How Many Years Have You REALLY Been Playing?

B

BasementDweller

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you calculate how many hours most top players put in to this game to become world class players the number of hours can be pretty amazing.

If you take an average of 5 hours a day for 5 days a week you get 25 hours a week. I think this is on the low end but just for fun I'm using this number. So this means these players in their formative years at least, were putting in 1300 hours a year. For most top notch players, I bet you could throw in another 10 hours on the weekends, but that number is just too big for me to consider :)

So if we make a year of serious pool playing equal to 1300 hours, how many years of serious pool playing do you have under your belt?

For me, I don't think I ever put 1300 hours into pool for a year - not even close. Well, maybe close to that during the first year or two that I played but that's about it.

Here are the numbers that I came up with for me:
Age
17-20: 500 hours (just messing around)
20-22: 2200 (figured out how cool the game was)
22-26: 500 (busy with life)
26-33: 800 (busy with life)
34-present: 1000 (shooting for 10 hours a week)

Total: 5,000. I'm guessing this is close to accurate. Using this number I've been at this seriously for almost 4 years. That feels about right to me. Pool has definitely been on my mind for years, but my actual table time is quite low during much of this time.

Anybody else think about the time they have put into the game like this?
 
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Holy crap...never figured it up like that.

For about six years leading up to 1992 I shot at least four hours a day at least six days a week. Minimum.

Got married in 90, graduated with my BS in 92, got divorced in 94, started med school in 95. Been working at one thing or another since then at a minimum of 70-80 hours a week most of the time. And somehow in there I got married again.

So, very off and on since 1992, more off than on, with long stretches without shooting at all.

At my peak was was playing more pool than doing anything else in life, then life got in the way.
 
Dec 2005: I'm 24 years old and bought a cue and discovered a pool room in Akron, Ohio. Had never been to a pool room or really even heard of the concept before. I had always enjoyed playing in bars but had no idea what I was ever doing. Went maybe twice a week for an hour or two to bang balls into the rail and try to learn on my own.

May 2006: I moved to NYC without a job or really much money. Lived with my girlfriend (now wife) and ended up working an unpaid internship for 4 months. Was able to play maybe 5 times until I start actually making money in December 2006.

January 2007: I start playing pool again. There was a pool room down the street and I was able to play about twice a week for a couple hours and I started playing in a league at Amsterdam Billiards. In 2008 I started playing in some tournaments.

August 2008: My wife gave birth to a little girl and I hung my cue up for a year. Playing maybe once a month, if that. No leagues, no tournaments.

September 2009: I start playing again. I join leagues and start playing in tournaments again. I'm nearly starting over at this point. And this takes me to present day.

So I've been playing a total of 4.5 years... But the first 2 years were all broken up and had nearly no structor. I feel like the past two and a half years or so I've really started to learn and grow. I still suck, but in time I'll improve.
 
I put in over 600 hours last year and plan on doing a little more this year. This time includes practice and tourneys.

Since I picked up playing again about 5 years ago, I'd say I have about 2,000-2,500 hours of playing.

Calender time means nothing, its all about the hours you put in. Putting in 10 hours a year is not the same as saying I've been playing for a year.

Count the hours, not the years.

I've yet to meet a player that puts in the same about of time as I do,,,,,,except for 3 cushion players.
 
Interesting way of thinking about time put in vs. a serious person attempting to play the game full time at a top level. I used to do the same thing with my golf game - living in Wisconsin, I practiced played from April/May to September, maybe October, then was full time into pool again (I also quit pool almost completely in the summer). So 6 years of summer golfing was like maybe 2 - 3 if I lived somewhere warmer.

For pool, started in late 1986 while in college, played a LOT the first 2 years, probably 30 - 40 hours week. Then tapered off somewhat, usually a constant 2 nights a week for leagues etc, so maybe 8 - 10 hours a week plus the occasional extra night or tourney. Took a 6 year break almost completely from 2002 - 2007, played in 08 - 09, took a break for most of 2010, and started up again last year and still at it.

My hours came up to an approximate 9600 for that 25 year span. Using your estimate of 1300 hours per week for a full time serious player (which I think is low), that equates to about 7.5 years. If I add those 10 hours you mentioned, which would easily account for weekend practice/gambling/tourneys, that brings the weekly total to 1750 and my personal estimate to 5.5 years.

Certainly puts things into perspective, life gets in the way huh?

Scott
 
duckie said:
I put in over 600 hours last year and plan on doing a little more this year. This time includes practice and tourneys.

Since I picked up playing again about 5 years ago, I'd say I have about 2,000-2,500 hours of playing.

Calender time means nothing, its all about the hours you put in. Putting in 10 hours a year is not the same as saying I've been playing for a year.

Count the hours, not the years.

I've yet to meet a player that puts in the same about of time as I do,,,,,,except for 3 cushion players.
Click to expand...

600 hours in a year equates to less than 12 hours a week. Are you saying that you don't know of anyone that puts in more than that?
 
My mind cant even wrap around the hours I have put in this game,I started
gambling back in the late 80s and have owned my own table for the last
20 yrs. The problem with me is I dont have the desire to practice unless I am in a tournament or a money game. I may hit balls 15 or 20 min a day now.
It takes a certain desire that I dont have anymore. I go to tournaments and
watch top players just racking and breaking for hours, The top players are
dedicated and do what it takes. Most players do not have that drive.
Imo they work hard for their money
 
Well I can probably say that up until I was 18, probably had less than 80 hours total, since then it's only been worse.
18-21: 3 hours a day
21-24: 40 hours a week
24-26: 50 hours a week
26-27: 60-70 hours +

If I add my time up right, 16,000 or so hours?
 
At one stretch I played 12 to 15 hrs a day for two years.Think I missed xmas day both times.That's when I became pretty good.It takes that kind of hrs I think to be somewhere close to champion speed.That was along with using Ray Martin's book.99 shots too.John B.
 
This Could Get Interesting...

Thanks for all the replies guys. I think this could get really interesting. I've recently changed my opinion on the whole natural ability vs. hard work thing. I used to believe that it was really our natural ability that put the ceiling on how good we could get. I no longer believe that. But I'm not looking to argue that here.

Anyway, it would be interesting to see how we stack up against each other skill wise and then compare the amount of hours we each think we have put in. It would be interesting if there happened to be a few shortstop level players that haven't put in that much time. You know - a few natural ability freaks :)

Question for JBKY - How old were you when you played 12 - 15 hours a day for that 2 year period? Just curious.
 
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BasementDweller said:
Thanks for all the replies guys. I think this could get really interesting. I've recently changed my opinion on the whole natural ability vs. hard work thing. I used to believe that it was really our natural ability that put the ceiling on how good we could get. I no longer believe that. But I'm not looking to argue that here.

Anyway, it would be interesting to see how we stack up against each skill wise and then compare the amount of hours we each think we have put in. It would be interesting if there happened to be a few shortstop level players that haven't put in that much time. You know - a few natural ability freaks :)

Question for JBKY - How old were you when you played 12 - 15 hours a day for that 2 year period? Just curious.
Click to expand...

17 to 18 John B.
 
I started playing when I was 5 or so played alot without alot of training. When I was a teen I played about 20hrs a week. When I was 15 I found the a pool hall. Then I stated to take lessons. Late teens to into my early 20s I played about 25 to 30 hrs a week. From my mind 20s I found Hal Houle then really started to learn the game. About 20 hours a week. I'm 34 now play around 15hrs a week. These number are on the low side.
 
I took a 30-year layoff between 1973-2003.
If my calculations are correct, I have at least 15,912,000 sporadic seconds of play under my belt.

  • 17-combined years of play
  • A minimum of 5-hours per week, probably more
  • 260+ hours per year
  • 4420+ total hours
  • 265,200+ total minutes
You do the math...:)
 
That makes me feel a little better about how bad I am. I've had a table to the past 7 years, and have played on average 4-5 days a week during that time. However, my play time comes around 9-10 at night after a day at work, time with the kids and time with family. That turns into me playing 20-40 minutes of unfocused pool for the fun of it at night, equating to 2.5 hrs per week. I put it at the high end because I do get times during the weekends to play that sometimes go longer. Figuring it this way, I play about 130 hours a year.

I have reached a certain level in play that I just seem to hang at now. I have grown sick of being there, and am trying to put in more focused, organized practice time (for whatever time I get to play) to push myself up to what I would consider to be a decent player. Hopefully I can get there, but for now my priorities remain my wife and kids, so progression will likely be slower than I'd like.
 
I would say I averaged right around 25 hours a week for the past 2 years. When I only had the 1 job I was playing at least 30 hours a week, on some days playing for 10-12 hours. I had 2 jobs for about 9 months, and during that time I could only put in around 18-20. 3 years ago I was just starting to get serious.

Like it says in my profile, I work, and I play pool. That is all I do.
 
JBKY said:
At one stretch I played 12 to 15 hrs a day for two years.Think I missed xmas day both times.That's when I became pretty good.It takes that kind of hrs I think to be somewhere close to champion speed.That was along with using Ray Martin's book.99 shots too.John B.
Click to expand...

There's a theory based on your experience. IT's called the "10,000 hour" theory. More or less, it sez that for anyone to get to an expert level at anything, they need to put in 10,000 hours at it.

Based on your numbers of, say 13 hours a day average, 363 days a year, for two years...that gives you 9438 hours.

For a working class dog to log in 10,000 hours, assuming that said WCD logs in about 10 hours of practice a week, that would take about 19 to 20 years.


Eric
 
Eric. said:
For a working class dog to log in 10,000 hours, assuming that said WCD logs in about 10 hours of practice a week, that would take about 19 to 20 years.
Click to expand...

If you have a career or any other hobbies then this seems about right. No rush :)
 
I've been reading the forums for a long time, and this thread was the first one I just had to jump in on. I've been fascinated by the theory of 10,000 hours = world-class performance. One example (golf related rather than pool) is being tracked at thedanplan.com. It's essentially a guy who is trying to put in 10k hours of dedicated practice to hit the PGA tour. Others have tried and failed at the exact same attempt, but it's still an interesting thing nonetheless. I plan to continue following just to see if the guy makes it.

Michael Reddick (angleofreflection.wordpress.com) took on a similar challenge (recently taking a break), but was focused on pool. His blog is an interesting one to read through as well. He mentions a good book called The Talent Code if you want to explore the idea of what makes people "talented" as well.

I've taken a stab at figuring my hours out in the past as well and have come up with about 3500-4000 hours. I'm an APA SL7 in 8-ball, but realize that I have a lot more headroom for improvement in not only 8-ball, but other games as well. I could honestly see that if I doubled or tripled the amount of time I've put in (thus doubling/tripling my performance), I'd be world-class. Having started when I was an early teen and being obsessive at first (lots of hours), then taking extended breaks because of life, I do wonder where I'd be if I hadn't taken those breaks. Being 35, with a wife, 3 kids, a wicked commute, and only 1 night a week of league play, I realize I'm probably not going to be on a TAR stream anytime soon, but it is interesting to use hours as another measuring stick to see where I'm at on the journey to excellence.

- James
 
Interesting thread!!!

I started playing at 16, and I played about 2 hours a day for 2 years, and then I started to drink and date girls, so I only played once in a while, before not playing at all for 3 years. I guess 1700 hours in total.

When I was 23, I started playing 5-10 hours a week, and then double that for 2 years. Then, about 6 years ago, I opened a poolhall, and put in more than 3000 hours during 2,5 years. Spent 18 hours a day at the poolhall, working and playing. Most of this was solid practice, drills, lots of gambling, eurotour's. Quality time. It really paid off and my game jumped several levels.

Sold my shares in the poolroom, moved to another city, dead for pool, and back to playing just 1 hour or 2 every week, and that's what I have been doing the last 2-3 years.

In total I guess I have put in about 8000 hours, where about half have been real quality time, the others I have wasted on just banging balls around, not focusing etc. I wish I had got a coach or someone to guide me from day 1, instead of starting seriously at the age of 25-26...

I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't moved from Oslo in 2007, I would still be playing 20-25 hours a week. Last year I played maybe 300 hours, and then I have included the trip to Las Vegas for the BCA + 14 days in Philippines...

This year I have played 2 hours so far.
 
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