What about the tough shot?

[CaptainJR]

The 'playing the ghost' thread got me thinking about this. As I thought about it, I decided to make it it's own thread.

So you use ball in hand when playing the ghost. I didn't know that till they told me in that thread. Fred, you didn't call it that when you had me doing it. He probably assumed I knew what playing the ghost was. Anyway, when we would do some racks in the lesson, Fred would always have me take ball in hand after the break. Now, I know what he was doing, but I always had it in the back of my mind... what about the tough shots that you end up with after the break most of the time. Ball in hand is nice to try to run out from, but let's face it, you don't normally get to start off with ball in hand.

Then we have the practice exercises. These are great also for learning cue ball control and so forth, but they are always based on relatively easy shots. At least the ones I know are. What about the tough shots?

Do you all practice tough shots? Do you have or is there a particular system or way you practice them? The only thing I do in this respect is when I miss a shot in actual play, I try to remember to practice that shot. Yes I like to have fun practicing a few banks every now and then, but that is not really what I'm talking about here. The tough cuts, Tough cuts with tough position play, etc. etc..

 

[vapoolplayer]

The 'playing the ghost' thread got me thinking about this. As I thought about it, I decided to make it it's own thread.

So you use ball in hand when playing the ghost. I didn't know that till they told me in that thread. Fred, you didn't call it that when you had me doing it. He probably assumed I knew what playing the ghost was. Anyway, when we would do some racks in the lesson, Fred would always have me take ball in hand after the break. Now, I know what he was doing, but I always had it in the back of my mind... what about the tough shots that you end up with after the break most of the time. Ball in hand is nice to try to run out from, but let's face it, you don't normally get to start off with ball in hand.

Then we have the practice exercises. These are great also for learning cue ball control and so forth, but they are always based on relatively easy shots. At least the ones I know are. What about the tough shots?

Do you all practice tough shots? Do you have or is there a particular system or way you practice them? The only thing I do in this respect is when I miss a shot in actual play, I try to remember to practice that shot. Yes I like to have fun practicing a few banks every now and then, but that is not really what I'm talking about here. The tough cuts, Tough cuts with tough position play, etc. etc..

i keep a little book that i made with small table diagrams with me when i play in competition. if i miss a shot, i put it on a table. i'll go back after the tourney and decide if its a shot a i need to practice or if it was something in the fundamentals or addressing of the cue ball. if i missed the shot because its a hard shot for me i practice it. if i know its a routine shot, i practice my mental game, focus, fundamentals.

also i keep the book with me, because i may come to a hard shot, that isn't impossible, but i'm not confident with. so in the tournament i opt to play a safe, but i still write the shot down. i'll practice make the shot with every "hit" possible, so that when it comes up again, i will have more options that just playing safe.

the key to making "tough" shots no longer tough, is confidence that you can make the shot, and knowing how to shoot the shot. once you have those two things, the shot is no longer "tough".

also after mastering the shot that you were faced with, you actually learn several different shots. as it may not come up the exact same way as it did in that particular game, but you may have the same or similar angle.........now you know how to make the ball, and all of your positional options.

VAP

 

[cheemagun]

playing the ghost is basicly training for consistency. in a game you dont normally end up with that shot.. but if you had a nice break and get by just the first couple of balls.. you would basicly be playing the ghost. thats how you string a few racks together.

when i play i note what i need to practice in my head and the next time i get to practice thats what i practice on.

i also get lazy some times and just throw the balls on the table and run out.

 

[woody_968]

Good post Captain.

IMO the key to tough shots is staying commited to your preshot routine. Lets face it, if the shot is tough all you can do is commit to it and give it your best effort.

I would say a good way to practice these shots is to do it progressivly (sp). If its a long thin cut shot, start out with the cueball closer to the OB. As you get comfortable with the shot start moving the cueball farther back but on the same cut angle.

If someone is having trouble with the thin cut then they should start with a shot of less angle, and as they get better slowly increase the angle of the cut.

This being said, I think the amount of time spent on tough shots should be tightly controlled. Spending alot of time on hard shots is not the best way to use up practice time. Pool is a game of being able to perform the basic, or easy shots, with good cueball control. Yes once in a while you have to come with a shot to get started. But most of the time peoples runs are stopped because of mistakes on routine shots.

Not to mention that hitting a hard shot over and over and seeing failure after failure does not exactly build confidence in ones game. But consistently perfroming medium difficulty drills can boost your confidence enough that when one of the tougher shots comes up you have a much better chance of pulling it off.

woody

 

[sniper]

Every player is probably different but I don't personally practice tough shots unless there is a specific shot giving me troubles. Playing banks and one pocket I find enough tough shots come up to keep my skills sharp. If I was just playing nine ball or eight ball all the time I imagine I would start practicing tough shots more frequently.

 

[Joe T]

Captain, you read my mind, your just a little late with your vibes (about a year). Last year I put together a book based on about 24 of what I call "pools more missable shots". These are shots that come up every time we play but are shots that most players are very inconsistent at and they are shots that help those creepy little voices of doubt and fear come out.

Obviously we all need practice and we all need it in different areas and we all have the same problems of limited time and/or resources to practice the many skills required. So I'm not saying my way is the best or only way but the book is designed solely on very difficult shots but these are shots you should be able to "come with" if you aspire to play at an "A" level or better. And yes you may become discouraged as Woody stated earlier about missing over and over but the reward comes to those that can make it thru that period of missing over and over. Even if they need to seek out some help for a few of these specific shots. I've gotten very good results using this method of instruction this past year or two and it's a lot more fun and challenging than teaching someone to stand like the guy in the book is.

I broke the shots down into small easy to identify groups and I call for you to sink a certain amount of each before moving on to the next group (usally 4-6 of each) and get this, I make you record how many shots you missed before you sank the required amount in a column called "Misses". Boy you should have seen some well known instructors eyes pop out when they see this kind of what they call negative feedback or whatever in the book. I call it the truth and I'm not here to kiss ass, I want results.
We have a column of 24 shootable but very missable shots and the whole routine calls for you to end up sinking 185 very tough shots while keeping track of your misses, which we'll total up at the end of the workout and will probably be between 30 misses, 2 1/2 hrs (Efren and Earl's speed) and get this, 500 misses that's about 15 hours worth. The record is 427 misses ( and I salute that persons persistence) but I know others would have had more but they quit! That's the brutal part, the good news is, some that couldn't complete this workout a year or two ago are now breathing down my neck with some very very reduced scores of their misses.
The reason I'm babbling on about this is because of the results I've seen and improvements some of my students have made this past year. Especially one in particular who was one of the least talented players that ever came to me for lessons. (I secretly wished he wouldn't come back). He couldn't do 90% of these shots when we started (he would have been in that 500 catagory or worse) and now he has a record low of 78 misses (my average is 70 misses) and he is constantly calling me telling me how he broke his record on this shot and that shot and calls this workout "The Gauntlet". (I spent about 5 percent of our time together on basics (he looks horrible) and the rest of our time on aim and position using this workout. 2 years ago he was a dead "d" player, this year he made it to Sunday in the Ocean State Championship, beating a few open players along the way. He's still a "B" but I haven't figured a faster way to instill strategy and experience.
Another reason I'm babbling is, you guessed it, this book now comes with 2 DVD's and is available at my new website www.joetucker.net where you can watch a variety of video clips, one of which is the introduction that explains the aiming system and has a few sample shots. By the way, the method I use to approach all these tough shots is based on my patented "Aiming by the Numbers"
Recoverjones has had a taste of this workout book. I think he can vouch for the difficulty of it. It's not for the weak and is designed to help players reach those higher levels, even the pro's will be challenged here.

 

[Williebetmore]

It's not for the weak and is designed to help players reach those higher levels, even the pro's will be challenged here.

JoeT,
Just a note of compliment to you and C.B. I just finished the Great Break Shot book today - very informative, and thanks for the racking advice - it was a real eye-opener.

I will soon be ordering your difficult shot workout. I remember when I first started lessons with a top pro, he had me shooting 40-80 shots a day with HEAVY inside and outside English - very, very difficult for my level of play; shots that as you describe always occur at least once or twice a match. After 6 or 7 months these shots are fairly easy, and while I respect their difficulty I don't hesitate to use them in competition. I can't wait to see what you have in store for me. While I agree with the posters that emphasize mastering the basic and easy shots, no one will reach the upper echelon without mastering all the varieties of difficult shots as well.

 

[cuejoey]

i keep a little book that i made with small table diagrams with me when i play in competition. if i miss a shot, i put it on a table. i'll go back after the tourney and decide if its a shot a i need to practice or if it was something in the fundamentals or addressing of the cue ball. if i missed the shot because its a hard shot for me i practice it. if i know its a routine shot, i practice my mental game, focus, fundamentals.

also i keep the book with me, because i may come to a hard shot, that isn't impossible, but i'm not confident with. so in the tournament i opt to play a safe, but i still write the shot down. i'll practice make the shot with every "hit" possible, so that when it comes up again, i will have more options that just playing safe.

the key to making "tough" shots no longer tough, is confidence that you can make the shot, and knowing how to shoot the shot. once you have those two things, the shot is no longer "tough".

also after mastering the shot that you were faced with, you actually learn several different shots. as it may not come up the exact same way as it did in that particular game, but you may have the same or similar angle.........now you know how to make the ball, and all of your positional options.

VAP

that's a great idea about keeping a note book for your shots..i'll be trying that..Thanks

 

[recoveryjones]

Recoverjones has had a taste of this workout book. I think he can vouch for the difficulty of it. It's not for the weak and is designed to help players reach those higher levels, even the pro's will be challenged here.[/QUOTE]

Humbily I admit that I got half way through Joe's workout and quit.This is an extremley challenging test,with rail shots, jackups,extreme cutbacks and spins. Many of the shots in JT's latest workout are definitley of the advanced variety.

They are the type of shots, however,that can psychologicaly ruin your opponent(when successfully executed) and totally swing a match in your favour.These are shots that can sometimes be no fun to practice,however,many of them are essential to get to the highest level of cuemanship.I highly recommend this book to any serious pool player and do say that those with high ego(like me
) will be humbled.RJ

 

[vapoolplayer]

question for joe

Joe,

i was just wondering if you have a package deal for all of your products? (the 2 ball set, the book/video for them, and the racking secrets book/video or killer break whatever it is called now)

i'm interested in purchasing all of them as they look very helpful. i'm not trying to talk you down on the price, i'm going to get them regardless, just wondering if you had a package deal for those of us who wish to buy them all.

thanks

you can email me at billiardsplayer@aol.com

 

[vapoolplayer]

that's a great idea about keeping a note book for your shots..i'll be trying that..Thanks

i also keep a journal, to log how my practice sessions go, how my tournaments go. what i feel i did wrong, what i feel i did right. how i felt that day, mental state............etc etc

very helpful

VAP

 

[Joe T]

Joe,

i was just wondering if you have a package deal for all of your products? (the 2 ball set, the book/video for them, and the racking secrets book/video or killer break whatever it is called now)

i'm interested in purchasing all of them as they look very helpful. i'm not trying to talk you down on the price, i'm going to get them regardless, just wondering if you had a package deal for those of us who wish to buy them all.

thanks

you can email me at billiardsplayer@aol.com

VA I definately have a plan for a package deal and haven't priced it yet because the Racking Secrets DVD is done but not yet for sale. (I'm waiting to hear back from very respected source as to which route I should follow with it.)
I also plan on advertising here with Mike in the near future and of course will offer an AZ discount. For now if anyone wants a deal on what's available;
Gauranteed Improvement Book $10
Aiming Workbook, 2 DVD's $45
Aramith Aiming Balls $60
& shipping $10
I'll whack $25 off for the AZ early bird special. As long as you promise to buy the Racking Secrets DVD when it's available!
For those of you who have already sent for the full package, your refund check is in the mail, from a pool player! lol Thank God we took care of this early, I could see my wife shaking her head now I was sitting there sending out $25 checks all night!

 

[vapoolplayer]

VA I definately have a plan for a package deal and haven't priced it yet because the Racking Secrets DVD is done but not yet for sale. (I'm waiting to hear back from very respected source as to which route I should follow with it.)
I also plan on advertising here with Mike in the near future and of course will offer an AZ discount. For now if anyone wants a deal on what's available;
Gauranteed Improvement Book $10
Aiming Workbook, 2 DVD's $45
Aramith Aiming Balls $60
& shipping $10
I'll whack $25 off for the AZ early bird special. As long as you promise to buy the Racking Secrets DVD when it's available!
For those of you who have already sent for the full package, your refund check is in the mail, from a pool player! lol Thank God we took care of this early, I could see my wife shaking her head now I was sitting there sending out $25 checks all night!

ok, so do i go thru you on here........or is there a special page on your website for this? i have my credit card in hand ready to order.....LOL

if you want, i can go ahead and pay for the entire thing, (racking secrets as well) and you can ship all at once, or partial. i'll pay whatever shipping you want if you ship what you have now, and the racking secrets later.

thanks

 

[Joe T]

ok, so do i go thru you on here........or is there a special page on your website for this? i have my credit card in hand ready to order.....LOL

if you want, i can go ahead and pay for the entire thing, (racking secrets as well) and you can ship all at once, or partial. i'll pay whatever shipping you want if you ship what you have now, and the racking secrets later.

thanks

Download the order form, send the check with screen name and I'll ship it. No Racking Secrets yet just come back later when it's available.