Best way to improve your shot selection

[BilliardsAbout]

CJ, you are correct. Sometimes it's not picking bad shots but the cue ball control and aim you are teaching players to repair. However, I get a lot of students for lessons who can always seem to run five or six before an epic fail, due to poor sequencing and shot selection.

 

[MiscueBlues]

Sometimes it's not that you're picking "bad" shots, it's that you're not controlling the cue ball well enough. Being able to carom the cue ball effectively is very important in 8 Ball and I'd suggest you practice this.....it will make the "bad" shots suddenly "good".

I like to break the balls and carom every OBJECT BALL off the cue ball into the pockets....this will give you a LOT of experience truly controlling the caroms and you'll see right away that you really do need this type of practice.

Remember, carom each and every ball off the cue ball into the pocket......this will get easier if you make a point to practice it 20/30 minutes a day....within a couple of weeks you're game will improve in ways you'd not have expected. 'The Game is the Teacher'

Since I made this thread almost 2 months ago I've gotten a lot better, and this was exactly what happened. As I practiced more, controlling the cue ball, it became way easier to see patterns because I had a better feel for what I could and could not do.

Also, that carom game is something I tried after watching a TAR podcast with Efren and Shane. It is really fun for gambling with friends, and I'm definitely seeing carom angles better. Made a couple caroms into a 9 ball the other night :grin:

 

[West Point 1987]

I have a simple strategy that works very well for me. Clear your suit in zones...i.e., start at one end of the table and clear that first, transitioning to the other end and clearing that. Choose your key ball (the last ball that sets you up for the 8) first. Don't clear pockets you don't have to...if you must play safe, having pockets blocked with your balls gives you options for safeties. Play your patterns inside-out; unlike 14.1 where you pick them off outside-in (where you need to keep your foot pockets clear for your run; in 8 ball you may need to keep some lanes blocked in case your run must end). Get in the guts of a zone/grouping and pocket them from the center of the cluster...move the CB only as much as you absolutely need to. Don't pass up an opportunity to develop a cluster/break something out. When a safe is not evident, tie a ball up.

As for practice, don't waste time randomly running out an open table hitting any suit that looks good. Force yourself to work with one suit; a key skill requirement in 8 ball is the ability to work around obstruction from the opponent's balls. You will develop special touch (like a stun-run through, creating angles off straight in shots, etc.) automatically by forcing yourself to play around obstructions. I'm not a fan of taking balls off the table to show progression...that's just me. Progression is measured in the number of runs or average balls per run. Keep notes on that and chart how that goes up and down during sessions and from session to session. That will tell you a lot about how you progress, as well as your mind set and concentration level.

 

[CJ Wiley]

8 Ball in practice with the stipulation that I MUST carom into another ball

Since I made this thread almost 2 months ago I've gotten a lot better, and this was exactly what happened. As I practiced more, controlling the cue ball, it became way easier to see patterns because I had a better feel for what I could and could not do.

Also, that carom game is something I tried after watching a TAR podcast with Efren and Shane. It is really fun for gambling with friends, and I'm definitely seeing carom angles better. Made a couple caroms into a 9 ball the other night :grin:

That's great!! There's no substitute for isolating certain desired skills into fun games to play with yourself and friends to improve.

I also like to play 8 Ball in practice with the stipulation that I MUST carom into another ball after every shot. This makes the game a lot more difficult (I rarely run the table entirely), however it makes you shoot a lot of challenging carom shots and also tests your creativity and strategic abilities as well......it's a great practice game for 30 minutes a day.