how did you guys reach the next level?

mindtriplx

mindtriplx

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ive been playing for about 2 years. id say im about a c+ or b- and i just cant seem to get much better. ive went back to basics and that helped a little. any good practice drills you guys like to do would be appreciated. ive also been toying with the idea of gettin a new cue. i like my pechauer but after trying some other people's cue i think i may switch. think that could make a differernce? any suggestions would be cool
 
good questions. going thru to the next level is always difficult. here are some suggestions. take one object ball and place it two inches away from the 2nd. diamond on a long cushion. that's the middle diamond. take the cue ball and place it with a reasonable angle for a corner shot. try to get the cue ball in at least 5 or 6 different places on the table. practice this until you can't take it anymore! this is the (mother) of all shots! if you can get this down perfectly, your game will instantly improve. you will notice your speed control, english ratio, vertical adjustments, cheating the pocket, all come together here. the next suggestion, is to play "RUN OR NONE" with a friend. this is a game i made up, that all my friends love. it teaches you A LOT about your game. rack all 15 balls in any order. break and regardless if you pocket a ball on the break or not, you continue, but, you must run out, can't miss, and can't foul! if you scratch on the break, you lose your turn. play a race to 3. if you do run out, you keep the table, and try for 2 racks in a row. if you scratch 2 consecutive times on the break, your - minus 1. this game will teach you about you and only you as a player. there are NO SAFTEY'S!!!!!!!!! so, you must play perfect pattern play speed control and position. towards the last 4 balls the pressure is immense, and the angles important. you must take your time like ralf souquet, if you don't you will pocket 14 balls, instead of all 15 and your score will be NONE=0! another suggestion is to watch the pros up close in person. check out the intense seriousness of mika immonen. watch the looseness of bustamante. see the confidence of shotmaking at it's finest from ortmann. note that the pros hit the ball 90% of the time at 6:00. act like them. focus! take the game seriously. read the book "PLAY YOUR BEST POOL" by phil capele. the greatest book ever, on how to play like a champion.
hit softer, i know i don't know how hard you hit now, but just by hitting softer, your game will improve! use zero side spin! this will take you right to speed control and the vertical axis, where mosconi played his best. watch, and take lessons from a straight pool player. straight pool will teach you more about "pool" than 9-ball, any day of the week.
attend the international challenge of champions at the mohegan sun in ct. watch the pros from 2 feet away at the practice table! it will teach, and inspire you. finally, if in the new york area, i give lessons that students have told me, are "the best" one student in particular, went from a skill level 3 to a 6 in the A.P.A. in a matter of 5 months. e-mail me at goldfish2002@msn.com, it can't hurt! and as far as buying another cue? the only way that will improve your game, is if you love the balance of the newer cue. otherwise, you will note zero difference in your game. a cheaper and more effective way, to get instant improvment, is to change your tip. try putting on a triangle, i'm guessing your using a le professional now?
anyway, i hope that i was able to shed light onto this subject of improving, we all want to improve, myself included. remember the true meaning of a professional is "someone who never stops learning" good luck, bernie friend. 5 time chances 8-ball classic champion.
 
THE SILENCER said:
good questions. going thru to the next level is always difficult. here are some suggestions. take one object ball and place it two inches away from the 2nd. diamond on a long cushion. that's the middle diamond. take the cue ball and place it with a reasonable angle for a corner shot. try to get the cue ball in at least 5 or 6 different places on the table. practice this until you can't take it anymore! this is the (mother) of all shots! if you can get this down perfectly, your game will instantly improve. you will notice your speed control, english ratio, vertical adjustments, cheating the pocket, all come together here. the next suggestion, is to play "RUN OR NONE" with a friend. this is a game i made up, that all my friends love. it teaches you A LOT about your game. rack all 15 balls in any order. break and regardless if you pocket a ball on the break or not, you continue, but, you must run out, can't miss, and can't foul! if you scratch on the break, you lose your turn. play a race to 3. if you do run out, you keep the table, and try for 2 racks in a row. if you scratch 2 consecutive times on the break, your - minus 1. this game will teach you about you and only you as a player. there are NO SAFTEY'S!!!!!!!!! so, you must play perfect pattern play speed control and position. towards the last 4 balls the pressure is immense, and the angles important. you must take your time like ralf souquet, if you don't you will pocket 14 balls, instead of all 15 and your score will be NONE=0! another suggestion is to watch the pros up close in person. check out the intense seriousness of mika immonen. watch the looseness of bustamante. see the confidence of shotmaking at it's finest from ortmann. note that the pros hit the ball 90% of the time at 6:00. act like them. focus! take the game seriously. read the book "PLAY YOUR BEST POOL" by phil capele. the greatest book ever, on how to play like a champion.
hit softer, i know i don't know how hard you hit now, but just by hitting softer, your game will improve! use zero side spin! this will take you right to speed control and the vertical axis, where mosconi played his best. watch, and take lessons from a straight pool player. straight pool will teach you more about "pool" than 9-ball, any day of the week.
attend the international challenge of champions at the mohegan sun in ct. watch the pros from 2 feet away at the practice table! it will teach, and inspire you. finally, if in the new york area, i give lessons that students have told me, are "the best" one student in particular, went from a skill level 3 to a 6 in the A.P.A. in a matter of 5 months. e-mail me at goldfish2002@msn.com, it can't hurt! and as far as buying another cue? the only way that will improve your game, is if you love the balance of the newer cue. otherwise, you will note zero difference in your game. a cheaper and more effective way, to get instant improvment, is to change your tip. try putting on a triangle, i'm guessing your using a le professional now?
anyway, i hope that i was able to shed light onto this subject of improving, we all want to improve, myself included. remember the true meaning of a professional is "someone who never stops learning" good luck, bernie friend. 5 time chances 8-ball classic champion.
Click to expand...


Great advice from start to finish.
 
Some people will tell you playing by yourself won't help you. All of Silencers advice is good. There are lots of good practice routines. I use the shot he mentioned and cross side banks from 1 diamond out. I shoot 10 from each side of the side pocket and then 10 long rail banks. Also look for a particular type of shot that seems to give you problems and practice that until you feel comfortable shooting it. Find a weak spot in your game and work on it until it becomes a strong point. Then go to the next one. Progression in the strength of your game will come slowly and is often hard to see for yourself. Be patient and have fun and it makes learning a lot easier. Sam
 
thanks drivemaker! you and i outta get a gig at billiards digest, and write some cool colums, or something to that effect.
 
The buzz can usually be felt inmmediately, but you can expect to feel the full effect in 10-20 minutes. Enjoy!

-pigi
 
A few things that have helped my game lately:

Instead of bridging off the rail on your break, use a closed and bridge with your hand on the bed of the table.

Try to slow your backswing down. Slow it down as much as possible, then slow it down 5x more. VERY VERY SLOW.

Add a pause to the back of your final stroke. I have had mixed results with this but i feel it could help my game.

The thing that has helped me the most lately is trying to find a rhythym in my stroke, kinda hard to describe, but its just kind of a smoothness.

These are just a few things that have helped me lately, it may not work for everyone.

By the way, Silencer gained back some much needed credability with that post, good one!
 
All of the above mentioned are good practice skills. I think the best way to get better fast is to play people better than you. Playing with people with equal skill or less is sometimes not "good" practice. Playing with someone who you know if you miss they are out brings your play up and not to mention watching what they are doing to be successful. And most of the time if it is not a money match the better players will answer questions you have about why they did something. Go to your local hall and try to bang balls around with the best player there or if you have to play him something cheap with long sets, it is kinda like paying for lessons but with a real game on the line to teach you to deal with pressures as well. Hope it helps.
 
Mindtriplx,

Lots of good stuff here already. One thing I noticed in your post was that you refered to yourself as a b- or c+ player. I really believe that categorizing your game by putting a name or label on it, is not helpful. You're thinking that you're a B, trying to become an A, as though it is a step on a ladder that you can see and feel. Pool doesn't work that way. Some days you shoot like an A, and some days like a C. Take away the label, or handicap, and just play pool. You might be surprised by what you can achieve. Of course, without the practice and drills and experience, nothing will change! :)

cheers,
jer9ball
 
Things that make me play better.
1. Tell yourself constantly that u are playing good.
Everyone in here knows that this game is as mental as it gets. Telling urself that u are hitting the balls good will improve ur game.
2. Don't give up.
Don't go into any match already beat, remind urself that if u get down on the score you will never give up. By not giving up, you will stay focus on ur match or opponent.
3. Have a routine that works for u. I will tell myself whenever I get the gitters to stroke straight and stay down.
This is proably the best advice anyone can tell u, JMO
4. Practice, Practice, Practice.
Right now I try to practice as much as possible, I have 1hr for lunch, well
I go play pool for 45min twice a week to practice. It works 2 ways, I get practice and my wife don't get angry for me being gone so much.
5. Put urself in pressure situations.
If there a tournament near by, Im try to be there. Action and tournament are the fastest way to improve ur game, without a doubt.
6. Most important advice I tell myself, KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Look at the layout you have and try to accomplish the task the easiest way possible. By keeping this in back of ur head, you will be constantly thinking of cue ball postion which in turn gets ur concentration going.
Hope this info helps someone.
 
thanks all...

thank you for all your great advice everyone. im going to the pool hall in about 15 min and i will put some of your suggestions to work....thanks again
MT
 
all the responses posted above are awesome ideas. a couple things different that may help is instead of using all 15 balls you could just use the first 9 balls to start off with. also something that i noticed help me was videotaping myself play. through doing this you are able to see all aspects of your game. what you are doing right and things you would like to work on. when doing this though be sure to put the camera at a little above table level. you want to be able to see if your stroking arm is out of line, or discrepences in your overall stroke, or stance. and playing with players your same speed or higher is also one of the best methods ive seen work also..........
 
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The road to better play

There are six ways to improve your game.
1) Practice
2) Play
3) Practice
4) Play
5) Practice
6) Play
There ain't no other way man!
JMHO Don P. :cool:
 
Donald A. Purdy said:
There are six ways to improve your game.
1) Practice
2) Play
3) Practice
4) Play
5) Practice
6) Play
There ain't no other way man!
JMHO Don P. :cool:
Click to expand...

Yes, but... For me it was learning to relax, just keep at it, not worry about my skill level, just keep playing and time takes time, improvement has happened with time and experience.some spurts, some improvement so gradual that others recognized it before I did.

Sometimes a player puts too high of an expectation on themselves, especially when they are quite good, so some then beat themselves up over a shot missed, or a position that they did not get right, where I look at these 'mistakes' somewhat dispassionally, and try to learn not to make the same mistake again.

I have seen this in many apa7s and it is a mental thing, but also If a B wants to be A, IMO they need to be playing A players in much the same way that I play my best game against higher level players.

Laura
 
mindtriplx said:
ive been playing for about 2 years. id say im about a c+ or b- and i just cant seem to get much better. ive went back to basics and that helped a little. any good practice drills you guys like to do would be appreciated. ive also been toying with the idea of gettin a new cue. i like my pechauer but after trying some other people's cue i think i may switch. think that could make a differernce? any suggestions would be cool
Click to expand...

One link is all you need to a better game. poolschool.com. They are very good teachers. I can whole heartedly recommend this for anyone who is looking to improve. From the lower level player to the advanced. I attended the pool school after I had been playing for about 2 years. I admit that it tore my game up for about 1 month while I was learning what they taught me but after it became habit for me I was 2 to 3 balls better.

Also, something you can start on right now is practice the things that scare you. In most games every player is ok until they come up on a shot or safety that they are not comfortable with. I personally hated side shots and using the bridge. So for 1 week I used the bridge only, the next week side shots only. Your confidence will pick up dramatically because you have eliminated the fear in those particular shots.

Good luck. Hope this information helps you !!!

Lisa
 
"Sometimes a player puts too high of an expectation on themselves, especially when they are quite good, so some then beat themselves up over a shot missed, or a position that they did not get right, where I look at these 'mistakes' somewhat dispassionally, and try to learn not to make the same mistake again."

This is something that alot of people miss when trying to improve their overall game. I speak from experience on this. I was the guy that would miss what I thought was an easy shot, get ticked off at myself, then let it effect my next turn at the table. This created a downward spiral that could be difficult to get out of.

Remember that once that shot is hit, there is nothing else you can do about it.
If the shot didn't work out, figure out why and move on. This game requires alot of focus and mental discipline. It's just too difficult to have your mind worrying about anything other than the next shot.

I had a couple strong local players tell me that some years back and it made a huge difference in my game. I've shot myself to a 7 speed and I feel confident that I couldn't have done it without that piece of advice.

Good Luck!!
 
Go to the gym
If you are not fit, after some time you will lose concentration
and you might feel some ache (I got backache once)

Repeat you shot until you do them automatically

Try to lead CB to the place you wish, and all combination you imagion.
Put yourself some combination in the game and ... lead the CB

Play a game ("Around the world)
You hit at least 1 side of a table with a CB a then pot it
later you can do it with a ball or two.

The most important thing in billiard is the cue ball.
If you can lead CB well you don't have to make difficult shots at the ball,
but it makes difficult leading the CB.

If i forgot to say sb about leading the CB here is once again :cool:
 
Check your basic fundamentals once again! It's funny how old bad habits can show themselves every once in a while. They can be hard to notice!

What helped me the most in the past few months was the loose grip. I always thought I had a decent grip, but now it is quite obvious that it was too tight. You get a hell of a lot more power in your stroke with proper wrist action.

I suppose it's those little things in fundamental technique for us intermediate players. For advanced players...well, I think they really only have mental barriers to cross since they have the basics pretty much covered!

A new cue which you like may give you somewhat more comfort and confidence, but I don't think it will improve your game by itself!
 
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