You, Mr.Eye and MuchoB make some very intelligent observations..My opinion (right or wrong) is that practice, per say, will not yield the results needed to be a world beater!..It takes a blend of natural talent, and an obsession to excel, which I felt I had both!..Personally, I hated practicing, and did almost none..I preferred being in high $$$ action, whether I had a good, or a bad game did not matter!
It was my way of measuring my progress, and it seemed to serve me well!..If it were strictly a matter of how much I practiced, I would have become bored very quickly, and probably would have quit the game!..I cannot argue with his success, but not everyone has the mindset of SVB or Corey Duell.
Practicing to me, was like taking a shower with your clothes on..This may not appeal to everyone, but it worked pretty well for me!..I became as good a player as I was ever going to be, fairly early on!
PS..Not bragging. but I beat a lot of people, who practiced 60 hrs. a week, while I was out having a few beers, and chasing the girls!
I agree that the ambition to "excel" plays an important role in how high you go. Everybody has a "plateau" and lots of people never get anywhere near the level they are capable of. That could be due to a variety of reasons...they are satisfied where they are at, they don't have the time to put in, they don't practice properly, they don't have increasingly stiffer competition, they never gamble...etc., etc...
When I first started, I never had the money to pay for more than a couple games, should I lose. Once I lost, I'd have to sit on the sidelines and watch until I had enough to play again. After I got a job in the pool hall, that changed a lot of things. I could play all I wanted and I could play all the better players without fear of losing a couple games and not being able to afford to play anymore.
All the real money games in our town were played in this pool hall, so I got to watch the better players gambling all the time. I would watch them for hours and learn while watching. Depends upon your idea of "fortunate or unfortunate", but I was "fortunate" at my age to be able to learn in a "real" pool hall. I wasn't watching other 12 and 13 year olds banging the balls around with dad looking over their shoulders like in the "family oriented" and "recreation center" pool facilities. I was watching big money games and people coming in off the road from different areas to play.
When I next practiced, I'd try to do the things I saw them do. I wouldn't just bang the balls around on the table all the time. I'd get balls from two tables so I'd have enough and I'd put a ball on each rail diamond and practice going around the table making them without touching another ball with the cue ball. If you touch a ball, you start over.
I'd put a ball on the center spot of the end rail and the cue ball in the center behind the head string and practice cutting it in either corner. If I made it more than a few times in a row, I'd move the object ball wider on the rail to make it an even steeper cut, where I was cutting the ball completely reverse at steeper angles
I would put a ball somewhere and then randomly roll a coin on the table. Once the coin stopped, I'd try to make the object ball and then put the cue ball where the coin was.
I even went so far as drawing the table out in scale dimensions on paper and plotted out shots when I was at home or school. I would divide the table into squares and rectangles and draw lines from each diamond to see where the balls would go on a natural path. There were books at the time, and I had some, but they were expensive and hard to come by. There were no videos then, nor an internet. I made do with what I had or what I observed and figured out on my own with extensive trial and error.
I was obsessed with pool at that age. I was a lot smaller than a lot of guys in our school and the only sports they had were track, tennis, baseball, basketball, and football. I could run fast and did run on my own, but I didn't want to do it as a sport. Tennis and baseball didn't interest me. I liked basketball, but I was too short. I had no interest in football, but I wasn't big enough even if I was. Therefore, pool became something that I could put my interest in and "excel" at, if I put my mind to it and put in the effort. I decided that I would become the best pool player I could and that is what drove me.
Once I got to the level that I could hang with people who used to beat me like a drum, I started being staked by the owner of the pool hall and other people. After I started getting money in my pocket from pool, it became an even greater goal to play even better. As much as I liked money, I think I got more "thrill" from the fact that I won it off an older player who was supposed to drown me. I eventually got to the level that nobody would play me without a spot. The roles had completely reversed.
I actually think you can burn yourself out practicing too much. Maybe not "burn out", but mental fatigue. I don't think your mind should be completely "clogged up" with pool when you play. You need to pay attention to what you are doing and how the game is being played out, but I find if I over "analyze" the game, I have a tendency to "second guess" some of the things my first instinct tells me to do.
I have played enough that I think I see the table well enough to know what I'm going to do in my mind before I ever get to the table when my opponent misses. I know which routes are open and what the percentages are based upon where the balls lie and the difficulties may play out.
The only time I may change my strategy is if I get out of line where I have to play a safe. Usually I will plan to play "to a safe" that I've already figured out. I have played position to get to the safe shot instead of getting position to pocket the ball. These shots are based upon percentages in my head of what I know I can do and what I "think" my opponent can do, based upon how well they shoot (from either observing or playing them before...or knowing what they did against somebody I've played before).
It isn't what your opponent does at the table, it is what you do at the table when it is your turn. If you turn it over, it is on you. If you never get a shot, it wasn't your fault. I think the game in 90% mental, once you have the basic fundamentals down.
