I’m sorry, but I just bet you are hitting the balls too hard

Scott Lee said:
:rolleyes: Excuse me, but Dennis is correct! Talk about checking references! You should CALL that school. I'll take your action to bet whatever you want that Bert was NOT an economics professor...let alone for 13 yrs. Geez...what a bunch of hooey! LOL

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

Let me know if you uncover any dirt. I was floored when I read that information, and the way it was stated, appeared as fact. If it says he is a professor, you better believe it until you can prove it wrong. I am intrested to find out. Let me know.
 
Last edited:
Donovan said:
Before my part in this gets out of hand...I was making a joke about Bert saying he was going to have his brain studied. That is just hilarious.
Click to expand...

Are you laughing at your own jokes? :p

I never take anything or anybody seriously on a MB. Sorry if I seemed to be going down the "out of hand" road myself.
 
I hate to be Captain Contrarian :D,

But I think most low level players tend to play too soft. Always dribbling the balls in.

Those beginners that are more adventurous and confident in bashing the balls around tend to be the ones with greater potential. They are willing to play the big draw and side shots and expand their knowledge.

If the original thought it question was phrased along the lines that, 'Great players can get the job done using the minimum requirement of speed' then I would concur.

But the statement made is one I would disagree with. I'd probably tell 80% of players that they should learn to hit more hard (high speed) shots.
 
Gregg said:
Are you laughing at your own jokes? :p

I never take anything or anybody seriously on a MB. Sorry if I seemed to be going down the "out of hand" road myself.
Click to expand...

I didn't write that, dmgwalsh did. But it sure sounded like he was doing some friendly hustling on that comment. If he truly believed it, that would be another story all together, but somehow I don't buy that! He just loves to tell stories. I personally think they're great.
 
Donovan said:
I didn't write that, dmgwalsh did. But it sure sounded like he was doing some friendly hustling on that comment. If he truly believed it, that would be another story all together, but somehow I don't buy that! He just loves to tell stories. I personally think they're great.
Click to expand...

I must have missed that one. Day late and a dollar short again. Damn!
 
Scott Lee said:
:rolleyes: Excuse me, but Dennis is correct! Talk about checking references! You should CALL that school. I'll take your action to bet whatever you want that Bert was NOT an economics professor...let alone for 13 yrs. Geez...what a bunch of hooey! LOL

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

I've been on the phone for the last 20 minutes with the UC and can you believe that they have never heard of him? The database accessed goes back 20 some years. I spoke to the business school, the economics department and many other departments. I think I'll stick with my gut reaction. Oh, by the way, the Brookings institute does not study great minds like Berts. They are a political think tank.
 
This advice outdated imo. Hitting balls softer is good advice for 14.1 but doesnt hold up so well in nineball.

Hitting the balls firm also ensures you never get stung by a table roll or have a ball skid. Sure there are always times when you must hit the ball pocket speed but especially when I am playing on unfamiliar equipment, you wont find me rolling too many balls. Thats a good way to go broke imo.
 
dmgwalsh said:
I've been on the phone for the last 20 minutes with the UC and can you believe that they have never heard of him? The database accessed goes back 20 some years. I spoke to the business school, the economics department and many other departments. I think I'll stick with my gut reaction. Oh, by the way, the Brookings institute does not study great minds like Berts. They are a political think tank.
Click to expand...

I too looked on their website to view their faculty. Shame if this guy is trying to lie in order to sell Kinister tapes. They sell themselves, IMO.

I am ready to call BS on this "University Professor" claim as well. Great job AZ members! Another mystery solved! They would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling AZers!
 
Gregg said:
Great job AZ members! Another mystery solved! They would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling AZers!
Click to expand...
That deserves a Scooby snack!
Scoobee Doobee Doooo!:p
 
Colin Colenso said:
I hate to be Captain Contrarian :D,

But I think most low level players tend to play too soft. Always dribbling the balls in.

Those beginners that are more adventurous and confident in bashing the balls around tend to be the ones with greater potential. They are willing to play the big draw and side shots and expand their knowledge.

If the original thought it question was phrased along the lines that, 'Great players can get the job done using the minimum requirement of speed' then I would concur.

But the statement made is one I would disagree with. I'd probably tell 80% of players that they should learn to hit more hard (high speed) shots.
Click to expand...


Now that's the kind of advice I think is just top notch. Actually, watching a really good player pot the balls with speed inspires me to sharpen my skills. There are certain shots where it is necessary to shoot the balls pretty hard to get the cue ball to move 3 or more rails. Matter of fact, I have a book "101 Big Pool Shots" by Gerry Watson that helps get a feel for what it's like to really let your stroke out. Ditto for some of the shots in Bob Henning's "The Advanced Pro Book," where he recommends taking a full stroke whenever possible, as it helps to build confidence. If those shots aren't practiced, using them in a game can be harmful to your time at the table! But they are COOL shots... wow... I love them.


By the way, I pulled a few of those big shots out of my bag in an 8 ball game a while ago, and ran the table in my first inning. My opponent didn't even make me shoot the 8 ball in, even though it was a toughie... Guess he just knew that 8 was going down...

Thanks Colin for putting the kabosh on the "pocket speed" at all costs stuff, even if nobody was explicitly recommending it.

Flex
 
Last edited:
I believe that a good indicator is the speed you use when potting the 9.

Me?... I like to hit it in firmly.

And if the 9 is in the vicinity of the foot or head string and I have a cut angle into one of the corner pockets... I purposedly shoot the shoot as a 2-rail position shot and focus of getting whitey to travel back through the center (spot) of the table (in order to avoid a scratch into the side or corner pocket). This approach works well for me.
 
I guess I tend to look at things from a 14.1 point of view...

Playing 9b, a firmer stroke is most often used, not to mention it gets me in stroke...

G.
 
What a subject. I've been struggling with this subject for 40+ years. Started out playing snooker, shot pretty crisply, but read Mosconi' "Winning Pocket Billiards" and started inadvertently rolling everything; Amarillo Slim came through town (he was the only real player in West Texas in those days) and tells me: "Son, them pockets won't break if the ball hits the back of 'em. You got that big ol' stroke, then you hit the balls like yer playin' with a couple of eggs". So I started firing again. Back and forth, follow-through, pocket speed, middle ball, use english to spin the ball in on shots down the rail, etc. After everything I've tried, listened to and watched, I've come to the following conclusion: if you want to play pool at your highest potential, then go out and find everything you can get with Buddy Hall in it, watch and just do EVERYTHING the way he does it. IMHO, he has the purest pool game on the planet, his stroke and mechanics are "copyable" (not "duplicatable"), and his decision-making is flawless. Efren is the greatest player I ever saw, but I don't think his technique lends itself to "copying and learning" as well as Buddy's. I know it's easier said than done, but you'll at least be learning from someone who does it, instead of someone who theorizes about it.
 
I strongly suspect that none of these slow rollers played on some of the barboxes that I have :D
I love the sound of a ball slapping the back of the pocket, in fact I look for tables that sound good when I'm good :p
I'm actually a billiardpocketsound-o-phile
 
Interesting thread, but I feel some are taking the term "hit the balls easy" to its logical extreme. It does not mean using pocket speed on every shot. What it means is not hitting balls hard just for the sake of it. The balls should, as some have noted, be hit crisply, but not with excessive force.

Another concept that I believe applies here is that a good player shoud let his/her stroke do the work, rather than accepting the fact that using extra speed can sometimes compensate for a stroke lacking in efficacy. Perfect your stroke, and you'll be able to hit the balls easier. I believe that this was part of Mosconi's message. Just my interpretation, of course.
 
Good point SJM. There's this filipino where I play. Very good player he can spin the ball around the table with just a normal stroke more than you would ever believe. He only uses about a tip of english too. It just seems like he hits everything nice and easy. Not soft but easy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top