Your Ah-Ha moment in pool that took your game to the next level?

northdakotafats

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A light bulb turned on for me when I was really young learning how to play. I had ball in hand and instead of selecting a straight in shot I took a little angle to get shape on my next shot. It was such an epiphany as I watched the cue ball roll down table for my next shot I still remember it as if it happened yesterday.

After that pool just seemed to make sense to me. What are some things that took your game up a notch? Whether its when you were starting out or made a jump to a serious player, I want to hear your story!
 
When I first got to the level that I could compete with better players fairly well, I used no follow in my game...

I drew or stunned everything...

Could not follow a ball accurately to save my life...

Then a friend who was traveling with me noticed it and worked with me for about an hour and basically taught me how to follow...

And that hour opened up every possibility on a pool table for me...

I jumped from being reasonably competitive to being a threat to win almost any match...
 
My moment came after being a player for 4 or 5 years and I was watching a money match and a guy had a slight angle shot which he could have drawn back and been a bit further, BUT, he used high left and came around for the shot.

Before that moment I had never used high left or right and then the AHA light bulb came on.
 
When I first got to the level that I could compete with better players fairly well, I used no follow in my game...

I drew or stunned everything...

Could not follow a ball accurately to save my life...

Then a friend who was traveling with me noticed it and worked with me for about an hour and basically taught me how to follow...

And that hour opened up every possibility on a pool table for me...

I jumped from being reasonably competitive to being a threat to win almost any match...

Nice, this was a big one for me too. Good post!
 
For me it was within the first few years after I started to get somewhat serious. I was playing in a weekly 8-ball tournament. It was a handicapped tournament so I had the opportunity to play against many players that were much better than myself so I learned a lot playing in those tournaments.
The "ah-ha" moment came while playing the owner of the room. I had always had trouble "holding" the cue ball when playing a cut shot that was close to a rail. Rather than hitting it harder to make it hit the rail, travel across the table to the opposing rail and then come back for the position, I always tried to hit it soft to try and hold the cue ball which never worked and always left me with poor position. I always seemed to do well in those tournaments but always seemed to come up just short of the money. After I watch the owner shoot that shot and travel across the table and use the opposing rail to come back for position it all seemed to make sense. I started placing in those weekly tournaments and before long I went from an low/average "C" player to a high "B". It took a lot more than that to reach the level I'm at now but that was the turning point.
 
I'd have to say it was when Pocket Point began posting on this forum. :sorry:

Upon further review, I'd say it was when I learned about speed control many years ago, that you didn't have to spear everything at warp speed. I immediately began beating my father regularly (I was about 8 I guess) and since he was the one that got me to slow down, he enjoyed it, too.

Long time ago and still learning every time I pick up my stick.

Brian in VA
 
I heard a light bulb pop. J/k, but when a ball is hit clean, it does make a very pleasant sound.
 
I am still waiting for that moment with this game. :(

I can tell you exactly when it was while playing golf. One day I randomly hit a draw shot with a 4 iron. For some reason it clicked on the feeling of hitting a draw that day. I realized what I was doing and from that point forward I was able to start moving shots using draw or fade.
 
apart from just the ah ha moment is there any advice that you've gotten along the way that you wish you would have gotten a lot earlier in your pool career?
 
When I started to use english (i.e., hitting off the centerline of the cueball to the right or left) and learned that I didn't have to aim any differently to adjust for throw/squirt/... if I held my cue level and hit with moderate speed.

I still hit the centerline of the cueball (i.e., no english) and use speed to gain position whenever possible. However, being able to incorporate the use of english whenever needed without having to think about aiming differently made my game much more fluid and unforced and took it to the next level because I could rely on using the same stroke for all shots.
 
When I learned about Squirt. I kept wondering why I missed so many shots when I was using left or right on the cue ball.

When I started compensating I was making more balls and my 9 Ball game started coming around. I won a weekly tournament going undefeated.
Confidence level skyrocketed.
 
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got, though I did get it fairly early in my career, is that not every shot was made to hit the center of the pocket...

Using sides of the pocket for position and especially using pocket speed to help shots that are not hit perfectly (or even well in some cases) is a huge advantage...

I consider my pocket speed to be on par with just about anyone's no matter the table or pocket size...

My general accuracy on the other hand could use some work...
 
When I learned about Squirt. I kept wondering why I missed so many shots when I was using left or right on the cue ball.

When I started compensating I was making more balls and my 9 Ball game started coming around. I won a weekly tournament going undefeated.
Confidence level skyrocketed.

+1.

Squirt, throw and how to compensate for it. BHE was pretty useful too.


Eric
 
For me, it was when I realized that I needed to draw with left english to get the ball to hit a rail and spin wide right for position; that alone blew my mind and every time I do it and a novice is looking, I see their eyes going "how did he do that??" :)

In the words on an ex-colleague, "once you figure it out, it's all very simple" :)
 
I've had a few throughout the years. But major ones:

- Watching a bunch of really good players playing, after learning in college on my own, and realizing how to really play the game, move the ball around, play safe, etc.

- Reading through Byrne's and Capelle's books and really visualizing position zones and some other concepts that enabled me to expand my game

- Most recently, the value of center ball and good old fashioned concentration over trying to help the ball in the hole or over analyzing the shot - just let the cue do the work and the cue ball goes where it's gonna go, no forcing or steering...

Scott
 
One of my "ah-ha" moments was when I first learned the 90 degree rule for stun shots. I had already developed the feel for shooting stop shots at pretty much all speeds and distances, but it never occured to me that when you introduced a cut angle, the tangent line for a stop (stun) shot was always 90 degrees. This was a big boost to my cue ball control because it gave me a repeatable base-line to make adjustments from, where I had previously played shape entirely by feel. I had a similar expreience when I learned some systems for predicting the path of a rolling cue ball.
 
One of my "ah-ha" moments was when I first learned the 90 degree rule for stun shots. I had already developed the feel for shooting stop shots at pretty much all speeds and distances, but it never occured to me that when you introduced a cut angle, the tangent line for a stop (stun) shot was always 90 degrees. This was a big boost to my cue ball control because it gave me a repeatable base-line to make adjustments from, where I had previously played shape entirely by feel. I had a similar expreience when I learned some systems for predicting the path of a rolling cue ball.

A stopshot always creates a 90 degree angle? Would you mind elaborating on your "rolling cueball" systems?
 
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