Let's take a look at what's available.
Shots can be divided into 3 arena's. The Break Shot, a Play Shot & a Jump Shot. There are good cues for each of these shots to be made. There are several forms of media to assist you in using these cues.
Drills are always good, they give you a feel for position play (Books & Videos can easily help with this need). Using a video recorder can help you see what you are doing right and/or wrong.
A good Instructor/Coach will assist you in developing a good foundation, which will be your talent's best friend. Without a foundation, you have no consistancy & nothing to build on.
There are some very good players who never learned anything, except from ROTE. They never cracked a book or watched a video. They never practice much, but they are still good players. These are naturals, but they are 1 in a 1000, maybe 10,000.
Good players can play with any cue that has a good tip. They choose to purchase a nice cue, because they can.
I would recommend developing your Pool Game with segments. Do your practice of drills, until you are very successful. Practice your Break Shot. Practice jumping balls. Practice with focus, by yourself. When you play, you can use your skills to play better, compete better & learn to be comfortable with winning