disappointed

[wigglybridge]

so, the story is that i played a bunch as a teen, then was away from the game for 40 years. like, Completely -- never touched it.

a year and a half ago, i bought a cheap Nitro cue and started playing again, but over that time i've only averaged one session a week, maybe 3 hours average. some weeks i can get in 2 sessions, but not so much. the nearest good room is 45 minutes drive one-way, which doesn't help.

i've put in a Lot of off-table learning time: read about every book on straight pool and others, watched many, many videos of great players, some of them dozens of times (the Thorsten match that Blackjack comments, Crane/Balsis, and many of John Schmidt's are favorites). i feel like i really Get the patterns, and now when i watch a new video, i can usually predict each rack's patterns, or if not, understand why it's different really quickly.

my high runs are 28, 29 and 30-ish (lost track because somebody was jawing at me). i expect 10-15 most every inning, up to 20 often. and i find it, i don't know, not exactly discouraging, more like disappointing that i haven't been able to make it further into or past that 3rd rack. inevitably at some point i lose the white rock; either i hit it wrong, or even more often, i hit it exactly as intended, but it does something i didn't expect and i'm Wildly out of shape.

i really feel like i have a decent stroke (much better than i thought, when i saw it on video), and am thinking right. i'm getting better at using just the right amount of energy breaking clusters and no more. when i Do lose the cue ball, i often make some damn tough shots And make position as well.

but i'm not pulling it all together somehow.

am i being totally unrealistic, given the amount i can practice?

 

[14-1StraightMan]

Hang in There

Look, not even the Pros can run tons of balls every day. They have bad days & bad tournaments. But..... they are Pros and do not have those bad days as often as we do.
I am sure that you have dedicated yourself to some type of occupation. Do you think those Pros can do your job as well as you do? I would think not.
There are many players out there that wish that they can run 20-30 balls.
You are doing well, keep working at it, those super big numbers might not ever come but other numbers will and more often then they are coming now.
Good Luck with your game and enjoy yourself with your skills.

 

[Blackjack]

Bob

Just remember that Rome was not built in a day. Here are some unwritten rules that I came up with about the game of straight pool.I don't know if this will answer any of your questions, but feel free to employ them at your own leisure, and let me know how it goes.

The 10 Unwritten Rules of Straight Pool

1. In straight pool it is just as important to get the balls open as it is to get them into the pockets.

2. You can have the best stroke in the world, but if your brain is of low quality, you'll always have a rough go of it.

3. When you find yourself in a bad spot, remember that sometimes experiencing the problem is worth twice as much as finding the solution.

4. Great straight pool players are keenly aware to operate within their own capabilities. Many frustrated straight pool players see their runs end by being completely unaware that they are operating within their inabilities.

5. Frustration is the bastard child of laziness and complacency.

6. The break ball is not the most important shot ... the most important shot is the shot the gets you on your break ball. If you can remember that and learn to combine it with masterful simplicity, then you're likely to get into the next rack.

7. The most important ball on the table is not the break ball, its not the key ball, nor is it any of the other object balls - the most important ball is the cue ball. Players that fail to realize this are usually the ones that you see having to bank their break ball.

8. In straight pool, self control is twice as important as cue ball control. If you cannot control you, then sooner or later everything else will.

9. You usually make the shots that you think you're going to make, and you usually miss the shots that you think you're going to miss. More times than not, what you think is going to happen usually does happen... so it's best to be thinking something good.

10. In straight pool, nothing will end your run quicker than carelessness. When it comes right down to it, I'll take bad luck over carelessness any day.

 

[Ratta]

Hi Wiggy

Both shown up several (and of course totally correct^^) advices. Furthermore in your case i would bet, that it would help you to *learn* to really have just fun to *enjoy* your table-time is a great advante wiggy. Noone likes to *miss* or to loose- but as A.Huber (german teamleader and great instructor) likes to say and pray: if you miss....just smile, keep you chalk and sit down ^^
If you learnt this....you made a great step. As soon as you start being really angry......nothin will work anymore as it worked before--
And to quote Jimmy Reid, too:

NO TIME FOR NEGATIVE!

have fun wiggy,

Ingo

 

[3andstop]

As we get better, the reasons for missing become more and more subtle. I believe they are usually the same reasons as they have always been, its just that while we may feel we've got those things licked, in reality the work they need requires much more very fine tuning than we realize.

If it's because of concentration or focus, it's the very fine tuning of that concentration and focus that need practice. If it's about ball pocketing, it too becomes the very subtle adjustments and improvements that will make the difference.

The comfort zone our brain can sense we are falling out of, is very sensitive and knows the ever so slight change in the way we feel about a shot. It's up to us to recognize our brain telling us something isn't right, and we need to pull up and regroup.

Perhaps I'll get a lot of disagreement with this, but I believe it's mostly ALL ABOUT pocketing balls with different englishes on the CB, and being just as comfortable with one as the other.

I know sometimes I've been guilty of reverting to the most comfortable english (usually a touch above center ball for me) to make more difficult shots. The resulting decay in position eventually leads to the end of a run.

So IMO its about being comfortable pocketing balls with the english needed, and not having to worry about our brain telling us we are leaving our comfort zone.

Consistent ability to pocket balls comfortably. I believe working on the fine tuning of "SEEING THE SHOTS" and "EXECUTING" the delivery of the CB to the OB and training your brain to recognize when you are standing right and stroking right will lead to higher runs.

I play about the same amount as you, I never go to a poolroom and only play a few times a week when my friend comes over. I used to own a poolroom and after selling it, put down my cue for about 15yrs.

I find it difficult to maintain a consistent stroke when only playing occasionally. I can hear my brain asking me if this shot really feels right. But ... I can tell you that by being aware of why I'm not pocketing well, makes all the difference in the world in terms of correcting at the table. I'm able to get 30s and 40s, a few 50s, and even a 60 something now and then, but the moon and stars have to be in position, ( read my wife, kids, phone, and world problems are not being brought to my attention 5 minutes.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is while there are a thousand things to disrupt our perfect stroke, picking one major one and fixing it goes pretty far. I think that major one is pocketing naturally, and comfortably without frying too many brain cells doing it, and without waking up that part of our brain that says something isn't right.

I forgot to add, that for me the specific solution seems to be, a good pause at the CB with my cue to feel my alignment and see the angle, a conscious effort to slow my forward stroke, and a slightly longer forward stroke through the CB. For what it's worth that is ..... I suppose it is different for everyone. :thumbup:

 

[Ron F]

Don't Be Disappointed

Bob,

Don't be disappointed. A negative attitude about your game and skepticism about hitting a high number cuts into your confidence, and confidence is an essential component to play any game on a pool table well.

Although you watch hours of video, read many books, study your stroke on video and have found it to be satisfactory, pool is a game of muscle memory - particularly when it comes to position play which is so important in mastering straight pool that it cannot be emphasized enough. Your lack of table time IMO correlates to not being able to control the CB well enough to get into the 3rd, 4th and 5th rack. By playing frequently you gain that muscle memory - which allows your brain to know how hard and with how much spin to hit the CB for it to come off the rail 18 inches versus 24 inches - which often makes the difference of being perfect on a break ball or not having a shot on the break ball at all.

Over the years I've had times in my life when I could run 60's and 70's regularly and other times when I couldn't get into the 3rd rack to save my life. The 60 and 70 ball runs only came during stretches when I was playing nearly every day. The 20 and 30 ball runs came when I was playing maybe once a week.

You're not unique. Most people who only play a few hours a week will not be able to run racks easily - especially in your case where you were away from the game for 40 years. Don't be so hard on yourself and don't set lofty expectations when you know you can't get on the table at least 20 hours a week. Where are you and why is a table 45 minutes away?

Ron F

 

[wigglybridge]

thank you all for your advice and thoughts. having wiser heads even say something as simple as "keep at it" is Really helpful.

lydia & i are off to drive 5 hours to SBE now [!] or this would be longer.

and Blackjack, thank you for those pointers. some real head-turners there that i never thought about or heard. #6 in particular is probably my weak point, but they're All food for thought.

 

[BigAL]

Bob

Just remember that Rome was not built in a day. Here are some unwritten rules that I came up with about the game of straight pool.I don't know if this will answer any of your questions, but feel free to employ them at your own leisure, and let me know how it goes.

The 10 Unwritten Rules of Straight Pool

1. In straight pool it is just as important to get the balls open as it is to get them into the pockets.

2. You can have the best stroke in the world, but if your brain is of low quality, you'll always have a rough go of it.

3. When you find yourself in a bad spot, remember that sometimes experiencing the problem is worth twice as much as finding the solution.

4. Great straight pool players are keenly aware to operate within their own capabilities. Many frustrated straight pool players see their runs end by being completely unaware that they are operating within their inabilities.

5. Frustration is the bastard child of laziness and complacency.

6. The break ball is not the most important shot ... the most important shot is the shot the gets you on your break ball. If you can remember that and learn to combine it with masterful simplicity, then you're likely to get into the next rack.

7. The most important ball on the table is not the break ball, its not the key ball, nor is it any of the other object balls - the most important ball is the cue ball. Players that fail to realize this are usually the ones that you see having to bank their break ball.

8. In straight pool, self control is twice as important as cue ball control. If you cannot control you, then sooner or later everything else will.

9. You usually make the shots that you think you're going to make, and you usually miss the shots that you think you're going to miss. More times than not, what you think is going to happen usually does happen... so it's best to be thinking something good.

10. In straight pool, nothing will end your run quicker than carelessness. When it comes right down to it, I'll take bad luck over carelessness any day.

Couldn't have said it any better!:thumbup:

 

[RackemBilliards]

Plateaus

I think most players have plateaus, or numbers that are hard to get past as they progress. As you get close to 30, your mind says 'this is where I normally miss and get a break from the tension'. Pressure starts to build, and you feel different at 28, say, that you did at 6 because you your mind knows you never miss at 6. I've talked to great straight pool players who said they had the hardest time running 100 the first time. They just couldn't get past the 90s because as they got close they felt the pressure of doing what they had tried so hard to do, and it affected their stroke. Once they did it, however, 100 became no big deal and their plateau moved higher to 200, or 400 (how'd you like to have a tough shot sitting on 525?) I'd probably have a heart attack. I'm sure Mosconi felt the same at 115 as he did at 15. Chub LaMontagne, a local 14.1 player years ago who frequently played the guys 75 or no count, used to tell guys to take a break before they missed, at 25 say, and get a cup of coffee, or go to the bathroom, etc. to give their mind a break. 60 is just two 30s without the miss in the middle

 

[Ron F]

Tap

I think most players have plateaus, or numbers that are hard to get past as they progress. As you get close to 30, your mind says 'this is where I normally miss and get a break from the tension'. Pressure starts to build, and you feel different at 28, say, that you did at 6 because you your mind knows you never miss at 6. I've talked to great straight pool players who said they had the hardest time running 100 the first time. They just couldn't get past the 90s because as they got close they felt the pressure of doing what they had tried so hard to do, and it affected their stroke. Once they did it, however, 100 became no big deal and their plateau moved higher to 200, or 400 (how'd you like to have a tough shot sitting on 525?) I'd probably have a heart attack. I'm sure Mosconi felt the same at 115 as he did at 15. Chub LaMontagne, a local 14.1 player years ago who frequently played the guys 75 or no count, used to tell guys to take a break before they missed, at 25 say, and get a cup of coffee, or go to the bathroom, etc. to give their mind a break. 60 is just two 30s without the miss in the middle

Tap...tap...tap...

 

[wigglybridge]

Ron, thank you for the encouraging words.

i'm in Turners Falls, MA, just outside of Greenfield. the nearest room with good tables in good condition is in Holyoke, MA: Ivory Billiards. nice GC's and Anniversaries, and they replace the Simonis regularly. i also like the crowd there, for the most part; there are even people who Don't ask me "what's that game?". but it is a hike from here, for sure.

i don't think i'm choking at any particular number, because i'm not missing shots to end runs, just getting comically-bad position, again, either because of not Really understanding where the CB is going, or from an inconsistent stroke delivering some english i hadn't intended.

i got a new cue at Valley Forge -- that's the silver bullet, right?

 

[Ron F]

New Cue?

Ron, thank you for the encouraging words.

i'm in Turners Falls, MA, just outside of Greenfield. the nearest room with good tables in good condition is in Holyoke, MA: Ivory Billiards. nice GC's and Anniversaries, and they replace the Simonis regularly. i also like the crowd there, for the most part; there are even people who Don't ask me "what's that game?". but it is a hike from here, for sure.

i don't think i'm choking at any particular number, because i'm not missing shots to end runs, just getting comically-bad position, again, either because of not Really understanding where the CB is going, or from an inconsistent stroke delivering some english i hadn't intended.

i got a new cue at Valley Forge -- that's the silver bullet, right?

What did ya get???

Ron F

 

[wigglybridge]

nothing fancy, just a Lucasi Hybrid Sport, the next step up from my $35 Nitro.

i've been using the Nitro for 1.5 yrs (all of my recent playing, in other words) and even at only 1x/week, that was enough for me to tell i wanted a slightly skinnier tip, but not as small as 11.75.

i also wanted to try a low-deflection shaft, and figured i was a good candidate, not having put in all of the hours (that i should have!) over the years getting used to a conventional shaft. so i had researched the options in my "next-step up" price range before going to SBE, and was pretty sure i would buy either an OB-1 108, a Predator Sneaky Pete 314.2, or a Lucasi Hybrid. i tried them each 2x, and they all seemed good to me, but in the limited table time i could get there, the Lucasi just seemed to "feel" right in my hands. i'm surprised, really; i went in with a strong bias to OB, and Royce was very nice and helpful and the prices were Much lower than i expected from online shopping. but the Lucasi just felt right for now.

i have to say that i felt like i was in a circus at the Predator booth, although they eventually Did let me try what i needed. both the OB folks and Lucasi folks treated me Very nicely, and were quite patient with me at every step.

lydia and i also drooled over many, many beautiful custom cues, however, and i was surprised at how reasonable these gorgeous works of American art are. i can see a wrapless Josey SP in at least one of our futures in another year or so. i don't think i'll be able to tell any magical difference in "hit" or anything else, but they're just such nice one of a kind quality woodwork. and for cheaper than many high-end production cues? sheesh.

i hit the Lucasi for the 2nd time tonight, and the first time on a really good table. it's quite a change, between the size, the Moori medium tip, and it's a dime radius (the Nitro came nickel, and i kept it there). but even in the 2nd outing, it's starting to feel really good, and i don't have to work nearly so hard to move the ball on those occasions when i -- ahem -- don't exactly nail my previous position. strangely, i think it's actually Helped me be more precise with english; i was afraid that i'd get just More and not be able to control it, but it actually seems to be easier to control. nice surprise!

anyway, i like it a lot, and think it was the right move at this level of my development.

many thanks to Ratta, who urged me to wait and buy a cue After i got a chance to try them at the Expo!

 

[wigglybridge]

28 again.

thought i had a lock on it 2 balls before the 3rd rack, but didn't really get on the key-to-the-key properly and was worried i wouldn't get on the key, so i went the other way and used up the perfect key ball -- probably a bad decision. then totally misjudged the speed off the new key ball, and ended up halfway between a standard break and a side pocket break.

as they say in the Wizard of Oz: "if i only had a brain"

 

[alphadog]

I am happy for you to be disappointed ! Imagine being happy with missing
balls and or shape.
You are trying to improve,open to suggestions,and cognoscente of time
limitations placed on you.
Good luck,keep trying and you can improve!

 

[wigglybridge]

thanks, alpha!

yeah, i'm not really bent about it, just go "oh, shit". but thanks for reinforcing the idea of staying loose!

 

[Gwenn]

Hi Bob,

Umm. Don't ask me how many times I've missed ball #29 or #30 just for the sake of it being the "next threshold" to take, when that truth suddenly came into mind. Adrenaline, nervous, bang, edge of pocket ... Only because I wanted to shoot more, and didn't simply go with the flow.

I restarted pool after a 10 year break about 8 months ago. I practice a ton more than what you suggest here. If somebody came across me and told me 3 hours of practice a week for one year and steadily play into the 30s, I'd have a hard time to believe they made that much.

Regards
Gwenn

 

[wigglybridge]

Hey, Gwenn, thanks for the note.

i wasn't so much choking on a shot as losing position in what seemed like an ideal situation... with only 3-4 balls left on the table, in an ideal layout, i would totally screw up position on a ball. the cue ball would just do something utterly unexpected, due to either my miscalculation or more often, just slightly hitting the OB too thin or thick, or english taking in a way i didn't expect.

the Good News is that last week while lydia & i were playing, i suddenly could do no wrong on position. i didn't hit any big runs, but that was partly because i abandoned a bunch of them, because she's really just starting, so when we go out i try to both help her and not hog the table.

but i felt Very good about my game, and as i said, it happened very suddenly and unexpectedly. and held up the next night at another room with Connelly tables with pockets that make the tightest Diamond seem sloppy.

so i feel like bigger numbers are coming soon, and feel much more relaxed about letting them happen when they happen, because it seems like i'm back on track and the problem that was holding me back most is retreating.

we'll see!

 

[Ratta]

Oh ^^

hi Gwenn- all fine? Think of having a Deja-Vu atm

lg
Ingo

 

[Gwenn]

Hey Ratta,

yep, thanks, fine

Made a 3rd place at the 9-Ball Bezirksliga Einzelmeisterschaft. So still a little bit on a high. For you US guys out there that's sort of like a county league one-on-one championship, at least that's the closest I could think of.

And Bob, for the records: I missed an almost straight setup ball just needing a stop on my key ball with a near perfect end pattern just yesterday and thus didn't make it into the third rack. Bummer.

Regards
Gwenn