"Ok sports fans"
"Ding dong daddy"
Bert is a hoot.
"Ding dong daddy"
Bert is a hoot.
Berts other location was in Mechanicsburgh PA. It was close to Harrisburgh. I was never in the room but from the videos shot there the place looked to be pretty amazing.
Berts videos have ton of useful info on them. I never took a lesson from him but starting from tape 1 and then working the nine pointed star for 3 months took my game levels up the ladder. I have every video and spent time with every drill he put out there. People that buy the dvds and dont put in the time will never see the value he has put in these lessons. There are other titles that cover secrets for hitting certain shots that are so amazing. Ive won tons of games knocking down these gems.
The 100 dollar lesson mentioned in the op title has so much info on it its sick.
Hopefully some day i get lucky enough to get lessons from Bert.
Another note is if you have any of berts work and need help, pick up the phone and give him a call. The guy is always there for help.
You have every video? That's a lot of them, in the 60s? I have to say that not all are useful, and some are just repeating the same drill with different patterns. Probably half the videos could be condensed in a 4-1 ration with several drills in the same one. There are only a handful that I would watch more than once.
Didn't Bert's old videos have a bull sh*t statement at the beginning that said the VCR tape was encrypted with a special code that would damage your VCR head if you tried to make a copy? Good stuff!!! I bet some people actually believed it.
Oh yeah, the Yakuza copy guard. It will damage the head on the lead recorder.
I have seen all of them as well, up to around #60, and my favorite was the one about the break shot. He puts a piece of chalk on the table and says something like "you gotta, gotta, you gotta hit this sucker, and drive this right through the wall", I laughed till I had tears in my eyes.
They all had a few laughs in them, but at the time, I don't think there was anything that came close to helping my game improve more. Maybe Gradys "Only Kicks" and the Grady 1 pocket. Kinister knows his stuff, but you have to put in the time, like anything else. His drills work.
The best way to watch some of these Kinister tapes was after a few drinks, and watch the enthusiasm that this guy puts in to teaching.
I still go back from time to time, and watch some of them.
I just talked with Bert, a few weeks ago. He was hanging at Hawley's, but Hawley's just closed.... maybe he's at the Billiard Den.... anybody know.
I took lessons from Bert way back when I was coming up. They could be a bit maddening at times but noone can argue with the results. When I met Niels Feijen, Bert's top student, the first thing he told me was, "Do the drills!".
You don't really learn for the entire hour as much as you do different drills and shots over and over while being critiqued. He brought my game up from the bottom guy on the ladder at our local hall into the mix at the top in only six months.
I booked my first lesson because I needed help with my 9 ball break. He threw some balls on the table and told me to run them out. I made a couple and missed. "Start over with ball in hand." Again I got out of shape after the 2nd or 3rd ball. I started over. Make a couple balls, have to bank the next ball... Bert stopped me and said he's not gonna help me improve my break. "You can't run out. If I help you break the balls better I'm only making it easier for your opponent to run out on you."
A few months later we were working on my break.
Thank you Bert.