How Many Hours a Week?

it varies a little, but I'm probably averaging five hours a week playing solo, five days a week- playing rotation and working shots out
once a week I spar with a pal for another 4-5 hours, we play 8-ball, rotation and 1p. I try to stay focused throughout but it's good fun
been getting out more lately, played my first tourna in several years recently, had a good time and I'm excited about playing more
re: HAMB, it definitely works, but I think it's helpful to pay attention to what's going on..mindlessly hitting balls only works so well
 
If you're a relatively good player (600+) then I'd say that it takes almost zero hours a week to maintain your level.

BUT, what you lose when not playing much is your consistency. You'll miss stuff that makes no sense to you. "Easy" shots. That's where the regular practice/action will help out. You'll reduce the silly mistakes to near zero.

To improve, I'd say you need 8+ plus of quality play/practice a week.
 
I am 51 now and play pool for about 35 years. In the beginning as a young student I had enough time and delight to train about 4 hours a day. I needed that to improve because i am not so naturally gifted, so i had to train hard for improvements. Fast forward..... I train about 8 hours per week to only maintain my level and to be good enough to play in my league. With that kind of training I am more cosistent but not better. So my B- and C- game is better but no improvements with my A-game. To improve my game I think I will need double of my pensum per week.
 
lately i try to play straight pool for an hour 5 days a week. i play better after a couple hours but i usually dont have the desire to get there since i’m usually just playing by myself
 
eastcoast_chris said:
If you're a relatively good player (600+) then I'd say that it takes almost zero hours a week to maintain your level.

BUT, what you lose when not playing much is your consistency. You'll miss stuff that makes no sense to you. "Easy" shots. That's where the regular practice/action will help out. You'll reduce the silly mistakes to near zero.

To improve, I'd say you need 8+ plus of quality play/practice a week.
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Absolutely agree and this where I'm at.

I play good enough where I win most of the time. Beating lesser players or losing to them doesn't bother me. Beating the lower level players will get you to a good player in a tournament and the difference, between winning and losing, is that practice.

I can be the same rating as another player but him practicing 4 hours a day versus me just playing in tournaments is the difference.

I have other pursuits in life where I'm happy to just get my pool fix from weekly tournaments than the 4 hours per day practice.

Plus that desire and fire is gone sadly. I don't think I can get it back unless something drastically changes like a new expensive cue arriving or I'm in some sort of sanctioned league. Pool is not to be taken seriously.
 
tomatoshooter said:
I'm putting in probably 20 hours a week on the practice table, some days too much shooting and not quite enough practice. I'm pretty sure I'm getting better, but it seems like as soon as I try to switch things up and focus on a developing a new skill, I lose the other skill super quickly.

Are you saying 5 hours a day is not a lot of practice? Or is this a different pool player named Earl? Because the only pool player I know of named Earl shot pretty sporty on several occasions.

I do think some sort of structure is necessary to get the most out of your practice time but I haven't found a way to improve that doesn't involve hitting a lot of balls. I wish I could find a way to emphasize the more effective parts of my practice.
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There are a lot of Earls in the world. This particular one the Dixie Chicks sang about.
 
Black-Balled said:
I'm guessing I prob average about 5 hr a week, solo in the basement.

I feel that maintains about 80% of my speed.
I think id prob need to triple that for a couple weeks to get 90%+ of full speed.

That said, I:m here for the fun, not funds.
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and winning is always the funnest part
 
Black-Balled said:
I'm guessing I prob average about 5 hr a week, solo in the basement.

I feel that maintains about 80% of my speed.
I think id prob need to triple that for a couple weeks to get 90%+ of full speed.

That said, I:m here for the fun, not funds.
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So about an hour week. Nice little maintenance especially if you have your own table.

Triple that? Yea that is just not feasible.

My only time where I don't worry about anything is going to the gym and one hour is my max. I can only imagine playing by yourself and hitting balls for 3 hours.
 
eastcoast_chris said:
If you're a relatively good player (600+) then I'd say that it takes almost zero hours a week to maintain your level.

BUT, what you lose when not playing much is your consistency. You'll miss stuff that makes no sense to you. "Easy" shots. That's where the regular practice/action will help out. You'll reduce the silly mistakes to near zero.

To improve, I'd say you need 8+ plus of quality play/practice a week.
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I'm way below 600 and if I take a day off it feels like it takes me two days to get it back. I'm not practicing much new stuff right now, maybe once I get the skills I have fully solidified I'll be able to branch out a little without losing them. Actually, a lot of it is consistency and after shooting for a couple of hours, I switch on.
 
Interesting thread. I got back into the game two years ago. Bought a 7-foot table and practice about an hour a day on weekdays and 2-3 hours a day on weekends. I've made rapid progress using that schedule. I don't see the need to increase it.

It helps that I had a table as a kid. My muscle memory was still mostly there when I start playing again regularly for the first time in 30 years.

When I was young, I knew very little about fundamentals. But I became a really good shotmaker (in part because my position play was so poor.) I was especially good on thin cut shots generally and long thin cut shots up the long rail. I can still make these shots with great consistency, whereas more seasoned players at my pool hall aren't as good or don't even try them.

What I needed to do was learn all the fundamentals. I've spent countless hours watching videos and then practicing what I have learned.

While I am still not as good as most of the regulars at my pool hall, I am catching up fast. A few things I've noticed: Most of them are just so-so at banking and kicking. Most of them are not consistent with their speeds. And most of them haven't learned the fundamentals of pattern play.

From my perspective, the most important part of my practice is pattern play. I can tell I have more technical knowledge, in most cases a lot more, than the better players at my pool hall. They are playing more by feel or instinct after years of playing (which is important).

Pattern play has forced me to focus intensely on speed control, mastery of center ball, the use of angles to move up and down the table, and the judicious application of spin.

Sure, it helps to have a consistent stroke, hit the ball straight and so forth. But the thinking part of the game is where practice helps me the most.
 
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I got beat 4-0 in a race to 4, and am really down. I feel I can compete with most anybody, but got my a## handed to me. It's a hc league, which I am losing interest in being a part of because of sandbagging. All my practice seems to have gone out the window, and I feel like quitting. Can I recover ?
 
SeniorTom said:
I got beat 4-0 in a race to 4, and am really down. I feel I can compete with most anybody, but got my a## handed to me. It's a hc league, which I am losing interest in being a part of because of sandbagging. All my practice seems to have gone out the window, and I feel like quitting. Can I recover ?
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Yes, absolutely you can and will recover! Remember, even the elite sit on a goose egg from time to time. Windshield mentality, that little blip is long gone way back in the rearview.
 
ChrisinNC said:
Not counting the hours spent playing in a weekly pool tournament, how many minimum hours a week of practice time or $ sessions do you need to keep your game (if you are 60+ years of age) or to have a realistic chance of significantly improving your game for younger players? 5, 10, 15 or 20 or more hours a week?
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I'm creeping up on 51, and put in zero hrs by your definition... However I consider every ball struck "practice" on some level, so using that logic, maybe 2hr a week. That includes my league night and swatting at balls on my own table.
ChrisinNC said:
I realize that varies based on a number of factors, particularly what level player you currently are, how much natural ability you have for the game, how solid your fundamentals are, how good you are hoping to get, among other things.
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Well, I'm at 678 now with 1000 or so games in the system. I used to think I was under performing and should have been a mid/high 680, but the racks keep piling up and rating doesn't really change so I'm guess that's my spd. I have had >700spd days in tourneys, and would love to maintain that pace, but I can't be bothered to commit the time to reach that consistency.

I think there's a big difference between building you skill set and developing consistency. There's isn't much I can't do on a pool table, and I've got the physics nailed down. Consistency is my problem. Only table time will better that.

I think I'm the pool version of a established fitness model. I don't need to work out (practice) to maintain my physique (game), but instead just do some light cardio (league).
ChrisinNC said:
I’m thinking a minimum of 10 hours a week over at least 3 sessions, but for those that have the time, 15-20 hours a week should really give you the best shot at getting your game to the next level within 6 months. If you do it for a year and don’t see a significant improvement, I’d say it’s not likely to happen.
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The one player above me in my local food chain (~710), puts honest practice time in. From what I've been lead to believe, an hour or so a day. I know if I did the same my we'd be spoken about in the same breath. I know when I do feel the desire to put some regular play on my home table my game gets notably straighter.
 
SeniorTom said:
I got beat 4-0 in a race to 4, and am really down. I feel I can compete with most anybody, but got my a## handed to me. It's a hc league, which I am losing interest in being a part of because of sandbagging. All my practice seems to have gone out the window, and I feel like quitting. Can I recover ?
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Nope... grab a tissue on your way out.
 
Well I’m 56 and last fall when I decided to play all 3 events at the derby ( first time I have ever done this) my plan was to start practicing and be playing consistently when the time came. My plan was to start practicing around the first of December and put in lots of hours and be ready.

Well at the first of December I just couldn’t get motivated to practice as much as my goal was. However I was hitting some balls most days. My idea then was to start on my time off for Christmas and practice a few hrs each day. First day off I got sick and have been sick for almost 3 weeks.

Long story short the derby is almost here and I haven’t played but maybe 5 games of one pocket since the derby last year. I never practice banks because I don’t really like the game. So anybody going to the derby just hope that you draw that guy that can’t shoot the cue ball down the table and hit the end rail.

I know I wasn’t going to win anything anyway but I at least wanted to play somewhere around my ability and have a good time.
 
SeniorTom said:
I got beat 4-0 in a race to 4, and am really down. I feel I can compete with most anybody, but got my a## handed to me. It's a hc league, which I am losing interest in being a part of because of sandbagging. All my practice seems to have gone out the window, and I feel like quitting. Can I recover ?
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It happens to all of us and you have to move on. Having not practiced more than a few times in the last 2-3 weeks, for some reason I played surprisingly well the other night in our weekly tournament, winning 5 straight matches and was in the hot seat / finals, where my opponent would have to beat me 2 straight matches.

Playing against the strongest player in the field who had to spot me 1 game in a race to 4, I was up 3–1, and couldn’t close the deal, screwing up a great opportunity to run out. He came back and beat me that first set and then beat me 4–0 in the final set. Yeah, it sucks, but you’ve got to shake it off and get back right back out there and learn from your mistakes. That loss actually motivated me to start putting in more hours.
 
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