If you found a secret

Catahula

I said "SIT!"
Silver Member
If you found a secret that allowed you to significantly increase your ability to pocket balls in one aspect of the game (e.g. banking). Would you:
1. Share it with anyone
2. Continue to develop it with the idea of eventually making money off of it (e.g.. video)
3. Keep it to yourself and use it to whatever advantage it may give your personally
4. Do something else with it not listed here.
Just curious. Please share.
thanks
Tommy
 
Share it freely.

Option 2 is a valid point too if someone really wants to try and make a living doing pool instruction, but I'm guessing that can be a tough way to earn a living and it probably isn't something I'd want to take on myself. Unless the idea is enough to warrant an entire book, I probably wouldn't bother. If it is enough to make a full book then it might be worth doing, not for the money, but just to get the ideas out there in a permanent form (I'm thinking about Mark Wilsons book for example...I doubt he's making a whole lot of money off of it, but what a legacy to leave to the world of pool!).

Option 3 doesn't appeal to me at all, but maybe if I was a pro-level player who depended upon my earnings for my living I would see things differently. Perspective...
 
share it freely, it would likely do nothing for me financially nor even give me much of an advantage as a player overall

the question becomes tougher if say said secret was worth instant millions
 
Share it.

I'm grateful to those who have shared with me, so I believe on passing it on...

But then, I never try to make money from what I consider a hobby..a recreational pastime.
 
I'm still gonna suck at the other aspects so #1 would be the most likely option.
 
Depends on if I figured it out on my own or was taught through a paid lesson. If I personally found it I would probably show anybody I liked. If it was from a paid lesson I would refer people to take a lesson from said instructor or ask permission to tell my friends.
 
If I found a 'secret' to improving my game it would probably only work for me so it wouldn't really matter what I did with it.

I'd talk about it with anyone to get their opinions on it, to try to refine the method.

I would use it to try give myself an advantage, just like everything else I practice :)

I wouldn't bother with trying to sell it... Kind of a fruitless endeavor imo.
 
Some things I think are secrets aren't really. Everybody learns differently and what I might think is great another might say, "Meh!"

I took a lesson from a guy 20 years ago and he showed me a secret (actually it was more about fundamentals of the stroke). About 6 months ago I finally, truly understood what he was telling me. On the one hand, I may not have been ready to receive what he was trying to say. On the other, part of me says it is the instructor's responsibility to do everything they can to transmit the importance of certain things and put the extra effort to make the student understand better. Maybe it would've saved me 20 years.

So I say share freely, but don't expect it to result in a miracle just because it did something for you!
 
Money!

I would take a hard look at trying to make some money. This is America and making money off of a skill set or idea that few have is the American way. I doubt if it could be kept a secret in this age of the video and so many ways of being recorded in HD. There are so many knowledgeable players in the world that it would not take long for one of them to see what your doing and have it on U Tube. So striking quickly would be in order. But, at this period in pool history I don't see it happening.
 
I'd opt for #1 -- share it.

Here's the reason -- the best ideas are those that are vetted by hundreds/thousands of eyes, not those few handful of eyes trying to capitalize on it. And, what you think may be a "secret" isn't really a secret at all, but rather either a well-known thing that for some strange reason isn't spoken about, or else a well-known thing that isn't spoken about because it's bunk.

Open-source knowledge. The best there is.

-Sean
 
hard to say

I would like to be noble about it and say like the others that I would share the discovery.........BUT, the honest truth would be that I would probably just keep it to myself and try to win more money gambling, because that's what I used to do when I played a lot of pool.........I just can't see myself helping others I might gamble with; it would be like giving somebody a knife to slit my throat.
It feels somewhat hypocritical to say this, because I commented on another thread once about how I grew up playing pool in a time where it seemed NOBODY would teach you or help you get better.....maybe that influenced my thinking too....
 
There's little that hasn't already been discovered...

There are secrets in pool...Not really so much that people don't know them, but that they've been downplayed, or ignored, or whatever..

I HAVE discovered through my own experimentation and study "secrets" and I have shared them.

I also discovered that some of them weren't necessarily secrets per se but they weren't widely publicized none the less.

There are several threads that I've created on here illustrating some of these concepts.

Hell, when we got talking about certain things the other night in the stream chat, I went ahead and set up a stream on my Ustream channel and streamed an illustration of something that people had questions about.

Jaden
 
Hard call...but if you tell me your secret I will know exactly which option you should follow.:wink: Matt D. (keeper of the secret)...I think that's my new signature thanks!
 
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If it was a different way to look at things or make a shot I would share it and be ridiculed I'm sure.

If it was an item it would take further research and make as much money off it as I could.

That's right I'm a greedy b star d.

Edit: If it was something I was shown by an instructor then it is theirs to share. I would not pass on information they gave me that I only got because I spent money on their product but instead advise anyone I know to take instruction from player x.
 
If you found a secret that allowed you to significantly increase your ability to pocket balls in one aspect of the game (e.g. banking). Would you:
1. Share it with anyone
2. Continue to develop it with the idea of eventually making money off of it (e.g.. video)
3. Keep it to yourself and use it to whatever advantage it may give your personally
4. Do something else with it not listed here.
Just curious. Please share.
thanks
Tommy

Share it. Now spill the beans. What did you figure out?
 
If you found a secret that allowed you to significantly increase your ability to pocket balls in one aspect of the game (e.g. banking). Would you:
1. Share it with anyone
2. Continue to develop it with the idea of eventually making money off of it (e.g.. video)
3. Keep it to yourself and use it to whatever advantage it may give your personally
4. Do something else with it not listed here.
Just curious. Please share.
thanks
Tommy


If I found "the secret" I would give it a name that could be reduced to three initials, sell DVDs, and torture you all with endless internet memes.

Lou Figueroa
 
Haha... Definitely need to keep it to your self... or share it somewhere besides here... If it's not the classic stroke or easily understood and observable the local indegenous species of parrot will be all over you explaining how it can't work or how they can't imagine that it would work without even being able to duplicate the technique in no time flat..... LOL
 
"The moment of truth is the moment of impact in billiards"

If you found a secret that allowed you to significantly increase your ability to pocket balls in one aspect of the game (e.g. banking). Would you:
1. Share it with anyone
2. Continue to develop it with the idea of eventually making money off of it (e.g.. video)
3. Keep it to yourself and use it to whatever advantage it may give your personally
4. Do something else with it not listed here.
Just curious. Please share.
thanks
Tommy

What's funny, is even if these "secrets" are shared there are only a percentage of players that would believe it, let alone put forth the energy to experience benefits.

Here's a couple of things I believe have been valuable for me to reach full potential.

In all fairness, when discussing things that are "outside the norm" it usually takes a variety or combination of explanations before it's truly understood. I take it for granted since, in person I have a mental list of 3 themes of explanations - variations of specific details that are proven (in my experience) to get someone in the "understanding mode" quickly..

I know my grip has been questioned and talked about, and I did go over it in my original 'Ultimate Pool Secrets' using a sword - I resisted going into great detail. The most important component of a "good grip" is acceleration, and the ability to feel the cue ball/tip connection at impact. "the moment of truth is the moment of impact in billiards"

Concerning firmness: I practice on both ends of the spectrum in this respect. I will squeeze the cue, cock it and play with a firm grip and sometimes I only use two fingers (using thumb/first two fingers) with a very light grip pressure if I'm working on Touch/Finesse/Feel shots.

I play with a firm, controlled pressure, that gives {ME} the ideal balance between power and touch. I use the same pressure when playing golf or tennis as well and played all three games at the same time for several years when in my early teenage years (although I played golf left handed).

I cock my wrist slightly on all shots, just less on finesse or slow rolled shots, and more on "power shots". My main objective, in Buddy Hall fashion is to hit most shots the same speed and as in my example cock up to eye level from my hip. Then I take my practice stokes BEFORE I get down on the shot, not after.

My main objective is to cock my wrist/fingers in such a way to create a track/slot that makes it virtually impossible to not hit the cue ball straight.

Yes, the stroke (for me) is a pushing motion that accelerates the tip EXACTLY at the surface of the cue ball. When players on here talk about pulling the cue they lose me because I can't relate to that at all. Notice I don't tell them they are full of "BS", "crazy", "trying to con people" "say they are talking nonsense", I JUST simply am "quietly confused" and can't relate to why they play in that manner.

The TOUCH of Inside technique I have explained in many ways. First off, I do not spin the cue ball, I just "cue it" to the inside. This creates a situation that slightly overcuts the object ball. When combined with this "Wrist/Finger Stroke" it is DEADLY ACCURATE and expands the Pocket Zone by an impressive margin. Someone that aims at the center of the pocket and uses center ball can't win with the 5/7 playing 9 Ball.

I'm not boasting, just stating a fact, when you learn to use the 3 Part Pocket System and look at the pocket as a Zone (and learn to pre set your hand so you hit the cue ball straight every time), the Game changes and becomes possible to play without error for hours at a time.

I'm not claiming to be "better" than the players {on this Forum} that don't understand my techniques, I'm simply playing a different Game than they are.

So share our techniques in any way you can, just be aware that they won't be for everyone and there will always be "scoffers" that dislike anything new. This is not their fault, it's human nature and they are human after all. ;) The Game is our Teacher
 
great responses....

Considered, insightful, humorously ironic, selflessly altruistic Every thing I like about AZ..
 
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