Improving as an Amateur

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kollegedave

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know there a number of high-level amateur players, borderline professional, and professional players on this forum. I would like to tap into their experience and wisdom in this post.

I am not sure where someone would put my skill level. My high-run in straight-pool is 45, in 9 ball it is 5 racks (a nine on the break in the middle of the run), and 7 billiards in three cushion. (These are HIGH runs, so they are not places I live; they are places I visit.)

Those of you that have achieved a high-level of amateur play, what are the things that helped your game improve?

Were you able to do those thing while working full-time?

The most common thing I hear better players say is the following; “Match up with stronger players. “

I would like to match up with stronger players. However, in my pool room there are 3 to 4 players that play stronger or close to me. One of them is a sucker. Thus, all the players are trying to match up with the sucker. It is tough for me to break into this game unless I can increase my regular bet (I cannot do this for financial reasons) AND I would have to be willing to play on a trap table.

I am interested to know avenues you all have used in improving your skill level.

kollegedave
 
Matching up with better players is good advice, as long as you match up with someone who is only marginally better than you. Greatness is seldom made in one big jump, but rather in small steps.
Also, sit quietly and watch better players, too.
And, by all means, learn One Pocket. As our good friend Grady used to say, "You'll thank me later." :smile:
 
Play in a different room then to find better players. Running 5 racks in 9 ball is pretty good even once. That would put you at a high B level at least. If you run 2-3 pretty often, for sure at least a high B which is pretty good for an "amaterur".
 
Brandon Shuff is your guy!

Anyone who has watched Brandon's game over the last few years has seen it jump tremendously. He recently had a discussion with a friend of mine (Brian in VA on here) and he gave some insight as to what caused that jump.

Brandon's screen name on here is "ugotaction"

Check him out tonight. He's in a challenge match against Warren Kiamco; live from Diamond Billiards LLC, in Midlothian, VA. Here's the link:

diamondbilliardsva.com
 
JMD in VA said:
Anyone who has watched Brandon's game over the last few years has seen it jump tremendously. He recently had a discussion with a friend of mine (Brian in VA on here) and he gave some insight as to what caused that jump.Brandon's screen name on here is "ugotaction"

Check him out tonight. He's in a challenge match against Warren Kiamco; live from Diamond Billiards LLC, in Midlothian, VA. Here's the link:

diamondbilliardsva.com
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care to share the insight??
 
The part that bothers me in most pool halls the players that are very good will not put on there best game without money on the line. I always play my best money or no money you take away from pool what you bring into it.
 
Edit.. I read wrong name there Shuffett and Shuff, always mix those guys up!
 
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Playing better players is great if you can do that, but I wouldn't put huge emphasis on it. The mistake I see amateur players make a lot is when there are two heavyweights matching up on table 1, and the amateur grabs a rack of balls and walks right past them, back to table 42, where he starts banging on the "L" drill. You can learn more by sweating two good players than you can by matching up with either of them individually, IMO. For one thing, your mind won't be occupied with your own play, how much you are stuck at the moment, or how to respond to his latest shot, and for another, he will have to show more gears if he is playing a stronger player than you, which means you will see of his top shelf shots. When they are done, you can take what you learn to table 42 and work on it. So while I support playing better players, I'm not a proponent of matching up with them just to lose your dough and maybe learn something - enter a tournament and you can play them virtually for free.

Aaron
 
You got to get out of that room IMO.

Its hard to make any real breakthroughs playing the same few guys who you all know every detail about each other.

Even get into a pro event somewhere. Many are pretty inexpensive to get into and you the lessons are well worth it.
 
kollegedave said:
... I am interested to know avenues you all have used in improving your skill level. ...
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When I was first learning to play, I read books, watched better players, played all kinds of games (over 20 -- I just counted), watched exhibitions, played for small stakes and in tournaments. What I did not do was get instruction as it was virtually nonexistent when I started. Also, there was no YouTube so the first run of 50 I ever saw was my own.

By "watched better players" above what I meant was players who could regularly run 4 and 5 balls in a row without missing and calling all their shots. I had played for five years or so before I ever saw a pool champion in person. It was useful to get a job in the pool room as table time was then free. That part was not so useful for grades, though.

I think I could have saved a great deal of table time trial-and-error and missed shots if I had had a good instructor.
 
There are some great responses here. Thank you everyone.

I would love to get out of this room, but there is literally no other. Nearly every room with more than one 9-foot table has closed down. Those rooms, other than the room that I play at, that have more than one nine foot table, are a far drive.

Less time at a bad room, and more time at events is an interesting idea. For the most part I do not enter events around here. Most events have some kind of a skill level limit that bans players like me. Those that don't have a skill limit often attract really tough action...even very good players could go two and out, but, you are probably right that this is the cheapest way to play better players.

Great ideas! Keep'em comin.

kollegedave
 
RRfireblade said:
You got to get out of that room IMO.

Its hard to make any real breakthroughs playing the same few guys who you all know every detail about each other.

Even get into a pro event somewhere. Many are pretty inexpensive to get into and you the lessons are well worth it.
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Expanding your pool world is the key.

There are two rooms I play in often, one up North from me, and another South. The South room has strong players, you'd be hard pressed to find bellow a B player there, many are A and over. North is mostly Bs but still has a high average, although has a lot of C players also. No A players. I started going South more and more, and getting deeper and deeper in their tournament. Some players from the North room went to the South room, and every single one got knocked out in the first round two tournaments in a row because none of them play much anywhere else. So instead of trying more and more, they all quit coming. Now when I go to play in the tournament up North, it feels like I'm playing on 6 inch pockets against 5 yr olds.
 
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Get in action, whether is be gambling or tourney play, with people who play better than you.

OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

I have been on that B/A precipice for quite some time now. Its a real ***** to get over it.

There are spaces of time each and every night that I play lights out. They feel like they are getting longer and longer...
 
kollegedave said:
I would love to get out of this room, but there is literally no other. Nearly every room with more than one 9-foot table has closed down. Those rooms, other than the room that I play at, that have more than one nine foot table, are a far drive.

kollegedave
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So drive. ;) If it matters at all.

What's a half hour or hour drive once in a while. Rather spend that same hour banging balls in the same spot you are in right now? Which do you think would be more beneficial?
 
I drive about 40 mins one way to get to one of two rooms I like to play in. Even though there are 3 rooms closer, the ones longer away are better to be in.

kollegedave said:
There are some great responses here. Thank you everyone.

I would love to get out of this room, but there is literally no other. Nearly every room with more than one 9-foot table has closed down. Those rooms, other than the room that I play at, that have more than one nine foot table, are a far drive.

Less time at a bad room, and more time at events is an interesting idea. For the most part I do not enter events around here. Most events have some kind of a skill level limit that bans players like me. Those that don't have a skill limit often attract really tough action...even very good players could go two and out, but, you are probably right that this is the cheapest way to play better players.

Great ideas! Keep'em comin.

kollegedave
Click to expand...
 
Make sure you try to play all games, including 1p and banks. every game improves your overall game.

try videotaping yourself playing matches if possible. Then break down your game in terms of your execution under pressure. work on those areas that you dont execute well. For example, I tend to rush shots under pressure and ive been working on that. I also tend to struggle with inside english follow shots from 4+ feet away. Again, working on that.

Practice with an engaged mind. Make every shot count. You might have heard that to become a great player all you have to do is hit a million balls, but the other aspect of that million balls is you have to be focused and really bearing down for those million. So many people have undisciplined practice (myself included) and it makes it so we really need to hit 2 or 3 million balls instead of the million that someone like svb needs for example.

and of course the obvious answer. You have to figure out ways to get into the grease and play under pressure. In some towns, thats a huge challenge due to the lack of competition or time constraints, but playing under duress is one of the fastest paths to improvement.
 
BryanBpool said:
Get in action, whether is be gambling or tourney play, with people who play better than you.

OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

I have been on that B/A precipice for quite some time now. Its a real ***** to get over it.

There are spaces of time each and every night that I play lights out. They feel like they are getting longer and longer...
Click to expand...

BryanBpool,

You hit the nail on the head. I feel like I am in some kind of "pool no man's land". There are times I run 45 balls in a very short amount of time, and there are times last night that I give a guy 8 - 7 in one pocket, and I think I am a HEAVY favorite, and I don't get there. I don't know, which kollegedave is coming to the table.

I do play almost every game, except for maybe banks, but I do practice banks on occasion. I agree that continued action is good, but that is basically the method I am employing now, and I feel like I am always trying to out-run the nuts, and sometimes, I am not sure if my game is being stretched enough by playing weaker players.

Everyone has some good thoughts here, if there is more to add please do so. Hopefully, a number of us can benefit from this thread and find ways to make the most of the time we can get at the table.

kollegedave
 
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