Real Improvement

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Habitmaster

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I have played pool now for many years and am playing the best pool of my life because of new practice routines. I watch other players and ask them if they are improving and the answer is usually 'yes'. But when I watch these players play, I see the same player I saw last week, last month, and most of all, last year.
The same players that say they are getting better are not improving from what I can see. The question then becomes, what keeps us from improving? Why can't we improve month after month? What method or methods have you found that really improve your game month after month?
 
Drills, Tournaments, Action............I'm not sure what has the most immediate, positive effect on your game. I have seen people improve with all of the above. I have been told that the best way to improve is to get lessons from a respected instructor. That sounds logical to me. Any advice on this topic would be welcomed.
 
Any player who wants to improve should find a qualified instructor and get his stroke mechanics looked at and adjusted as needed. Then maintain those mechanics through regular drills to ensure accurate delivery of the cuestick. I've heard a lot of chatter about aiming methods and systems, but the fact is, anyone who has played for more than a few months already knows how to aim. It's delivery of the cue--or specifically, inaccurate delivery--that causes most people to miss, not poor aim. A true stroke allows one to learn faster because it provides a constant from which to observe experiments.

The next big area is cueball control. One of the reasons you hear a lot of veteran players talk about the value of learning to play straight pool is it gives you a finer sense of center ball than any other game. By "center ball" I am referring to the vertical axis. Learning to control the cueball's exit path by slight adjustments along the vertical axis means the difference between sliding the cueball through a narrow slot or running into balls and destroying a pattern. For many years, I've been using a drill called the "Wagon Wheel Drill"** to practice center ball control, and I still practice it at least once a week, even after playing pool for almost 40 years. Another thing along this line, learn to hit a stop shot at various speeds and distances and with different cueballs. The first thing I do when I get on strange equipment is figure out how to stop the cueball. Every other positional move builds from that benchmark.

** I'll detail the Wagon Wheel Drill in another post when I figure out how to use the Wei table software.
 
as far as 9-ball goes, there are probably around a dozen shots that you should master. plus probably another dozen or so shots that you yourself usually end up with when you play 9-ball. practice those shots until you are blue in the face. use various speeds, various angles, various english, etc, etc. and dont just shoot a shot to make it, but rather try and put the cueball somewhere when you shoot the shot also.

best advice i can give to improve is simply to become a student of the game. play, practice, watch, read, attend. eat, sleep, and breathe pocket billiards. become consumed by it.

DCP
 
I think being able to improve is mostly personality.

I've noticed people who never improve will not ask for advice nor will they listen to advice if it is given to them. And they tend to avoid playing people better than themselves - want to only play people they can win against. Would never read a book on how to play pool, would not watch instructional videos, etc. And because of this, they don't know how much they don't know about the game!

Some people can't stand to lose and they will practice and practice so they don't lose. They are driven hard by their dislike of losing.

Others are the types who are not afraid of hard work and will work and work to improve. These people will practice things they are not good at. If they are not good at something, they are willing to work on this even though practice is frustrating and difficult. They say to themselves... "Gee, I'm not good at this. What can I do to improve?" They ask better players questions, go to instructors, read books, watch instructional videos, and practice, practice, practice. They do everything they can which will lead to improvement and this takes a lot of time and hard work.

Many not so good players I know will stop playing if they lose a couple of games in a row. They will make up some excuse that they have to go or something. However some of the best players I know will play and play for hours even though they are losing most of their games.

And this is the secret to improvement. Play better players, see what they are doing to win, then learn and practice so you can do the same thing.
 
Billy_Bob said:
I think being able to improve is mostly personality.

I've noticed people who never improve will not ask for advice nor will they listen to advice if it is given to them. And they tend to avoid playing people better than themselves - want to only play people they can win against. Would never read a book on how to play pool, would not watch instructional videos, etc. And because of this, they don't know how much they don't know about the game!

Some people can't stand to lose and they will practice and practice so they don't lose. They are driven hard by their dislike of losing.

Others are the types who are not afraid of hard work and will work and work to improve. These people will practice things they are not good at. If they are not good at something, they are willing to work on this even though practice is frustrating and difficult. They say to themselves... "Gee, I'm not good at this. What can I do to improve?" They ask better players questions, go to instructors, read books, watch instructional videos, and practice, practice, practice. They do everything they can which will lead to improvement and this takes a lot of time and hard work.

Many not so good players I know will stop playing if they lose a couple of games in a row. They will make up some excuse that they have to go or something. However some of the best players I know will play and play for hours even though they are losing most of their games.

And this is the secret to improvement. Play better players, see what they are doing to win, then learn and practice so you can do the same thing.
Click to expand...

I agree. The bottom line is that you have to have the desire and the work ethic. Seek out knowledge, if that's what you need and practice til you can execute it. Just knowing is not good enough. I think the proper practice is also key.


Eric
 
dont train what u already can, train what u CANT do.

my method:

write a list of things i cant do.
write then down in order of importance.
train them untill that weakness has transformed into strenght.
move on to the next weakness.

my list:
1/ stance (been filming myself in the kitchentable for HOURS)
2/ stroke (been doing the X exercise, and rolling the cueball to the endspot and back to the tip, the bottle drill for HOURS)
3/ preshotroutine (asking friends to tell me what im doing different when im in the zone, and add things that are my weakness (im fast and almost never chalk))
4/ tournament stress (play in as MUCH tournaments as i can. no matter how much better or worse they are.)
5/ identifying keyballs and problem balls (played online poolgames for hours and looking at video's of pro's and see how my vision of keyballs is compared to them.)
6/ find paterns to clear the table (played online poolgames for hours and ofcourse on the practice table)
7/ being able to see when u have to play a safety or a potshot (this will take years, but im playing easily 20% more safes then before)
8/ changing my attitude from playing for passion to playing for the win. (playing vs the guy who beats me CONSISTENTLY over and over. i now want to beat this guy SO SO SO SO MUCH, id give my 2legs for it.)
9/.... rest is still to come :D
 
Habitmaster said:
... question then becomes, what keeps us from improving?
Click to expand...

Same as in every sport. The keys to improving are the three D's.

Desire
Dedication
Dimentia

Not necessarily in that order.

Fred
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Okay, it's 'discipline.'
 
Habitmaster said:
I have played pool now for many years and am playing the best pool of my life because of new practice routines. I watch other players and ask them if they are improving and the answer is usually 'yes'. But when I watch these players play, I see the same player I saw last week, last month, and most of all, last year.
The same players that say they are getting better are not improving from what I can see. The question then becomes, what keeps us from improving? Why can't we improve month after month? What method or methods have you found that really improve your game month after month?
Click to expand...

I think the players you are talking about are league players who rarely practice on their own, and when they do its not for very long.

Perhaps they are improving but often times it is difficult for anyone else to tell. You won't notice if they have gotten better unless they have obviously moved up from C-B level or B-A etc. Sometimes you feel like you are playing better, there are more shots that you are comfortable with, your draw stroke is better, but you aren't running out more.

Not everyone is willing to put in the time and dedication required to really become good at this game. When I play I am at the table for 4-5 hours at a time. If I am playing with someone who is serious then it is a 10 hour session. Very few people are willing to do that.
 
It's All Mental........

Many great players aren'ttextbook perfect in their execution, yet they pocket balls and win.....You have a given skill set, natural strengths and weaknesses. Practice and repetition can minimize weakness. The great thing about this game is there's more than one way to play a table. You might use draw where I use follow, if we both end up set for the next ball did one of us do it the "wrong" way? Learn your strengths and your weaknesses.

It's all about mental focus, and being able to bear down and shoot through the rough patches. I don't know about you, but when my head is in the game it gets hard to miss. I'm in the zone. Great players have the ability to stay in the zone longer and fight through the times when they aren't because of mental toughness.

My game is improving, because I'm learning to play smarter, to put myself in position to do the things on the table that I'm good at not just take the obvious shot at hand.

McCue Banger McCue
 
Billy_Bob said:
They say to themselves... "Gee, I'm not good at this. What can I do to improve?" .
Click to expand...

Billy Bob,
You planted a real gem in all of that post! The players who will improve are the ones who accept responsibility for their own game. We are responsible for EVERYTHING that happens when we hit a ball. You may get a good roll, or a bad roll, but you get it because of how you played the shot. You make your own rolls. If the pockets are "too tight", you aren't hitting the ob in the right direction. (Remember, your opponent is shooting into the same pockets that you are.) It's not the cue, it's how I move it.
The only two ways to miss a shot are to aim in the wrong place, or having a stroke that doesn't deliver the cue ball to the spot where you are aiming. Do those two things every time and you make your shot. If you miss a shot, you must figure out what YOU did wrong, and fix it. If you don't take responsibility for missing, then there is no way you can correct the problem.
Steve
 
Solartje said:
dont train what u already can, train what u CANT do.

my method:

write a list of things i cant do.
write then down in order of importance.
train them untill that weakness has transformed into strenght.
move on to the next weakness.

my list:
1/ stance (been filming myself in the kitchentable for HOURS)
2/ stroke (been doing the X exercise, and rolling the cueball to the endspot and back to the tip, the bottle drill for HOURS)
3/ preshotroutine (asking friends to tell me what im doing different when im in the zone, and add things that are my weakness (im fast and almost never chalk))
4/ tournament stress (play in as MUCH tournaments as i can. no matter how much better or worse they are.)
5/ identifying keyballs and problem balls (played online poolgames for hours and looking at video's of pro's and see how my vision of keyballs is compared to them.)
6/ find paterns to clear the table (played online poolgames for hours and ofcourse on the practice table)
7/ being able to see when u have to play a safety or a potshot (this will take years, but im playing easily 20% more safes then before)
8/ changing my attitude from playing for passion to playing for the win. (playing vs the guy who beats me CONSISTENTLY over and over. i now want to beat this guy SO SO SO SO MUCH, id give my 2legs for it.)
9/.... rest is still to come :D
Click to expand...

Great attitude, Solly. You have the makings of a true champion!
 
WOW, some great replies and maybe were are getting closer. Here is what I have observed over the years and some more questions. Almost all of us seem to get to a decent level of play very quickly. After that the learning slows down to a crawl. I have seen so many, practice for so many hours and never get any better, so it must be 'how' we practice. No one mentioned 'muscle memory' which is good because our muscle have no capasity for remembering anything. Someone said it was all mental, there must lie the answer. Another said it's knowledge. Knowledge does not make skill, many people have lot's of knowledge but very little skill.

How about focus? What is focus? How do you teach someone to focus? What happens in our minds when you focus?

Playing in the zone? How do you teach someone to play in the zone? What exactly is 'playing in the zone'?

Someone said, hit the spot you are aiming at? What drill do you have to teach someone to improve hitting the exact spot you are aiming at?

As we answer these questions it is becoming clearer that our skill lies in our minds. When we practice we are only training our minds and not any muscles. So a very clear understanding of how the mind operates is the answer to learning.

When we play we can only control ourselves, so we never really play against another player. So the process we go though while shooting should not allow any thoughts except for the task at hand. But how do you control that and is there a way? I believe the answer is yes.
 
zoning and focus where one of my problems, but weird enough they are getting solved with the combination of my 3th and 8th point. If u REALLY want to win, SO BADLY, ud give your unborn child, focus and zoning in will just come naturally with it.
it seems that most people try to solve mental problems with only mental solutions. (at least i was...) but it seems that are solving themselves out by non-mental solutions (3th point)

Your highness *bows*: thx for the compliment. means alot to me comming from a player of your quality, but u havent seen me shoot yet. BUT i promised to post some break and runs on the video section of colin. xxx from one of your servants. :p and me a champion? who knows, its not a goal. i just want to be the best champion I can get. how good that is compared to others doesnt matter :D im enjoying to way to perfection. If i ever get there is up to the gods. :D

this reminds me, i should start finding my next points to train after the summerbreak.
i think it will be like this

10/ train my brakes, (maybe even get one of those breaktrainingthingie) untill i can stop the cb in the middle spot every time, and make my wingsballs effortless.

11/ get the book 99 critical shots in pool, and play them untill i can link every shot i see to one of those numbers.

these 2 points will probably take me a year or 2 to become natural, but ive got LOADS of time :D im only playing for 10months. but i hope it will get me from B to A level.
 
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Habitmaster said:
No one mentioned 'muscle memory' which is good because our muscle have no capasity for remembering anything.
Click to expand...

I think some people take muscle memory out of context. I was really into powerlifting for a large part of my life. To me muscle memory has to do with regaining your strength after a lay off in training. Once you reach say a 400lb bench press, if you take a significant break your max will go down. The muscles will more easly reach the 400lb bench again the second time around than the first. This is what I always thought was mucsle memory or at least in the weight lifting communitee.
 
Attitude on winning

I have heard this before about you have to want to win bad enough, but I have a hard time understanding it. If we take 100 players all with the same attitude 'focused on winning' but there is only one winner, then 99 of them will have to be disappointed about not winning. Is it their attiude that made them lose? Do you really want to believe that your winning or losing is wrapped up in some intangible force instead of your skill?

What about winning itself, should we really be wasting time focusing on that? Do we really have any control over winning or losing?

If you play the best game that you could and the other player is better and wins, then your attitude has nothing to do with it. If you play a medium game and the other player makes more mistakes but you win, did your attitude make you win?

In the end, winning or losing is out of our control. We should only focus on things we can control, like sharpening our skills and eliminating errors. Winning or losing will take care of itself. Wasting one second of energy by thinking about winning or losing can only get in the way of playing your best.

So how do you produce measurable results in improving your game? I think I might start a new thread that will provide some real methods that will do just that.
 
A few more questions.

The suggestions given before are excellent but they have one thing in common. They don't tell you exactly how to do them.
We have all seen many times a player will jump up during a shot. The more inexperienced player, the more they jump up. We have all seen this even among professionals. The same advice is given each time, stay down on the shot. It never works and no has ever been able to tell someone how to stay down.

All advice is simply knowledge. But when has anyone ever provided exact instructions on how to do something. Providing someone with knowledge is good but it does not better someones skill. So the question is, is there a way to improve your skill that can be measured? The answer is yes. Why hasn't it been done before? Because there was a small gap of knowledge missing. That is the understanding of how our skill is actually learned, stored and changed.

After years of hearing people say 'stay down on the shot' or 'you need to focus more' my favorite saying is 'you might as well tell them to grow wings and fly'.
 
Lots of great posts here

I am one to not practice. I just can not and it has negative effects because of a low interest level and then I get sloppy. I play once a week or every two weeks or three weeks. Sometimes I play more often. I always look for someone to play immediately. My first set is always weaker than my next, but depending how important the game is, I seem to work harder at focus. So my point is that mental is very important to me and I can practice this best real time.

I do learn something almost every time I play and that is - I wish I could practice.
 
For the beginner, go work with a qualified teacher.

AFTER....I got to the level of a new shortstop, or running maybe 50 regularly...I noticed a slow down in the curve. My mentors helped with the strategy....I played endlessly to learn the shots, but still hit plateaus in learning. When I really got pissed at a flat spot, I always went back to learning from Video and books. I'd watch Dallas West, or Sigel, or Efren and go out on the table to see if I could do it too.

I'd say the mental side of learning the game becomes the biggest part after you get to a level of competency to play good pool. You can't play great without knowing how to move on the table. Strategy, learning what makes me tick while the heat is on, learning how to calm myself so I can think well and things like that make the biggest jumps in skill for me now after 30 years of playing.

Gerry
 
Practising is boring. When coupled with the fact that many including myself did not progress very much, it didn't seem worth it.

But what would you say if I told you that you can make real improvement every time you practice? That if you were willing to put in as little as thirty minutes a day no more, you will improve? That it is as simple as say, standing in a corner? I wonder if anyone would be willing to do that? If I can get enough interest, I will let players in on a method of practice that will produce an improvement in their game within thirty days. But from the responses so far, it doesn't look like there is even that much interest. :(

One other little note, many times I have heard that your game will get worse before it gets better. I understand why that happens and have found that this new method of practicing will improve your game starting from where it is. It does it by eliminating errors in your game. How good would you be if you could eliminate most errors in your game?

One other criteria that I personally use to test truths out is, how often does it work? If it works 5, 10 or even 20 percent of the time it might be worth it. I have found through testing that this method works 100 percent of the time. To me that says there might be some truth to it.
 
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