Best Pro Advice You've Gotten

From John Drew Hager: "My best advice to you is make sure you still have fun."

And my other favorite from pros and non-pros: "It doesn't matter what shape you get if you don't make the ball"

-Melinda
 
billyjungle said:
Pool is 90% mental....the other half is in your head!!!! :D :D :cool:
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My advice to you...Quit playing pool, go back to the 4th grade, and learn your percentages and fractions. If you can really use 180% of your brain, you won't need any advice ;). Hehe, just playing with you. :D
 
Stretching for a shot...

Whenever you have to stretch for a shot or are shooting a shot with the bridge streched out, don't pull back, just follow straight through the cue ball.

Whatever you think is the toughest shot in pool, practice it until you believe it is your favorite, secret weapon shot.

Sorry, I just don't know who I heard these from, but they were gold for me.
 
I had a pro tell me.....Learn to count slower!....I want to make sure all my money is there!....:)


Good tips for real:

Learn to shoot opposite handed.

Grady talking about 1P > Learn to shoot off the end rail, or your opponent will leave you there forever.
 
JLW said:
I know a lot of the posters on this forum have had the good fortune to play with and learn from some great pro players (and great unknowns). What would you say is the best piece of pool advice you ever got from one?
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From Max Eberle: How to "properly" line up on a shot everytime. I already played at a fairly high level when we got together..but he noticed I wasn't lining up correct on every shot. Once he made a small adjustment it changed everything in my game.

Jimmy Reid taught me a few aiming tips, and helped me on my 9 ball break. He also emphasized staying down after every shot and how much of a difference it would make (and did).
 
JLW said:
I know a lot of the posters on this forum have had the good fortune to play with and learn from some great pro players (and great unknowns). What would you say is the best piece of pool advice you ever got from one?
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Control the cueball absolutely. - Danny Medina
Hide the sausage - Unnamed
Get the right line and step into it - Unnamed

Pick another hobby - just kidding.

John
 
OldHasBeen said:
"If There Is A Lot - Win A Lot,
If There's A Little - Win It All"!

TY & GL
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I think paraphrasing an Allen Hopkins story is approriate here. No stakes are too small until you have made the room rent. In other words, if you are on the road, you take every game there is no matter how much you won the day before.

John
 
Although not a 'pro' player but a pretty damn good one, Whitey Walker taught me the 3 rules of pool:

#1: Get the nuts
#2: Make em post
#3: The sucker is always right
 
Efren Reyes.

Best advice I ever recieved was to use BHE. He didn't use that term but did describe it.
 
Not all pros but:

"you can learn by watching" -Neil Fujiwara

"Back up your hand on the wrap" -Robb Saez

"Pool is 90% mental and 10% mental" -Larry Gayle

"As a fellow left hander, you can play some safes by simply leaving shape for yourself instead of a right handed player [ametuer level]"-Rodney Morris

"Believe nothing that you hear, and only half of what you see"-Ryan Lordahl

"Trust no one, EVER"-Harley Bryant
 
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Champions advice to me long ago...

Some of the best advice came from a few sources for me. No problem sharing with everyone...

Mike Stephens (Great bar room player)

"The 5 most important words in pool are STAY DOWN AND FOLLOW THRU".

Warren Costanzo (Monk) World Champ

"Have Fun"

"The difference between a good player and a great player is the Great player never leaves his cue ball on the rail."

Johnny Archer

"Nine ball is a rythem game, play it that way"


Dan Louie

"It's a feel game, you gotta play this game on feel."


Good luck and have fun,


Jeff Jimenez
 
From watching Pros on accustats:
The better players establish a preshot routine, and rarely dog a shot doing what we amateurs do, which is dogging a shot because we one stroked it.

From watching John Ditoro, Tommy Brown, Toby Sweet and other south florida champions:
Play all games, each particular game stresses different aspects of pool that will make you an overall better player.

From gambling against ball bangers to pros:
Don't let your opponent dictate the game, table or bet unless you have the nuts.

Don't donate to better players under the assumption that doing such will make you a better player. Make the game tighter, it will force your opponent to play an elevated game, which in the end will make you a better player.
 
uwate said:
Don't donate to better players under the assumption that doing such will make you a better player. Make the game tighter, it will force your opponent to play an elevated game, which in the end will make you a better player.
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This is a real good piece of advice. For a long time people would tell me to do exactly this, to get better. Then, I was talking to larry gayle (our local, who probably could have made pro level), and I asked him to play some races to 7 for cheap. He said okay, I'll give you the 6 out. I was like whoa, that's allot just to get me better, but then he explained exactly what you just did. It's true, and I only ended up losing 20 bucks, at 10 a set. We played about 6 sets.
 
"If you don't beleive in yourself nobody else will" - My old pool hero, circa 1990

:D
 
Regarding gambling (From a friend of many top players):

The money is always made before you get on the table!

Regarding one-pocket:

Always protect the ball nearest your pocket on your side of the table.

What he meant was: always hide your opponent from seeing this ball, even if it's not that close to your pocket. Once you let him see it, he will be able to turn the advantage against you, and you may soon find yourself staring from the head rail at balls around his pocket--shot after shot. It's a powerful principle that we all know more or less, but he showed me it was a cardinal rule, not just a useful strategy.

Also, regarding one-pocket:

Never take a flyer!
 
Best Advice

Danny Medina and I were driving home right after he won the Chicago Inv. many years ago. I thought he was asleep and he sat up and said," you know what really surprises me is how many people don't watch the ball hit the pocket. If it don't hit the pocket why does it matter where the cue ball is going. You have to follow through with your eyes"!
I knew he was talking to me and in a matter of a cou;le of weeks, my game jumped tremendously and I have bee horrible ever since.
 
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