A Dying Breed

King T said:

I might have misunderstood, but I don't think the great shoot makers are dead, I just think it depends on the equipment you catch these guys on. Corey came to Houston and played on a table that everyone stayed away from and ran out like water. It was a table setup for One Pocket, like the tables used to be at Hollywood Billiards in LA, he played 9 ball on that table and never missed.

I think there are more shot makers are still as plentiful, Check out Shane vs Rafael on YouTube!

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Pro players are certainly great shot makers. It's the part time player I was curious about, the type that you catch one night in a bar room drinking beers and living it up with friends. You watch them play, amused a little at how much fun they can have playing a game that none of them can play very well. Then you notice one player among them that on the surface looks just as bad as the rest of them, as far as cb control and anything that resembles pattern play or good position play, but this player is making some very impressive shots. Then a couple weeks later you see the same guy or gal making every open shot they get, but playing pot luck position. Eventually you notice this guy on a league night playing for an average or below average team. He pockets balls like an A player but seldom leaves the cb where an A player would leave it. He's played this way for years, created a habit of it.

These are the type of shot makers I'm wondering about...are they a dying breed? Does anyone see these types of players much anymore? I think joining a league, watching better players, utilizing YouTube and other online instruction/information (either through pressure from friends or a personal desire to win more) is basically weeding out these types of players. Without this stuff, this influence or desire to play better, they'd go their whole life playing the local bars on Friday and Saturday nights, shooting at everything with little regard for cb control, making about every open shot they get, beating most bar bangers out of beers or five dollar bills. At least until some league player catches him one night and asks, "Hey man, you ever play on a pool league? You could win a trip to Vegas." And that's the hook that might eventually pull this player out of his haphazard position play. And as long as he retains his ball pocketing skills when or if he starts trying to control whitey better, he'll be ok. If not, he'll revert back or stick to his old way of playing, just make the shot and get another shot, any shot.