To Become the Greatest

Practice, Practice, Practice?

bruin70 said:
walter lindrum was taught METHODICALLY by his dad at an extremely early age......for hours a day on end. it was his life to practice. so i don't think lindrum knew where his talent ended and his practice routine began. to him, it was one and the same.
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I am not sure what people mean when they say that in order to become one of the greatest at pool, that one just has to have desire and practice like it was a religion....I think it helps, but we all know people who could practice for 20 years with burning desire, but never get beyond a certain plateau....no more than an ordinary person could play basketball like Michael Jordan by practicing and building up his body with leg weights, etc...
My point is that majority of the few greats have or had TALENT too, and I think that counts for a lot.....
 
bruin70 said:
if you're talking about reyes level pool,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,you have to be born that way.
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I don't quite agree. Btw, if you're over 10 years old reading this thread, you're already too old ! Unless you've been sleeping on a pool table since you were 6 or 7 practising every day for countless hours and already created some name as a gambler who can beat anybody for any amount of $$'s.

;)
 
bruin70 said:
walter lindrum was taught METHODICALLY by his dad at an extremely early age......for hours a day on end. it was his life to practice. so i don't think lindrum knew where his talent ended and his practice routine began. to him, it was one and the same.
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I wouldn't say Walter was taught at an EXTREMELY early age, he started at about the age of 10 which is probably about the same age as most world class level players. Actually it was Lindrum's brother that had the natural talent but not drive that Walter had.
 
Mr441 said:
I wouldn't say Walter was taught at an EXTREMELY early age, he started at about the age of 10 which is probably about the same age as most world class level players. Actually it was Lindrum's brother that had the natural talent but not drive that Walter had.
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then i think we can all agree it takes both talent and desire.
 
sjm said:
You can't make a world championship caliber pool player out of somebody whose fundamentals aren't top-notch any more than you can make an omelette without eggs.
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I used to think the same, but not anymore. The guy who lost in final of the last WPC to Pagulayan only pokes the cue ball. I just saw his quarterfinal match against Archer. Man, that Chang fellow just pokes and pokes and gets away with it, i.e. runs out. He even had trouble drawing the cueball because of that during the match...couldn't believe it!!! The commentators of the match noticed that too. Archer has a vastly more powerful stroke, but that didn't help him at all.
 
predator said:
I used to think the same, but not anymore. The guy who lost in final of the last WPC to Pagulayan only pokes the cue ball. I just saw his quarterfinal match against Archer. Man, that Chang fellow just pokes and pokes and gets away with it, i.e. runs out. He even had trouble drawing the cueball because of that during the match...couldn't believe it!!! The commentators of the match noticed that too. Archer has a vastly more powerful stroke, but that didn't help him at all.
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Pei Wei Chang's stroke is actually a bit more fluid than what you saw. He was using a short stroke because he was in a high pressure situation. He got away with it becase a. he shoots incredibly straight, b. the cloth was incredibly fast, and c. he shoots incredibly straight.

In Chang's match versus Archer, I don't know if you noticed, but Chang controlled the cueball much better than Archer did. Chang didn't take long at all between shots, and Archer was just PAINFUL to watch. He was taking 2-3 minutes per shot and he just kept getting out of line. He still got out most of the time, but I think Chang was the better player that match, even though Archer lost because he failed to pocket a ball on the break at double hill. Just to give you proof of how straight Chang shoots, in all of his matches if an object ball was in an area near where his bridge hand would be, he would literally jack up the cue like he was going to do a slight masse and shoot a shot. I didn't see him miss shooting like that, so he must have been hitting dead center to make all those pots, he did that quite often. He is a very talented player. I gotta say that his match against Chamat was really depressing, Marcus thought he had it in the bag when he was up 7-1. Chang beat Marcus 11-8.
 
bruin70 said:
(snip)
wouldn't this be a beautiful world if we could do anything we wanted if we set our minds to it. then no one would have to drag himself to that 9 to 5 job he hates! but it doesn't work that way does it? some people do it better and easier than others.
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Could it be that another has discovered the secret to happiness?

It works EXACTLY that way, my friend. I used my mind and efforts to leave the work force 20 years ago. I set it up so I make money even when I'm not working. Now I can play pool anytime I want...and I do it when I want.

My goal is not to become the greatest pool player, but to be the happiest as I go. I am good at this. I was not born having a clue how to do this. I learned how because, as someone else indicated, I had the desire to do so. This desire, this vision of exactly what kind of life I wanted, led me to the "how" and I'm still immersed in that process and always will be. Now, barring currently uncontrollable physical barriers, my game improves at will.

Jeff Livingston
 
knowledge, hard work, natural ability

it is about ability and dedication hard work and results, some have more in areas than others,
mark grey for instance.. has left the snooker scene and out of the last 7 tour events here in the uk has Q finals x1 semmi x1 finals x5 and won the last 4 in a row! that does take some doing i can tell you
puts his record higher than darryl peach,fabio, knighty and many more awsome players, this season.
my point is he has no break or any fundimentals for the game,he plays it like snooker, dont get me wrong i like him.
wait till he does!
yet another can study 9 ball for years and reach a point he will never improve on, without pro teaching. knowlege is supposed to be a big part of this game isnt it??
 
I've grown up around pool most of my life. I'm more than likely one of the younger ones on this board (no disrespect intended). Fortunatly in my life, I've had the ability to be around some of the greatest players this game has to offer. The one thing that I notice is that almost all of them played their best when they were in action every single day. Whether it was for money, or just getting some practice in. James Walden is a frequent guest at my fathers house, as is Donnie Brown, David Matlock and Jack Arnold to name a few. All of them put an emphasis on drills. Especially David. For anyone that has any doubt in this man's ability, I highly suggest just watching him hit balls and watch how fluid he moves the ball. It's like poetry in motion. I think their are 2 kinds of players in the world. Players that just have raw ability. They can see straight, shoot straight and drive the ball. And then you have polished players like Efren and Matlock, who not only have those abilities, but have a ton of knowledge to back it back up.

If someone want's to be come the best all around player, then make the knowledge of this great game your friend. Because I don't care how straight you can shoot, or how well you can cut balls and think you can move the cue. When you come up to a true player of this sport who has a great deal of knowledge of this game, then you will be beaten. Knowledge is power my friends. Let's make sure we expand that while we can.
 
To start with, I'm a C player.

So please keep that in mind. I think to be able to play well enough to break and run out, or run out when the chance is there (what the pros can do) and string together racks is achievable with great work, good practice (not just the things we like to work on), and lots of "The Three D's (Desire, Dedication, and Disopline from Jim Rempe). You probally will need years and instruction as well. And I think you will need to spend around 100 or more hours a year at the practice table. And of course on top of all that, you wiil need to compete in tournaments, like the Killer Bs, and the NE B 9 ball tour, and after you dominate there, tours like JOSS.

But to be one of "The Greats" you'll need raw talent as well (and a lot of it).


But that's just my opinion, and I think it's great that any body wants to shoot for it, and I hope you get there. :cool:

Pete
 
Bottom Line - The best players have less to think about!

The best players have less to think about because everything that is right about this particular shot is already pre-programmed into their memory. From practice, drills, history, experiences and DEVELOPED talent, they are able to focus better on the task at hand.
The lesser player has many things going on in his/her head about a shot. This distracts from the focus it takes to HAVE -

"THE 3 C'S"

C oncentration
C onfidence
C onsistency

TY & GL
 
its much more than the k

bb81 said:
. When you come up to a true player of this sport who has a great deal of knowledge of this game, then you will be beaten. Knowledge is power my friends.
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so how can a snooker"mark Grey"player with little-to-no 9-ball knowledge be consistantly at the top?i saw him hold his own with radislaw babica.
there abouts on 7 tour events winning 4 in a row

its much more than the k.
 
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It's not a matter of what game you play. As we see everyday on ESPN most of our Euro players have strong snooker backgrounds, but can still hold their on own in 9 ball. It's not a matter of having knowledge of a specific game such as 9 ball to be able to play it well. It's having knowledge of the table period. Knowing multiple diamond systems, bank systems, etc...that's what knowledge will help any player in playing any game. Just because they play snooker, doesn't mean they can't play 9 ball if they have that knowledge already.
 
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