ran my first 9 ball rack today,(with no cheating)

J

judochoke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
been practicing and playing for 8 months, mostly alone. watching videos, reading books, doing drill after drill. going thru times when I just sucked big time. weathered the storm, and just kept practicing and shooting. bought a new cue, with a narrower taper, seemed to help. but then one night I said screw this, lets slow down and think about each shot, and then think about the next shot, ect.

that seemed to do the trick. I started playing better. still have lots of things to work on, but tonight I racked a 9 ball rack, and broke, made two balls. had no shot on the one, so took ball in hand and ran the rest of the balls.

first time ever with out cheating. I could not believe it. made one crazy shot, and the rest I set each shot up and they fell.

no more letting the cue ball flail around the table. whitey goes where I tell it to now.

I LOVE THIS GAME OF POOL. GOTTA GO AND HAVE A DRINK TO CELEBRATE.
 
When you take time to map the table and avoid unnecessary cue ball movement using simple stop, follow and easy draw strokes,
as well as center ball using 30 degree throw & only one rail to keep the cue ball In the middle, your table runout rate gets a lot better fast.
Excessive and unnecessary cue ball movement might look fancy but it ain’t gonna win the matches that really count.
 
Congrats man, you should be proud of yourself. Keep up the good work.
Focus more on delivering the cue properly and straight.
Don't let yourself develop bad habits. If you can deliver the cue right, everything else will work itself out and there will be no limit to how good you can play.
Watch players who have excellent fundamentals and emulate them. Klenti, Ruslan, Ko Pin Yi, they're all savages with great fundamentals and smooth delivery. I'm a fan of watching Danny Harriman as well. He doesn't quite have the results of some of the other guys, but I think he's a model for great foot position, alignment, delivery, stroke, etc.

Good work,
 
yes your completely right. thats what took the longest as a beginner to understand. using pocket lines, using a rail to get position, not letting the cue ball get away from me, ect.

the videos from tom Lowry, dr. Dave, the European guy shari, great videos for beginners.

the game is even more enjoyable now. :smile::smile::smile::smile:
 
judochoke said:
yes your completely right. thats what took the longest as a beginner to understand. using pocket lines, using a rail to get position, not letting the cue ball get away from me, ect.

the videos from tom Lowry, dr. Dave, the European guy shari, great videos for beginners.

the game is even more enjoyable now. :smile::smile::smile::smile:
Click to expand...

Congrats!!! Those video references are great! Just stay down and treat every shot with respect, and you'll find yourself running out regularly. And you are 100% correct.....the game is very enjoyable then.
 
judochoke said:
been practicing and playing for 8 months, mostly alone. watching videos, reading books, doing drill after drill. going thru times when I just sucked big time. weathered the storm, and just kept practicing and shooting. bought a new cue, with a narrower taper, seemed to help. but then one night I said screw this, lets slow down and think about each shot, and then think about the next shot, ect.

that seemed to do the trick. I started playing better. still have lots of things to work on, but tonight I racked a 9 ball rack, and broke, made two balls. had no shot on the one, so took ball in hand and ran the rest of the balls.

first time ever with out cheating. I could not believe it. made one crazy shot, and the rest I set each shot up and they fell.

no more letting the cue ball flail around the table. whitey goes where I tell it to now.

I LOVE THIS GAME OF POOL. GOTTA GO AND HAVE A DRINK TO CELEBRATE.
Click to expand...
That's a nice accomplishment for only playing 8 months. Playing the ghost with ball-in-hand after the break is a great way to practice even for advanced level players. A true break-and-run (not ball-in-hand after the break) should be your next goal, and then accomplishing a true break-and-run when playing a match against someone is an even more impressive breakthrough accomplishment.

We have a young player in our room who got hooked about a year ago and practices virtually every day at least for 2-3 hours, sometimes twice that. He has yet to accomplish a break-and-run. I told him to always take the opportunity to play/practice with better players whenever he gets the chance, which he does. I've recently instructed him to start playing the ghost with just throwing out 3 balls randomly on the table (preferably 7-8-9) and trying to run out, race to 7 vs the ghost, which he can't consistently do yet. When he can consistently beat the ghost doing that, I told him to add a 4th ball and do the same, then continuing to add one ball at a time whenever he can consistently beat the ghost.

He's very impatient that he's not improving faster. Some players just have the "pool gene" and most don't, but as I've told him, as long as he continues to work hard on his game and continues to see gradual improvement, he has a chance to become a very good player - but you just cannot put a time frame on how long (how many years) that may take. Most younger players who go at this hard right out of the gate often get burned out either from not seeing fast enough improvement in their games or just other life distractions / responsibilities / interests that come up.
 
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Well done. The joy you got from the accomplishment shows you have a true love for the game, a necessary ingredient for excellence.
 
Good job.

First one is the hardest in most things. And rarely a reason to send that white ball around the table at high speed, just a good way to scratch.
 
Good job man. I was just thinking about my first run because of another thread...I was pumped! Lol.

Random unsolicited advice from someone else fairly new:

like you already seem to have found out..really plan a few shots ahead, I always heard it and knew it but didn’t truly do it, like have an exact spot or area on the correct side of the next Ball to get to the one after that etc.

Focus on keeping your grip loose throughout the whole stroke. Whenever I start missing it’s almost always from tightening right before impact.

Don’t just practice tough shots, extreme confidence in the half table shots is a must..straight in or especially the very slightly off, or object ball 1.5 or 2 diamonds up and an inch off the rail..low right or left to come middle table. And of course the 9 from a few inches below the spot where it’s usually sitting...hit that one from everywhere 1 million times.
 
at home alone, bruce Springsteen playing on the radio, around midnight, wife sleeping, dog sleeping, (im 62 and dont sleep until 1 am) (am I going to remember this like I remember the first time I had sex with my girlfriend at age 16):cool::cool::cool::cool:

sunk that 9 ball and let out a little scream like a little girl.

I think my main point is this. if you put your mind to accomplish something new to you, what ever it is, and to attack full force, with all your powers, (meaning books, tapes, videos, talking to others, and practice, you can do it.) could be anything, tennis, bowling, swimming, solving the rubies cube, just a few examples.

of course physical limits will come into play for some things, but pool is not one of them. anyone can play pool and get good at it if they practice and go for it.

this Is the reason I picked pool. because shooting balls in the pocket there is no age limit.

it may not mean much to you guys that have run hundreds of racks in your careers, but it still makes me smile knowing the I went from a complete beginner to running a rack of 9 ball.:smile::smile::smile:

WHERE YOU AT SHANE???????:grin::grin::grin:
 
judochoke said:
at home alone, bruce Springsteen playing on the radio, around midnight, wife sleeping, dog sleeping, (im 62 and dont sleep until 1 am) (am I going to remember this like I remember the first time I had sex with my girlfriend at age 16):cool::cool::cool::cool:

sunk that 9 ball and let out a little scream like a little girl.

I think my main point is this. if you put your mind to accomplish something new to you, what ever it is, and to attack full force, with all your powers, (meaning books, tapes, videos, talking to others, and practice, you can do it.) could be anything, tennis, bowling, swimming, solving the rubies cube, just a few examples.

of course physical limits will come into play for some things, but pool is not one of them. anyone can play pool and get good at it if they practice and go for it.

this Is the reason I picked pool. because shooting balls in the pocket there is no age limit.

it may not mean much to you guys that have run hundreds of racks in your careers, but it still makes me smile knowing the I went from a complete beginner to running a rack of 9 ball.:smile::smile::smile:

WHERE YOU AT SHANE???????:grin::grin::grin:
Click to expand...

Now, now - you want this memory to last a little longer than a few seconds!

Just kidding and man .......... TMI!

Seriously, I'm a little older than many myself and played a lot at a younger age and virtually not at all for the past thirty years, even with a table available at home the past 20 years or so. But, I never learned and never took the time on my own to try and experiment and learn real cue ball control, could get around well enough to almost look like I knew what I was doing among others who really weren't all that great either, lol. Embarrassing fact, I bought one of Bob Byrne's instructional books when I was in college and just had no interest in reading it in my apartment nowhere near a pool table - big difference laying that book out on the bar, or Dr. Dave's, for example, and setting up shots and learning how things work.

Somehow I stumbled on some Dr. Dave on YouTube, then found this place and the past few months I've been amazed at some of the things I just never knew and I'm sure 99% of the people on here may just take for granted as far as pool knowledge goes. Can't go back in time, but boy do I wish these kinds of resources had been available when I was growing up in the 60s/70s. I try and make time to watch some famous guys and gals on YouTube play matches a few times a week and pay attention to what they do, and just spend time at the table figuring stuff out.

Of course, then bought Helfert's book and a couple equally good books about professional pool and on the road stories and really enjoying some of the tales to be found on here.

Congrats - that is a great accomplishment! Nice to know there are some other older "rookies" on here that enjoy the game.
 
judochoke said:
been practicing and playing for 8 months, mostly alone. watching videos, reading books, doing drill after drill. going thru times when I just sucked big time. weathered the storm, and just kept practicing and shooting. bought a new cue, with a narrower taper, seemed to help. but then one night I said screw this, lets slow down and think about each shot, and then think about the next shot, ect.

that seemed to do the trick. I started playing better. still have lots of things to work on, but tonight I racked a 9 ball rack, and broke, made two balls. had no shot on the one, so took ball in hand and ran the rest of the balls.

first time ever with out cheating. I could not believe it. made one crazy shot, and the rest I set each shot up and they fell.

no more letting the cue ball flail around the table. whitey goes where I tell it to now.

I LOVE THIS GAME OF POOL. GOTTA GO AND HAVE A DRINK TO CELEBRATE.
Click to expand...
Congrats!! It's a great feeling huh?
Wishing you many more!
 
I remember my first 2 pack. I was playing around with a softish break that pushed the wing and second ball towards the corner, Both times it worked and I ran out, then came up dry. It was months and months before it happened again. I was like a junkie looking for a fix.

Congrads on the first of many firsts in pool. Never let it feel like it's no big deal until it's not. Then start putting packs together...
 
My last 3 pack, the guy that I was playing pointed it out to the other players after I ran 2 in a row against him. After 3, he was in the amazed territory. I guess it's the first time someone had run multiple racks against him. I actually had a great chance to run 4 in a row, as the balls were open, but after he pointed out the 3 pack to everyone, I couldn't get that out of my head.

On a bar table, there are times where you really aren't going to miss any make-able shots, so it's more normal that a single miss of a make-able shot will jump out at you and be noticed.
 
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