Yup! That’s accurate.
Reasons for being stuck in that range: I rarely break down due to missing a pot. I break down on low runs due to concentration; I don’t seem to get serious about the run until I’ve cleared a few racks. Most of my higher runs break down soon after the break shot. You know, bad position on the break ball, only a few balls come out and I fail at getting a secondary break shot with the few balls available, or land on nothing at all. I know I can improve a lot on getting on the the break ball. Maybe I need to focus more on a good key ball. I think in general sometimes I don’t play specific enough position. Until October last year, my whole pool background was exclusively 9 ball, so I think I often just assume I”m going to land on a ball due to there being so many options as compared to rotation games.
Interested to hear feedback on my stroke. I come from a snooker background, and my fundamentals have deteriorated slightly since I started playing pool, but I feel like I have a pretty good cue action.
EDIT: It would be probably be really interesting to make a compilation video of a bunch of sequences leading to failed break shots, and get feedback on that.
Okay, you're thinking about what's going wrong and what you need to do. That puts you way out in front of a lot of people playing this game.
You put forth reasons, all of which are relevant except that they need to be extended out and expanded upon. In a nutshell, I don't think there's any question that you have the skills but the roadblock here is largely in your thought process.
Let's talk about 9ball as it relates to 14.1 because this is a big, big part of the problem for a lot of people. There are 2 major differences
in the 2 games. As you mentioned, position play, it has to be much more precise. People laugh at that. They think because you can shoot any ball
then your position's not that important. Well, that might be true if you want to run 10 balls or so but if you want to run a lot of balls it's a completely different story. That's one difference.
The other, IMO, is way more important. Which ball do you shoot? In 9B it's preordained, you have to shoot the 2 after the 1, etc, etc. What does that do to a players development? You shoot ball after ball without having to make a decision. This doesn't bode well for developing and refining either decision making or creativity. You've heard the saying "It's more of an art than a science" well, very refined decision making and superior creativity are what 14.1 is all about. That's what the "art" consists of.
Back to your situation. I'm going to list what you need to do to get that hundred. Some could flip flop but they're mostly in order of importance.
I'm running short on time so I'm just going to list them but not elaborate or give any info on how best to integrate changes in your game or give examples from the video. You'll have some time to think about them and come to your own conclusions. I'll get back with more detail in a few days.
1) Shot selection--Right now it's it's in the fair-good range. Needs to be very good-excellent. Question for you: What is the primary factor dictating shot selection? This will help you immensely.
2) Pay more attention to angles--This is extremely important.
3) Control of CB direction off object balls need work-- this is likely stroke related.
4) Get same or slightly better CB movement with less speed-- also stroke related
Don't get me wrong here, I think your stroke is good. Without actually playing on that table and feeling the speed for myself, I'm guessing.
It's difficult to judge just watching the video.
I just have the feeling you can improve somewhat with:
A little shorter backswing (on most shots)
Smoother acceleration into and through the CB
More precise tip placement