can just watching better players improve your game ?

L

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i played in our 9 ball cities this weekend. we played fri night and had a bye until 3:00 sat afternoon.

there was a 9 ball tournament going on at another poolhall this weekend and i decided to go hang out there and watch till i had to go play. there were mostly pretty sporty players with several guys from outa town in it.

i was sitting there eating lunch and watched several matches. i observed where they hit the cueball and how the cueball reacted on every shot. i realized that i was applying the wrong english on certain types of shots compared to what they were doing.

i left there and went to my tournament and i played one of the best games i have ever played. i am a 5 in 8 ball and a 4 in 9 ball. i faced a 5 who i have faced before and usually lost to. i defeated him 31-22 in 9 innings.

today i am wondering if that match was a fluke or what. we all know that we have our good days and bad days. i occasionaly beat higher handicap players, actually i have a harder time beating players my level than higher ones .

most of my matches go around 14 or more innings when i win, i have never won a match in 9 innings that i recall.

i hope that tourney is still going on today. if so i am going to watch some more before league tonight. maybe i can learn some more .

i have watched better players in league and have picked up things but that is during league night where you are under pressure to perform for your team. it seems to me i was able to ingest more and easier to digest in a relaxed atmosphere where i am not worried about having to play myself.

what do you guys think ?
 
everything works but not everything works for long. If you want to be a writer you must apply your seat to the chair..so it stands to reason if you want to be a better pool player you must spend your time at the table..let the other guy watch.
Also take lessons. Even the pros do
 
lorider said:
i played in our 9 ball cities this weekend. we played fri night and had a bye until 3:00 sat afternoon.

there was a 9 ball tournament going on at another poolhall this weekend and i decided to go hang out there and watch till i had to go play. there were mostly pretty sporty players with several guys from outa town in it.

i was sitting there eating lunch and watched several matches. i observed where they hit the cueball and how the cueball reacted on every shot. i realized that i was applying the wrong english on certain types of shots compared to what they were doing.

i left there and went to my tournament and i played one of the best games i have ever played. i am a 5 in 8 ball and a 4 in 9 ball. i faced a 5 who i have faced before and usually lost to. i defeated him 31-22 in 9 innings.

today i am wondering if that match was a fluke or what. we all know that we have our good days and bad days. i occasionaly beat higher handicap players, actually i have a harder time beating players my level than higher ones .

most of my matches go around 14 or more innings when i win, i have never won a match in 9 innings that i recall.

i hope that tourney is still going on today. if so i am going to watch some more before league tonight. maybe i can learn some more .

i have watched better players in league and have picked up things but that is during league night where you are under pressure to perform for your team. it seems to me i was able to ingest more and easier to digest in a relaxed atmosphere where i am not worried about having to play myself.

what do you guys think ?
Click to expand...

watching good players helps..........especially if you access to the pros.
 
lorider said:
i played in our 9 ball cities this weekend. we played fri night and had a bye until 3:00 sat afternoon.

there was a 9 ball tournament going on at another poolhall this weekend and i decided to go hang out there and watch till i had to go play. there were mostly pretty sporty players with several guys from outa town in it.

i was sitting there eating lunch and watched several matches. i observed where they hit the cueball and how the cueball reacted on every shot. i realized that i was applying the wrong english on certain types of shots compared to what they were doing.

i left there and went to my tournament and i played one of the best games i have ever played. i am a 5 in 8 ball and a 4 in 9 ball. i faced a 5 who i have faced before and usually lost to. i defeated him 31-22 in 9 innings.

today i am wondering if that match was a fluke or what. we all know that we have our good days and bad days. i occasionaly beat higher handicap players, actually i have a harder time beating players my level than higher ones .

most of my matches go around 14 or more innings when i win, i have never won a match in 9 innings that i recall.

i hope that tourney is still going on today. if so i am going to watch some more before league tonight. maybe i can learn some more .

i have watched better players in league and have picked up things but that is during league night where you are under pressure to perform for your team. it seems to me i was able to ingest more and easier to digest in a relaxed atmosphere where i am not worried about having to play myself.

what do you guys think ?
Click to expand...

Watching better players makes you realize what you must do to improve your game.But you as a player must learn the skills needed by spending time at the table. .... End of story. Always work on things you do not do well.The key to good pool is always having the answer for the next shot.It dont always work out but confidence going into a shot is what you want.
 
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If you do the research, there are three basic and differing learning styles...visual, auditory, and kinesthetic...and each individual learns "best" by any one of the three or a certain combination thereof...

People laugh it off when I tell them I learned how to play pool by reading a book (Ray Martin's "The 99 Critical Shots In Pool")...but it's the truth. Obviously I had to spend the time on the table to get my body used to what I had read, but that's how I first started.

I've spent a lot of time watching the 9-Ball Tournaments that are readily available on YouTube...I pick some of the pros whose stroke I would most like to "emulate" and try to visually pick up on some of their techniques. After I've spent a couple hours watching some of those matches, I put some time in on the table and my game has seemingly improved...

It's been said tons of times before, but a person will likely not improve unless they are playing with someone who is "above" their skill level...and the reason for that - they start "emulating" what the "better" player does (whether it's position play, stroke, pre-shot routine, etc.).

You may have stumbled onto how YOU learn best! :smile:
 
If you watch enough, I think you can pick up which shot is the right shot. I watch a ton of pool (LOL I got rid of cable so I can watch more pool) and it helps me see how to run out. Its helped my shape play just as much as practicing has helped me pocket balls. Im a very visual and hands on learner and like JAMSGOLF said everyone learns different. I couldnt learn how to do anything by reading a book to save my life. .
 
Falcon Eddie said:
everything works but not everything works for long. If you want to be a writer you must apply your seat to the chair..so it stands to reason if you want to be a better pool player you must spend your time at the table..let the other guy watch.
Also take lessons. Even the pros do
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice. i have taken one lesson. it was from randy g.

as for table time. i am a member of the hamb society. i have hit a million balls in my lifetime, problem is quite a few of them were the wrong shot:).

i have had better players compliment me on my shotmaking ability. there is a guy who is an 8 in 9 ball i played who told me i made some amazing shots when i played him. another guy who i faced in master league said he would hate to face me in a handicap race. yea i played master league 1 session.

shotmaking is not my problem, position play is. if i had better cueball control i would not have to make such shots that i have been complimented on.

watching what type of english they applied to get the cueball to go where they wanted it to made me realize i knew nothing about english. i do realize using english can help you if you know how to apply it properly and hurt you if you dont know what you are doing.

poor position on my next shot is by biggest weakness . in my match yesterday , when i had similar shots to what i saw they were faced with i used the same type of english and got similar results on position. granted i did not get the same exact results they did every time my overall position play was improved.

i did not mean to imply just watching better players will automatically make you a better player.

oh yea. i watched a short clip of max eberle yesterday morning on 9 ball racking. i think it helped my game a lil bit yesterday also.:)
 
Yes, I really think so. I think it might depend on the individual
but if you watch closely you should be able to pick up some pointers.
 
If you are a visual learner definitely. People in a state of hypnosis can watch and learn very effectively as the conscious minds filters are bypassed helping you to learn at same accelerated rate.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2
 
It can definitely help! But you need to have an open mind to what you are watching and you need to be analytical in breaking down what your seeing.

Back when I was first starting out playing the game, I had serious problems with being able to cut a ball along the rail. So I was watching a televised match with Earl Strickland during one of the lake tahoe tournament events (this is early 80's), and the camera caught a closeup from behind as Earl was preparing to cut a ball along the rail. Seeing how Earl was preparing to shoot showed me what I was doing wrong. The next time I was at my best friends house and we started playing, I tried what I saw Earl do when I had a rail cut opportunity, and lo and behold I made a successful rail cut. That was a great feeling and helped to continue to fuel my interest in the game, and drive me to continue to improve.

Today with all the videos that can be found on YouTube and other sites, it is definitely alot easier to see the pro's do their thing, and be able to learn from how they perform at the table. And if you can do so, I also recommend that you begin buying dvd's from Accu-Stats to build you own video library.

But in the end, no amount of video watching in itself is going to make a permanent improvement in your game without a committment of time at the table. The same goes for building a library of quality books. You have to take whatever learning material you use and put in practice at the table. And if you can keep a record of your success and failure attempts on an idea your trying to learn at the table, you can then consider yourself in training mode instead of practice mode.

Afterall, practice should be more about reinforcing what you know now in your skill set (Which hopefully is correct knowledge), while training is about trying to incorporate new knowledge to your skill set.
 
Watching better players and how they get where they need to be on position can help a lot. They may go two rails where you only went one for example. They may follow the shot and come off a cushion VS draw the ball.

As far as improving your actual excecution, practice will take care of that. When I talk about practice, I am talking about a specific shot (or drill) with a specific outcome that can be measure (were you successful 8 out of 10 times aT making the shot and putting the cue ball in a 4-6 inch circle), not just beating balls around on a table. Work on your weaknesses, not your strengths, to improve.
 
Someone else touched on it, for me, watching better players helps me learning position play, and choosing shots better.

That's all well and good (and helpful) but the area I need the biggest improvement in is consistency in stroke and shooting. If I can't make the shot the right way, it doesn't matter what kind of position I get. Though I agree, lorider, getting better position makes the next shot easier! :grin:

I need the table time as much as the viewing time, methinks. Probably more. Definetely more. Fortunately, we can do a lot of watching when we are away from the table.
 
onepocketron said:
Watching better players and how they get where they need to be on position can help a lot. They may go two rails where you only went one for example. They may follow the shot and come off a cushion VS draw the ball.
Click to expand...

Agree that better players get position differently. I think it's mostly because they're much more conscious of coming into the line of the shot rather than across the line. And they have the knowledge and skills to come into the line off multiple rails and with fancy english. And they use much more inside than bangers do. And they know the dangers of babying a shot rather than accepting a rail and coming back out.
 
Watch their patterns and how they move the cue ball. Then practice what you see until you can move the cue ball the same way.
 
U should be able to remember vividly each person you have watched. Should help make you better in some way.
 
Confidence !! Watching, reading, playing all help, but if you don't have confidence it will always be a struggle. I have seen great players fall apart because something "wasn't right", they lost confidence, once it is gone your whole stroke changes.
 
Sometimes it's not so much learning as it is being inspired. My interest in pool is always there, but my interest in playing well is not, if that makes any sense. If I find myself getting lazy playing league matches or cheap tournaments, it helps me to drop by and watch some some of the sharpshooters from around here (Earl, Keith, Tony, Mike, etc.) playing in a GSBT stop or other big tournament. It's like the reminder that the game can be played at that level is enough to make me focus and play better. To some extent, watching video of the great players will do that as well, but there's nothing quite like being there.
 
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