Tips for beginners?

Practice. A lot. But don't practice by shooting some balls alone. At least not that much. Sure that helps, but what you should be concentrating on is playing other people. People of your skill level or better are perfect opponents.

Remember that each time you make a shot, your brain memorizes the stroke, the "feel" in your arm, the situation on the table (ball positions), the movement and trajectories of the cue ball and the object balls, their behavior, and finally the result of your shot. After you perform hundreds and thousands of different shots, your subconscious mind will start to partly "take over" your game and you'll find yourself hitting better and better with less and less thinking. Making shots will become a simple routine, allowing you to focus on the strategic part of the game.

And that's why it's important to practice by playing matches. If you shoot alone, your brain will only memorize the shots. But when you play others, in order to win, you'll need to pay attention to tactics and strategy. Those will be stored into your permanent memory as well. Your shot may be a little weaker comparing to someone who practiced accuracy for hours regularly, but with little playing. However, after a few months, if you decide to play that person, you'll have all the advantage. He'll be able to aim better, but he won't really know how to use it properly, as he'll lack your experience and tactical prowess. Plus, keep in mind that by playing other players, especially skilled ones, you'll also learn from their successful shots, as well as their mistakes.

My final advice to you is to be competitive. There's no better motivation to improve yourself than when you're trying to win. Still, don't let defeat bring you down. There will be many failed shots, many losses, many missed opportunities, especially in the beginning. Learn something from it and keep going. That's pool life. You'll get used to it :D If you have any more questions let me know. Happy shooting ;)

I highlighted your paragraph in red above. This is not good advise, your memory and subconsciousne has nothing to do with shot making, because when you go to a different cloth, different CB, different weather you are at starting point (almost). You must master the way to make shots in a systematic approach so to apply to every shot, and learn to adjust for different cloth, CB, and weather. Take for example easy 1/2 ball cut if you shoot it very soft it will throw on you and might miss, so you learn when i shoot soft i have to allow in the aim for for throw, and many other possibilities close to 4000 of them, then you become a shooter.
Take another example, you shoot an OB in mid table CB about 4 diamonds away and want to put to inside english on it, you have to know what the CB does and where to aim to make the ball;
Many pool players say stuff like this memory and subconscious that does not make sense because they lack the real secrets and knowledge of pool.
 
Have you read & saved Mr. Fels 100 tips yet?

If not, I suggest that you do so & save them for future reference such as reading them often.

Best Wishes & Enjoy your journey,
 
There are so many tips you need, it is not possible to cover in writing. Mainly because the different possibilities that makes you miss a shot.

My advice to you keep shooting, make sure to practice shot making on your own for an hour before any game playing. I think playing 9 ball next will offer you more shots variety at different speeds, where as 8 ball or straight pool you have more options to pick and naturally will pick easy ones.
When you run at least 6 balls in a 9 ball rack you are ready for advance instructions

If you are close to Arlington, VA PM me.

Best of Luck.

naji

I will be in the Arlington area over Thanksgiving.

Want to get together?

randy
 
Get lessons

Get lessons and practice... Very few do it this way, that's why very few ever get beyond mediocre.

good luck !
 
naji

I will be in the Arlington area over Thanksgiving.

Want to get together?

randy

Love to, but my family chain me to the house on Thanksgiving and day before, if we can meet Sunday 11/25 after 1:00 PM will be best

I play at:
lucy's near Arlington, VA
www.lucysarl.com
2620 South Shirlington Road
Arlington
(703) 521-3800
 
I highlighted your paragraph in red above. This is not good advise, your memory and subconsciousne has nothing to do with shot making, because when you go to a different cloth, different CB, different weather you are at starting point (almost). You must master the way to make shots in a systematic approach so to apply to every shot, and learn to adjust for different cloth, CB, and weather. Take for example easy 1/2 ball cut if you shoot it very soft it will throw on you and might miss, so you learn when i shoot soft i have to allow in the aim for for throw, and many other possibilities close to 4000 of them, then you become a shooter.
Take another example, you shoot an OB in mid table CB about 4 diamonds away and want to put to inside english on it, you have to know what the CB does and where to aim to make the ball;
Many pool players say stuff like this memory and subconscious that does not make sense because they lack the real secrets and knowledge of pool.

Well, you do have a point, but that's not entirely correct. It would take some time for the brain to adapt to the new surroundings, but after a while your old performance would mostly come back. Your brain finds specific patterns and learns to apply them in different environment. Sure, if you keep switching tables regularly then your subconscious mind won't be very effective, but if you play the majority of your matches on 3 tables max, it won't take more than a year for the brain to memorize the individual characteristics of each environment.

If we're talking about a more systematic approach, I need to emphasize it will take more time for a new player to acquire a basic playing condition. Once you master the fundamentals, though, it's a more reliable variant. However, that doesn't mean you need to forget about the subconscious mind. With enough experience, it will give you a sort of "instinct", "insight" in the game itself, which you'll never get solely by systematic practice.

My advice to any beginner would be to practice both. Learn to trust your instinct and the unlimited possibilities of your brain, but keep an eye on the fundamentals at the same time. To learn the fundamentals properly, you'll need a pool instructor. I can teach you many things from my experience, but I never went through a systematic training, so if you have questions regarding that subject, there are many great player here on AZB who are more than willing to help you in any way they can :smile:
 
...your memory and subconsciousne has nothing to do with shot making...

Bob Fancher, Pleasures of Small Motions, distinguishes between the roles of the conscious and unconscious mind, with respect to pool, better than I could:

When you try to control everything consciously, you ignore or veto the knowledge of your unconscious. You act like the manager who thinks no one other than himself knows anything. You destroy the work of your innate wiring and all you have learned from experience. Why did you spend all that time honing your skills if you aren't going to let them do their work? You must allow your unconscious mind to do its work and deliver the result to awareness, where you use it but must not override it.

Plan and evaluate with your conscious mind, shoot with your unconscious mind.
 
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Love to, but my family chain me to the house on Thanksgiving and day before, if we can meet Sunday 11/25 after 1:00 PM will be best

I play at:
lucy's near Arlington, VA
www.lucysarl.com
2620 South Shirlington Road
Arlington
(703) 521-3800

Meet you there about 1pm on Sunday. How's that sound?

randyg
 
Practice your stroke with tees!

I saw this on youtube last week. Then last Monday (Veterans Day) while my oldest participated in her JNROTC parade. I was handed a free packet of tees. As a veteran, non golf playing person and an unemployed person, I was super excited to hold a FREE pack of 4 tees. I knew exactly what to do with them.

Practice your stroke and try not to knock down the tees. It's easy when your shooting soft. It's way more challenging when you want to strike hard. But oh it's fun:rolleyes:. My oldest and the hubs enjoyed trying out the challenge too.
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Later
Juicy
 
Well, you do have a point, but that's not entirely correct. It would take some time for the brain to adapt to the new surroundings, but after a while your old performance would mostly come back. Your brain finds specific patterns and learns to apply them in different environment. Sure, if you keep switching tables regularly then your subconscious mind won't be very effective, but if you play the majority of your matches on 3 tables max, it won't take more than a year for the brain to memorize the individual characteristics of each environment.

If we're talking about a more systematic approach, I need to emphasize it will take more time for a new player to acquire a basic playing condition. Once you master the fundamentals, though, it's a more reliable variant. However, that doesn't mean you need to forget about the subconscious mind. With enough experience, it will give you a sort of "instinct", "insight" in the game itself, which you'll never get solely by systematic practice.

My advice to any beginner would be to practice both. Learn to trust your instinct and the unlimited possibilities of your brain, but keep an eye on the fundamentals at the same time. To learn the fundamentals properly, you'll need a pool instructor. I can teach you many things from my experience, but I never went through a systematic training, so if you have questions regarding that subject, there are many great player here on AZB who are more than willing to help you in any way they can :smile:

Hello, i highlighted your text above, it sounds like you are new to the game and still listen to what people say. You say fundamentals, do you know that every shot has its own fundamentals, sure there are a lot of shots that use same fundamentals
My friend, there is at least 4000 possibilities of shots on table, if one does not know how to shoot them all by learning how, there is no way in hell the balls will be pocketed, sure after a while you get used to applying the check list to each shot quickly, like an airplane pilot before he flys an airplane he goes into written check list to make sure all ok, if he depends on his memory or subconscious yes he might get lucky and land safely, other wise ...
 
Tip number one: Do something more constructive and profitable with your time than playing pool.

In case it's too late for tip number one, tip number two is play a lot of equal offense. When you become good at that, learn how to kick.
 
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