Practice - Make Sure you have Structure

[mikemosconi]

Often I see the same players show up several days a week, just to play matches, they are really not very good players- fair, but not really "good". Yet they just continue to do the same things wrong over and over again and wonder why so much playing does not result in improvement,

Most of their problems with improvement lie in stroke performance inconsistencies.

If you cannot afford, or have access to "proper" personal instructors then buy Mark Wilson's "Play great Pool", invest in a tripod to hold your I phone, read the book twice, understand it, and spend several hours a week video yourself as you learn to execute your stroke as he explains in the book, religiously review your videos so that you continuously correct any stroke flaws.

Within one year you will be a player that you never imagined you could be if you do this all correctly, with great discipline, and with proper time devotion to the book, the practice, and the self reviews and corrections.

I will add, as SJM states, couple this religious devotion to Mark's words with viewing, as much as possible, the names he mentioned so that you actually SEE the best doing what you are trying to emulate. Once you begin to see yourself changing, improving, add the third leg to this improvement plan and get involved in tournament competition where you will be tested and become" battle ready" with your new stroke and your new level of confidence.

Create your own "pool school" in this manner and significant improvement is guaranteed!

I don't know of any book- and I think that I read 90% regarding pool playing available for the past 40 years - that can do as much for actual play improvement as Mark Wilson's book- but ONLY if you incorporate everything that I mention above with that book- all the video sessions, constant reviews, constant self evaluations, extreme discipline, you need it all- coupled with competition at various intervals to keep rising higher and higher.

 

[jokrswylde]

Great post but be careful about generalizations. Let's start with one of the most fundamental truths about playing great pool:

Great pool playing = great decision making + great execution

As for the decision-making part, you are far better off watching elite pool players than elite snooker players. In addition, are you smart enough to watch the right players when it comes to this part of the game? You'll learn more about tactical decision making and shot design watching a Reyes, Orcullo or Pagulyan than if you watch almost anybody else. Want to study safety play? You'll do well to watch Justin Bergman matches. As for pattern building, you can't do better than studying the play of Souquet, but did you know that? Any time you are studying a certain aspect of shot design, study players who excel in that area. If you don't know who they are, you can ask right here on the forum.

As for execution, however, what you are saying makes a lot of sense. Practicing doing things the wrong way may enable you to make minor gains in speed control and execution, but it won't bring you big gains. For years, I've watched players play against the ghost over and over without improving significantly because they continued to misplay the patterns. For big gains in execution, you need to fully break down and refine your process and having the right instructor will save you a whole lot of time.

Not many are sufficiently dedicated to improving both their decision-making skills and their execution skills, and many go about one or both the wrong way.

Sounds like you get it.

This is spot on in my experience. I had a lesson with Scott Lee a couple of years ago. He spent 6 hours in my home and really did a good job pointing out some flaws in my stroke, whether it be dropping my shoulder, chicken winging, etc. I have worked very diligently on developing a consistent, repeatable stroke.

However, I feel like the next biggest problem I have is the cerebral part of the game. Analyzing the spread, determining the pattern, and knowing how to get the white ball into position for shot after shot. Should I use top-right english? bottom left? should I try to stun it for position, or follow 2 rails to get to the same spot? These are the kinds of decisions where I wish many times I could play a high FR player over and over and just pick their brain as they go from shot to shot....get a better grasp on the "why" vs. the "how"

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

I am gonna tell a story, sad but true. The Peter Principle applies to everything you do. That includes pool. All of the information is out there for everyone to play at world class level. Very very few have the desire to put in the hard work to reach their best. If they do, then a coach or mentor to guide them can be a big help. Most reach a certain level then no matter what they do, movement is almost entirely lateral. They have breakthrough after breakthrough, great lessons on top of great lessons, but a few years down the road they are playing at the same level they were. In the local pool of players the same ones still beat them, they still beat the same ones. There are the few shooting stars that soar through the ranks but they are the exceptional few fractions of one percent, not the ninety-nine percent plus of players.

The biggest issue is seeking shortcuts when there aren't any to be had. The most direct route is hard work and dedication. If there were a "magic pill" thousands would be playing with the very best. Looking at fargo ratings, I see less than a hundred in the world with a likelihood of winning a world class event, in the US less than a dozen. If we accept there are five or ten players without a fargo rating for every one that has one at the elite levels that is still far less than one percent of the people that desire to be world class that get there.

Many years ago I talked to a man that was still young and competing at the top level with a few world championships under his belt. He had written a how-to book. My personal opinion, the book was mostly pap with little value. One evening he was talking and admitted that the book came about because he saw others getting respect and a few bucks from the books they wrote. He said the truth was he didn't know why he was at the skill level of the elite handful rather than the much larger group of people right below that skill level, he just did it. Talent, other physical gifts, a greater focus, he didn't know. In his own words, he just did it. His book was a combination of what he read in other books and "just do it". No help for those looking for insight. Almost all how-to books and trainers are like that, repetitions. Very few have unique insight.

Pick something you can excel at. Work like hell. Refuse to lose. It is a simple formula.

Hu

Hu made a case for what I have said so many times before about people in general.

Two types.

Talkers, who only talk, and accomplish little or zero,

Doers who pay price, make efforts, and accomplish something.

Even an Olympian who get Bronze has accomplished much.