me shooting some pool - please evaluate :)

[Fatboy]

and put some shorts on. :smile:

You shoot very quickly. Perhaps slowing down just a tad. Yourfundementals looked pretty sound to me.

i agree, you dont appear to "Look at the whole picture" and line up before you shoot, you go from shot to shot fireing them in. You look solid for sure. But to go up a level you need to step into the shot and line up IMO. But its very clear you have put alot of effort into your game and you will become a much better player, your stroke is nice lots of power, follow through, you get down good for being a big guy and stay down ok too.


best of luck


Is that a 9' box? It looks to be, the green walls are brutal, if you can fade that you are shark proof.

best

eric

 

[marek]

You have a nice and short but precise stroke. I laughed when you told your parrot to shush and it squawked back at you even louder :grin:

Yeah, he (its a male) CAN be annoying at times, especially when I practice 14-1. Somehow that beast always starts talking and screaming when I mess my position for break ball.... :grin::grin::grin: Probably can feel my emotions and has the need to say something. :smile:

 

[marek]

You get a thumbs up for me as you were listening to one of my all time favorite groups, The Rembrandts!

I can listen almost to everything except for hip-hop, cant stand it somehow...

 

[marek]

You are probably as good a player as me but you tend to one stroke the ball.

In the second rack of the first video there were two balls tied up on the rail. They ended up being the last two balls on the table. In the future you might want to focus on breaking out those balls earlier in the rack.

Well, my 8ball pattern play is not the best one by far, I can really work on that. But it wasnt the case this time. When I practice 8ball I play "proper" way until I pot the 8. For the rest of the balls I try different shots, intentionally choosing the harder patterns especially when in warmup mode. :wink: But thx anyway, you reminded me that I wanted to read a chapter on 8ball pattern play from Phil Capelle s Play your best pool. :smile:

 

[peteWazzup]

The best part of watching your video was that this one was a related video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHiiG3-yU7k&feature=related

 

[marek]

One thing that I would suggest is a avatar pic....may be something where you are wearing pants J/K :grin:. Seriously your making balls and playing good shape. If this is the norm for you then I would not slow down much, I play fast when I am on my A game and love it. When I am not on my A game I sit fast :wink:.

As for my avatar, I will leave it empty for now, I dont want to ruin my reputation of fast-playing half-naked pervert... :grin::grin::grin: As of the norm..I can play better than that and I can play much worse, so yeah it was probably the norm, basically that 8ball vid proves nothing about my game as a whole and it even wasnt meant to be, I just wanted to get opinions on my fundamentals in which this video succeeded.
Btw its interesting that everybody talks like I didnt miss a ball in those videos and that I show off but I missed a few in those...? I find it quite strange...

 

[marek]

Pool playing in the Philippines is no "holiday". :smile:

Bring shoes and cash so when you lose your shoes to the barefoot guy in the corner you can then can bring your barefoot "A" game and try a comeback. In the Philippines Europe and Ralph will seem like a holiday.

Thats exactly my plan, I am aiming for that barefoot showdown!!! :grin::grin: On serious note I really plan to get my a** kicked in Philippines in some small action so I can learn to handle the pressure better while learning a thing or two from those guys over there, I see it as a good investment into my game indeed. :smile:

 

[marek]

need just a little more practice. show off show off show off !!!!
for real that looked good . take care, john qbs

I will set up some razor-thin cuts so you can see REAL show-off! :grin::grin: Thx for compliment :wink:

 

[marek]

I would suggest you wear shoes the same as what you would wear when competing. If not the same, then at least similar so far as the lift they give.

Height of your shoes/boots can make a difference in your play. Try barefoot, street shoes, and some cowboy boots with higher heels if you want to test that theory.

Thx for the advice, I can definitelly see real difference in that department on snooker table which is maybe 5 cm higher than pool table. Ok, I will try to practice with my mufflers on... :grin:

 

[marek]

It is kind of nice to be able to just pick up a cue at 1 in the morning with nothing but your boxers on and bang a couple around...I've done it more than once.

Not sure I would have the guts to post it on line though.

Kickin already posted what I was thinking......It is fine to post a video of you running out...but also post a couple where you don't get out.....so you can compare what is going on.

unless of course you always run out....then we all need to copy your style.

BTW....there is a local in phoenix that 1 strokes every shot and plays at a even quicker pace then you were in those vidoes....even when he plays 1-pocket.......Mitch Elerman......He seems to play pretty sporty.

Hey, the fact is I dont mind much about my clothing less for posting myself online dressed this way, my only interest is to get better in pool and this thread may help me quite a lot. You know, whatever helpes me to get better in a long run it is a GO for me. :smile: And I didnt get out in the second rack, I missed the very first ball, see? :wink: And I will try to slow down a bit, I promise. Not sure if I succeed though... :grin:

 

[marek]

nah man no worries!.....i felt like i was watching myself run balls...i am also a lefty and I play fast like you. What folks don't get is if we slow down EVERYTHING breaks down. To each his own, don't forget us lefties are the only ones playing in our right minds dude!

BTW...appologize to the poor person on the sofa for sticking your butt in their face during the first rack!!LOL


good stuff man!

G.

Finally someone who understands whats going on when I shoot fast! :wink: And that poor person is my wife, she should get canonized... :sorry::wink:

 

[marek]

i agree, you dont appear to "Look at the whole picture" and line up before you shoot, you go from shot to shot fireing them in. You look solid for sure. But to go up a level you need to step into the shot and line up IMO. But its very clear you have put alot of effort into your game and you will become a much better player, your stroke is nice lots of power, follow through, you get down good for being a big guy and stay down ok too.

best of luck

Is that a 9' box? It looks to be, the green walls are brutal, if you can fade that you are shark proof.

best

eric

Well, there is no need to overthink the game, if there are no clusters on the table I dont need 20 seconds to work out my pattern, its more like 5 seconds. Then its just matter of "fireing them in". Only when I mess up my position I rethink my pattern. But even if you look closely I observe the table as I go around the table to the next ball just to be sure everything goes according to my plan or to see if any better plan comes up. Not saying my pattern play is perfect by any means! :grin: But it comes pretty easily to me, I just dont need to think too long to come to some result (no matter how good or bad it is). :wink:
As for line up for the shot...well..you got me here, I didnt realize even watching the video I dont do much of it. I probably didnt feel the need to line up properly here as most of the shots were pretty easy (not considering the position play). Maybe doing it on every shot even in practice may help in pressure situations. Good point! Thx!:smile:

 

[marek]

The best part of watching your video was that this one was a related video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHiiG3-yU7k&feature=related

Amazing! White Phenom! :grin::grin::grin:

 

[pooltchr]

I'm going to take a little different line here.
First of all, you are making balls, so something is happening that is good. I'm just not quite sure what it might be. There were only a few shots where the vidoe shows you. I can't learn much from watching the balls, I observe what the shooter is doing, and you were frequently out of the frame, or on the wrong side. If your body is between your shooting arm and the camera, there is very little that can be observed.

All that being said, I can not honestly compliment your fundamentals. Sometimes they look good, and sometimes they don't. I didn't see a whole lot of consistency in the way you move the cue stick. Sometimes the cue went straight...sometimes it ended up pointing up in the air and off to the side. Sometimes you finished your stroke, and sometimes you pulled up short. If you work on developing a consistent stroke, when you do miss, it will be much easier to identify the cause, and take action to correct the problem.

As for the comments about practicing differently from how you play, why would you want to do that? Perfect practice is about building habits, so that when you play, you don't need to think about what you are doing. If you just buzz through practice, you aren't learning anything...you are just shooting balls by yourself..

Building consistency in your stroke, as well as your shooting routines will benefit your game.

Good luck.

Steve

 

[marek]

I'm going to take a little different line here.
First of all, you are making balls, so something is happening that is good. I'm just not quite sure what it might be. There were only a few shots where the vidoe shows you. I can't learn much from watching the balls, I observe what the shooter is doing, and you were frequently out of the frame, or on the wrong side. If your body is between your shooting arm and the camera, there is very little that can be observed.

All that being said, I can not honestly compliment your fundamentals. Sometimes they look good, and sometimes they don't. I didn't see a whole lot of consistency in the way you move the cue stick. Sometimes the cue went straight...sometimes it ended up pointing up in the air and off to the side. Sometimes you finished your stroke, and sometimes you pulled up short. If you work on developing a consistent stroke, when you do miss, it will be much easier to identify the cause, and take action to correct the problem.

As for the comments about practicing differently from how you play, why would you want to do that? Perfect practice is about building habits, so that when you play, you don't need to think about what you are doing. If you just buzz through practice, you aren't learning anything...you are just shooting balls by yourself..

Building consistency in your stroke, as well as your shooting routines will benefit your game.

Good luck.

Steve

Hi Steve,
thank you for your input, you were one of the guys who I hoped for when I posted those videos. :wink: I will record myself the way you can see me better. But your analysis is quite acurate i think, I had the same impression when I first watched the video, lack of real consistency in my stroke mechanics is apparent from the video. Anyway I will try to focus on finishing my stroke and good followthrough. Thx Steve!

 

[jay helfert]

Hi Jay,
the problem with my pace seems like the main impression everyone gets here (aside my dress code...:grin. Thinking about that I realize that I sometimes play like that even in match situation. During this year team national finals I played a guy and we were behind time schedule (because of the late start) so we recieved shot-clock and we were told that we had 30 secs for shot. Well I broke the rack and ran out. And my opponent made this remark: "We were told we had 30 seconds per shot, not 3!" We both had a laugh about that as I realized that I ran that rack in less than a minute. The fact is it was road-map pattern, nothing to think about, just shoot-shoot. Well, maybe I try to outrun the pressure, not sure, I will try to think about it. On the other hand I just love to pot balls, I love practicing, so maybe its my passion to get more and more balls into the pockets. Maybe I try to fit as many balls into my practice time as possible...
Anyway I will try to shoot some difficult shots on the video for you so you can learn more about my game. And thx for the words about me having potential, I feel like I am the least talented guy on the planet when it comes to pool, always had to work much harder than the others to get the same results... So it means a lot when someone like you tells me this...thx

Thanks for your response Marek. I could be wrong about you, maybe you are a naturally fast shooter, like Luc Salvas or Tony Drago. And both these guys play a pretty fair (world class) speed. If that's your natural pace then stick to it. Of course you will have to slow down when a difficult situation presents itself. Even Luc and Tony do also.

Your basics are all good, and if you keep hitting a thousand balls a day, you will only get better. The best way for you to improve now is to play in different environments on different equipment. It's easy to get comfortable on your home table, but how will you feel playing a good player at the local poolroom. Test yourself as often as possible! Look for the best players you can to skirmish with.

P.S. You will enjoy the Philippines. And you will find yourself playing under all kinds of conditions and all kinds of equipment. In the long run, it's good for you. Many years ago I learned a lot by playing on the junk tables in Tijuana. I learned how to overcome challenging conditions and multiple distractions. My concentration remains one of my strong suits to this day.

 

[3kushn]

Everyone will have a different tempo that's best for them. Your's maybe faster than most and that's ok. The problem I see with your situation is you're lacking a consistant repeated set up/stance/ addressing the shot. Your footwork seems to be consistantly inconsistant. You're potting looks great.

 

[marek]

Thanks for your response Marek. I could be wrong about you, maybe you are a naturally fast shooter, like Luc Salvas or Tony Drago. And both these guys play a pretty fair (world class) speed. If that's your natural pace then stick to it. Of course you will have to slow down when a difficult situation presents itself. Even Luc and Tony do also.

Your basics are all good, and if you keep hitting a thousand balls a day, you will only get better. The best way for you to improve now is to play in different environments on different equipment. It's easy to get comfortable on your home table, but how will you feel playing a good player at the local poolroom. Test yourself as often as possible! Look for the best players you can to skirmish with.

P.S. You will enjoy the Philippines. And you will find yourself playing under all kinds of conditions and all kinds of equipment. In the long run, it's good for you. Many years ago I learned a lot by playing on the junk tables in Tijuana. I learned how to overcome challenging conditions and multiple distractions. My concentration remains one of my strong suits to this day.

Well Jay, maybe i am fast shooter. I used to play pretty slow in the past, it was due to my struggle with aim but as my potting ability got better and better my pace raised as well, I just dont feel the need to slow down on most shots. On the other hand when I meet tough shot I can be very deliberate. Well I also used to think that I am pretty shy guy but then I encountered a situation when I played a match in front of pretty large crowd - and i enjoyed it. In fact I loved it! I played FOR the crowd and I took energy from that crowd as well. So far for the shy guy... So I surprise myself all the time, i guess its not always easy to truly know oneself.. :wink:
Your idea of playing in different enviroments quite relates to my understanding of whats going on right now in my development. I bought a pool table for the reason I could practice anytime I wanted + I hate cigarette smoke at pool hall+I can be more with my wife.:smile: After few months of practicing at home i realized that I am little bit more prone to distraction than i used to be. So I try to go out to shoot some game with some good player or tournament at least once a week. And this is also the reason why I want to try Philippines and some small money games - to work on my mental game.

 

[marek]

Everyone will have a different tempo that's best for them. Your's maybe faster than most and that's ok. The problem I see with your situation is you're lacking a consistant repeated set up/stance/ addressing the shot. Your footwork seems to be consistantly inconsistant. You're potting looks great.

As of footwork I set up my stance the way to be stable but as I already said - lining up with the shot is virtually missing here...:sorry: Not sure if its always like this but its definitelly wrong. :frown:

 

[marek]

Uploading 2 new videos especially for Jay and Steve..draw shot drill for Steve so he can study the mechanics of my stroke and pretty tough rack of 8ball followed by some challenge shots - thats for Jay :wink: Stay tuned, first one is coming in 20 minutes.. :smile: