How Did You Learn to Play Pool?

[catpool9]

Learning Billiards

I picked up playing snooker at a church rec-room one summer when I was 12yrs., back in 71, I watched players in the poolhall looking through the glass window in the restaurant area, the poolhall & restaurant were partioned off.

Picked up english and speed of the shots just by watching older men shoot untill I was 14 yrs., then I could go in the poolhall, my best friend's father had a valley bar table at his house so we played on it very regular until we could get in the hall.

My best friend and I , me mostly were making $100- $400 scores by the time we were 14 yrs., if someone had a car I traveled anywhere on weekends as long as I was back in my home town before school monday morning. I got in every 18, 21 yr. and over establishment I ever tried to enter when I was a youngster just because I carried a cue and wanted to gamble, owners wanted me in there , I was good for business.

I'm pretty much self taught, never had any one person set me down and say this is what ya do, although I was around many upper echelon players at a very young age, I Observed , picked up their shots and moved to the next player, just watching and learning, every once in a while a player may give advice to me but most were trying to keep there money in their pockets from me. I just observed and shot different shots on my own until I knew them.

Once you know english and its different effects on the cue ball, object balls, and banks , then learn patterns, (run outs), pool is really a very simple game as long as you have good eyes and steady nerves and don't let the fear of not being able to make balls and do what you have learned all the years creep into your mind its easy!, all you have to do is adjust to the atmosphere of the place your playing , the speed of the tables, and be able to match up like a Banker! (the place you keep $)


I've only had like five spots from other players in forty-one yrs. of playing pool, I'm not saying I'm that good I just don't see the reasoning of playing a broke ass champion, I like playing dentist, lawyers, doctors, bookies, salesmen, and a knowbody that has money if they want to wager when I can, I'ved never pushed a game on anyone to play, most people offer me a game.

If you can play pool and run rack after rack but "eat up with the dumb ass" you'll never be nothing but a Flimflam Man, some people just ain't cut out to be a pool player because they have No Sense!

Not all players play the game to make money or a living, some play for just the pure enjoyment of the game, and there is nothing wrong with that.

If you have ability, smarts and observe everything around you and apply it to your game & life, you might make a player one day!


David Harcrow

 

[Banks]

Played here and there, but nothing serious until I needed something to pass the time 6 years ago. I walked into a bar down the block and figured I like bowling and I like pool, so maybe I'll stop where pool is closer and knock around a couple of balls. Not long after being there, somebody came up and asked me if I wanted to join a league team.

I was just your average bar shooter at that time, but I try to pay attention to what everybody does even if they're bad. Just because they didn't do something on purpose doesn't mean there isn't something to learn from how the balls reacted or the shot selection. For a while there were people that were quite a bit better than me that hung out at the bar, but I closed that gap pretty quickly. Even though I was getting better than those around me, I still understood that they had more knowledge of the game than I did (I was just able to execute better).

The bar also had a few plaques up on the wall, one of which was for an Open BCA team that took 2nd in Vegas one year. Brad Gowin, Pat Schumacher and a couple of other local big names were up there and I was hoping to add to those. The former owner use to have big tournaments and was even so into it that he had odds boards for some.

Nowadays, I feel like I spend half of my time just playing by myself. I have a good eye for strategy, which helps me hold my own against better players, so I'm usually working on my shooting. I started out with the claw/knuckle bridge, then got pushed into using an open or closed bridge (closed bridge most often now). Sometimes I get down on my shots, sometimes I barely bend at all. It all depends on the shots and how I'm feeling.

I had gotten the red and green mosconi books, which helped quite a bit for lining up caroms and what happens when using 2 locked balls in a combo.

I play almost exclusively on bar tables, so my shooting can be a bit iffy on the big tables but much more consistent than it once was. This has also helped me learn how to deal with clusters and moving the CB around a table.

I wanted to take lessons, but couldn't justify the money it would've cost, so I've spend my years either trying to get better on my own or paying for cheap lessons in the bar when I get a chance (or offering up some of my own). Finally starting to go a few racks at a time more regularly without missing.

I tend to ramble on.. yep.. :boring2:

 

[dareads]

I started out when a small pool hall opened in town when I was in 8th grade. A friend and I would find a way to scrape up $5 a day to get an hour in. We played every day that summer, some days we would open the place and close it. I thought I played pretty sporty for a 15 year old kid. The pool hall went out of business around the same time my parents bought a table for the house and we just transitioned to playing at home all the time. Stayed like that for about 6 years and then kids, life, work etc happened and I fell off the face of the pool world for about 13 years. When I got back into it again about 4 years ago, I went to get a lesson from Bob Jewett. I figured I should learn how to practice right and not just practice. Since then I read, watch, and listen to anything that can or may help my game.

 

[3RAILKICK]

I started playing in the Army. We played bank 8ball. Bank all the solids/stripes, 3 rail or more-kick or bank the 8ball. Games took a long time.

Played barbox 8 ball/9ball 2 years after Army.

Married, kids, college, work... didn't play for 30 years.

Divorced. Resumed playing. Now play all games-just not very well. I play for fun. I enjoy watching those that can play well..play.

With failing eyes-I like systems. And two way shots.

 

[lfigueroa]

Well, that would be swell, but ya see we're waaaaay the heck out of the normal loop. (Bangor, Maine) Ya never know, such a thing just might happen. When you coming this way? I assume you like lobster? We have that around here, ya know...

Far more likely is that maybe George and I might go try a tournament somewhere "lower" in New England, if we can ever schedule it. I wanted to go and see the Joss Tour when it came pretty near here a few months ago, so something like that could happen, too.

Fun to think about, at least. Not terribly important, just would be helpful when I read about how players of a certain level do this or that, and I wonder where I fall in that scheme of things, and the people I play with and against. Dr, Dave's reference on that subject applies to 9-ball, and while we do play that occasionally, we're mostly an 8-ball crowd locally. I haven't seen anything that defines the letter speed ranking when applied to 8-ball. George, and the others his speed,, often will clear a table in 1-2 innings, sometimes 3. Not always, of course. Break and runs in 8-ball, I don't see it all that often.

Damn, this stuff gets addictive! I gotta get going, work and last minute christmas shopping! Take care!

Well ya, I like lobster. My wife is from Lawrence and had family in Portsmouth. I've gone to Chauncy Creek several times.

And you need to get out more. The crowd I run with all I see are break and runs nowadays, lol.

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

You know it's funny how you can think you are good at something if you've never actually seen someone who really is good.

We had a pool table in our basement when I was 10-17 years old. By the time I was 12 or 13 I was beating everyone in the family and anyone who came to visit. I thought I was good but I was just slamming them in with no thought to strategy and little thought to even the next ball. I'd never actually seen pool played correctly.

I moved out when I turned 18 and didn't play hardly at all for the next 20 years but never forgot that I had loved the game. When I came back to pool about 4 years ago it was like starting over, and I realized I totally sucked compared to real pool players. I started playing league in a pretty hardcore pool hall and decided to try to improve my game.

I love Billy Byrne's book. That was the first pool/billiards book I found that I really liked. I am currently reading Phil Capelle's "Play Your Best Pool". This is a great book.

Watching better players and listening when I can get advice has helped a lot. I also started watching YouTube videos of pro pool matches. This has helped a lot as well. I have my own table now but can only make time to practice about 30 minutes to an hour a day.

I've found that just practicing a lot isn't necessarily going to help and can even reinforce bad habits that will be hard to break. You have to really think about elevating your game and executing each shot correctly to learn the right habits and lock in some real improvement.

I think you've hit on something there about practice. Practice without purpose is no good. You do have to set goals and figure out the things that are stopping you from achieving them and go from there. Otherwise you're just banging balls around.

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

Next door neighbor, Fred Douglas had a room on Okc. My dad would take me there maybe once a month to play free pool. Fred woudn't take our money. Fred bought a new place and called it a recreation center to get away from the old pool hall stigma. Family recreation center he called it. He needed help and asked me to work there. Just cleaning tables and such. For whatever reason I gravitated to the two old pool rooms downtown and old Fred was a little disappointed in my new dig! Nothing but snooker tables in these places. Spitoons, old guys and us young kids. I thought I could play till I got on those snooker tables! Learned pretty quick and to this day believe starting out with snooker is a real blessing. Yes, I can use a crutch. Turned legal age and went to bar boxes in bars and these guys wanted to play for beer and money! Five bucks was a big game back then. Drank lots of free beer. The transition to bar pool was a cakewalk. No league pool and nobody played leave or get your chops busted quick. Defense was considered chickenshit. Started league pool when it came to town and they told me to hook people and they would say good shot! They actually said good shot when I hooked them. Very uncomfortable with that whole thing.

Starting out with snooker, did you adopt a snooker style, or did you play it looking like a pool player?

Lou Figueroa

 

[Kickin' Chicken]

Hi Lou;

For me it started with me as a truant 13 year old, regularly skipping school, in favor of heading over to our local small-town pool hall and becoming enthralled with the game and its characters.

The following is from my intro post to azb which explains it in more detail:

My love for pool began way back when I was a high school freshman in the early 70's. I was maybe 13 or 14 years old. My buddy and I would skip school and invariably find ourselves at our local Sam's Pool Hall. Sam must have been close to 80 years old then and for reasons I'm not sure of, he allowed us to come in and hang out there. I think we amused him. This wasn't a kid-friendly environment. It was a dank, smokey place with some real characters constantly coming and going. Mike and I were intrigued with the whole vibe, and most especially, with the better players whose sets typically ended with money changing hands. That was it for us, we were hooked.

We started playing regularly and for teenagers, I have to say, we became pretty good - to the extent that we eventually were going up against some of those better players who had provided us with inspiration and instruction, consciously, or otherwise. We were holding our own. :smile:

I joined the Army in '75 and whenever possible, at whatever base I was stationed, I spent a lot of time in the day room (rec room) working on my game. I competed in a fairly large Army tournament and was real happy to win that Brigade 8-ball championship for the 4th Infantry Division at Wiesbaden Air Base, Germany.

But that was then and this is now! How does that country song go?... "I'm not as good as I once was; but once I was as good as I ever was..." LOL

Best,
Brian kc

 

[lfigueroa]

Slot Car Track: Boy, does that bring back memories. When electricity was cheap, the slot tracks did really well here in New Orleans. I worked at one of them and I guess that's where I first began to realize that I was a "competitive junkie". This was BP (before pool).

To stay on track with the thread question, thinking back, I probably learned from every source that I could get my hands on. That list of sources was:
One on One competition with another competitive player.
Books.
Video Matches.
Video pool instruction.
Gambling.
Watching other top players. (this probably inspired me as much as anything else). Nothing like watching a good player make the magic happen.
Pro Player pool instruction.
Professional Coach Instruction.

I guess that covers most of the spectrum. LOL. But it is the truth. I've gleaned "secrets" wherever I could find them. Oh yeah, I have to add in AZ Billiard Main Forum because I have picked up some great information here along with the newsgroup rec.sport.billiard in years gone past.

Oh yeah, one more: Short Stops. Kind of stingy for the most part but if they beat you for a little dough they would sometimes share something that could improve your game.

That's it. I think............

I think most of that translates to being self-taught. But the part about a coach intrigues me. How does that work?

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

In the 60s when I learned, there wasn't exactly a whole bunch of people running around willing to give you lessons.

So, having said that, I am self taught in my earlier years. I started watching the good players in Charlottesville and Roanoke Va, and honed my skills on the bar table while drinking free beers.

So no books or videos?

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

I learned to play at the Student Center at SMU in Dallas.
I bought a copy of the orange Mosconi book for one dollar and put it on the rail.
I practiced from 10:00am in the morning until 12:00 pm every day for 3 years during the summer and all I could after school. I started at 14.

If I came across a shot that I missed I would practice it until I could make it 100 times. 100 spot shots in a row or start over.

A few better players would help me but I was soon the best player in Dallas.
One day I went from playing 9 ball for 10 cents a game to 10 dollars a game and never turned back.

Curiosity and practice are the keys to becoming a better player.
Lessons are a waste of time. You must learn every shot yourself. That way you own it.

Bill Stroud

yep. I think that about sums it up.

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

I grew up in Everett, Massachusetts.

The room I played in had a bunch of quality players. I would sit and watch the better players for hours upon hours. Sure enough, situations would come up that I hadn't faced or knew the answer to in the process. I would wacth to see what the player would do. If he showed me something I should add to my game I made a mental note of it.

When they stopped play. I would recreate the situation and do what they did until I did it at least as well as they did it and possibly better.

Obviously, when watching those better players, Tom was paying attention

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

My Dad and I would play wherever we saw a table (bowling alley, bar/restaurant). He then brought me to my first pool hall, Q-Masters in Norfolk, VA. We would go up and grab lunch and get the hour free (but usually play a lot longer lol). I was hooked ever since. He eventually bought me my first cue. He taught me the basics, I even mimicked his stroke -- I am right handed but play pool lefty because that's how he plays. I then started going up on the weekends with a buddy of mine during high school and that's when I started taking it a bit more serious. He got burned out but I never stopped.

That's pretty cool, playing pool with your dad.

I never played pool with my dad and in fact he was against my playing so much. Years later, when I was in the Air Force stationed overseas and I was competing in the Mediterranean and European championships, it tickled him to death that the Air Force was sending me to Italy during Carnivale, or Germany during Oktoberfest, to play pool.

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

I used to go to a nickel arcade in Des Moines when I was about 17-18 called Loco Joes to play several of my favorite video games. One day I was there with a buddy and we decided to play some pool. We were horrible. A guy came up and asked to play a game to which I said sure. After he beat the snot out of me on the table he told me I seemed to have a natural eye and asked me if I was interested in joining a league (Junior APA League). I said sure.

I met several people that became great friends of mine. The first week I lost to a gal 3-0 in close to 40 innings. Her friend and her kind of got a laugh because I was beyond bad. I moved down to a 2 the next week (back when males could be 2s). I set a goal of wanting to move up one handicap each session for a year. With some very cheap gambling of race to 3 for $5 with my buddy Big H and a couple of other people, some help with friends, and cheap nickel pool (about $0.35-40 a game) I got better. Within one year I accomplished my goal from 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, and then 5-6 in four sessions right before it was time to go to college. I met some great people along with the way.

4 years in college I didn't play that much because in Maryville, MO almost nobody knew what pool was minus one townie named Butch who used to be semi pro I heard after he beat me out of some money. He told me I played well but play too defensive. I think he was right. I also had a buddy from a small town nearby who played well so we challenged each other in the dorm halls, but that was about it.

I came back from college and starting playing a lot and got my confidence at an all time high playing in tournaments, gambling, league etc....I lost that after I took some lessons that changed my game completely as I had absolutely no fundamentals. Still trying to get the swagger and confidence back without going back to my old habits. It is funny how confidence can make someone play so much better then when you are not confident. The no fear thing does wonders...I need to find that again.

It is amazing how much of what draws us to the game are the people we meet along the way. And you're right about confidence -- makes all the difference in the world. Good luck with that.

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

I hounded the good players to play cheap pool, took a spot when I could but donated a good bit to the Players' Fund too.

I have always been pretty good about maintaining interest while playing with myself too, so I could redo situations on my own.

And I still suck!

You're not alone -- anyone who is any good donated for a while.

Lou Figueroa
has his own
charitable foundation

 

[lfigueroa]

A buddy of mine that i used to party with in high school taught me the basics. After i got into college took some classes.

It's unclear: did you hire an instructor, or was the college offering a course?

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

Never did learn the game.

Too bad. It would have made you a better 3C player, Tom

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

When I was a little kid 8-10 years old, we would vacation at a resort that had a pool room, mostly 3 cushion, my sister and I played our own version of 3 cushion. Later, my mother joined a bowling league which played in the afternoons at the Bergen Mall in NJ. When I had a half day at school she would drag me and a friend to bowl, they had a couple GC III's my friend and I would play a version of straight pool. But I was fascinated watching these older guys use this funny little diamond shaped rack, and see money change hands and lingo like "you've gotta give me the seven and the break" I was hooked, I started playing at a friends basement even when he wasn't there his mother would let me play by myself. Later when I got my drivers liscense I discovered Plaza Billiards at the intersection of Rt 17 and Rt 4 in NJ, now long gone, its always been a part of my life, so I guess I'm self taught but lately I've taking lessons....I love pool PERIOD

Yes, something about the lingo, the ritual of the game, and becoming a part of it all has drawn many of us in, no doubt.

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

I learned at the school of hard knocks....

"The Tulsa Billiard Palace"

Actually, I started playing at a place called "Sir Billiards" here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I began under the tutelage of Sir John Novak. He is a member here and goes by 'Libra'. He showed me the basic shots and how to use english. I learned many shots during that time, and learned a lot of wrong shots and didn't embrace the game as a whole until later on. I progressed rather quickly but stayed at a 5 speed for many years. I played in California at Hard Times for a little while, and I paid my dues there and also at Hollywood Billiards where the action was plentiful. You could say I more than paid my dues there.

When I came back to Tulsa, the main center for action was the Palace. There, I was intrigued by the likes of James Walden, 'Fat' Randy Wallace, Danny Harriman, John Gabriel, Mike 'Silky' Betts, David Matlock, Gabe Owen, Shane McMinn, and many others. I matched up with some of the lesser players and that is where I ultimately learned how not to gamble. The Palace was a real shark tank and if you weren't careful, you would walk out broke, hurt, and wishing you never picked up a cue.

During that time, ESPN was featuring Earl, Johnny, Nick, Busti, and that is where I fell in love with those guys. After watching their videos over and over, I migrated towards the stroke of Bustamante. It wasn't the smartest thing in the world for me to do, because what I was doing and what I thought I was doing was definitely not the same thing. Stubbornly, I proceeded in trying to master the Filipino stroke and I did so in arrogant fashion.

The level of my play remained stagnant for many years and just a few years ago, I was set straight by a good friend, Cracker John Reynolds. He is the one who sat me down, slapped me right in the face and said, "All that whippy shit you do is totally unnecessary! Slow down and try and act like a pool player." He had me making shots using center ball and rolling them in at minimal speed. My game improved by a ball.

Another superb player, Brian Jones also took me under his wing and shed light upon the game like no other person ever could. His knowledge of the game is so intricate and so simple that I absorbed every bit of loathsome goodness that the game had to offer. I practiced some of the key drills and straightened out my stroke once and for all. Ultimately, under those two guys direction, I learned what was important about the game. I had learned that what is important is finesse and control, not power.

I must mention that also during the recent years, I had the chance to get some instruction from Buddy Hall. I spent several months with him and he did teach me a few useful things, but overall, what I gained from being around him was the confidence to play anyone in the world. I couldn't say that I can beat Buddy Hall, but I am definitely not afraid to post something with the skills I now have. I am not saying I am the best in world, but I feel like I have the ability to step up and play anyone without feeling like a chump.

A few months back, I had the chance to play Corey Deuel. He was literally a surgeon at the table. I have a deep respect for his game, and because of that, my sac shrunk up a bit, but I did manage to win 20-30% of the time playing 10-ball. I know that if we were matched up, he would've opened up another level of play, but I was happy with how I played regardless.

Now that I am a cue maker, I ironically have no time to play. All my time is dedicated to working and making cues. The little time I do have to play is spent hitting balls and enjoying the craftsmanship of my own cues and discovering the 'hit' that I am after. I must say that it does take a real player to know how to make a good cue that performs correctly. I think this is why all the best cue makers have a respectable game.... Dennis Searing is a perfect example of what I am talking about. I started making cues to be more intimate with the game. I don't make cues for money. I make cues because I know what I am after and I also enjoy a good challenge and besides, there is no reason for good players to be playing with a crappy cue.

The game of pool to me, very much resembles the solitary path of a warrior. Brian Jones once put it to me in a poetic way. "A good pool player must embrace the 'Spirit of the Samurai' and demonstrate that same fighting spirit on the pool table. If you can attain that fighting spirit others will fear you because they know your sword is sharp." The spirit of a warrior has been long forgotten especially in a culture as fat, weak and lazy as the one represented in our culture today; however, there are those who uphold and renew that same fighting spirit of the Samurai as once displayed on the ancient battlefields long ago. This to me is the true beauty of pool as portrayed through Fast Eddie Felson, and why I sought out to become a good player over the years.

Goodness gracious me, oh my. That's some top-flight tutelage you've had along the way.

So, now that you're making cues as a player, what would you say are the one or two things most critical to you as a cue maker making cues for players? And, what do you think is the number one thing most players don't appreciate concerning the playability of a pool cue?

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

Started playing at age 18 in the Marine Corps. Stopped playing at 21 when I left. Picked the game back up at 27, self taught, watched others, discovered 99 Critical Shots and Byrnes first book at 30.

No other training.

You know, I had forgotten about RM's 99 Shots. Thanks for bringing it up -- it's a great training resource.

Lou Figueroa