What's holding me back?

Foolio

Foolio

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hello. I am approching my three year anniversary of playing pool. As Feburary comes closer I reminisce on how much I've enjoyed playing pool. My first encounter with pool came out of the ordinary. A couple of days after my 19th birthday I met my buddy in beautiful Santa Ana, Ca and we were looking for something to do. He says lets play "billar," pool. Why not, right? Well since then the bug bit me.

I look back on the way I used to approach the table, my stroke, etc. and I can't believe how much I've changed. I think that I learned fairly quick, I was always improving and learning new things. I would see improvents every say about 3-5 months. But now it's been about 6-8 months that I'm in this plateau. I've progressed and progressed to this point and it's like I am at a halt.

I've learned mostly online; read many articles and watched many videos on Youtube (thank you forcefollow and bcn!). I pretty much learned the game on my own trial and error. A couple people would give me some tips here and there but I've never had a lesson. Wathcing the better players always helped me. I have no idea how I would rate myself. I want to say I am a low B player??

So, what I am asking for is some advice. How did some of you break out from that barrier. What made you leap to that next level? Should I see and instructor? Do I need to match up more?

Is perfect vision needed to play pool well? I have horrible vision and wore contacts for the last year after 10 years without anything and was amazed how much more beautiful pool really is. But now i bought glasses and I cannot play with them on so I take them off, I learned to play blind so I can still make balls.

Any response is appreciated.
Thanks
 
First, get contacts, pool-specific glasses, or lasik surgery. Being able to see clearly is worth a few balls at least.

Next, work on you stroke. In pool, stroke is the most important and most difficult part of the game. Your stroke in pool can never be good enough, you should always be working on making it straighter, more powerful, more accurate, and more consistent. Focus on improving your timing. If your stroke has good timing, 90% of the shots you take will become effortless.

While you are working on that, you should be entering in as many tournaments as possible. You should also play for money as much as your wallet and moral beliefs will allow. Just don't get stuck in the habit of recieving weight from everyone. A little weight from a stronger player is OK, but you should always be in a tougher game so that you are always improving.

Also, the stakes you should play at vary from person to person, some people can play for $5 as seriously as they can play for $100. I personally make it my duty to try as hard as I can even if I am playing for a soda. Just make sure there is enough riding on the game so that you take the match seriously.

In between practicing your stroke, playing in tournaments, and gambling, you should be trying to increase your knowledge of the game. Watch better players, live if possible, video is okay too. Take lessons, do drills, play straight pool, etc. Always try to learn new shots you can make and new stuff you can do with the cue ball. Every little bit helps against great players.

After about 10,000 hours of doing all that, hopefully you will be a great player.
 
Why did Chuck Yeager become an ace pilot? Because his eyesight was so good, he could spot the enemy fighters long before they spotted his plane.

You betcha eyesight is a huge part of playing well. I know a nice lady player here in Oregon who went through a lens replacement eye surgery in order to improve her game. It worked...

Me? Just a recreational banger...with my 20-400 eyes without glasses, 20-30 with? That's all I'll ever be...

But I don't let my poor eyesight keep me from working on improving as I play...stance, stroke, etc. are also important. Enough so, that this blind guy can sometimes beat folks with 20-20 vision. ;)
 
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I, like you, have been playing for just under three years. I WISH I was a B player.

Then again, I drink too much B-fore I shoot, I work myself up B-fore I get to the table, I drop my elbow B-fore I stroke, and I hit too hard B-fore I realize a soft touch was required.

Maybe I am, in fact, a B player like you, but only B-fore I take my first shot.

(Shoot, man... and my eyesight is great. Hindsight, not so much).
 
When I got back into pool a few years ago after a 10 year hiatus, the first thing I did was get some instruction. Like the saying goes "practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect". Get someone to give you some instruction, especially on the mechanics, stroke, pre shot routine, etc. I noticed a drop in my game immediately due to working on and thinking about to many things at the same time, but once it becomes second nature, you will see an improvement and you'll also have the confidence in knowing that you are doing things the right way.
 
I'd say number 1 would be getting your vision spot on ... thinking you can play just fine because you are used to playing blind is crap. All it means is that is what you are used to; you will improve dramatically with decent glasses, contacts, or best yet ... laser eye surgery.

After you get your vision where it should be ... I would start practicing structered drills that have a definite method of scoring. Just tossing a rack of balls out and calling that practice is fine ... but you need to have a measuring stick to compare yourself to. Find a few drills that give you a scoring method (there are tons of different ones out there) and do them for a few weeks. If you see little improvement over time, seek a professional instructor and bring your results with you, it will help your instructor direct you. If you notice improvement over time with the drills you are using, swap out the drills until you find your strengths and weaknesses. Then I would contact an instructor and let them know you have trouble with XYZ and would like instruction from them on the BASICS plus the areas you are having issues with. Then take the drills they give you to work on and go from there... using their regiment for improvement.
 
Improving your pool game

Well are you associating yourself with great talent, if so, keep it up. hit a few larger tournaments now and then, then go and practice. other than practice, you need to watch guy's run their patterns, and sooner or later if you got it , it all comes together.


David Harcrow
 
Do more playing with something on the line. It doesn't have to be money, although that's the most common way to do it. Tournaments are interesting; you're sort of playing for money, but the feel is very different than a money match. But even if it's just pride, I think having something you care about on the line (has to be enough to make you nervous about the possibility of losing) is what teaches you to really bear down, really focus, and really execute. There's not that much knowledge and technique to the game. I mean, there is, but knowing it won't take you very far. Mostly what you need to learn is how to really get it done. How to really make a real object ball go in a real pocket with a real pool cue, and YOUR OWN real stroke. How to really control your speed, your angle coming off the rail, your amount of draw/follow. Knowing that not only can you make these things happen, but that you can make these things happen correctly in one try, when it matters. All the systems, lessons, or instructional internet posts in the world won't get you there, and truthfully won't even help that much.

Also, yes, you have to come up with a workable vision solution. You don't have to have perfect vision, but you do really have to have decent vision.

Lastly, know that how well you play has a great deal to do with how much you play. It takes not only a great deal of repetition, but a great deal of FREQUENT repetition, to gain the kind of consistency that leads to real success in this game.

-Andrew
 
OK... so in a nutshell:

You were improving while wearing contacts.
You loved how beautiful the game looked that way.
Now you don't wear anything over your eyes.
You admit to "playing blind."
And you wonder why you have plateaued?

The best thing you could do right now is to stop playing all together. Take the money you would usually be spending on table time, leagues, tournaments, equipment, etc... and put it all towards getting a vision correction aid of some sort (contacts, glasses that you can wear while playing, lasik, etc...). When you get back to the table, not only will the game be a TON easier, but the knowledge you gain by simply being able to see exactly what is happening on the table will take you up at least a notch or two.
 
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