How do you practice?

V

vincentwu817

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
These few months I have a light schedule in school so I've been practicing a lot of pool. I've definitely got better recently but I feel like my practice routine is very flawed. I start off making 20 long straight in shots, stopping the cue ball. Then I go ahead and practice some cut shots, usually 3 variations and try to make 10-15 of each.

After that I get pretty impatient and just try to run out in 9 ball for an hr or so. I feel like I'm wasting a lot of time. Are there specific stuff that you guys suggest to improve this routine? Give me suggestions to practice for about 1-1.5hr.
 
Target pool is a very nice game developed by Kim Davenport.
It contains a book with a program of position shots and a score system related to getting to a target area.
Very good for improving position play.
Petros
 
Now that you've established that you can make shots...

My pops taught me this drill and I've taught it to others who wanted to step up their 9 & 10 ball game....Start off by setting up 2 balls on the table. The first ball you will place anywhere you'd like and it will be the first ball you pocket....now place the second ball in any other desired area, only with this one you will select a specific pocket to pot it in prior to taking the first shot. Once this has been established its up to you to determine from the first ball how to pocket it to get you position for the second ball and its chosen pocket. Repeat the process until you've got it down..once you do, then place all balls back in the same place including the cb, but now chose a different pocket to pot the second ball in. Do your best to always be within the area of a foot from the next target ball. Try to stay away from english for awhile until you've fully grasped the use of follow and draw...once you've mastered this, add another ball and so and so forth. Always remember to vary the angles and the distance from the first ball so that you learn to get to the next ball in many differnet ways. Doing this drill with just the two balls alone will help your game out dramatically in learning to play for position as well as harnessing your speed control, but strive to reach the point where you are adding ALL balls on the table....You will be running 4-5 balls consistently within the first couple weeks I guarantee...after a couple months you should be running full racks easy!
 
I always like to start with some stroke drills and then follow that up with alignment drills.

When ever I practice stop shots I always turn those into measured draw/follow drills.

Take the same stop shots and turn those into a tangent line drill, always with a target for your cue ball.

I do my speed workshop at least once a week.

I work on aiming every time I practice.

This makes practice fun....SPF=randyg
 
I don't know many drills, but I think as a practice game 14.1 is unbeatable. Just make sure you bear down and come up with a precise plan for your next 2 or 3 shots, rather than just plugging away at balls. That allows you to recognize and work on correcting the things you don't do so well, and also to pat yourself on the back when you play a pattern perfectly.

Aaron
 
Here's The Best....Using It for 50 Yrs

Start out in any corner of the 9' table. Arrange nine balls (1-9) numbered in descending order spaced about 1.5 inches apart starting at the first diamond on the rail. So the order becomes 9 ball frozen to the first diamone on the rail...then the eight ball 1.5" away....then ditton on the 7...ditto on the 6 and the 5 ball is 2' away form the 6 (not 1.5'...do this drill and you'll learn why it has to be that way).

Instead of continuing to space the 4 ball 1.5" away from the 5 ball, you simply space the next 4 balls in descending order (4, 3, 2, 1) toward the head rail, The final configuration should be a perfect square....4 balls spaced on both sides of the 5 ball with the last ball on each side frozed to the rail.


Okay...now you start with ball in hand and proceed to make all 9 balls in a row in the same corner pocket without ever touching any other ball...if anyhting touches...you start the drill over which in the beginning you will do quite often.

Phase II - then you start doing this drill using a quarter and you place the quarter on the pool table where you're trying to get the cue ball to stop for the next shot....now when you can move the cue ball around the table and get it to stop next to a quarter, you know you're getting the speed down really well.

Phase III - And this is the killer....now you strat the Phase II drill but you lay a cue across the middle of the table at the side pockets...you do this drill and still no balls can touch excpet for the cue ball and the lowest number ball you're shooting...still playing shape on the quarter....and never touching the cue stick that divides the table....as you get better, you advance the cue stick shrinking the table space......I now practice with the cue stick laying on the diamond in front of the side pocket where it previously was placed.....I'm basically now doing this drill shooting all 9 balls on a table space that's shrunken down to 4/1/2' wide by 4' deep because I've moved the cue stick in front of the side pocket instead of across it.

My English speed control is just par excellent because moving a cue ball around in that small of a space and never touching any other ball except for the one I'm shooting at and never touching the cue stick either.....Well fellows, come up to one of the toughest drills you'll ever do but what a confidence builder when you get to do it....I'm averaging running out every 1 in 5 trys and usually screw up on either the five ball or the 8 ball on my other 4 attempts....but my cue ball control is just outstanding on a regular 9' table and especially when I play APA on a 7" table where that drill really makes me look like a magician....

I have 8 other drills which I practice all the time....guys believe me when I tell you this...ask anyone in the pool halls where I play....I never rack balls and start banging them...NEVER!...not for the past 40 years....I always....ALWAYS....just do thes drills...sometimes for 3-4 hours at a time. If a can grab a match and play with someone my equal or preferably better, that's what I'll do but only after I've done at least 2o minutes of drills...never cold turkey....otherwise, I'll just keep doing the drills and never rack the balls...no reason to....you never learn anything just banging balls....you don't lose money to anyone....you don't get to sit and watch the other guys runs two racks...you get to sit and think about what an easy shot you screwed up or maybe you should have cut that last shot instead of banking it....you learn "Nothing" from just banging balls.

Do the drills....any drills...I don't care...just do them because remember this..."Practice with purpose!" otherwise play a match but don't just throw 15 balls on the table and see if you can get out...you should or at elast get a dosen or so...learn nothing from that.....don't play a rack of 9 ball or 8 ball by yourself.....you'd be playing a fool as your opponent....forget about doing 14.1 unless that's the game of choice you normally play.....most of us are 9 ballers...then 8 ballers... because straightbpool can take too long to do a best of three series.

Try this drill and when you're ready for the next one which I call the "Penny" drill, drop me a PM and I'll fill you in on how that ones goes. My cue shot drill will have you cutting balls 8' down the rail at a 85-87 degrees angles....yeah...cue ball is looking at the frozen ball on the rail head on almost head on, dead straight. These drill were taught to me 45 years ago by some really great players back in the 60's in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

So start with the 9 baller and best of luck...don't give up...and remember to give yourself an extra 1/2" on the 5 ball...well maybe not wquite 2" apart from the other balls but it's at least 1.75" or thereabout...do the drill and see why oyu have to do this to successfully run out...My consecutive high runs at this drill are 4 times in a row doing Phase I, 3 times in a row practicing Phase II, and not quite 2 times a row doing the Phase II nightmare...freaking 5 ball still really becomes an issue for perfect shape when you lay the cue in front of the side pockets.....GOOD LUCK......Matt
 
Oos miscounted....

O the 9 balls drill I posted, my high consecutive run for Phase I is actually only 3 times (3.5 to be exact), Phase II was also 3 times and Phase III, well my best is only once because I missed the 8 ball on my second drill attempt....still haven't done this one twice in a row...when I get to do it 3x in a row...the cue stick gets advanced shrinking the table space again.....Matt
 
After doing the Accustats at the Masters 10ball this year I came away with a new plan on practice. Practice only shots that are easier as easy as a spot shot. If a shot looks harder than a spot shot practice a safety off of it. Practice the way you should play a match.

You will still need to devote small amounts of time to jump shots, stroke shots and other hero shots but do not spend your time on these or you will skew your internal analysis of what your true odds are of pulling off multiple hero shots in the course of a tournament.
 
i think one needs to keep his game sharp, i think in general practicing cb movement does that. but the other thing is, i think we need to practice things we are no good at..... if i had to guess, for most of us these are:

using the bridge-- a couple of hours practice with the bridge and you are talking a lifetime of your game going up a tad

shooting left handed-- same as above

kicking/banking-- i think most of us are terrible at banking, we can bank, but we cant play position off a bank. we can kick too, but not precisely enough
 
Practice is one thing, playing is another.

First off I think an 1 - 1.5 hours of practice is too long. I seems to me that you found this out because you get the itch to play possible because you get tired of drills.

I would suggest a shorter structured practice routine one that builds your stroke, aiming and speed control. A number of the previous posters had excellent suggestions for drills. I limit my practice sessions to 35-40 minutes a day. They may be short but I strive to make every shot count. You may also incorporate particular shots that you have difficulty with. Like building a house, the foundation is the most important. The foundation in this game is the stroke, and you must develop it to the point that you can rely on it when you are under extreme pressure.

Always end your practice session on a high note. (being successful in a drill) it will help your mental edge. Also when you get bored, and lose focus STOP. The quickest way to bad habits is to practice lazy.

On alternate days, play pool and have fun doing it.

Also if you have the means to video yourself in practice or playing do so. You can learn a lot by watching yourself.

vincentwu817 said:
These few months I have a light schedule in school so I've been practicing a lot of pool. I've definitely got better recently but I feel like my practice routine is very flawed. I start off making 20 long straight in shots, stopping the cue ball. Then I go ahead and practice some cut shots, usually 3 variations and try to make 10-15 of each.

After that I get pretty impatient and just try to run out in 9 ball for an hr or so. I feel like I'm wasting a lot of time. Are there specific stuff that you guys suggest to improve this routine? Give me suggestions to practice for about 1-1.5hr.
Click to expand...
 
my practice is just racking, breaking and shooting...i think real world shots and table lay outs are the only way to do it.
 
vince,


if you re practicing, then you need a goal. Further stuctured practice is also important as RandyG has shown up nicley (how you see from the example how he trains).
When you start to practice concentrated on drills, patterns or stroke (or combined) you ll see soon how hard that can be :)
Worked last friday with a student who never practiced concentrated for 2 hours a special drill. He oftenplays 9-ball or 8-ball for hours..no problem for him, but luckily he felt, that this will not improve his game.
After these 2 hours he looked like he has done a 2 hours training in the gym...lol- he said that he never felt that much tired before :p
2 hours with 1 or maybe 2 drills with an exact goal/target 3 times a week is a good advice from my side- working on your fundamentals (stroke, alignment, minimizing body-movement etc). How long and how often you work on your fundamentals like stroke, alignement etc depends also on your already earned abilities. As time goes by you ll see, that the *art of training* will change.
You could download hundreds if not thousand of drills-- but it have to make sense for you my friend. Perhaps it would be good, if you would visit a good instructor who could teach you some stuff about fundamentals and how to work on yourself on them- and furthermore he will show you also, how you can create a structured practice program for yourself to reach your specified goal (you always need a goal for practice!!).

You re lucky to have many good instructors in the states. It would be an investment for a lifetime. And about your inpatience...this just shows, that you re on fire and have the willing to want more. -you ll will learn to be more patient, don t worry :-)

lg from overseas,

ingo
 
vincentwu817 said:
These few months I have a light schedule in school so I've been practicing a lot of pool. I've definitely got better recently but I feel like my practice routine is very flawed. I start off making 20 long straight in shots, stopping the cue ball. Then I go ahead and practice some cut shots, usually 3 variations and try to make 10-15 of each.

After that I get pretty impatient and just try to run out in 9 ball for an hr or so. I feel like I'm wasting a lot of time. Are there specific stuff that you guys suggest to improve this routine? Give me suggestions to practice for about 1-1.5hr.
Click to expand...
I practice "nothing straight". It's sort of a new thing, Maybe it's "unique" to Zambales Province in the PI? 15 Ball rack, Call your shots. You can shoot banks, kicks or combos. I don't know about a tournament game, but as far as practice is concerned, it has really sharpened my skills. Great practice game, forces you to "think" about things. When you "practice" Banks, kicks and combo's ad infinutum, makes straight in shot's seem EASY.

Kinda like one pocket, first one to make 8 balls wins. And Safety comes into play, big time.
Makes straight into the pocket shots seem "easy".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top