What I learned from Donny Mills vs Shane Van Boening

center pocket

It's just a hobby, but a fun one.
Silver Member
Excellent post, I am printing it out and going to go over it before my next tourney.
 

donny mills

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Oh, just one thing, though. Just my opinion...9-ball isn't a good game. Maybe I'm just bitter because my break is awful, but I like to get the same opportunity as my opponent. 10-ball is much better...still a bit of luck, but much much better :grin:

I love your avatar lol. Glad you put it back up.
 

John Biddle

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thank so much for the kind words about my post. I enjoyed the match a great deal, though the hard seats were a little tough on my butt.

I think Ginsu is right on the money that back to basics works most times. I also think a few simple things done to perfection can make a bigger improvement in most of our games than most people believe.

Keep an eye out on my Blog on Sunday Nov 15th for the 1st edition of PoolSynergy, a Monthly Collection of the Best Writing on Pool. Ten bloggers have committed to contribute, and maybe others will join in next month.
 

accustatsfan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thank so much for the kind words about my post. I enjoyed the match a great deal, though the hard seats were a little tough on my butt.

I think Ginsu is right on the money that back to basics works most times. I also think a few simple things done to perfection can make a bigger improvement in most of our games than most people believe.

Keep an eye out on my Blog on Sunday Nov 15th for the 1st edition of PoolSynergy, a Monthly Collection of the Best Writing on Pool. Ten bloggers have committed to contribute, and maybe others will join in next month.

Enjoy your articles.

Question are you saying never "hold the ball" for position or only on tables with fast cloth? Some 9 footers are so slow you have to "pound it" even on medium angles.

I like the "focus factor" I think that's the big thing that separates top players and the rest of us.
 

John Biddle

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Question are you saying never "hold the ball" for position or only on tables with fast cloth? Some 9 footers are so slow you have to "pound it" even on medium angles.

No, under the circumstances I would think an adjustment was appropriate. What many people do is try to hold up the cue ball and find out they can't, leaving a very poor shot. Or, they stroke poorly and miscue. In the DM v SVB match there were times when they could have taken a hold approach and been quite successful, but instead went across and back.

I'm guessing that the reasoning behind that, and it's a guess because I did not talk with either of these guys, is that it enables the shooter to keep the range of power applied to all shots to a minimum, i.e., the stroke power varies as little as possible. That will maximize one's ability to do it perfectly.

In the situation you describe, the requirement to pound the cue ball would have the opposite effect, and thus wouldn't be the appropriate choice if both techniques could work.
 

donnie hale

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What I Learned

John very well said Sir how we take this new knowledge and apply it and use it makes pool a better game and makes us all better players. both in the game of Pool and in reality of Life. God Bless You and Thank You! sincerely Donnie Hale.:wave:
 

accustatsfan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
No, under the circumstances I would think an adjustment was appropriate. What many people do is try to hold up the cue ball and find out they can't, leaving a very poor shot. Or, they stroke poorly and miscue. In the DM v SVB match there were times when they could have taken a hold approach and been quite successful, but instead went across and back.

I'm guessing that the reasoning behind that, and it's a guess because I did not talk with either of these guys, is that it enables the shooter to keep the range of power applied to all shots to a minimum, i.e., the stroke power varies as little as possible. That will maximize one's ability to do it perfectly.

In the situation you describe, the requirement to pound the cue ball would have the opposite effect, and thus wouldn't be the appropriate choice if both techniques could work.

Thanks for the reply.

What got me wondering about it is that Oscar Dominguez was asked about a particular shot where the choice was one or two rails (one of those shots you might try to hold but if you fail you have no shot) during commentary at the Hard times tournament.

His reply was that if it was a "fast" diamond to go 2 rails but on the slower Brunswick the players were using to go 1 rail.

I've learned the hard way what a mistake it is to try and hold the angle on fast tables.
 
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must-get-out

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
DM vs SVB

John
great article in your blog and well written.
2 questions I'm interested:
How many BnR( first day,second day if you know)
and
over the long distance,what's about the concentration curve from both!You saw anything??
thanks for answer
best regards
Klaus
 

John Biddle

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Must-get-out,

I don't know about the BnR stats, but as to the other question, I'll take a stab at it.

First, I missed the 1st 15 games on day one, and when I arrived Donny was down approx 15 - 5. Donny started to bear down and fought back hard the rest of the day, concentration excellent.

SVB was playing quite well when I arrived, slowed down a little, but very little, toward the middle of the day for a short while and came back strong.

Second day Donny started out well, Shane was lackluster. By 20 games or so, both men had lost confidence in their breaks. Shane couldn't make a ball reliably, and Donny did, but the pattern he was getting wasn't nearly as good, nor nearly as consistent as the first day.

Both were bothered by their break problems and spent way more time than they did the day before fiddling with the rack, trying to get back the previous day's magic.

Donny never gave up on his break, riding it all the way to loserville. Shane made a big change somewhere around win 70, back to his big break. You could see the change in his attitude immediately. He had little spring in his step, a lot more confidence, apparently. Donny wasn't able to get this back for some reason.

How's that?
 

Eric.

Club a member
Silver Member
Must-get-out,

I don't know about the BnR stats, but as to the other question, I'll take a stab at it.

First, I missed the 1st 15 games on day one, and when I arrived Donny was down approx 15 - 5. Donny started to bear down and fought back hard the rest of the day, concentration excellent.

SVB was playing quite well when I arrived, slowed down a little, but very little, toward the middle of the day for a short while and came back strong.

Second day Donny started out well, Shane was lackluster. By 20 games or so, both men had lost confidence in their breaks. Shane couldn't make a ball reliably, and Donny did, but the pattern he was getting wasn't nearly as good, nor nearly as consistent as the first day.

Both were bothered by their break problems and spent way more time than they did the day before fiddling with the rack, trying to get back the previous day's magic.

Donny never gave up on his break, riding it all the way to loserville. Shane made a big change somewhere around win 70, back to his big break. You could see the change in his attitude immediately. He had little spring in his step, a lot more confidence, apparently. Donny wasn't able to get this back for some reason.

How's that?

The first 20 games or more, SVB had teh momentum, Donny was still trying to sort out his break. Once he did, he swung a deficit to a decent lead, until SVB closed to within 2 to end day 1 at 47-45.

SVB's big switch to the hard break came from a text, from a friend of his taht told him to "stop fuggin around and break like a US Open champion". Once he found a way to make a ball on the break, the rest was history.


Eric >glad to meet John Biddle this weekend
 

must-get-out

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
John and Eric,thanks for answers!
@Eric:*stop fuggin around and break like a US Open champion*
---Luv it:smile:

I can't see both,the USopen(tested 2 hours with the stream admin,what a fight,thanks from here) and the TAR match,so I never saw DM playing.

I love the long races,the better wins in my opinion.I know the break shot is the important, and hands up for DM with that breakrate.
But I have a big problem with rackpattern and own racking.
The break from SVB is phenomenal,and I'm happy to hear he returned to his way to play the game and won.
If the match is coming up on DVD I'll buy it,only to see the break from DM,and hope it is not too boring to watch,if the 1234 balls rolling every break the same way.
Klaus
 
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