategy but there is no way they can teach you all of the little intricacies that come up over years and years of play. After all, there is an infinite number of possible scenarios and the more you watch great players play, the more you will learn. I tell my students that they need to watch the videos and keep a score sheet (running tally) of their ability to make correct predictions. Freeze frame the video and try to predict what the player will do next. Try to predict the entire layout of balls before the player shoots. As you are doing this, keep a tally of how many correct decisions you made and how many incorrect.

Later you can then divide the number of successful predictions by the total number of overall attempts and come up with a success percentage. You will find that many of the greats play the same patterns and make the same decisions over and over again. I find the above mentioned strategy to be very useful and effective. I would want my students to be well over the 95 percent success mark (in making predictions) to reach proficiency. However most students won't be very successful at first. In fact, most players believe they are shooting the same patterns as the pros but are shocked to find out that their patterns are not even close to the pros. As students start this process they should set short term goals and try to increase their success percentage gradually over time.

I can tell you Bert Kinister's technique for teaching 8-ball patterns. It's on his video #41, available on his web site.

Start with 4 balls. Place them randomly around the center of the table. No ball within about a foot of the side rails or closer than six inches from another ball.

With BIH you need to identify the order you will run the balls and what pockets each will go. Once you start a run, you can not change the plan. The CB can not hit a rail. The CB can only contact the intended OB.

When you successfully beat the ghost to 5 sessions, move to 5 balls. Beat the ghost again, move to six balls. At my peak, after working several months on this drill, I went 5-0 against the ghost with 7 balls. I recall Bert told me Niels Feijen could do it with 12 balls without breaking a sweat.

The drill teaches you to look for stop shot patterns. Or patterns with minimal CB movement. Bert believes that if you are failing at this drill it's because you are not picking the easiest pattern. Keep thinking. Also, the drill teaches a lot about soft shots. For example, when is it better to slow roll in a shot, verses using a half tip of high and a firmer hit. The drill requires planning ahead, and often requires making the CB move 1" or even 0.5" one way or the other.

A frustrating drill at first, but a very valuable drill.

My father got me started at age 10 by playing "call your next shot". It's 8 ball, but you must make the ball and pocket of your first shot and second, then continue to call the next (after current) shot.

Then it was a lot of reading and looking for two, three, and then four shots down the line. With Phil Capelle's "Play your best straight pool" book, I began to work backwards from the K2 ball and then forward to meet that shot.

Now, I play "Match the Masters", which is a variation on a chess learning game in which you predict the next move of the Grandmasters. I do this when watching 14.1 matches, especially.

My problem isn't in the planning. It's in getting too quick taking shots and rattling them in the jaws.

Fels

Some good posts here, first thread in awhile that I enjoyed most of the contributions.

Anyway, I'd like to add some of the late George Fels material.

A lot of people know of his advanced material like, "Mastering Pool". He also wrote an excellent book that I use for teaching beginners which is called
"A Smarter Way to Learn Pool"

Good Luck :thumbup:

BRussell said:

The recent instructor threads got me thinking about how to teach strategy: Shot selection, when to play a safety, how to play a safety, when to play two-way shots, push-out strategy, group choice in 8-ball, shot order in 8-ball, the strategies and shots of one-pocket, etc.

Click to expand...

Two-way shots:: essentially always. Shoot so you make the shot, get position, and leave opponent nothing.
Shot selection: Given two shots of rather equal hardness, always play the shot leading to better position.
Safeties: More about delicacy than about position--that is simply touching a ball that you are hiding behind turns a safety into a sell-out.
8-ball shot order: Start by identifying the key ball (shot before the 8-ball), then back up to the shot to get on the key ball. Then figure out how to get on the board (started) and how to get control of the table.

All of this is from "Play your best 8-Ball: P. B. Chapelle.

Its not going to get you from D to A+, but it might help you get from D to C+/B-

One thing that has helped me is when I'm playing alone I play both player and opponent. I don't play The Ghost; if I miss, it's my opponent's turn (even though I'm now the opponent). It forces me to think a lot more about playing safe and how to put my opponent in the worst possible position. It gives me a lot more kicking practice.

It works in 8-ball, 9-ball and ten-ball. But it gives me a headache in one pocket

Watching youtube videos of pro matches with great safety battles is also very educational.