Do you practice

Yes, that's about all I can do. I don't have anyone to play with since both of my pool buddies died of cancer on me.

Now that I am retired I am hoping to get at least 3-4 hours a day at the table. Working on the stroke, alignment, aiming, routine shots, shots I have missed, etc, etc.

r/DCP
 
When I feel like I need it. I don't care to become an allstar world class cham-peen of the globe.
 
When my shoulder allows me to play, I always try to get a match....it's the most enjoyable but when there aren't any in the pool room
that interest me and I admit it.....I am a pool snob and I prefer to play my peers. When I miss a shot, I expect my opponent to get out
because the people I play have that skill level....run the table regardless of how many balls remain. I don't want a match where I am
not pushed to my very best........and its easy to say you always play your very best but I found I'll eventually either just lose interest in
the match and quit or else start playing down to the level of my opponents when I am matched against a much lesser skilled adversary.

So what do I do when I don't have a match? My typical practice session is around 3 hrs......2 hrs of drills using 5-6 different drills and
1 hr of playing 14.1 against myself........If I tire of this routine after a few days of doing it, I pull out Target Pool and play some of the more
advanced courses (10 & Up) or else I will use Pro Pocket Reducers to make the practice a whole lot tougher. However, in my opinion,
it's pointless to scatter some pool balls on the table and bang away.....And I don't practice 8, 9 or 10 Ball by myself......but I always play
14.1 when I practice alone. It requires the most complete set of skills and your report card is your run rate of consecutively pocketed balls.

Matt B.
 
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Popeye31 said:
Do you practice and if so how long and is it every day or every few days once a week.
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At least once a week I play "no cushions" for about an hour. After 60 years of playing billiards, there is little more I need to practice!
 
Popeye31 said:
Do you practice and if so how long and is it every day or every few days once a week.
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For ball potting practice, none pro stuff:
Practice at least 10-30 min before a match or gamble session. Every player has his or her own pre-shot routine steps in order to make a pot. It usually takes our brain /muscles more time to remember all of the required steps while playing a match or gamble, so you might loose few games before you really get into perfect rhythm. We are talking a bit hard pots, say 5 or 6 diamond distance, and larger than half a ball cut. Therefore, must practice at least 30 min before a match or gamble session.

Practice winning and loosing matches gamble as much as you can as high as you can regularly , practice how to protect your lead:

This is critical practice; just like when Fire Men, or Army do live drills, got to gamble to be good, and play as much as you can, and as many type games as you can.


For ball run practice, banks, shooting with high speed -None pro stuff
It would not hurt to give this 15 min if you have it.

For professional type practice

A whole different practice depending on your needs; i'd say you will need 4 hours of potting practice long and hard cut shots, never easy shots.

Once mastered the 4000 shots possibilities, then you can break and run. Best of luck.
 
Colonel said:
Yes, between practice and play about 50 hours a week. There is a huge difference between practice and play. I spend an hour & a half on breaking, 2 hours on varying shots and drills followed by a few hours of play M-Thursday, FRIDAY-Sunday it's all play. If you don't put in time actually practicing various aspects of your game I believe your play will not steadily improve.
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50 hours a week... Wow... I can hardly stay awake that long anymore.

If I practice more than a couple of hours at a time I'll start to get sloppy
and I'll quit. I want my PSR fine tuned without becoming compromised.

I think long practice is tiring because I constantly think about each shot
and no longer have the stamina for it. I don't need a bad habit creeping
into my routine needing to be worked on. Sloppy play is so much easier.

.
 
Ralph Kramden said:
50 hours a week... Wow... I can hardly stay awake that long anymore.



If I practice more than a couple of hours at a time I'll start to get sloppy

and I'll quit. I want my PSR fine tuned without becoming compromised.



I think long practice is tiring because I constantly think about each shot

and no longer have the stamina for it. I don't need a bad habit creeping

into my routine needing to be worked on. Sloppy play is so much easier.



.
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It's not as strenuous as you think, M-T is at least 5 & up to 7 a day. F-Sun varies from 5-12 sometimes more depending on what I get myself into. You allude that you're older so it's understandable that you tire. I've always been a grinder, actually playing better as I tire, everyone's different. This schedule holds about 9 months out of the year, the other 3 I keep the same schedule golfing & playing poker. During that stretch pool time is about 1-2 hours a day but I don't miss a day.
 
About an hour and a half to two hours a day.
I start with throwing most of the balls on the table and pocketing them. Nothing crazy, no sequence, just reminding the muscles what the motions are (and seeing where I am at the start of the night).
Then I'll throw all the balls out and (playing 8 ball) run the table. And follow that with playing the remaining balls in sequence.
I force myself to do this 8 ball run/rotation combo at least twice before racking.

Then I'll play the ghost.

And if I can't run a rack, I'll play both sides (this helps bring out my safety game).

Couple all that with playing at a buddy's house for a few hours once a week.

Since doing all of the above, my game has gotten a LOT better.

Last season I finished somewhere in the 80's out of roughly 200 players.

This season I finished 11th out of 187.
 
Popeye31 said:
Do you practice and if so how long and is it every day or every few days once a week.
Click to expand...

I play maybe 10 hour a week, most of it not practice but either a local tournament or playing some games with someone when my son has junior league. Actual time on the table playing is maybe half that, though the 10 hours is about how long I'm at the pool room.

But I also don't get better at all, to improve you need to work on it a lot more than I do.
 
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I don't practice because I don't need to. I can come back to a pool table after not playing for a couple of months and give me 2-3 hours to get back to where I was.

For example, before a tournament that I want to play, I will show up early and play a ring game.

I don't practice but I do need to warm up. :thumbup:

Good players don't need to practice. They just need action to keep them attentive.
 
I split my time between intense focused practice (stroke drills, trouble shots, breaking, position drills), and focused play either against the ghost or a friend of mine. When we play we try to concentrate and play serious and win every game. If you do that and supplement with practice on trouble areas I found it can really boost your game. My friend and I have both pushed each other to higher levels over the last year, and it's been really good for our games because neither one of us wants to fall behind to the other one.
 
I usually start by playing the 3 ball ghost, then go to 4, then 5 etc. and finish up with about a half hour of straight pool. After an hour and a half or so I find I'm just banging balls around so I look for some competition.
 
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