For all the straight rail players, I'm wondering what your progress in the game was like.
I'll try to summarize my experience so far:
5-1.5 pts/inning -- I was just trying to score points. I started off playing with my American pool cue (Dufferin 2-piece, 60 in., 21 oz), and the long bridge/stroke that was part of my muscle memory from 10+ years of pool. High runs were typically less than 10.
1.5-2.5 pts/inning -- I was starting to see some gather patterns, but when I got the balls close, I had no idea what to do with them. Within 2-3 points, I lost the position. During this period, I got a billiard cue for about $60 (brand name: Cheetah, about 17-18 oz, i think, and shorter than a pool cue).
Also during this period, I started learning the feel of the so-called "coup d'américaine." This is the short, soft stroke for small points. I still stunk at hitting the ball softly, but I didn't go into spasms trying to do it like I used to. I typically had at least couple of runs into the teens on any given day, and my high run was somewhere in the high 30s or low 40s, which I have not yet surpassed. Lastly, my game-to-tame average varied wildly.
3-5 pts/inning -- This is where I'm at now, and this jump has come in about the last 3-4 months. I see a lot of gather patterns, and it's amazing how many can be found. For example, I see a lot of 1.5-2.5 avg players going thinly of the 2 to ensure scoring on the 3, when learning to play a fuller hit often brings the 2 along to gather for the 3.
I had stopped playing for about 6 months before this last jump in my game. However, right before I stopped, a very nice master level player in my club took me aside for 30-45 minutes to explain to me the "rejet naturel," it's implications, and how to practice it and seek it out. The rejet naturel is the angle the cueball takes off the 2 when it is rolling without sliding...and that this angle is roughly the same when the hit is anywhere between 1/4 and 3/4 ball. I hadn't realized how much this idea could simplify the game for me. It was a revolution! lol. I could go on for a page or two about all the new moves I was able to explore using this idea, but maybe later. I believe that this one idea unlocked the game for me.
As I started scoring more points, other good players have been giving me more pointers here and there. So, I'm still improving. So far, my best average was about 5.8 pts/inning (100 pts in 17 innings). I regularly have runs in the mid teens, and high runs for the day are in the mid 20s. The difference, is that these runs now are much more controlled with much less effort.