The Beard sent me a pre-pub teaser of Volume 1 of his "Banks That Don't Go-But Do" DVD. He asked for some feedback and I figured I would post something here and at OnePocket.org.
I'm 48 yrs old & since I was 11, I've been enthralled with our great sport and have a nice collection of pool items. I invest in Accu-Stats, have a real nice collection of pool books and have close to 1,000 pool mags. Since money is always tight, I am pretty selective on what I buy. But when I heard that Freddy was doing a DVD on banks, I knew that I would have to get a copy for my collection. After reading his two books, listening to his commentary on Accu-Stats, reading his posts on the pool forums and talking with him, I knew that a DVD by him would be worth every penney. I was not disappointed.
This DVD has over 20 different banks shots in it. Prior to each one, Freddy explains what he's going to do, including where to aim and how hard to stroke. A diagram briefly appears on screen demonstrating where to hit the cue ball and the path the object ball will take. The camera then shows The Beard making the intended shot. This is all vintage Beard, in that after each shot, he has a wry smile, an arm flourish or a funny comment, such as "And that's what happened to Bug's money". The flavor of this DVD is a mixture of instructional material mixed in with what seems almost like trick shot bank pool exhibition but without any of the props that usually accompany trick shots. I for one don't really care for trick shots in pool, because if the shot does not come up in a real game, I don't care about it. But even if the shots he shows don't show up in every pool game, a variation of them will show up often enough that having these shots in your arsenal can only elevate your game.
After the first 10 shots, he has a portion where he explains his very interesting views on the basics and fundamentals. He then goes into another dozen or so shots. And some of these are amazing, and I mean really amazing shots that I have never seen before.
Something of note is that these shots were all shot on an extra tight GC1, not a bucket table.
If I had to nit-pick, I would say that I wished he had a bigger budget to work with.
On the plus side, you get the strong impression that this is like a private lesson. Freddy is dressed very casually and has a relaxed delivery. It appears to have been shot in his gameroom and he is definitley right at home as he explained these amazing bank shots.
If you are at all intested in bank pool, this is a must have DVD.
http://www.bankingwiththebeard.com/index.html
I'm 48 yrs old & since I was 11, I've been enthralled with our great sport and have a nice collection of pool items. I invest in Accu-Stats, have a real nice collection of pool books and have close to 1,000 pool mags. Since money is always tight, I am pretty selective on what I buy. But when I heard that Freddy was doing a DVD on banks, I knew that I would have to get a copy for my collection. After reading his two books, listening to his commentary on Accu-Stats, reading his posts on the pool forums and talking with him, I knew that a DVD by him would be worth every penney. I was not disappointed.
This DVD has over 20 different banks shots in it. Prior to each one, Freddy explains what he's going to do, including where to aim and how hard to stroke. A diagram briefly appears on screen demonstrating where to hit the cue ball and the path the object ball will take. The camera then shows The Beard making the intended shot. This is all vintage Beard, in that after each shot, he has a wry smile, an arm flourish or a funny comment, such as "And that's what happened to Bug's money". The flavor of this DVD is a mixture of instructional material mixed in with what seems almost like trick shot bank pool exhibition but without any of the props that usually accompany trick shots. I for one don't really care for trick shots in pool, because if the shot does not come up in a real game, I don't care about it. But even if the shots he shows don't show up in every pool game, a variation of them will show up often enough that having these shots in your arsenal can only elevate your game.
After the first 10 shots, he has a portion where he explains his very interesting views on the basics and fundamentals. He then goes into another dozen or so shots. And some of these are amazing, and I mean really amazing shots that I have never seen before.
Something of note is that these shots were all shot on an extra tight GC1, not a bucket table.
If I had to nit-pick, I would say that I wished he had a bigger budget to work with.
On the plus side, you get the strong impression that this is like a private lesson. Freddy is dressed very casually and has a relaxed delivery. It appears to have been shot in his gameroom and he is definitley right at home as he explained these amazing bank shots.
If you are at all intested in bank pool, this is a must have DVD.
http://www.bankingwiththebeard.com/index.html
So if you ever get a private screening with just you and him in the room, make sure you sit down real quick!
