What is a Pool Player's Most Important Skill?

CJ Wiley

CJ Wiley

ESPN WORLD OPEN CHAMPION
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In this video I explain my experience as a professional player and high stakes gambler what the most important skill a pool player must have to be successful.

Many people say the mental game is 90%, but as my martial arts Master told me "you can't have the mental without the physical first"......so building a strong foundation that allows you to get in the same position and always AIM FROM THE TOP is essential to play your best pool time and time again!

LINK - https://youtu.be/J-HnZlQFqPU
 
C

CocoboloCowboy

Cowboys are my hero's
Silver Member
The bottom line is if you want to be better at anything, be it sports, salesmenship, your job, or a hobby.

The common dominator is you have to invest time, and work.

People want instant gratification, or some magic pill.

Sad thing is there are no magic pills to swallow to make you greats at anything.

If you think there is your kidding yourself.

JMHO.
 
Bavafongoul

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
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What is a pool player’s most important skill?

IMO, it’s being able to maintain a short memory.

It enables you to play in the moment right now.

Mistakes, wins, losses, your bad luck, opponent’s good luck.....

None of this matters when you play. It is only here and now that counts.



Matt B.
 
CJ Wiley

CJ Wiley

ESPN WORLD OPEN CHAMPION
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when I became a champion I had to treat them all equally...they were all just Shots!

CocoboloCowboy said:
The bottom line is if you want to be better at anything, be it sports, salesmenship, your job, or a hobby.

The common dominator is you have to invest time, and work.

People want instant gratification, or some magic pill.

Sad thing is there are no magic pills to swallow to make you greats at anything.

If you think there is your kidding yourself.

JMHO.
Click to expand...

The only magical pill is Truth..... it's the hardest pill to swallow because it proves what we once believed was a reverse engineered fantasy.

For example, I used to believe there were hard shots and easy shots, however, when I became a champion I had to treat them all equally......they were all just Shots!

The Game is the Teacher
 
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CocoboloCowboy

Cowboys are my hero's
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Bavafongoul said:
What is a pool player’s most important skill?

IMO, it’s being able to maintain a short memory.

It enables you to play in the moment right now.

Mistakes, wins, losses, your bad luck, opponent’s good luck.....

None of this matters when you play. It is only here and now that counts.



Matt B.
Click to expand...



Well the great players, treat Pool, like a job they work at very very hard.
 
C

CocoboloCowboy

Cowboys are my hero's
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CJ Wiley said:
The only magical pill is Truth..... it's the hardest pill to swallow because it proves what we once believed was a reverse engineered fantasy.

For example, I used to believe there were hard shots and easy shots, however, when I became a champion I had to treat them all equally......they were all just Shots!

The Game is the Teacher
Click to expand...

I seen people loose a bar tournment, because they said to themselves, it's an easy shot. Did not take the shot seriously, and lost a game, or match.

Because they miss an easy shot.
 
G

Geosnooker

AzB Silver Member
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Interesting about the hips.

I’m a natural lefty but I’ve always shoot both ways depending on the dynamics of the table. People often will tell me that they have tried to use their opposite hand but just can’t do it as it feels so awkward. What I observe over and over is that when they try to use the opposite hand, they are completely concentrating on their arms, especially the bridge.

What I tell them to do is to stand back up and move away from the table and then put all their concentration into approaching the table the reverse to what they are used to and placing their hips and feet accordingly. Only after being in this proper stance does one concentrate about things such as cue action, the bridge, etc. If trying to shoot left, one needs to set the foundation like a lefty...90% of righties haven’t done this and have an awkward out of line body position before they even aim the cue. Shooting opposite hand, although still a challenge, isn’t nearly as daunting if the body is in the correct position.
 
Bavafongoul

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
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The question was on skill. Working at something hard isn’t a skill.

Derek Jeter summarized it best. You don’t need a bit of talent to try hard.

Nonetheless, commitment is always the underlying foundation for excellence.
 
CJ Wiley

CJ Wiley

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This allows the Player to get down on every shot as if they've already made it!

CocoboloCowboy said:
I seen people loose a bar tournment, because they said to themselves, it's an easy shot. Did not take the shot seriously, and lost a game, or match.

Because they miss an easy shot.
Click to expand...

That's why to be a champion players can't judge the difficulty they will start making the "hard" ones and miss the "easy" ones.

I told Hank Haney that one time and he passed it on to Tiger, who used that philosophy while winning the British Open..... without using his Driver (except on the very first hole).

Hank put that story in his book called 'The Big Miss' - it's a powerful mind set when you see all the shots as the same......this takes a pre shot routine that actually rehearses every aspect of the upcoming shot so well that you get down on every shot as if you've already made it......that's when the game is mastered (at least for that moment in time).
 
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CocoboloCowboy

Cowboys are my hero's
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I believe some people should not play Pool for money, as their mind is on what they could loose. The money, and they are distracted by the thought of loosing their money's.
 
Black-Balled

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
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CJ Wiley said:
That's why to be a champion players can't judge the difficulty they will start making the "hard" ones and miss the "easy" ones.

...
Click to expand...
I am glad you addressed the fact that cookoo-aballer was completely oblivious to the truth that they are all shots... (and they can all be made).
 
CJ Wiley

CJ Wiley

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get the sensation you are shooting everything out of the CENTER of your chest.

Geosnooker said:
Interesting about the hips.

.
Click to expand...

This is a major difference I see regularly, I had to learn how to do this properly or I'd never have reached the level of consistency I did without the need to practice as much as others.

The left foot needs to be parallel to the line of the shot (for a right handed player) and the right ankle bone is directly on the line of the shot.

To set the hips in the correct position the left foot must also be ahead of the right toe, this puts your hips at the ideal angle to clear them out of the way and get the sensation you are shooting everything out of the CENTER of your chest.

The Game is the Teacher
 
couldnthinkof01

couldnthinkof01

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
CJ Wiley said:
This is a major difference I see regularly, I had to learn how to do this properly or I'd never have reached the level of consistency I did without the need to practice as much as others.

The left foot needs to be parallel to the line of the shot (for a right handed player) and the right ankle bone is directly on the line of the shot.

To set the hips in the correct position the left foot must also be ahead of the right toe, this puts your hips at the ideal angle to clear them out of the way and get the sensation you are shooting everything out of the CENTER of your chest.

The Game is the Teacher
Click to expand...

This is great. Jimmy showed me this many years ago.
He has a very open stance kind of like Kim Davenport.
I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. It feels like
your arm has no choice but to go in a straight line.
 
nick serdula

nick serdula

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Being likeable

And collecting after the entertainment.
Nick :)
Most shots are missed before the player bends over so not that.
 
CJ Wiley

CJ Wiley

ESPN WORLD OPEN CHAMPION
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Silver Member
The Human Body wasn't made to play pool so we have to know how to set our foundation

couldnthinkof01 said:
This is great. Jimmy showed me this many years ago.
He has a very open stance kind of like Kim Davenport.
I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. It feels like
your arm has no choice but to go in a straight line.
Click to expand...

That's correct, the left foot position controls the left arm and hand position - 99% of pool players play their entire life and never figure this out.

The human body wasn't designed to play pool so we have to know the proper feet positioning (which is the foundation) to allow the rest of the body to become a "pool playing machine" - it seems like it would be easy, but it took me thousands of hours to completely figure it out so I can teach it in 3 hours.

Golfers can usually learn quicker because they already have a good understanding of footwork and clearing the hips. It's amazing to me how many players don't have any awareness of their "aiming foot"......so they have trouble aiming and never know the root cause.

The Game is the Teacher
 
sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
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I think the greatest skill is the ability to understand that there is always more to learn. Irving Crane once casually observed that it would take two lifetimes to learn everything he needed to know about pool.
 
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