Practice

[Eddie Felson]

Hey Keith its Adam again, thanks for taking the time to reply to my 'Color Of Money post'. I've got another question for ya. Ive been playing pool now for 3 years...im totally addicted, if I had enough money I'd dedicate my life to playing pool to the best of my ability. Sadly im not rich, Im a student so I have less money than most people. This means I can only really play pool twice a week sometimes 3 times a week for about 4-5 hours at a time (here in the UK the table rates are slightly higher than in US so it gets expensive). I feel Im at the a stage where I wont get a lot better unless I play more. How much practice would you recommend I put in a week? how much do you practice (although you probably dont need to practice that much anymore)? how much did you practice a week when you first started playing? I heard that Jannette Lee puts in up to 10 hours a day? does that sound right? any advice will be greatly appriciated. cheers Keith

 

[Keith McCready]

When I was a kid growing up, I used to hit 5,000 balls a day, slept underneath a pool table, waited sometimes for the place to open up, and vacuum the floors so I could play pool for free.

I used to watch better players than me when I was learning the basics. I would mainly watch the way they would move the cue-ball because, as you know, the cue-ball is the most important thing.

If you're struggling with a shot, ask a better player how he or she would do it. Then take it to the practice table and master it. That's how I built up my shot arsenal, and let's not forget that you only get better with competition. It seemed like when I was younger, I got better playing for money, but times are different now.

In order to gain speed, 5 to 10 hours a day is essential.