How do pros do it?

M

mnShooter

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was practicing by myself getting ready for the IPT mini tournament and in walks Lee Heuwagen. So he asks me if I want to practice. First shot he steps up to the table and just cans a full table off the rail 20 degree cut like I would make a hanger. Something I can only make maybe 25-50% of the time. He's probably 95+% on a shot like this.

There has to be a few secrets that he knows that all us amatuers don't know about. I mean how can he just be that good at making shots all the time? He never has any days where he misses balls. It seems like he can put the cueball within 2 inches of where he wants from anywhere. Does he really see the contact point that much better or the angle that much better? Do you think he uses one of those Houlian systems? Is it all in his fundamentals and preshot routine? Or is it just the result of a shooting a million or two balls. It seems almost unhuman the kind of stuff pros can do on the table.
 
Shooting one million balls will do it. It's about repetitive practice. A lot of people practice by themselves but how many do it properly? If there are shots that bother you, shoot them 1-200 times, and I am dead serious about the number. At the end of the session you will be at least a little more comfortable with that shot.

When playing 9 ball, pick out your position for your next three shots. If you miss either the ball or the position, set it up again until you make both aspects five consecutive times.

That is essentally what you have to do.

Of course there are other things as well such as very good hand eye coordination, experiance and mental strength. But everybody misses and has those days, I've seen it.
 
mnShooter said:
Or is it just the result of a shooting a million or two balls. It seems almost unhuman the kind of stuff pros can do on the table.
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A little of both. That's why they're pros. If it was easy, everybody would be a world champion. With that in mind, though, it's possible that most people can become quite proficient at shooting pool with enough (proper) repitition...

There is a physical maximum level of play that each of us has, sadly enough. I think very few people have enough time to devote to pool to come close to finding out what that level is. As far as I'm concerned, shooting pro caliber shots at 50% is a good thing.

(Soapbox)
I believe that only a handful of people are really even capable of being worldclass players. Some people are just born talented (Reyes, Sigel and Vanover for example) and can shoot lights out without any practice. (I'm not implying that they don't practice at all, I'm just saying that they don't need constant work to maintain their elite status - although they may work to improve it). Others work really hard just to be world class [in addition to being born with a lot of talent]. For example, I've heard that Soquet and Hohman practice for hours on end. These guys may need a little honing to be on the top of the heap, but they're top notch players nonetheless.

For the rest of us, proper practice can let us reach new levels of play, and new levels of enjoyment for the game, but almost none of us will ever be "great" (outside our own minds that is;)). Besides, I still love the "awe-factor" of watching pros do things I could never do.
 
Cameron Smith said:
Shooting one million balls will do it. It's about repetitive practice. A lot of people practice by themselves but how many do it properly? If there are shots that bother you, shoot them 1-200 times, and I am dead serious about the number. At the end of the session you will be at least a little more comfortable with that shot.

When playing 9 ball, pick out your position for your next three shots. If you miss either the ball or the position, set it up again until you make both aspects five consecutive times.

That is essentally what you have to do.

Of course there are other things as well such as very good hand eye coordination, experiance and mental strength. But everybody misses and has those days, I've seen it.
Click to expand...

I remember when I was starting out, trying to learn the fundimentals of the game, and I was watching a tape from Burt Kinister.

He was introducing some new materal, and told the viewer to stop the tape, and to try this shot 200~300 times to get the feel for it. I almost fell out of my chair. 300 balls? 300? At that time, I had no idea what it took to become profecient at some of the most basic shots.

Today? 300? I could eat that for breakfast, now that I know, and put the time in. I think everyone who is any good, talent aside, still has to play in order to maintian a high level. I think this goes with everything, not just pool.
 
Don't know how they do it but I think at one time of their life they didnt have any other life than playing pool.
Natural talent, yeah.
Everyone wants to get good at something and maybe some pros arent good at any much else.
I think there was something lacking, some deficit in their life that 'normal' people had and they made up for it, with self respect, on the pool table.
Then to keep playing and not get bored by it really amazes me.
Then they would have to have a razor sharp gambling instinct somewhere in their genes as well as a creative mind.
What is it they have in common?
We'd like to know. Are they unhuman, inhuman, superhuman or human?
One thing I would expect is that they have put the time in and don't really much else going on in their lives.
Unless theyre freakishly talented.
But even with freaky talent there has to have been that phase when pool was 'everything'
Like for me to eat three hundred balls for breakfast? Well I'l rarely look at a pool table in the morning.
Thats a good time to sleep or to go to work.
Then after my days done, I'll get there for some exercise, if nothing else.
I'll do it everyday but I'm not scrambling out of bed with my three hundred balls for breakfast. Though I had a phase when I would get up early to shoot pool as the early morning session was cheap.
I just don't how. 1. how they don't give up, cause everybody gets beaten every other day and 2. how they keep finding it interesting enough ?
Maybe theres a virus that players catch, the pool bug and if you get the P.R.O strain then that helps turn you into a pro....or even the mutated I.P.T virus.
I was thinkin', like the caption Congrats To Jasmin and Ralf! Like for 'normal' people, you would be expecting them to have had a baby but no, theyre not 'the normal people', they just won a game. Theyre pro's. And because we know they are, we wouldnt even think twice about it.
 
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Perserverance, Determination, Focus and an Enquiring Mind stand out as the primary characteristics of someone who achieves the highest levels of just about any sport or skill.

Pros don't just shoot better, they know a whole range of aspects about the game in depth. They see them game more clearly in so far as what stengths carry various weight, what shots maximize their chances of a better outcome. They've gone over and over all these aspects so many times that it is almost automatic.

Personally I believe that with an intelligent and well organized approach to training, learning and improving all these aspects, many good players could rise up through the various grades to have a game strong enough to have a chance race to 9 with the best of the pros.

At that level, I think it's the one's with the best focus (mental) that shine more often.

btw: Ralf told me he doesn't practice much. A few hours here and there between travelling to tournaments. But when he does play, it's always 100%. I figure he's put in the thousands of hours required to learn what he needs to know for his game. Now he just needs to get his eye and stroke and mind into each match, and doing long hours each day at the table is no longer necessary to achieve that.
 
mnShooter said:
I was practicing by myself getting ready for the IPT mini tournament and in walks Lee Heuwagen. So he asks me if I want to practice. First shot he steps up to the table and just cans a full table off the rail 20 degree cut like I would make a hanger. Something I can only make maybe 25-50% of the time. He's probably 95+% on a shot like this.

There has to be a few secrets that he knows that all us amatuers don't know about. I mean how can he just be that good at making shots all the time? He never has any days where he misses balls. It seems like he can put the cueball within 2 inches of where he wants from anywhere. Does he really see the contact point that much better or the angle that much better? Do you think he uses one of those Houlian systems? Is it all in his fundamentals and preshot routine? Or is it just the result of a shooting a million or two balls. It seems almost unhuman the kind of stuff pros can do on the table.
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Pool is not really that hard a game to excell at but it takes commitment. Not that many players make the commitment. I doubt you would want to give up in your current life what it would take to play top pool, and that's OK, I wouldn't either.
 
PRO's aren't right in the head

I once had a coach tell me that the major difference between PRO's and everybody else is that the PRO's aren't right in the head.

He went on to explain that the thought of missing(be it a shot or a safety) doesn't cross their mind, the ball is just gone and they focus on where they need to leave the cueball.

When I started to think about what he said it really made sense, because when I am in the zone I don't think about making the ball I just look at it then pick my position and play the shot usually to a perfect (right side of the ball and acceptalbe distance) result.

I do have an easier time doing this in 8ball and struggle more with 9ball, but PRO's can switch this focus from game to game with magical ease.

Bern
 
Colin Colenso said:
Perserverance, Determination, Focus and an Enquiring Mind stand out as the primary characteristics of someone who achieves the highest levels of just about any sport or skill.

Pros don't just shoot better, they know a whole range of aspects about the game in depth. They see them game more clearly in so far as what stengths carry various weight, what shots maximize their chances of a better outcome. They've gone over and over all these aspects so many times that it is almost automatic.

Personally I believe that with an intelligent and well organized approach to training, learning and improving all these aspects, many good players could rise up through the various grades to have a game strong enough to have a chance race to 9 with the best of the pros.

At that level, I think it's the one's with the best focus (mental) that shine more often.

btw: Ralf told me he doesn't practice much. A few hours here and there between travelling to tournaments. But when he does play, it's always 100%. I figure he's put in the thousands of hours required to learn what he needs to know for his game. Now he just needs to get his eye and stroke and mind into each match, and doing long hours each day at the table is no longer necessary to achieve that.
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I think another very important aspect of a pro is they committ 100% on the shot and when they miss know 'why' and move on, storing that information and if they don't make that same shot when it comes up again, they most always are much closer than the first miss. Conditions are always different with each play field, the pros notice the differences because they look for them.
 
Do you think he uses one of those Houlian systems?
I bet he's never heard of it.:eek: :D
These pros are sickening.
Efren throws 15 balls on the table and runs em out in rotation COLD.
I saw Parica throw 15 balls on the table and proceeded to run them out on ONE pocket.
But, these guys were playing at semi-pro level already before they were even tall enough to shoot without the side-saddle shooting arm. Parica said he ran out his first 15 ball rotation when he was twelve years old.
These guys grew up on and under the pool table.
I think they just see the angles automatically now. No system.
They look at the line of approach and/or carom angle, boom they do it.
 
I still don't understand how they just don't have bad days ever. Or maybe their bad days are when they can only run 2-3 racks instead of 5 or 6.
 
mnShooter said:
I still don't understand how they just don't have bad days ever. Or maybe their bad days are when they can only run 2-3 racks instead of 5 or 6.
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They do have bad days, however their bad days still look better than our good days. It is all relative.

I was playing very poorly yesterday and I was visably annoyed with myself. After a while I gave out a quiet curse which prompted a banger to say "I don't know why you are so pissed off. I would kill to play like that."
 
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