Ask Fast Larry Any Question

APA7 said:
Thanks for the responce Larry. I'm still curious though about some of the people you beat on your way to a World Championship. Could you list them?

Please dont be insulted, it's just that i cant find anything on the record about you and am curious now.

Brian
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Thanks for the defense Jerry, a new poster, is his question sincere, or is he one of the old group wanting to dog and trash me once more, it's hard for me to tell. You sir ask the question who I beat, I answered that, I told you to go into the new chat site www.billiards-pool.net, open the top tab turorials, the full list of who I played and my entire 10 years history in the world artistic tourneys is listed in great detail, it's in fact almost a book.
I do not intend to keep answering that question over and over for the rest of my life, the answer is up, posted, just go read it. If you have any problems with any of it, leave it off the board, email me a fastlarry@bellsouth.net or you may call me personally to talk at 770-381-1916, I'll be home after Jan 10th 2004 and can take you call then.
Until then, Merry Xmas and Happy new year to you sir.
 
Also, what is your opinion on the styles of strokes that Strickland, Efren, Bustamante, and some other professional players that use non-textbook style mechanics? They are all different, but I want to know what you think about a few of them.

Thanks
 
LastTwo said:
Hey Fast, isn't your last name Guninger? How come this article says your last name is Grindinger?

http://gtalumni.org/StayInformed/techtopics/spr95/pool.html
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My Christian family name is Grindinger and my early world records and ripley's publications were under this name. I changed the name to a shorter easier stage name, Fast Larry Guninger a couple of years ago and that is the name I tour and teach under. Not trying to hide anything, Cary Grants real name was Archibald leeche.
To answer another question why and I not on the ask the pro list on az, I don't know. I am on the ask the pro list on billiards-pool.net. I'll call Mike and ask him, I should be, would like to be. I guess it's the old taboo I am trying to break down. The old school just can't see that dedicated Artistic pool pro's are a pro. If they don't play on the 9 ball tour they don't view them as pro's and that is not right. Snooker pro's, billiard pro's don't play 9 ball and nobody questions Steve Davis or Raymond cuelemans are pros, but they do on me and Tom Rossman and others like us. In time, this too shall change and pass. :p
 
LastTwo said:
Also, what is your opinion on the styles of strokes that Strickland, Efren, Bustamante, and some other professional players that use non-textbook style mechanics? They are all different, but I want to know what you think about a few of them.

Thanks
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These are my three favorite players today, I love these guys, and man can they play. If one of them got in a slump and came to me for help I would not tamper or change their strokes, they have them grooved and they work for these people. They are examples of players who come up in pool halls who did not have classic instruction early on so the true basics were locked in. They just learned to play by feel and their natural talent comes out. A lot of this is what I call monkey see monkey do. Players will copy a top player, even if his stroke is unconventional.

I use them as an example in my pool school as how not to do it. I teach the opposite of what they do. I want a exact preset shot routine, these guys wing it. I teach a very short stroke and a very long follow through, they all use a very long stroke and a shorter follow through.

My strokes now and what I teach are little jabs, 1 or 2" strokes. The greatest 9 baller of all time used this, Luther Lassiter, so does Allen Hopkins and Mike Sigel.

I will be filming an instructional DVD on this very subject on Jan 15th and it will be for sale this March at the Hopkins Expo, so many of my teaching methods, the follow, the draw, the break, my secret positional methods are all coming out for all to see. :D
 
THE SLUMP

THE SLUMP PART 1 OF 2


A player writes Fast an email:

First let me say you are being very gracious to spend the time it must take to respond to all us "wanna be's" and I thank you.. Now, my dilemma. For the past three weeks I have been unable to make more than 3-4 balls in a row (sometimes less); balls that used to be routine stuff. I am an avid recreational player but I like to play low wager ring games and do most weekends. My APA rating is 7 level and I typically can beat 70% of the other area 7's. Usually I win a little to as much as $150. We play on a Diamond 41/2x9 w/pro cut pockets. The past 3 weeks I have lost every weekend and I don't have any idea why. It's to the point that I "dread" my turn to shoot, especially if the ball is pocketable. Any ideas, suggestions? Background: I started playing when I was 49 and now am 59.
Thanks,
Doug

First off let me say I was once an apa 7 and that is the leagues highest rating. I always rated 7’s in 3 sub categories, 1’s, God cant beat, 2’s, run outs and 3’s, out in two innings like a clock and run a rack now and then.
You are telling me your and 2nd level 7. To take up the game as a senior citizen and achieve that rank and skill level may I say that is simply remarkable and outstanding? We old people must stick together, the kids don’t think we can play and that’s the beauty of this wonderful sport. You can be playing it well up into your 80’s if your health and body holds up. Fatty, Mosconi, Daly were all out touring well into their 80’s.

You are telling me you are now playing like an apa 4 and don’t have a clue why. They are all now beating on you like you are their rented mule. You were playing hotter than a new Puerto Rican credit card and now you’re cold as ice. Run, hide, and don’t play anybody any more until you figure out what is going on. All you are doing is creating severe emotional damage and will destroy your confidence. That confidence knowing you will run out on these lower ranked players is what makes you; you, and makes them what they are. Lose that, you are toast.

You are in what is called a slump and it strikes and happens to all athletes in every sport. This occurs usually from over play or sloppy practice and play habits. You begin to play at a lower level and miss more and that feeds on its self and soon becomes a run away loser monster on your hands. Soon you are leaking oil, then you blow a head gasket and it can become nothing more than a run away train wreck. You must now lay your cue down, lock it up where you cant get at it and do not hit a ball for at least a week. Do not return to the table until you are hungry to play again. If the desire is not there, then lay the cue down for two weeks. Just tell your team you injured your thumb and can’t play, problem solved. You want to come back to the game with a rested mind that now see’s things from a new perspective.

After you’re forced temporary exile and you come back and play for 3 days and if your game does not come back on then your problem is deeper and now requires some serious work and overhaul. Lay your cue down again and find somebody like me, who is a master level instructor and who can tear down a pro and put him back together again. You don’t need a beginner teacher; you need a finisher, a high level man. Find somebody with deep serious experience. There are many who can do this and if you ask around you may find one close to you. If not, then fly into Atlanta or buy me a ticket to come to you and I’ll spend all day long and have you back on track. You can send me your email saying here’s my phone number, call me up when you tour nearby and eventually I will get to you. I keep all of these contacts in folders and I do call to set these up.

The problem is I am going to be spending more time out of the country than in it in 2004 so there is going to be a lot of cities that won’t see me come in next year. I would frankly rather work in the Far East than in the USA. I am treated better and afforded a higher level of respect there. I am now very seriously considering leaving the USA and living in a warm and friendly climate. If you do get with me then the worst cases is it might take two days to cure your problem but usually a one day session does the trick.

Doug is like a car engine, pull out one spark plug and it runs sluggish, pull out 2 and now run on 6 and it runs like crap, that’s you. When I get those 2 plugs back firing again you are back running out again. A car needs a good tune up now and then, so does a pool player. If you have never had a top pro put each one of your basics on film and study them with you then you are long over due to do this and that is probably what caused your collapse. If you do not understand exactly how your game works, when you begin to lose it, you then don’t know how to fix it.

It is like Dominos, let one basic begin to degrade and get sloppy, it takes out one or two more with it and the dominos begin to fall, one taking out the next one behind it. If I get that main flaw corrected, the other dominos fall back into line. Most of the time Doug you have one or two major basics of your stance/swing that are no longer in line or working as they should. I am very good at finding these things quick and fixing them. I know what to look for and I constantly catch things the other instructor miss or overlook. At that, I am the guru.

I have my head down deep into the engine looking for problems while the other teachers are pontificating on how much they know. You don’t want to be preached to; you just want your damn swing fixed that is what I do. Please, allow me to apologize in advance here, I am not trying to brag or be a smart ass. Any teacher can teach a beginner, but in your case, you need what they call in Tennis or Golf a top guru finisher. He’s the last guy you go to. He can take you to any level you choose to aim for. He has all of your answers. He becomes your final teacher, your sensei. You seek now a Grand Master.
There are a couple of dozen of them out there, finding the real ones from the pretenders is the challenge.

Once I achieve this and you can see on the camera replays what your basics now look like and we both agree you are back and in tune we must now retune your head. You have now lost confidence in your stroke and it to repeat and work. We give you a new stroke; you must now rebuild that confidence once more. I would want you to leave and again don’t play anyone for a week. Just do drills. Most of the classic 14.1 drills I use and are in books. I have some really cool advanced stuff also I can turn you on to. After a week of doing drills over and over, you should have that new retuned swing working where you feel great about it.

Now begin play with your self, just play you, nobody else. Stay away from any competition until you begin to break and run out and are getting out in two innings on a regular basis like you used to. Once you know your game is back up to where it was before and a little stronger which it would be from me, then seek out soft competition. Pick out easy meat. Play for beers, table time, even he haw, what you want to reestablish is winning and running out on weaker opponents. You must restore your confidence in you and only winning can do that.

Just ramp back up step at a time until you feel good, then rejoin your previous league competition and gambling at higher levels with the best players. Remember in pool, everywhere I go, I find several people that are virtually unbeatable. They beat me, they beat Archer. You catch a couple of these guys they can really beat up your confidence. Fatty told me a long time ago, pool is winning, losing, winning and losing. You never get so good you don’t lose. Match up well and you will win the majority of your encounters. If you lose and you played your best solid game, don’t spend one minute worrying about that. The best golfers in the world have 52 tourneys a year to play in and it takes them 100 events until they finally win for the first time. Then they are lucky to win once a year and twice are a golden year. They lose 51 times to win once. You have to be a real mental optimist to handle such odds.

Maybe your winning expectations you put on your self were too high which put heat on you to win and that added pressure helped you to play down and began this downward cycle. Just go play, have fun, put no heat on your self to win and learn to just let the wins happen and do not dread losing, every one loses. 75% of the time Tiger Woods plays he loses also. Losing is not something to dread, it’s just a fact of life you must accept and get used to and no longer fight. In pool usually the harder you try to win the more you shoot your self in the foot. Just get that old fast and loose thing going again and go out and just free wheel on these guys. Pool is a feel game and it must be played that way. You lost the feel, you are now trying to under stand it and play it mechanically. You sir, if you are doing this then you are doomed. You must play with an empty mind with no conscious thought, just see feel pot, it is that simple.


END OF PART 1
 
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Re: THE SLUMP

fast larry said:
THE SLUMP PART 2 OF 2


A player writes Fast an email:

Once your basics are solid, your swing repeats and you have total confidence in it, then the game at your level becomes 90% mental. I am writing a book on this subject and it’s one third finished. I plan to have it out by early summer. This book will solve all problems like you are having.

I have a practice method and sorry I can’t give it out over the board simply because it is too long and complicated but I will begin filming it on DVD on Jan 15th and by March you can acquire it and begin using its methods. I simply use your mind like it is your desk top cpu, I reformat your hard drive so it’s clean and has nothing on it, we erase all bad data and input and install nothing but clean and perfect new shots. It takes 3 months of work by you once you learn the method but it turn you into a pro level run out monster. This method works and as you can imagine I keep it very much under wraps. It is called the 6 P’s practice method, perfect practice, produces a pure perfect performance.

My prescription to you RX is rest, one to two weeks, then find a top notch swing doctor and get your game filmed. If he does not work with a camera, he is not that high level person you seek. Get a tune up, do drills, play your self back into confidence and as a winner. This will work; it does on everyone I run it on. You must accept you have a lot of work to do to pull out of this and restoring confidence in you is the key.

Best Wishes,

“Fast Larry” Gunner

May God bless and peace be with you. May the wind be always on your back and
all 9 balls fall. VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all.
“Fast Larry” Guninger
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Jerry said:
You're beating a dead horse with this question APA7. This is a tired old question for Larry, usually by someone intending to rile him up.

You can find all the answers you want by using the "search" feature up there on the top right. Or, are you just trying to stir up some do-do?

Regardless of any faults Larry may have, he does offer good information at times, even though the delivery might be suspect. If you have something positive to offer, do it. If not, get the F$%# outta here.

Jerry
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See, thats the problem around here. Whats with the attitude? I asked the question because I was curious as to Fast Larrys credentials. I never heard of him. When I did a search on Larry Guninger/Grindinger I found only one competition where he didn't do so well. Thats it. I checked under the player listing here and there is nothing.

Is it such a terrible question to ask?


Brian
 
APA7 said:
See, thats the problem around here. Whats with the attitude? I asked the question because I was curious as to Fast Larrys credentials. I never heard of him. When I did a search on Larry Guninger/Grindinger I found only one competition where he didn't do so well. Thats it. I checked under the player listing here and there is nothing.

Is it such a terrible question to ask?


Brian
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Hi Brian, relax, I took your question as a resonable one and I did answer it and showed you were you could go for detail information of everything I have done in the last 10 years. It is all posted in tremendous detail on the chat board www.billiard-pool.net under the tutorial tab.

The problem is there were a couple of people who were ragging me to death with this same thing calling me all kinds of names and no matter how much proof I hit them with they kept on. Some just suspected you might be one of them starting this all up again. That issue is now settled and should remain that way.

Yes I did very well in world artistic competition from 1995 to 2000, I took on all challengers, won a world title and never finished lower than 2nd or third and played even with the best at that time. In 2000 at the first BCA event I played on a broken foot and gravely ill almost dying at the table which is why I came in last. I had a stroke the day after the event and did not hit a ball or play for over 2 l/2 yrs and retired, which is why you don't pick up any data on me with this organization. The people who run it all know I am for real and put me on their board of directors.

I will return to their world tour and competition at this springs Allen Hopkins event. My medical problems are now over come or have been brought into situations I can deal with, meaning I am playing in great pain with severe arthritis, but I am playing. I am one big notch down from what I was but my only goal now is just to play and post a decent score.

Like I said, if you have questions about me, or anything I have ever done, I have nothing to hide, pick up the phone and just call me, 770-381-1916. I do two things today Brian, I put on a very nice and entertaining show, I teach pool and am very good at that. My days of competiting are long behind me, when I tee it up at the Hopkins I will be playing against men who I have grandchildred older than them. I have a great grand child. I have been playing for 7 decades, so there does reach a point for people to keep making me compete to prove who I am where that becomes silly.

At pool I still run some racks, but have no desire to play at any top level any more there either. I would rather spend my time teaching you to run racks. Brian, as long as you ask any one any question and are sincere and polite, you have nothing to worry about. I was happy to respond to you sir.

As far as you never heard of me, I have been on every prime time network national TV and the same all over the world. I have appeared in 400 newspapers and on TV worldwide, played in 70 countries on 5 continents. Last week I was on TV in China, Singapore and on ESPN Asia sportscenter and seen all over the pacific rim by one billion people. That now makes my world wide exposure 2 billion people or 2/6ths of the planet has now seen me play or read about me. I am the first player to achieve this level of exposure. My teacher Minnesota Fats was first to reach a billion, I am first to hit 2 billion.

I have been on 4 prime time network TV shows this year alone and have 3 more coming up. I have had 3 page in depth articles about me in all of the pool magazines and appeared on the covers of 8 magazines and in every one world wide. I once wrote instruction articles for 5 different magazines. After all of this it does sort of amaze me you missed me. Most of that activity was 93 to 99, so if you came into the game in the last 3 years, you would not have seen anything on me unless you caught some old TV reruns like when I was on the premier of the Ripley's believe it or not show.

To achieve this level of exposure and to receive this level of coverage, I have to be somebody who did something of merit, you must recognize that. The media just likes me. Me and the wonder dogs are just a cool story, so I get on TV and in the newspapers every where I go.
May God bless and peace be with you. May the wind be always on your back and
all 9 balls fall. VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all.
“Fast Larry” Guninger
:D:D
 
May I take this time to wish all of you wonderful people on this board a very happy new year, may you find health, wealth and happiness in the coming new year as well.
May God bless and peace be with you. May the wind be always on your back and all 9 balls fall. VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all.
“Fast Larry” Guninger
:D:D [/B][/QUOTE] :p
 
Power Source Pool School at Hopkins Expo

I return to world Artistic competition at the Allen Hopkins Expo this March 2004 and will be playing in the Masters Tournament in the IAPA. I have also entered and will play in the NE OPEN which is held in Hartford, Ct the week befor the Hopkins. I have been away from internation competition now for four years, I will attempt to make a small comeback and hopefully post a respectful showing.
My new DVD's on 4 instructional subjects will be introducted there for the first time. They will have low introductory prices and each one will be autographed.

I will be offering lessons on pool or trick shots the two days after the expo closes in Philadelphia. The dates are 3-29 and 3-30.
The Power Source Pool School will offer one general clinic l l/2 hrs a day and then offer group lessons and private video taped instruction. The rates will be very affordable.

The same pool school will run in the Washington DC area on 3-31 and 4-1-04.

The power source pool school will be accepting bookings for lesson at the following up coming locations.
3-19 Hartford, Ct 3-22 23 NYC 3-29 3-30 Phil, Pa 3-31 4-1 Wash DC. 4-2 Charlotte, NC. 4-5 thru 4-11 Augusta, Ga. June 1, Hong Kong and all of SE Asia. Oct 1, Singapore and again all of SE asia.

For information and to book a spot call me at 770-381-1916 or email me at fastlarry@bellsouth.net. My web site is www.fastlarrypool.com



:p
 
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Why do these ccb guys tee off on you so hard. Most of the time you are just doing pool hall talk and they go ape. What's the deal here?
 
pocoloco12003 said:
Why do these ccb guys tee off on you so hard. Most of the time you are just doing pool hall talk and they go ape. What's the deal here?
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Some old bad blood, some old un resolved rumbles. I am trying hard to put an end to this, but when you are out spoken and say things people dis agree with or do not like, they tend to come at you hard on the internet when who they are is hidden. They say things to you there they never would say to your face in a pool hall. I just want to be at peace with everyone now and am working hard to achieve that goal. Some people just like to hate and fight, and some of them never forgive. Some of them will be taking cheap shots at me for years to come. All I can do is follow my teaching and turn the other cheek and keep moving forward promoting the game I love and not allow their negative engery to ever side track me again. :D
 
billfishhead said:
larry,,,,,,,could you plz give shorter answers,,,,,,,????????
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No, you want short answers or lessons go buy billiards digest and read their instruction. There are one paragraph lessons that don't say a damn thing or dont teach a damn thing. Go buy a Golf digest magazine and their instruction articles run 3 pages. You want quick sound bites, turn on CNN, you don't get them from me. If you don't like what I write, don't read it. When you see my stuff, just FFwrd past it. If curiosity does get to you and you slug through it, then don't come bitchin to me to shorten up because that is not who and what I am. :D
 
„« Hi Fast Larry,
> Happy new year to you. How are you? I am Terence from Singapore. I
> believed the last guy that you taught in Singapore before you went back to
> the States. I been practicing what you have taught me and I m starting to
> feel the stroke. Though I still need lots of practise. I believe i be able
> to improve my stroke if i give it enough effort and time. Thank you so
> much for the teachings. Your lesson definitely is the best christmas
> present I gave to myself.
>
> I would like to ask whether does the butt of a cue make a difference in
> playing? beside meucci and predator cues? can i just keep the butt of my
> existing cue and just buy a 314k shaft to it? will it be much a difference
> with me buying a whole new cue?
> Have you ever tried using a tailman tip? is is comparable to moori tip?
> Anyway i have finished watching the video, but it would definitely be
> better if it is in dvd.
> I be looking forward to the dvd that you produced.
>
> Yours Sincerely,
>
> Terence

I used to think that the butt of the cue was where it is at. That is where you spend all the money at. Fancy ivory and inlays are cool if you have the money for them. They do nothing to make balls for you and as you saw I am playing with a simple Meucci off the shelf $400 cue with no ivory. I don¡¦t even think the joint is all that important. I am confident it is all in the tip, ferrule and shaft.

Yes you can keep your existing cue and just buy a 314 shaft for it. You need to find out what your pin size is and find somebody local who sells them. They can order you a shaft that will fit your cue perfectly. If there is nobody, email predator and see what they say. Tell them what kind of cue you have and try to email a pic of your joint to them as well. Your current cue will now play with less deflection and surely your performance increase will be noticeable. This is probably going to cost you around $250 US or $151 sing.

The other alterative is to just buy a Meucci cue with the red dot or black dot shaft and you are going to be in the $300 to $400 us range of money or about $225 Sing.

Yes the Talisman is a fine tip and is comparable with a morri. They are made just north of you in Thailand.

Yes I will be taking my entire trick shot videos which are now in VHS mode and the quality is not real strong and will be putting them on DVD. I do plan to clean up the entire mess so my greatest shots will be able to be seen on a much higher level than I now have. I will be filming 3 different subjects on how to play pool on DVD. This project begins on Jan 15th and will be on the market by late March. The only subject I have released is the draw, or the screw. It will be in two parts and the subject will be covered extensively, there will be two DVD/s in the package. Several hours of instruction on just this subject alone. I technique I thought you, will soon be available for everyone to sample and try out.

I am really going to Miss Singapore and going up to my roof top pool and swimming laps every evening before bed. Being in the high 80¡¦s with no humidity during Xmas was just beautiful. Atlanta is in a southern climate in the US and it¡¦s been quite mild here this year. Usually is gets really cold at this time with temperatures from zero to the teens. With global warming I don¡¦t have to move to Florida, it has moved up to me. We have been having highs in the 50¡¦s and 60¡¦s F and lows close to freezing with frost on the ground in the mornings.

Weather is so weird now, it snowed in Las Vegas yesterday, and I thought that was impossible. When I was in Vegas last in July it was 115 F and I thought I was going to die. I was in Miami once when it snowed, I got upset, hopped a plane to Nassau to escape it and it snowed there when I arrived. I hate snow; give me sunshine any day over cold. I grew up in a cold climate with a lot of snow. Seen enough of it to last me forever. You don¡¦t have to shovel rain.
 
well i slugged through that,,,,,,,,,,,you dont have to be rude,,,,,,,,,or is that just your persona ?,,,,,,, i tryed to be tactful,,,,,guess being nice isnt a way to talk with you,,,,,,,,btw, we all arent self-proclaimed writers
 
billfishhead said:
well i slugged through that,,,,,,,,,,,you dont have to be rude,,,,,,,,,or is that just your persona ?,,,,,,, i tryed to be tactful,,,,,guess being nice isnt a way to talk with you,,,,,,,,btw, we all arent self-proclaimed writers
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I was not rude, the answer was simple, No. Sorry you did not like the answer. Like I said, if you want 3 second sound bites, try Cnn or the white house press conferences.
I post free here, I report to no body. When somebody begins paying me serious money to write, then I will begin to kiss your ass, until then, I tell it like it is and if you don't like it, go by a billiard digest and read Ewa Mataya, you want short and simple answers, she's your gal. You will learn a lot from what she writes. Right. I was not wild about your comments to me either. Like I said, I am not running for Governor. I am a real pool player, get used to that. Again, like I said, if you don't like that, you do have a FFFWD button, use it. :D
 
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