Bad Pool Related Advice You Have Been Given?

3andstop said:
I personally agree that gambling and getting better don't have to go hand in hand, but I also feel that everyone is different when it comes to desire.

For the life of me, I can't understand how anyone enjoys rack after rack of 9 ball without getting bored out of their minds unless they are gambling.

If it wasn't for straight pool I'd have to have some money on the games I play in order to maintain interest.

For lots of these younger players who haven't found the benefits of straight pool, I sort of understand why they say that about gambling and getting better.

I mean, 9 ball is like poker, how many hands can you enjoy when you're not playing for something. It just gets plain old dull.
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Guess it's all in how you perceive the game... 9ball is as much about a single game these days as a single rack is to 14.1... I'm always trying to put out a new high package... Don't need your money to motivate me... Likely the same way you use a personal high run in 14.1..... So far my high run in 8ball is 64balls in 9ball it's 81balls..... 14.1? I don't play it enough to recall...........
 
I don't know if this counts as advice, but there is a guy in our league system that likes to complain, nitpick and argue about anything he can. Sure enough I played him in leagues one night and I was about to shoot at the game ball from the kitchen. Game ball was on the kitchen line, but clearly the base of the ball was outside the line. He proceeded to tell me I cannot shoot the ball, because the base was not outside the line. He then told me that the "base" was the part of the felt that the cue ball touched, maybe a dime in diameter. I laughed and told him the base of the ball was an infinitely small point on the bottom of the ball. Then the good part... he proclaimed his math major-ness smart-ness (I was a math major too btw) and told me that a point is not infinitely small, but gained size as you come closer. I was at a loss for words.
 
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Don't show your speed unless you are gambling. While this piece of advice did help me pocket a few dollars that I might not have otherwise received, it held me back for many years. About 15 years ago, I just started letting it all hang out.

This past weekend in Lafayette, LA I got beat up on by Jimmy Majors and also by another player from Oklahoma. I guess I just hang with the big boys. Maybe I just need to go back to sandbagging and hustling. :D
 
1. Phoenix Arizona is a Great Pool Town, and the Arizona Rating system makes people want to come out and play.

2. APA is a Great League system.

3. You need this Magic Tip, Cue, or Accessory to play POOL GREAT.

4. The Perfect Aiming System is the answer to having a great game.

5. Gambling will make you a "BETTER" Player.
 
Shoot the hard shots FIRST!

When I played in bars as a young boy, my pool advice came from drunks. I played bar rules 8 ball and the worst advice I got was:

"Shoot the hard shots first!"
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
1. Phoenix Arizona is a Great Pool Town, and the Arizona Rating system makes people want to come out and play. That's true!

2. APA is a Great League system. It is a great league system...for what it is!

3. You need this Magic Tip, Cue, or Accessory to play POOL GREAT. Definitely untrue.

4. The Perfect Aiming System is the answer to having a great game. May or may not be true, depending on the person.

5. Gambling will make you a "BETTER" Player.Not true...gambling will make you a better gambler!
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Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
JMW said:
What is the worse pool related advice anyone has ever given you? You know... bad advice regarding how to play, cues, strategy, etc...
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Guy told me to take two weeks off and then quit. I should have just quit.:wink:
 
I've been told to 'put something on every shot' (i.e. english). Took me years to figure out how wrong that was.

CocoboloCowboy said:
1. Phoenix Arizona is a Great Pool Town, and the Arizona Rating system makes people want to come out and play.
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This statement is actually true.
 
Been told to completely change my stroke from a "drop-elbow" type stroke to a pendulumn stroke.

Threw my game off for a few years.

I decided to just completely ditch the advice and go back to what made me good when I was younger. Have come close to taking a few pro scalps in tourneys in the few months since I made that decision. :-)

Hopefully I am not gonna catch too much flack from this from pro-pendulumn advocates, but I talked to a few pros/coaches about this (including HillBilly and Lee Brett at DCC), and both told me the same thing.. Almost every top player drops his/her elbow on big strokes to keep the cue on a straight line.

Russ
 
Russ Chewning said:
Been told to completely change my stroke from a "drop-elbow" type stroke to a pendulumn stroke.

Threw my game off for a few years.

I decided to just completely ditch the advice and go back to what made me good when I was younger. Have come close to taking a few pro scalps in tourneys in the few months since I made that decision. :-)

Hopefully I am not gonna catch too much flack from this from pro-pendulumn advocates, but I talked to a few pros/coaches about this (including HillBilly and Lee Brett at DCC), and both told me the same thing.. Almost every top player drops his/her elbow on big strokes to keep the cue on a straight line.

Russ
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Pfffft!
and you want a spot. Pfffffft.

And you drop your elbow. Pffffffft. No spot. We play even up.
 
I was on the 2nd year of my Bachelors in Nursing, and a regular player at the local hall I frequent advised me: " You should quit college and be a full time player...you make WAYYYYYYYY more money in pool".
 
Russ Chewning said:
Been told to completely change my stroke from a "drop-elbow" type stroke to a pendulumn stroke.

Threw my game off for a few years.

I decided to just completely ditch the advice and go back to what made me good when I was younger. Have come close to taking a few pro scalps in tourneys in the few months since I made that decision. :-)

Hopefully I am not gonna catch too much flack from this from pro-pendulumn advocates, but I talked to a few pros/coaches about this (including HillBilly and Lee Brett at DCC), and both told me the same thing.. Almost every top player drops his/her elbow on big strokes to keep the cue on a straight line.

Russ
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Dropping your elbow after the cue ball leaves would have no bearing on the cue ball. Most of us advocate not dropping your elbow before or during your Delivery process.

randyg
 
randyg said:
Dropping your elbow after the cue ball leaves would have no bearing on the cue ball. Most of us advocate not dropping your elbow before or during your Delivery process.

randyg
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Yup.

My game jumped 2-3 balls as soon as I quit trying to change what my stroke has done naturally since around 1996.

:-)

I call it letting the shot "pull my elbow" through to completion.

I understand why some instructors would try to encourage a player to adopt a pendulumn stroke, but I really do believe trying to change a good player's stroke completely is (generally) counterproductive.

Hillbilly and Lee Brett both advocate working with what the student has if they are already a fairly advanced player.

Russ
 
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