The Monk

I have never taken lessons from him but I have talked to him and shot a game with him at a local bar here in Colorado He was in this state for a pool clinic and we had a mutual friend that introduced us. He came off as a cool guy that had a lot of knowledge but I don't think he plays much anymore. He was one of Samm Diep's early instructors.
 
Swedgin said:
Has anyone here ever taken lessons from The Monk, Tim Miller? How is he as a billiards instructor?
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I have no idea about his merits as a face-to-face instructor, but according to this article written by him:

http://www.azbilliards.com/themonk/monk6.cfm

I would judge that he's utterly full of crap. There's decidedly more misinformation than useful information in that article.

-Andrew
 
Andrew Manning said:
I have no idea about his merits as a face-to-face instructor, but according to this article written by him:

http://www.azbilliards.com/themonk/monk6.cfm

I would judge that he's utterly full of crap. There's decidedly more misinformation than useful information in that article.

-Andrew
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When I first started playing I bought all of his tapes ten plus years ago. I tried to look at those again about a year ago and In my opinion he acts like he invented things he is showing you. Knowing what I know now there is a lot of misinformation.. Kind of drives me nuts..
 
Saw him at the local a few years back. Nice enough guy, but he had nothing new to show me. Most of the stuff he showed us that night, myself and other serious players had been doing for, literally, years. There is better stuff available in print and on DVD.
One of his students was posting here for a very short time, about how he was coming to the US and take on all comers gambling. Yeah, right;)
 
Alot of the shots in his books are from others work.

An example would be the 2-7-2 lag around and through the bottom 3 diamonds ending up in the cente rof the table.

This shot and numbering is straight out of the Johnny Holiday books.

I liked his early book though "Point the Way" which was more mental.

I have never met him or seen him play.
 
elvicash said:
I have never met him or seen him play.
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Me either but I got a few of his DVDs and I personally think they suck. I don't play 9 ball but he's got the 8, or he can have 30 and the break to 100 in straight pool or a ball and the breaks in one hole. Take your pick Monk. :)
 
IMO I don't think he's a phony or anything like that.

His material may seem remedial for some and similar to others but I thought his "presentation" was pretty useful for a beginner. It was some of the first stuff I encountered when I started getting into "real" pool and I actually learned a lot. I quickly realized that it's not exactly a matter of 4 or 5 strokes for EVERY SHOT but his approach and emphasis on stoke "repetition" and the fact that good pool is about being consistant and developing a "repeatable" process on each shot is pretty sound.

I've certainly heard quakier stuff. BTW his "Point the Way" book is pretty darn good for the mental stuff and "the 8 ball book" has some really good stuff in it too IMHO As far as whether how/if he can play... that's seems pretty irrelevant to me.

I seriously doubt that Dr. Cue (Tom Rossman) would have collaborated with him on those Bank tapes( which were very good IMO) if he was some kinda freak or scam artist

Now if you want to see a quack check out "The Australian Oyster" or whatever that guy's name was LOL
 
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I have some MONK DVD's with Dr. Cue that are wonderful, and I would buy them again.
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elvicash said:
I liked his early book though "Point the Way" which was more mental.

I have never met him or seen him play.
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ugotactionTX said:
I've certainly heard quakier stuff. BTW his "Point the Way" book is pretty darn good for the mental stuff ...
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The "Point the Way" book was how I found out about The Monk. I discovered it in the mid 90s, and I liked it because it had some very interesting information about the mental side of pool that I'd never heard anywhere else. I think it's a pretty good book. I was a big fan of his for a long time, but I now I don't think he really knows what he's talking about for the most part and much of his teaching aren't very useful or accurate. The guy's a hack.

ugotactionTX said:
Now if you want to see a quack check out "The Australian Oyster" or whatever that guy's name was LOL
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That guy is one sick puppy. I have some of his videos. :grin:
 
Pushout said:
One of his students was posting here for a very short time, about how he was coming to the US and take on all comers gambling. Yeah, right;)
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3andstop said:
Me either but I got a few of his DVDs and I personally think they suck. I don't play 9 ball but he's got the 8, or he can have 30 and the break to 100 in straight pool or a ball and the breaks in one hole. Take your pick Monk. :)
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I took some lessons with Bert Kinister and he told me that his girlfriend, Orietta, who's a very solid player, challenged The Monk to a $10K match and he was scared and wouldn't do it. Bert pretty much said the guy's a phony, doesn't know what he's talking about, and ripped off a bunch of his material.
 
His original tape was good. Very basic with a good looking woman whom he supposedly trained to a top womans 8 ball level. The other two tapes were full of him and his "monk" philosophy. The 202 tapes were good because they were all Dr. Cue and banking and kicking systems.
Monk redid the tapes over with "new and improved material". What a bunch of crap. He would tell you in order to do what he was teaching you needed to buy another tape. All the tapes were like this. Buy more to learn more. The more you buy the more you save.
He wants too much money for his clinics. He understands how to sell. Give you a price then mark it down. For a fraction of the price you can go to a real pool school with Randyg and Scott Lee.
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
I have some MONK DVD's with Dr. Cue that are wonderful, and I would buy them again.
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We're talking about the Monk's DVD's, not the Dr. Cue DVD's marketed by the Monk. Slight difference - Dr. Cue's DVD's are excellent, IMO.
 
Need info on Classes

So,
If you were in the market and wasn't interested in the Monk's classes.
Who would you'll recomend in the eastern part of the US for some advance classes?
Ranking system 1 - 14 were a 14 would be the top 30 pro players.
I think my knowledge would be more around a ten speed, were my playing ability averages about an 8 speed.

Thanks,
 
Impact Blue said:
Scarcasm or no?
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No sarcasm. Anyone who reads the article I linked and buys into it, is going to find out at some point in his pool development that there is ONE stroke in pool, and that imagining there are 7 (4 draw strokes and 3 non-draw according to that article) could only hinder you in achieving consistency.

-Andrew
 
poolplayerrm said:
So,
If you were in the market and wasn't interested in the Monk's classes.
Who would you'll recomend in the eastern part of the US for some advance classes?

Thanks,
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Your ranking system may not mean much to the rest of us, no offense. Stan Shuffett {sp?} would be my first recommendation for your location.
 
poolplayerrm said:
So,
If you were in the market and wasn't interested in the Monk's classes.
Who would you'll recomend in the eastern part of the US for some advance classes?
Ranking system 1 - 14 were a 14 would be the top 30 pro players.
I think my knowledge would be more around a ten speed, were my playing ability averages about an 8 speed.

Thanks,
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Tony Robles will be great if you are in the New York area.
 
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