Videos of BigRigTom Practicing 14.1

[BigRigTom]

I just upgraded my Vimeo account so I could upload videos there. The 1st two I uploaded were of me practicing 14.1
As many of you already know, I have been trying to break my high run of 27!:angry:

http://vimeo.com/user3629565/videos

I know.......I know....

Any of you that have the time, please look at these video and give me some suggestions on what I should be doing or "not doing". Be brutal and honest....I can take it.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[FarmerTed111]

Hi, how's it going?

I'm not qualified to give advice, but I did want to say that your video set up is great. You have the perfect camera angle, and perfect lighting with no glare; the balls show up crystal clear. You should be a cinematographer, if you're not already.

How did you get the lighting that good? I'm getting a table put in and I'd like to do some taping of my practice sessions, so I'm looking for any advice I can get.

 

[poolplayer2093]

i'm not 14.1 know it all but it just seemed like you shot the wrong ball a couple of times. you shot off a good break ball once and you seemed a little too relaxed/general about where you wanted the cue ball.

not the worst i've seen though

 

[14-1StraightMan]

Videos

Tom:
Thanks for posting your videos. Really nice looking table. Is that a Centennial ? Looks to be. I can tell that it plays great.
The main problem with your game is: You are not keeping your head straight (up & down) during your shots. Your head is leaning to the right and some shots. It is so far to the right that it appears sideways to the table.
You need to practice when down in your stance to move your head to the left as you are stroking. You will feel it in your neck. It will feel funny b/c you are not use to it. Go in front of a mirror. Look straight on and get down in your normal stance with your cue. You will see your head is leaning to the right. Correct your head position and you will feel what it feels like in your neck when your head is straight with the cue and your eyes are looking at the proper position to shoot a shot. Remember that feeling and you will know that your head & eyes are straight working together on target. I hope that you can understand what I am trying to say.

 

[Android]

Position, Position, Position

Tom,
It's great to see a video of another mere human playing 14.1. All those videos of 100 plus runs can get a little discouraging to us mortals :wink: .
I play at the same speed you do and can see my mistakes on your video - taking position for granted, speed control, and when I do try to get position I forget to make the shot.
After watching your video I can't wait to get to the pool hall today. I am going to work on my position play, I am going to point to the spot on the table where I want the cue ball to be and work hard to get it there. I am going to stop taking position for granted and stop being happy with getting to a general area on the table. You can't play patterns if you don't get position. Just remember getting position doesn't count if you don't make the ball.
Thanks for the great video. I learned alot about my game from it.

Andy <== Does'nt multitask, can either get position or make the ball.

 

[poolplayer2093]

oh yeah i think you should set the break ball higher and with more angle when you start off

 

[BigRigTom]

Hi, how's it going?

I'm not qualified to give advice, but I did want to say that your video set up is great. You have the perfect camera angle, and perfect lighting with no glare; the balls show up crystal clear. You should be a cinematographer, if you're not already.

How did you get the lighting that good? I'm getting a table put in and I'd like to do some taping of my practice sessions, so I'm looking for any advice I can get.

My table is in my garage and I installed 3 fixtures which each have 4 x 4' florescent light bulbs. They use those small t-8 20 watt bulbs so they are pretty bright without using a lot of power.

I then have that APA table light which I bought from the APA League Operators here in Southern California when they 1st came out with them because I got a great deal on it at that time.

The camera is set above the garage door looking down at the foot of the table then angled so you can see the whole table.

As for the camera it is a Logitec Pro 600C digital video WebCam which connects via USB to a computer, in my case it is my Toshiba laptop. That laptop is connected to my home network via a T5 cable to the router so I have a fast 100 MB PS connection to any hard drive on the network. I record directly to a 70 GB hard drive so I don't have worry about time or space.
It is all quite in-expensive to set up and works great for my purpose.
I am not an expert on the recording stuff and have made plenty of mistakes while learning how to get these videos recorded with a minimum of effort and time.

I still don't understand a lot of the technical stuff even though I have a degree in computer science. The amount of stuff you need to learn to do it really right is sometimes over whelming to almost anyone.

 

[BigRigTom]

Tom:
Thanks for posting your videos. Really nice looking table. Is that a Centennial ? Looks to be. I can tell that it plays great.
The main problem with your game is: You are not keeping your head straight (up & down) during your shots. Your head is leaning to the right and some shots. It is so far to the right that it appears sideways to the table.
You need to practice when down in your stance to move your head to the left as you are stroking. You will feel it in your neck. It will feel funny b/c you are not use to it. Go in front of a mirror. Look straight on and get down in your normal stance with your cue. You will see your head is leaning to the right. Correct your head position and you will feel what it feels like in your neck when your head is straight with the cue and your eyes are looking at the proper position to shoot a shot. Remember that feeling and you will know that your head & eyes are straight working together on target. I hope that you can understand what I am trying to say.

The table does look just like a Brunswick Centennial but is in fact made by Global Billiards in Gardena, California. My friend installs pool tables and I got a good deal on it from him when he replaced a bunch of Global Tables with those new Diamonds. This table plays GREAT!
Thanks for the advise regarding the way I hold my head. I klnew I had a problem there but really did not know what to do about it. I will try your advise and see if it helps. :thumbup:

 

[sascha]

Hi Tom, it´s nice that you are posting videos now, too. Well, i just watched 1 now. What Mike said about your head is right no doubt but i know players that do that, too and myself also. Same with my hand i hold the cue with, it´s turned inside but still, i am a 100 ball runner. so i would say whatever works for you is fine. If someone is a beginner i would change that of course but not when you played for many years. Back to your game, i think you hit the balls good,sometimes to hard. Main problem is that you shoot shots without knowing what you shoot next. You have to work on your plan to run a rack of balls and also on your position play. Maybe the cloth is really fast i don´t know. All i can say is that you make it harder then it is for you on certain shots. that might be because you don´t play for a long time ? how many yrs you are playing ?
It would be good for you to watch all the videos with higher numbers here and analize for yourself. What would i shoot, what next,how i get there....and then you see a difference between your thinking and the player. That will help you a lot in many ways. just watching a guy running balls doesn´t help you, always analize it. And then back to practice

 

[14-1StraightMan]

I have to disagree

Hi Tom, it´s nice that you are posting videos now, too. Well, i just watched 1 now. What Mike said about your head is right no doubt but i know players that do that, too and myself also. Same with my hand i hold the cue with, it´s turned inside but still, i am a 100 ball runner. so i would say whatever works for you is fine. If someone is a beginner i would change that of course but not when you played for many years. Back to your game, i think you hit the balls good,sometimes to hard. Main problem is that you shoot shots without knowing what you shoot next. You have to work on your plan to run a rack of balls and also on your position play. Maybe the cloth is really fast i don´t know. All i can say is that you make it harder then it is for you on certain shots. that might be because you don´t play for a long time ? how many yrs you are playing ?
It would be good for you to watch all the videos with higher numbers here and analize for yourself. What would i shoot, what next,how i get there....and then you see a difference between your thinking and the player. That will help you a lot in many ways. just watching a guy running balls doesn´t help you, always analize it. And then back to practice

I have to disagree with my friend Sascha. Maybe having their heads tilted
to one side is fine for well established players but Tom & others are not established in their game. They need to learn the correct stance, eye/ head position & stroke before they can go on to other aspects of the game.
Running a 100 balls once in a Blue Moon is not the same as running 60 to 90 consistently. It all starts with good form, especially when it comes to teaching.
Tom, I suggest you watch yourself in the mirror like I told you and go from there. Watch Allison Fisher, the way she gets down on each shot is the same. There are many more Pros that do the same. I do not know any of them with their head on an angle when they shoot. Down the road you can experiment with sighting down the cue with your strong eye and or weak eye.
Goog Luck

 

[sascha]

I have to disagree with my friend Sascha. Maybe having their heads tilted
to one side is fine for well established players but Tom & others are not established in their game.

Thats what i said too Mike, I said i would change that at a beginner but i don´t know how long he is playing. Look at Ray Martins head for example, works for him, too

 

[sascha]

Running a 100 balls once in a Blue Moon is not the same as running 60 to 90 consistently.

you want to tell me i run 100 maybe once a year and that i don´t run 50-100 consistently ?

 

[14-1StraightMan]

Have you forgot.

you want to tell me i run 100 maybe once a year and that i don´t run 50-100 consistently ?

Sascha:
You are always on defense when someone writes something.
Have you forgotten. How many times that you have written that you are having trouble getting out of the first rack and so on. Look back only to June 1st. You even mention breaking your cue. I know that you do not mean it but maybe you and others here, including myself can look at their stance etc and over all game and hopefully make improvements. One is never too old to learn something.
I know you have hit 100 and I know it isn't as often as you want.
I also know that at anytime you can put a great run together but we all
can improve and do those things more often.
If I hurt your feelings. I am sorry & I apologize.

 

[sascha]

Sascha:
You are always on defense when someone writes something.
Have you forgotten. How many times that you have written that you are having trouble getting out of the first rack and so on. Look back only to June 1st. You even mention breaking your cue. I know that you do not mean it but maybe you and others here, including myself can look at their stance etc and over all game and hopefully make improvements. One is never too old to learn something.
I know you have hit 100 and I know it isn't as often as you want.
I also know that at anytime you can put a great run together but we all
can improve and do those things more often.
If I hurt your feelings. I am sorry & I apologize.

you´re right but i never said i am where i want to be or that i can´t learn anything more. I always try to learn and get better. The way you wrote it says like i get lucky when i get a good run and that i would not run 50+ consistently. but i am. Of course everybody drops in a hole here and there. me,you and everyone else.

enough of that talking now, this thread is about tom and not about that.

 

[BigRigTom]

A little back ground to give you guys a clue where I think I am in pool.
I play in the APA as a Skill Level 6 in 8 ball and a 7 - 8 in 9 ball.(I made it to an 8 twice but fell back to 7 both times, am close to 8 again now.)

I started playing 14.1 to improve my cue ball control and also my ability to do break outs on clusters. It has helped a lot in both areas.

I have been playing pool since I was 12 (I am 59 now) but really only got seriously into the game in the Fall of 2000 when I joined a friend's APA 9 ball team. He is a strong skill level 9 and is a little bit older than I and his mentoring has helped me become somewhat a pool fanatic.

I could go on for ever about all the experiences but I won't bore you guys with that, I am sure you all have much more interesting stories to tell.

I simply love this game and want to get better at it. I study it, I practice it, I compete at it and I apply the lessons learned to all aspects of my life. I have made great friends while playing pool and can take credit for getting some of them interested in the finer points of the game.

Now back to working on my 14.1....:thumbup:

 

[14-1StraightMan]

You did ask for advise

A little back ground to give you guys a clue where I think I am in pool.
I play in the APA as a Skill Level 6 in 8 ball and a 7 - 8 in 9 ball.(I made it to an 8 twice but fell back to 7 both times, am close to 8 again now.)

I started playing 14.1 to improve my cue ball control and also my ability to do break outs on clusters. It has helped a lot in both areas.

I have been playing pool since I was 12 (I am 59 now) but really only got seriously into the game in the Fall of 2000 when I joined a friend's APA 9 ball team. He is a strong skill level 9 and is a little bit older than I and his mentoring has helped me become somewhat a pool fanatic.

I could go on for ever about all the experiences but I won't bore you guys with that, I am sure you all have much more interesting stories to tell.

I simply love this game and want to get better at it. I study it, I practice it, I compete at it and I apply the lessons learned to all aspects of my life. I have made great friends while playing pool and can take credit for getting some of them interested in the finer points of the game.

Now back to working on my 14.1....:thumbup:

Glad you are doing well in your APA League. Yes, 14.1 will help you in 8-ball & 9-ball.
Keep the videos coming. I will be looking forward on watching your progress.

 

[BigRigTom]

Thanks StraightMan for the advise, it has already improved my game a little bit.....here is my next video where I break and run the 1st rack then things will go down hill....:angry:

http://www.vimeo.com/12376726

Another note related to this thread....
I played on my APA 8 ball team last night.
I am a skill level 6 and I got stuck playing a skill level 2 (that is a 6 - 2 race)
I won that match 6 to 0 and there were many times that I realized that I knew exactly how to play the lay out because I had experienced similar situations while practicing 14.1

I am a believer!