Simplfy the Game
Now is the time to think, not play. Maybe take a little time off from the game, let what you've learned sink in. We all hit these plateau's.
Here's something that helped me. I was in the same boat and I read a post by a guy named Popcorn on the Billiard's Digest Board. I think about that one post very often.
He said, to improve at pool, you don't need to work on spectacular, near ridiculously impossible shots. He said you need to work on simple shots and perfect them. Perfect them to where they become habit, virtually impossible to miss. He said to simplify the game... to the point of genius.
At the time, I had hit a wall too. I realized what he was saying was true. I had seen the best players play perfect position and simple patterns, making simple shots under severe pressure, over and over again. Like he said, watching Mosconi play straight pool was watching simple to the point of genius.
At that moment, I realized how truly sloppy my game was. My aim was not center pocket, I was playing position to vague areas, not selecting a precise line and spot to park the cueball. I wasn't choosing simple patterns. I was a pool slob.
I recognized that playing on buckets was good for my ego, but bad for my game. It seemed like every time I got on tight equipment, I missed a lot of shots. My banking and defensive game was not as good as my offensive game and needed improvement.
In an effort to make my game more precise, I had my home table redone and tightened the pockets to 4". This forced me to play center pocket and pay more attention to angles and routes. At 4" you can't cheat pockets very much. The tight pockets also forced me to clean up my pre-shot routine and pay more attention to aiming line. You aren't going to make a lot of balls on a tight table with a sloppy routine. I had to make changes to my bridge and to eliminate looseness. I had to improve my overall stance to be more solid, because any slight head movement will cause a miss on tight equipment.
I also took a long lesson from a good instructor, Scott Lee. He basically didn't have anything negative to say (that alone helped me) but gave me a couple of situational things to work on. He taught me how to make a better rail shot, and how to make a very good slow roll, push out type of stroke. He gave me a few drills that were simple but required tedious precision.
It was no fun at first, playing on a tight table, but eventually my game adapted to the tight table. In doing so, I improved. My game got a lot simpler and those shots I thought were ridiculously difficult a few years ago suddenly look routine.
One other thing. Improvement can be measured a couple of ways. My suggestion is that you measure your improvement by judging yourself on how good your worst day is. In other words, when you play bad, how bad is it really? Can you still win on a bad day? At your worst, can you bring a decent game to the table? Sometimes the best way to improve is to raise your average day to a higher level.
Chris
