First Post - Advice Needed

YOLO

YOLO

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
First a big thanks to everyone and the free advice given on this forum! Invaluable to people like me...

A little back ground... I've played on and off for about 30 years... never a good player but always loved the game. Gave away my McDermott cue about 3 years ago... hadn't played in over 5 years and figured odds were pretty good that I would never get into the game like I had wanted to given the way life was going.

As usual, life takes twists and turns... I picked up a cue about a year ago and started playing and a local bar with friends. After about 6 months something click and my game went to it's next level... what a great feeling! Suddenly I could see the whole table. They players in the area are starting to seek me out and I am being recruited for a few teams. Sadly, I'm not able to join a league at this point. Based on the people I've played I'm probably a APA 6ish. I haven't found anyone in the area that I can't beat on a regular basis... yet.

I finally convinced my wife to play. If I was ever going to get table time she would have to get on board. She's doing pretty well but needs some one other than me to teach her at this point (but that's for a different thread).

On to the problem... most of my table time is playing with my wife. I am running the rack on a regular basis on her and she's getting very little play time (this makes here very unhappy and when mommas unhappy....) SO I started attempting to bank every shot while she plays straight. Since then my game has gone in the crapper, my banks suck and my focus has gone out the window.

I'm looking for ideas on how to make things interesting/challenging for me while at the same time getting her cue time.

Sorry for the first post... I promise to get straight to the point next time :)
 
You are obviously a much better player than her. Why not try giving her some pointers? You must be EXTREMELY patient as pool is not an easy game to learn. Believe it or not, while you're teaching her you will be learning too. If she learns one new thing every day, she will be doing good, and may actually start to enjoy playing.

After she has had her fill, you can continue your own practice.
 
YOLO said:
On to the problem... most of my table time is playing with my wife. I am running the rack on a regular basis on her and she's getting very little play time (this makes here very unhappy and when mommas unhappy....)

I'm looking for ideas on how to make things interesting/challenging for me while at the same time getting her cue time.
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I'm waiting for answers as I have this same problem myself. I do play in two leagues however, so my playing isn't strictly regulated to playing against the wife. It's just that almost ALL of my game time on the home table is playing against the little lady. On the positive side: I am retired, so I get plenty of practice time in while I'm home all day. What I'd really like to have is someone who could come over once or twice a week for a couple of hours who is my skill level or above and give me some quality practice matches.

I do give my wife the breaks and I don't take ball-in-hand when she fouls, and I refuse to shoot safties on her, but she is still no match for me (I think I beat her about 12 straight games last night). Heck, on a lot of her runs I'm verbally walking her through them, showing her what sequence to shoot and what english, speed, etc. to use on each shot. She gets frustrated at getting one to two shots per game. I don't know what else to do either.

Maniac
 
Thanks for the reply's. I do teach her along the way, almost exactly as Maniac described. She is a natural redhead and it's getting more difficudlt to teach here myself :)

Maybe I need to move to Texas!
 
YOLO said:
Thanks for the reply's. I do teach her along the way, almost exactly as Maniac described. She is a natural redhead and it's getting more difficudlt to teach here myself :)

Maybe I need to move to Texas!
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I see you're from Kent Island, MD. Are there any places in that area to play pool, or do you guys mostly play at home?
 
Play straight pool. That way she can try to beat her high score and not neccecarily play against you. This is perfect for two people who don't play on the same level. Don't even keep score other than to keep track of your high runs. This works for me and the Mrs.

Everytime you guys play, you both will have to challenge your own high runs.

Welcome to the forums.
 
We'll, we live on our boat so playing at home is an issue. There are 3 bars in the area that have tables where we play. There is a place in Annapolis called TK Sharky's and another called Shooters that we'll go to on accassion but we mainly stick to Kent Island.
 
YOLO said:
We'll, we live on our boat so playing at home is an issue. There are 3 bars in the area that have tables where we play. There is a place in Annapolis called TK Sharky's and another called Shooters that we'll go to on accassion but we mainly stick to Kent Island.
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I guess that would be difficult to play at home on the boat! :D

I can't remember how far Kent Island is from Cambridge, MD, but there's a pretty nice place there called "Great Slates," right on Route 50. They have great food, bar tables and big tables.

I like TXPoolnut's suggestion of playing straight pool, trying to best your highest score each time.

I haven't been to Annapolis in quite sometime. I live in D.C. That sure is a beautiful area of the country you live in. :smile:
 
No matter what the game, if you miss she gets ball in hand and two misses/turns. Also, when I play 8-ball with my wife, after I run my group I have to run her group in rotation before I can shoot the 8. In 9-ball, she gets the orange crush.
:p
 
I keep suggesting to my wife that we get an outdoor table... the floating docks to present a challenge though. A bit hard to play when every ball is rolling all over the place, heh.

I'm off to read up on Straight pool... never played it before.
 
Yolo...My advice would be to take the b-i-h concept a step farther. Give her ball in hand on EVERY shot. That way she has a decent chance to beat you (which I GUARANTEE will make her much happier, and want to play more with you). Even with ball in hand on every shot, she still may not run out...but when she does, it will give her a measure of joy and satisfaction that will leave her wanting more. It also "evens" things out, for when you run the table on her. As she gets a little better, you can adjust to other spots. You can also explain to her, what you're doing, and why, when you run the table. This is how we teach kids (or anyone), who have no interest in watching the better players just run the table.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Like I said it takes infinite patience, even with someone you love. When I take Bunny to play, I usually let her shoot all she wants for a while. I don't even worry about playing. After a while she gets tired and lets me play.

Like most girls/beginners, she isn't very good and misses most of her shots. She likes to grab the cue ball back and set it up for a shot she thinks she can make. She gives me that sheepish grin like she knows she's cheating. I tell her to go ahead and shoot. She's happy and I'm happy. We're both smiling and laughing, and that's the way it should be.

P.S. I like Scott's advice above.
 
All great suggestions! Thank you all very much... we are off to the pub to slap them around a bit :D
 
Maniac said:
I'm waiting for answers as I have this same problem myself. I do play in two leagues however, so my playing isn't strictly regulated to playing against the wife. It's just that almost ALL of my game time on the home table is playing against the little lady. On the positive side: I am retired, so I get plenty of practice time in while I'm home all day. What I'd really like to have is someone who could come over once or twice a week for a couple of hours who is my skill level or above and give me some quality practice matches.

I do give my wife the breaks and I don't take ball-in-hand when she fouls, and I refuse to shoot safties on her, but she is still no match for me (I think I beat her about 12 straight games last night). Heck, on a lot of her runs I'm verbally walking her through them, showing her what sequence to shoot and what english, speed, etc. to use on each shot. She gets frustrated at getting one to two shots per game. I don't know what else to do either.

Maniac
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This reply may also apply to the original poster: Maybe you're confusing her by giving her too much instruction. When I first started shooting again, I simply concentrated on hitting center ball and angles. Once I started investigating my stance and my elbow and english and position, I couldn't sink anything. I think some things just follow naturally after the others...

I'm also facing this problem, sort of. My good friend and her husband have started playing with us at a local hall, and on her first day, she could barely hold the stick. So of course the three of us bombarded her with an entire set of instructions before each shot and she was still terrible.

The next time we played, we played together and I taught her how to use an open bridge, how to stroke properly, and made her shoot some cue balls against the rail and have them come back to her tip. That is ALL the instruction I've given her.

On the next night out with us I couldn't believe how much she had improved and she's still improving! She still doesn't get down on the ball properly and her stroke is still bad, but she has made some beautiful shots and I'm beginning to think she is a natural. She ran 4 balls yesterday, and I'll bet she's only played 30 hours!

End of long story - let her get comfortable with her own style and she might start improving.
 
I feel your pain!!! I too await responses, this could get interesting!!

Unfortunately, my wife does not like to play. The bummer is that she is very athletic and has great hand eye coordination. On the rare occasion when we do play, she is a natural. If she praticed a little, she could be a very good player. And, that's on 4" pockets!!

Russ....
 
This is a tough one. Playing with your significant other is always hard no matter the skill level. My husband and I hardly ever play pool together anymore. I'm a pretty good player, but he is better, so when we do play together, I always get the breaks. I never get any weight or any games on the wire, just breaks. I lose most of the time, but I am a competitive player and as soon as I see that he starts letting up or plays shots that he would not normally play, I quit. Its insulting to me and my game when he doesn't take it seriously and I refuse to play like that.

Of course, this really doesn't help your situation much as I am on a much different playing level than she is, but just wanted to share that even with two good players, its not all that its cracked up to be. I have a much better time playing with other players instead of him.
 
Once I started investigating my stance and my elbow and english and position, I couldn't sink anything. I think some things just follow naturally after the others...
Click to expand...

Interesting you would say that. I was going to start a new post on this. With my new found "excitement" I decided it was time to work on the basics. To move forward I need to have a solid foundation so I altered my grip, stroke (better follow through), etc.. I'm missing so many shots that my wife is getting upset with me. Last night after we came home she said go back to what worked before "you moron!" LOL

On the flip side SHE was pocketing balls! Her stance, bridge and stroke are pretty ugly but she had 4 - 5 ball runs last night. A friend was there that is a bit above her level and she crushed him in every game. Big confidence boost for her!
 
I envy you. I've never been able to find a girlfriend who enjoyed playing pool the slightest bit. I never enjoyed missing on purpose to make it fun because that's like playing a round of golf and aiming for the trees on every shot.
 
SpiderWebComm said:
I envy you. I've never been able to find a girlfriend who enjoyed playing pool the slightest bit. I never enjoyed missing on purpose to make it fun because that's like playing a round of golf and aiming for the trees on every shot.
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Have I got the girl for you! She's attractive, fun, 27 and plays APA 3 nights week and can't get enough. I am secretly in love with her. York isn't that far away ya know :) Her parents would love her to dump the slug she's with at the moment.
 
Giver her two innings for every one of yours, bih if she is hooked and if the ball is too close to the rail, can move it 6 inches out towards the middle of the table.

And (of course) no comments unless they are encouraging ones! :smile:
 
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