How To Get A Really Good Player

Where's that Canadian guy on here that wanted to be pro in a few months?

IMO it comes down to natural talent. That determines the ceiling of every player's potential playing level. Practice will help you reach that ceiling. But it can never take you beyond it.

Bob Jewett said:

Is dogged determination and the strength to keep trying until you succeed a natural talent?

Click to expand...

I'd say yes to that. There will still be a ceiling. This player will just get much closer to theirs.

Bob Jewett said:

Is dogged determination and the strength to keep trying until you succeed a natural talent?

Click to expand...

I know what your getting at and agree wholeheartedly.

More or less like saying he/she has a strong work ethic because of genetics.....hogwash!!!

Shorter / longer levers, fast vs slow muscle fibers.... etc.....sure, one is gonna make it "easier" to reach a certain level but does not mean that the other cannot get there. The lesser form of genetic jackpot will simply have to put in many more hours on table.........not to mention, need even more instruction.

Everyone has their opinion and that is mine.

Rake

iusedtoberich said:

I'd say yes to that. There will still be a ceiling. This player will just get much closer to theirs.

Click to expand...

Perfectly stated.

Talent is overrated-
from my expirience it ll give you right at the beginning a faster boost.
And these so called "players with natural talent" often give up, as soon the hard worker, woh has this thing, what is really the absolute most necessary thing catches up:

And this is the "Attitude".

Without that, nothin will happen- neverever. If you re physically on a level, where you really are able to shoot almost everything- then it s about the mental part. And this is far more important than anything else.
It s all in your head.

Attitude is a decision- and the rest is pure and hard work. And to put in more than the other guys.

Ratta said:

Talent is overrated-
from my expirience it ll give you right at the beginning a faster boost.
And these so called "players with natural talent" often give up, as soon the hard worker, woh has this thing, what is really the absolute most necessary thing catches up:

And this is the "Attitude".

Without that, nothin will happen- neverever. If you re physically on a level, where you really are able to shoot almost everything- then it s about the mental part. And this is far more important than anything else.
It s all in your head.

Attitude is a decision- and the rest is pure and hard work. And to put in more than the other guys.

Click to expand...

VERY WELL SAID!!!!!!

Talent by itself is dead money.

Consistent hard work with literally no natural talent can still be a strong player if work is done on a regular basis for long enough time.

Good post,

Rake

You have to gain the knowledge.

You have to practice.

You have to have a burning desire.

You have to truly love the game.

Ratta said:

Talent is overrated-
from my expirience it ll give you right at the beginning a faster boost.
And these so called "players with natural talent" often give up, as soon the hard worker, woh has this thing, what is really the absolute most necessary thing catches up:

And this is the "Attitude".

Without that, nothin will happen- neverever. If you re physically on a level, where you really are able to shoot almost everything- then it s about the mental part. And this is far more important than anything else.
It s all in your head.

Attitude is a decision- and the rest is pure and hard work. And to put in more than the other guys.

Click to expand...

Great post! Still, I think what constitutes hard work needs some definition.

No end of players work hard and don't reach their potential. Even if one takes lessons and develops a solid, fairly repeatable stroke, the road to gaining playing excellence remains a long one.

Shooting straight is only part of the equation. To keep this relatively finite, and I'm sticking to nine ball, the primary professional discipline in this era of the game, you need to do all of these to be a top flight player:

Shoot nice and straight
Break the balls well
Have good cue ball speed control
Master all strokes with/without english
Play the table patterns well
Make good tactical decisions
Play good safeties
Kick/jump well

Not even one of these skills is easily developed!

Hard work, to me, means committing yourself to becoming proficient in all of these aspects of play. Those who only play the ghost in their quest to develop proficiency, and I've met quite a few of them over the years, overlook numerous aspects of their development, and are not, in my estimation of things, working hard enough. A few of them succeed, but far too many of them become one-dimensional in their games.

To the original poster: Commit yourself to become a complete, well-rounded player with a full set of skills and you're on the right track.

Ratta said:

Talent is overrated-
from my expirience it ll give you right at the beginning a faster boost.
And these so called "players with natural talent" often give up, as soon the hard worker, woh has this thing, what is really the absolute most necessary thing catches up:

And this is the "Attitude".

Without that, nothin will happen- neverever. If you re physically on a level, where you really are able to shoot almost everything- then it s about the mental part. And this is far more important than anything else.
It s all in your head.

Attitude is a decision- and the rest is pure and hard work. And to put in more than the other guys.

Click to expand...

I like this post.
Hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t hustle

10k

Practice and play Pool for 10,000 hours.

I have always believed, and still do, that you have to be born with something special, talent wise. Then work your ass off and maybe something good happens, maybe not. But unless you are blessed with a natural talent for the game you will not, in my opinion obviously, ever be a top player.

strmanglr scott said:

You have to gain the knowledge.

You have to practice.

You have to have a burning desire.

You have to truly love the game.

Click to expand...

Wonder if the guy in QUESTION #1, wants to make a living/F\full-time career off POOL?

Heart !!!!!

Can't teach it....Can't buy it...Can't practice it...Either born with it or without it...Can become good...even very good @ things..but to be great u have to have a heart of a Lion..got to hate losing more than anything & be obsessed with your craft & put the work in.

CocoboloCowboy said:

Wonder if the guy in QUESTION #1, wants to make a living/F\full-time career off POOL?

Click to expand...

What I put up is the recipe for greatness, regardless of pursuit.

That's what it takes. If he's not already well on his way following that recipe, probably will never get there.

You don't just say one day, 'hey I want to be great at X', it's already in you, you're already on that path.

sammylane12 said:

I have always believed, and still do, that you have to be born with something special, talent wise. Then work your ass off and maybe something good happens, maybe not. But unless you are blessed with a natural talent for the game you will not, in my opinion obviously, ever be a top player.

Click to expand...

Perhaps, but the original post asks how to become a really good player, not how to become a top player. There is no suggestion of any kind that the original poster wants to set the world on fire with his play or even be a pro.

The original poster wants to be really good, which is a reasonable and attainable goal for nearly anyone. There are countless really good players with limited natural talent.

CocoboloCowboy said:

Wonder if the guy in QUESTION #1, wants to make a living/F\full-time career off POOL?

Click to expand...

Actually, he wants to promote his Youtube channel - he is just sneaking that question in to hide his true intentions :wink:

With that said, his channel is atually really good, nice graphics combined with video. Really useful!

sjm said:

To keep this relatively finite, and I'm sticking to nine ball, the primary professional discipline in this era of the game, you need to do all of these to be a top flight player:

Shoot nice and straight
Break the balls well
Have good cue ball speed control
Master all strokes with/without english
Play the table patterns well
Make good tactical decisions
Play good safeties
Kick/jump well

Not even one of these skills is easily developed!

Click to expand...

We probably shouldn't leave out the mental skills necessary to become a really good player. Chief among these would probably be the ability to maintain focus, ability to handle pressure, and a killer instinct/will to win.