As most know on here I had several strokes five years ago. One of them was a massive one leaving me almost completely paralyzed for days. After rehabbing at the hospital and at home for six months I bought a used 7’ Valley with the 5” corner pockets and the 5 ½” bucket sides. Before the strokes I had been playing pool many hours a week for 50+ years. On the Valley bar tables I could run racks of 8-ball and 9-ball. I was a strong “B” player and for a few years an “A” player on these tables.
I’ll never forget the first day I started hitting balls again. I was shocked, depressed, and pissed off at how horrible I had become at the game I loved so much. Forget about running racks, I could barely run three balls and probably one of the three were just luck. The stroke had erased almost everything I ever learned about pool. I should have expected this I guess. Other things had changed in me. I would sit watching a sad movie and tear up over the sad parts and sometimes the happy parts. Before the stroke I can’t tell you the last time I cried. Also my wife and friends were telling me what a better person I’d become. More sensitive to other peoples feelings. There were a lot more changes in me, but I’m getting away from pool here.
After about a week of practicing a few hours a day I could see that I wasn’t getting any better. I was firing 6’ straight in shots into the rail inches from the pocket. I was miscuing on almost any shot that I had to hit anywhere on the cue ball off center. Every time I’d try to draw the CB it would jump over the OB. At one point I went in the garage and got my sledgehammer and stood with it raised over the table slate. I was going to smash the table into little pieces. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Close, but no cigar.
I went online and started buying books on pool. Ray Martin’s 99 Critical Shots to Jeanette Lee’s new dvd, and about 30 other books and dvd’s. I asked question after question on here at AZ Billiards. I bought a half dozen cues and every gadget that I thought might be the silver bullet. All in all it took me about three years to get back to a “B” player.
My point is that pool is a hard game to get good at. There really is no quick fix or silver bullet to get you there much faster. Now that I am playing close to “A” again with 4” pockets on the table, I’m kind of glad I had to go through the three frustrating years to get back to where I was. I now enjoy pool more than I ever did. For many years pool was just like a job for me…get the cheese at any cost. Sorry for the long story. Johnnyt
I’ll never forget the first day I started hitting balls again. I was shocked, depressed, and pissed off at how horrible I had become at the game I loved so much. Forget about running racks, I could barely run three balls and probably one of the three were just luck. The stroke had erased almost everything I ever learned about pool. I should have expected this I guess. Other things had changed in me. I would sit watching a sad movie and tear up over the sad parts and sometimes the happy parts. Before the stroke I can’t tell you the last time I cried. Also my wife and friends were telling me what a better person I’d become. More sensitive to other peoples feelings. There were a lot more changes in me, but I’m getting away from pool here.
After about a week of practicing a few hours a day I could see that I wasn’t getting any better. I was firing 6’ straight in shots into the rail inches from the pocket. I was miscuing on almost any shot that I had to hit anywhere on the cue ball off center. Every time I’d try to draw the CB it would jump over the OB. At one point I went in the garage and got my sledgehammer and stood with it raised over the table slate. I was going to smash the table into little pieces. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Close, but no cigar.
I went online and started buying books on pool. Ray Martin’s 99 Critical Shots to Jeanette Lee’s new dvd, and about 30 other books and dvd’s. I asked question after question on here at AZ Billiards. I bought a half dozen cues and every gadget that I thought might be the silver bullet. All in all it took me about three years to get back to a “B” player.
My point is that pool is a hard game to get good at. There really is no quick fix or silver bullet to get you there much faster. Now that I am playing close to “A” again with 4” pockets on the table, I’m kind of glad I had to go through the three frustrating years to get back to where I was. I now enjoy pool more than I ever did. For many years pool was just like a job for me…get the cheese at any cost. Sorry for the long story. Johnnyt
