So, I want to be great at pool...

[Inzombiac]

You know, I just realized, getting better at pool makes me almost as happy as being better. I mean, I worked for what seemed like forever to hit my first milestone, which was to run a whole 8 ball rack against someone. And then when I did it I almost screamed inside the bar, I was so happy. I couldn't even go outside and yell cus people would hear me there too. Now I'm shooting for the next high, and the one after that and this game keeps on givin em to me.

So I guess, Nerd, all you need is the drive and inner fire to BE great. With that you can do anything. Because that is what keeps you persevering.

 

[DelaWho???]

So, I want to be great at pool

Join the club.....

Set achievable goals, like being the best in the bar, then the best in town, then the best in the state etc. and work toward those goals every time you play.

Play a wide variety of players. Not everyone looks at the table the same way. You'll see poeple shoot shots that you didn't even notice....pay attention and take from others things you can incorporate into your game.

"Play pool and stay in school" ....... Wisdom from Earl the Pearl.

McCue Banger McCue

 

[BraveNerd]

I am not Alex from Burmingham.

As for the recommendation of playing outside of my house, I do. I play here at the house for about 4-6 hours in the morning, and then I play in a tournament or league 5 nights a week and the other two I'm at a bar or pool hall - plus I practice 3-4 hours twice a week in the afternoon under the help of my local pool hall owner and amazing teacher.

There is so much help in this thread I don't know how to reply to it all but thanks to everyone I read every last post.

If someone would help me come up with drills I need to work on, that would be great! I don't know any drills for the house so I just shoot rack after rack, but I know drills would help.

 

[Billy_Bob]

As with anything, "success breeds success"!

So "hang" with the best players you can find.

Be a good sport when winning or losing. Don't cheat, be honest and tell your opponent when they have ball-in-hand, etc. Being a fair and friendly opponent may help to get you onto a top winning league team (along with also being a good player).

Play in local money tournaments as often as you can. When you start to win, gravitate toward the more difficult tournaments with better players.

Around here "bar rules" tournaments have the worst players. BCA rules tournaments have the best players. The best players are also those who are most willing to help others and be good sports. They are "class" acts (usually).

Also get as many books/videos as you can afford. Learn all you can. The better books/videos are on specific things like racking/breaking, safeties, stroke, etc. These are only available on the internet.

Find the best instructor you can. Take lessons, especially on stroke.

 

[Fatboy]

i've seen it be an easy road for some players to become "Players" and a tough road for others.

playing better players
getting into action
tournments
practice drills
watch and studing better players
playing all different games
playing on different size tables
playing snooker
dedicating pool over girls or other recreation

the above are some of the necessary things/choices you must make to become great, you cant train in what God left out, and I have seen guys become great players easily while others dedicated everything to pool and never play great considering their efforts. there is no magic formula to greatness and some of us will never make it there, but its possible to have fun without being great, its possible to be a great gambler with out being a great player(Boy George, Fats). I have seen great players who cant hold it together for a $5 bill.

Were all different people with different abilitys, as for myself I wanted to be a great player, after a year I realized the talent wasnt in me, but I had fun with pool until I got board with it and other $$$$ things came along, i'm starting to play again with a different attitude a more relaxed attitude, i dont care how I play to the extent that i play good enough to be respected, because i dont need to win for $$$ like before.

so just relax and play and see what happens the cream rises to the top.

 

[Bishop]

I am not Alex from Burmingham.

As for the recommendation of playing outside of my house, I do. I play here at the house for about 4-6 hours in the morning, and then I play in a tournament or league 5 nights a week and the other two I'm at a bar or pool hall - plus I practice 3-4 hours twice a week in the afternoon under the help of my local pool hall owner and amazing teacher.

There is so much help in this thread I don't know how to reply to it all but thanks to everyone I read every last post.

If someone would help me come up with drills I need to work on, that would be great! I don't know any drills for the house so I just shoot rack after rack, but I know drills would help.

You'll get some different answers here. I make up my own drills by using game situations that give me trouble and practice them 10 to 20 times a day (don't forget to track your progress). I start with two balls and play my position to the next shot. A drill can be anything you feel you need to work on.

 

[Drew]

dedicating pool over girls or other recreation

Alright...This might be taking it over the line. There's always enough time for both pool and girls. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

 

[arsenius]

Surround yourself with great people and get some lessons. My biggest regret is not getting lessons early, and when I did get lessons, they were the wrong kind--just some drills to work on. You need lessons on mechanics. You can go a long way with bad mechanics, but eventually you won't be able to go any further.

Don't let yourself be surrounded with people that just like the game and like hanging out at the pool hall and getting hammered (though these are good people too). Hang around the people that desperately want to be better and work actively to improve. Complacency breeds complacency. The most frustrating time for me and my game is not when I am playing badly, but when I can't figure out how I most need to improve next.

 

[NoBull9]

Take lessons first get you stance and stroke in the correct place.And then start thinking about making balls.You can read any book and watch any tape those things will help you down the road.Taken lesson will let the instuctor to help insure you using the propper stance stroke and bridge.kick the bad habbits before they start.Mark Gregory is one of the best instructors out there.I was told this by Corey Duel.

 

[PKM]

As for the recommendation of playing outside of my house, I do. I play here at the house for about 4-6 hours in the morning, and then I play in a tournament or league 5 nights a week and the other two I'm at a bar or pool hall - plus I practice 3-4 hours twice a week in the afternoon under the help of my local pool hall owner and amazing teacher.

Damn, that's a crazy amount of hours. If that's really your schedule, it'd be foolish not to spend a little money on lessons to make sure you're not reinforcing bad habits.

 

[Drew]

Video yourself. Compare your mechanics to better players. Make sure to get at least 10 hours or so of yourself on tape. That way you know you're not changing anything for the camera. You could even post your videos on youtube and get help from the many resources here on azb.

 

[ScottW]

Not just that - but also - video yourself - and see if you're doing what you THINK you're doing.

That's one of the great things about an instructor - he's on the outside looking in, seeing things you can't possibly see.

 

[back2good1]

pool schools

Don't underestimate the knowledge you can receive from a good pool school. I attended Randy G's school about 10 years ago and I can say without a doubt that was the single best thing I have ever done for my game.

-Back2good1

 

[lewdo26]

Aside from the lessons, instructional materials, practice, and competition...

I'd say the most important thing is to remain sorrounded by players who are trying to improve like you and players who are already more accomplished than you are.

 

[nyjoe14.1]

I believe this. To the triumphant, its not a question of whether you will be great or not, but how fast.

Personally, I can't hear people telling me that I can't do it because I'm too busy knockin' em down. Pool is Life... simple as that.

tap tap tap

 

[Fatboy]

Alright...This might be taking it over the line. There's always enough time for both pool and girls. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

thats true to an extent but rarely seen any real hot girls with pool players, I have with the pro's but not with the guys comming into the professional ranks. When your going to the pool room 6 nights of the week most good looking girls wont tollarate that. the fatties will.

 

[Bob Jewett]

I know the first step is to practice, which I do - everyday, but it seems like their is something else I'm missing.

I've read a few pool books, nothing amazing there..

I've noticed their are a lot of pool schools, but they appeared expensive and ineffective - what is everyone else's opinion?

I've noticed a few online pool schools, but haven't looked into them really...

My question is - if I want to be a great pool player - and I mean great, where should I go from here? I have two nice cues and a table so I'm set there, I just need to know where I should go to learn more about the game?

Thanks,
Alex

I see from your other posts that you are really serious about playing well.

You mentioned getting a lot of help and pointers from your local room owner. That's great, but you need to work out for yourself whether what he tells you is pearls or piles. There is a lot of misinformation both in the oral tradition of pool and in books.

I think you dismiss books too quickly above. I've been playing for over 40 years and I'm still learning things from books. You do need to be able to separate wheat from chaff, as mentioned. There are lots of recently published books with drills. The PAT series has three levels of shots that exercise lots of different skills.

You don't give any indication of how well you play now. What is your high run at straight pool? What is your high run at snooker? 3-cushion? Consecutive racks of nine ball? Most great players don't play just one game.

I think you should consider finding a local instructor. Take a couple of hours of lessons and see if they work for you. If not, find a different instructor -- not all instructors fit all students.

As far as what you should practice, work on your weaknesses. Notice which shots consistently stop your runs, and figure out a way to practice them. I recommend a style of practice called "progressive practice." If you put that phrase into google along with my last name, you will get several useful hits.

 

[Cory in DC]

(...snip...)
Get some lessons, it's a bad idea to try and learn this game on your own. You can get very good but there will probably some nagging inconsistencies, I experienced this and I know a very good semi-pro player who feels the same way.

Finally be careful about taking advice from someone who is less than an A player, it could just serve to set you back a bit.

I think two parts of your advice are at odds. Many BCA certified instructors aren't and never were A players. Of those that are not, some are still great teachers and some are not. A B-shooter can be a better teacher than an A player (though all else equal I'd take the A player.) So you may have to try a few before you find one you like.

Personally, at my current skill level (B player), I'd be somewhat skeptical of an instructor I didn't think could consistently beat me.

As far as drills go, a quick Google search of "pool drills" turns up a lot of free stuff. For example, there's a lot of stuff at http://www.easypooltutor.com that looks like it might be what you're looking for.

Cory

 

[Bob Jewett]

... Finally be careful about taking advice from someone who is less than an A player, it could just serve to set you back a bit.

Bad advice. Better advice is to test each piece of advice to see if it's true no matter where you get it. Books, instructors and champions can all be wrong and sometimes are.

 

[12squared]

Personally, at my current skill level (B player), I'd be somewhat skeptical of an instructor I didn't think could consistently beat me.Cory

I concur with Bob; the above is bad advice.

When I decided to learn 3-cushion, there was an older guy in the room, John Mechetta (sp?), who loved to work with those that were serious about the game. He taught me stroke, systems, to replace chalk on the rail face up, and helped replace balls so I can shoot the same shot over & over until I understood it. It wasn't long until I was beating him but I continued to learn from him. John loved the game, was a student of the game & had a wealth of knowledge he was willing to share, I'm just happy I was one of those who decided to listen to him. If you find someone like that, you're lucky. Thanks, John.

A couple years later I found myself in a position to learn from top players who were also great students but w/more talent. This was done by gaining their respect, keeping my eyes & ears open & my mouth shut. Of course, until I had a question. Once I became accepted - then I couldn't keep my mouth shut .

What I would suggest: is to watch better players (tapes, in person, whatever), but not necessarily take series of "lessons" from those that had/have natural talent and play great, but haven't a clue why or how to verbalize what they do know. Watch what they do & ask questions, but then ask those who DO know if what you believe to be correct, is. The result might be what you want to learn from them, but they might be steering you in the wrong direction to be able to achieve it. Not on purpose & not in all cases, but some just don't know how they do these great things. Some do, though.

To get off on the right foot, it would probably be worth your while to invest in one of these well known classes to make sure you're fundamentals are sound. This is the foundation to your future ability. However, I would do some homework & research the schools, talk to those that have enrolled and find the best fit for you.

These are just my observations and experiences over the years so please take it at that.

Good luck, Dave