So I get home today.....

[mullyman]

As the title says, I get home today and look in the mailbox and there's a small package from Pensacola, Florida. I'm from Cincinnati originally, and my mom lives down in Clearwater, so I say to my wife, with a confused look on my face, "Who in the F do I know that lives in Pensacola, Florida??" So I open the small package and there is a DVD in there with John Schmidt shooting balls on the label.

John, thank you for the quick shipping. I'm going to toss this into the DVD player later tonight and watch it.
MULLY
will critique you later

 

[mullyman]

Ok, first impressions.

John, you have a very erratic chalking style. That "geeri-geeri-geeri" sound of the chalk was driving me nuts. haha!! My wife came in and said "how is it?" and I said "He's pretty good but the sound of the chalk is driving me up a wall." She laughed and said "You do that too." I was like "WHAT?" and she said "Yeah, I could walk into the pool room blindfolded and find you by following the sound of the chalk." So, I apologize for being irritated by it. hahaha!

Ok, on to the play. I was pleasently surpirsed that I was calling your shots for you. I knew that 5 was the end of the run. hehe!! It also proved to me that there is a certain amount of ball pocketing ability needed. There were 3 or 4 shots that I wouldn't have wanted to be shooting.........the one where you brushed the 9-ball with your stick for example. I can probably make that shot but I surely wouldn't have the confidence that you had with it. In 9-ball I wouldn't think twice about that shot but in straight pool it gives me the willies.

I was following along really well and there was one time where you didn't get the position you wanted and you said "But this is Ok, I can still play my pattern" or something to that effect, and I said "No you can't, you're gonna have to shoot the "???" ball. Sure enough, after you took a look at it you switched your pattern and did what I thought you would.

Please don't take any of this as me tearing down your run. That is not my intent at all. If anything I'm happy that I have the knowledge and I just need to work more on the execution. If I break down my own runs I find that I miss easy shots that I should be able to make with my eyes closed because I panic about getting to a cluster that should have been taken care of earlier. Also, as I've said previously in other threads, my runs are usually stopped after the break. Either missing the break ball because my focus is on the break and not on pocketing the ball, or I come up without a ball after the break. I really need to work on my break shots. I've had runs in the upper 40's quite a few times. 20's and 30's are not unusual and single racks are pretty much a given. It's that damn break shot that gets me. I think my other weak point would be taking care of clusters at the right time. I think I may get into a panic when I screw up a position and instead of going with the flow I try to overdo something and that will screw me up. The shot where you said "When I was 25 I would have tried coming into these balls here" comes to mind as a perfect example of that.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching your run, John. I'd be really interested in getting some one on one time with you if I'm ever in the neighborhood. And if you ever make the trek over to Japan let me know.

Thanks again for sending it so quickly. If you were wondering how long it would take to get here now you know. hehe!!
Thanks again, man!
MULLY

 

[tksix]

I was able to sit and watch mine again last night. You can definitely pick up things the second time around. Afterwards I went on the table and completely "puked" on myself, catching my poor shot selection at every turn. So probably a bad idea to get on the table right after watching a champion like John.

The one comment that hits home, was how he states another rack same issues, balls on the rail first, break your clusters, look for that triangle. Sounds so damn simple...............but executing with confidence is another story. Like you said above Mully, missing shots that you can make with your eyes closed kill the runs. I also found stretching for that break ball kills mine, or firing at it when a medium stroke would have been just fine. The number of things that need to be worked on to reach 100 for me, seem almost infinite at this point. My high is 66, and 28 or 40's per session are the norm. I am documenting my progress, and creaping higher.

Looks like I will be chained to my table for a few hundred years!!!

Mike

 

[mullyman]

I was able to sit and watch mine again last night. You can definitely pick up things the second time around. Afterwards I went on the table and completely "puked" on myself, catching my poor shot selection at every turn. So probably a bad idea to get on the table right after watching a champion like John.

The one comment that hits home, was how he states another rack same issues, balls on the rail first, break your clusters, look for that triangle. Sounds so damn simple...............but executing with confidence is another story. Like you said above Mully, missing shots that you can make with your eyes closed kill the runs. I also found stretching for that break ball kills mine, or firing at it when a medium stroke would have been just fine. The number of things that need to be worked on to reach 100 for me, seem almost infinite at this point. My high is 66, and 28 or 40's per session are the norm. I am documenting my progress, and creaping higher.

Looks like I will be chained to my table for a few hundred years!!!

Mike

Yeah, it always boggles my mind as to why I can't run more than I do. I mean, my high run of break run outs in 9-ball is 7 in a row. Bowlliards is a standard game over here and I've had several "300" games and average over 220. I know, bowlliards sucks all kinds of ass but it's standard fare here in Japan. To become a pro you have to take a test and 3 games of bowlliards is in that test. You have to shoot more than 600 points in 3 games. So, with that said, I've got the ability to become a pro in Japan if I take the test. Why can't I get my $hit together playing straight pool? I guess I need to spend more time practicing the little things because in reality those little things are huge.
MULLY