this will be longer than most of you want to read. if youre one of those folks just back out now cuz it aint gonna get better for ya.
heres todays practice. 02/23/2026:
(edit: i accidently cut out a miss where im underneath the 8 and try to shoot it in the side)
not great.
here is my progress thus far, based on my post history. starts off shiny and optimistic, and just a few months shy of
four years later, my high run is basically the same. i think i might be on a goose chase!
12/2025
another year goes by without a new high run for me. i do feel like i understand the game a little better, but i was running more 20+s when i played “wrong”
i think with most things they get worse before they get better.
i dont mind hard work but after 3 years i am actually getting worse, and i’m forced to ask myself if maybe theres something else i should be putting my time in to.
i play this game for the process and not the results but at what point do i just kind of realize that this game is not for me?
maybe i need to use straight pool as more of a tune up tool or something. i think the years of beatdowns and defeats are just finally catching up to me where being terrible at the game is starting to outweigh the joy of learning from it.
thoughts?
05/2025, the last time i shot well
29 again. Tied my high run. Shoulda got back up. shot it anyway. its been a couple years now trying to get into rack 3
07/2024 i remember this nightmarishly and i’m glad its over
there is a lot of that going on. im constantly thinking about my feet and my approach and my stroke already, as ive mentioned here. im familiar with the process though so misses arent bothering me as much, just trying to learn from them.
07/2024 after getting some really good advice in the high run thread
i have experimented with many different styles over the past couple years in my quest for 3 racks. I have tried the mario he approach where you walk the table on every ball. I have tried the jayson shaw approach where you black out and fire through the first rack in 2 minutes to get it out of the way. i have tried playing take-5 to get better at end patterns.
the fact is my cueball sucks and i miss really easy balls. A lot. there is a breakdown somewhere. at times i feel like i dont understand even the simplest principles of pool and throw my hands up, saying “at least im having fun.” Pool is pretty much the only thing that gets me out of the house though, so i put a lot of energy into not getting too frustrated with it.
you are absolutely correct, i need to put more thought in mid rack to optimize my chances for a good end pattern. I generally look for my break ball, look for a key ball, throw a dart at a potential k2 and then take it 3 balls at a time.
I feel like my mind works really fast and so its easy for me to go with my gut in a sort of tunnel vision. for example in the first rack, even though i get down immediately on the 6 i knew i was shooting 6-3-11-8-1. I did not however take the time to think about if those balls might benefit me later in the rack. i think that is my biggest takeaway from this and i do believe it will help me going forward, so thank you.
Its possible im chasing the wrong ghost. maybe i shouldnt be trying so hard for 3 racks and instead need to focus my energy on my broken process. i guess 14.1 is as good a drill as any to work on mechanics. See you when i see you, 42.
04/2024
New high run today, by a ball. 29.
super scragly, coming up well short on the break ball and getting stuck, followed with a hilarious fluke where i was trying a multi ball combo that got kicked up to a short rail bank into the called pocket.
The 28 i ran last year was cleaner but i guess this is better since i actually made the second break ball. Missed the stack by a hair and then missed the full rack corner ball. Oh well, heres hopin it doesnt take me another year to get a shot at the second break ball.
02/2024
ran 26 today. Missed the initial break ball and kept playing. Secondary break ball was wild
12/2023
ran 27 today. My HR is 28 so im both excited and disappointed. I left myself long and straight in on the key ball and missed it, but if i had made it i would have been great on the break ball. I reracked and shot the break ball anyway and missed it too lol
07/2022
after being stuck at 15 for almost a year, i finally got into the second rack today and made it to 28. some pretty good rolls helped me out along the way. i had a plan for the end of the rack but i blew the easy pattern, so i was playing to shoot the break ball into the side (which i've never ever tried... going to practice those). rolled too far forward on the key ball and tried to shoot it into the top corner and rattled it. i woulda been pretty stuck even if it had fell.
needless to say i am absolutely over the moon. i've been really down on myself and my pool game lately and to reach my stated goal of 28 the very first time i got into the second rack makes me feel like there's still hope for me yet.
my next goal is to get a 28 on film where the tag isn't sticking up out of the back of my shirt
its funny to go back through the time machine like this. i think my conclusion is that i’m either not smart enough or too impatient to play this game well.
if any of you watched the video of todays practice, AND made it this far through my Dear Diary, i’d be curious to hear your thoughts on why i can’t progress.
a user recently said that i “dont think about my cueball” which doesnt really seem possible but after watching todays practice i can kinda see where hes coming from haha. I control that thing like shit sometimes.
believe it or not this is not a pity party as much as it is a desperate attempt to cling to a reason to keep playing this game even though i’m terrible at it.
to the roasters, have at it
