Happy Holidays

Just a quick post to say Merry Christmas to everyone. If, by chance, you don't celebrate christmas, then have a good vacation day. :)

Videotape Yourself For Analysis

Monday night XY and I hit up the pool hall, this time with my old video camera in tow.  We've been talking about videoing ourselves for a while to see what our strokes actually look like from a distance and whatnot.  I set it up in a corner and just left it there.  We played for about 2.5 hours with it running.  Although neither of us really played well, it was still informative to go back and watch it. 

Upon first viewing and after getting past the horror that is watching yourself, it became pretty informative.  It turns out, that despite my sincerest efforts my elbow is not perpendicular to the cue, it's about 5-10 degrees further away from my body then the butt-end of the cue is.  Although my stroke is pretty dang straight, I do want to fix this.  I wonder if this is the cause for those slight errors I continually make, when everything else looks and feels right.

I was nice to get a couple really nice shots on tape though.  This one which I have never tried before.  I didn't feel confident going the other ways to get on the 9 and this idea just came to me when I was looking at it.  I'm actually quite surprised I got it all the way around, but was very happy to watch my plan unfold. I'm not 100% on the exact positions shown here, but this is the general idea.  My draw stroke is pretty strong and because the balls were so close I didn't have to worry too much about deflections on the cue causing a problem.

A few racks later, after a long safety battle and a few missed attempts, I found myself at the table with this layout.  Again, relying on my strong draw skills, I got down, lined up and fired.  The cue ball took a hard right-turn and went right into the 9.  The right-english helped throw the 9 into the pocket and I was very happy. :)

 

 

At some point, I will video myself doing some drills and whatnot just for archival/reference sake - and at some further point in the future, I'll get one of those "Dazzle" things that will let me transfer the vids to the computer so I can upload them.

The first rack of the night was the most entertaining.  My first "Golden Break" in over 3 weeks, and it's on video. lol

I tried to study my break form as well, I'm getting good action on the balls and when I hit it properly the cueball is generally in the center-ish part of the table.  Too often though, I hit it with bottom and it comes flying back towards the corner pocket.  Doesn't scratch, but doesn't leave much of a shot either.  I'll continue to watch the tape and look for more little details to either fix or continue to work on.  

I will absolutely continue to video myself - and I think I will ask XY to hold the camera and move around the table to show all the angles of my stance and stroke to see everything that's going on.

For anyone that's reading this - do you do this and what has been your experience with it? Find it helpful? Harmful? Embarrassing?

Overconfidence is bad, m'kay? (and disrepsectful) (Dale)

I learned another valuable lesson this weekend: Having confidence is good. Having too much confidence is bad.

I had a rescheduled "match" to play my brother-in-law Friday night.  We've never really played before - outside of one night on a bar box in a bar with some strange characters hanging around.  We got there around 8 and he was there warming up and getting used to the size of the 9fts again.  We shot a few warmup balls then started it off.  To make it interesting we decided to play for the cost of the time.  So, I said lets do best of 3 sets, races to 7.

The first set I won 7-1.  Then we switched over to our usual table, it's tighter pockets, but out of the way of the rest of teenagers and bangers throwing balls all over the room.  The 2nd set started off in my favor, winning the next 2 racks.  All the while, I'm goofing around with XY and other regulars and noticing that I'm taking more risky shots when it's my turn at the table.  Before I know it, he's up 4-5 on me.  Then 4-6, then 4-7 and he wins the 2nd set. 

Now it's down to the last set.  The last few racks really went his way, getting great rolls and leaving me terrible when he missed.  The last set started off rough for me.  I was down 0-3 before I realized what the problem was: I wasn't really thinking about the game.  I was joking around with other people, watching the game, but wasn't really in the game.  I finally got on the board when it was 1-5.  Then, I got a few rolls, and he dogged the 9 a few times, giving me 4-5.  I was almost on a roll, then he get a rack, 4-6.  I managed to gain my focus back and get it back to 6-6. hill-hill.

All 3 hours of pool game down to one rack, and I had the break.  Unfortunately, I broke dry and left him a shot on the 1.  Luckily, the 3 was buried and he broke it out, and missed.  I got the table on the 3 and ran up to the 8.  Now, the 8 is on the left long rail about 1/2 diamond from the pocket.  The 9 is on the right long rail around the 1st diamond just opposite the 8.  My shot on the 7 left me around the 2nd diamond nearly straight in on the 8.  It should've been 2 easy shots, but I was so worried about position, I tried to add too much top/right english and threw the 8 in the corner rail instead of the pocket. 

I was seriously disappointed with my performance.  In retrospect, I never thought I'd have to play a 3rd set, and certainly not go hill-hill.  I understand people get rolls and others don't and I'm fine with that, but honestly I never should have let it get that far.  I thought about the mistakes I made all night and into the next day.

I did two major things wrong: 1) I didn't stay in the game because I assumed I would win regardless. 2) I disrespected my opponent by not taking him seriously. As such, I deserved to lose and am glad I did.

So, Dale - if/when you read this: Good job!  Thank you for the lesson in manners and I apologize for the disrespect.

So Much Pool To Watch!

So, I posted the other day how I've been watching the Mosconi Cup on youtube all week, last night I tried it on my PS3 and found that it works there too; albeit a little more pixelated on the bigger screen.  This morning, I find out that Simonis is providing a LIVE and FREE video stream for the Touring Stone Classic starting today, for the next 4 days!!  If anyone is interested, you can find it here: Touring Stone Stream (via AzBilliards.com)

My First Break and Run!!!!!

Today's big pool story is that I finally - FINALLY - completed a break'n'run!!  I've never done it; not in practice, not in a game.  The most I've ever done is ran 2-9.  Today... I did it! With a bit of luck, I will totally admit.

I wish I could remember the layout, but it one of my first games and I played many today.  I broke, make the 8.  The 1 was blocked by 2 other balls all along the long rail.  I had intended on shooting the 1 off to the other side, leaving the cue behind the wall - but I hit it too hard and somehow the 7 at the end of the string dropped into the corner.  The 1 carom'd off another ball to push it up towards the side pocket on the other side.  From there, I ran out - with some pretty good position play.  I overran a few, underran a few, but nothing was so bad that I really killed myself.  When I shot the 6 and got a little long on the 9, I thought: "How many balls is this now?" Then immediately pushed that thought from my mind and focused on the 9.  After it sank, I thought a bit more... Then asked my opponent, "Did I just run those?" He said, "Not the whole table." in a tone that was akin talking to a kid who was trying to gain appreciation.  But then I thought about it.  I don't remember missing anything, and I only had to run 7 balls to get out and I don't remember him at the table at all.  I HAD to have to run out.  I just know it.  I KNOW IT.  I let it go and decided to move on, but I know I did.  I remember moving from the 4 to the 5, I know I sank the 6 cuz it dropped me on the 9.  The 3 is only ball I can't exactly remember - but the table was open and he's not the kind of guy that would leave it with all those balls.

The next rack, I broke dry and he ran out; which kinda killed my high, but oh well.  Now that I know I can do it, and have done it... I will definitely try to do it more often.  Of course, that's always the plan - but I know that I'm not quite to the point where I can predictably get position for all balls.  I still need a little luck here and there; and I'm perfectly okay with that.

The Mosconi Cup

I have been watching matches from the Mosconi Cup whenever I get a chance.  I hadn't really put too much effort into researching this event, but since it was flooding the forums all last week, I decided to go ahead and check it out.  WOW!!  I can't believe I was so nonchalant about it before.  I had previously thought it was another "Masters" type of tournament, and in a way it is - but it's much more competitive; and with varying formats that really keep you glued to the tube.

Most notably, I have discovered Dennis Hatch - a name I've also seen flooding the forums in the past months in relation to this event.  How I haven't seen any matches of his before this, I don't know - but he is quickly becoming my favorite male player.  He is so energetic, supportive, and holy cow what a shot maker!

I also watched a few doubles matches and those looking extra stressful.  Basically, whatever shot you make, where you leave the cueball is where your partner has to shoot.  So, instead of it being trading off innings (like I had assumed) you're actually trading off shots.  So, if you mess up position, you have just screwed your partner.  Normally, you would just have to deal with it and you'd be okay with that - this makes you far more responsible.  It's really quite something I'm not sure I could handle right now. haha

If you want to check it out, hit up snookeram's stream on youtube!  If you like watching some incredible pool being played, you won't be disappointed in these!!

Pool Synergy: Push The Ball

This month's issue of Pool Synergy is all about "Billiard Tales". Specifically those [sometimes] little conversations that spark growth and education.


I've been playing pool on and off since I was a teenager and whenever I got the chance I always tried to work on my game, or what I thought my game consisted of in retrospect. It wasn't until I had the misfortune of having my cue stolen, along with the rest of my truck earlier this year, and was forced to buy a new stick did I really start to pursue pool as a student. It was a coincidental time I suppose, I had just recently discovered a new pool hall - one for adults and serious players as opposed to the theme-based bar with obnoxious colored felt I had previously frequented. I was in need of a new cue and I decided that along with a new cue, should come new knowledge.


I started off doing what I usually do with new topics of interest: scour the internet for information. And boy did I find it. I found loads of it. But trying to wade through all of it was not an easy task. Just trying to filter out the noise from the content in the popular forums was a challenge; but a worthy one nonetheless. After a few months of watching videos, reading articles, blogs, forums and even picking up a 'how-to' dvd, I thought I had a pretty good idea on what constituted a good stroke - and I worked avidly at building that stroke. So when I found myself continuing to miss otherwise easy shots I chalked it up to my eyes playing tricks on me or being off balance in my stance or any other thing that wasn't directly related to the stroke I had been building.


As any pool player can tell you, follow-through is just as important as the backswing portion of a stroke. In addition to many other aspects of the game, I concentrated on my follow-through, making sure the tip was, as Jerry Briesath states "4 to 6 inches beyond the cue ball". Yet, I was still missing shots I should make, I wasn't getting the action on the cue ball I expected, english wasn't being applied or backspin died out before hitting the object ball. I was at a loss and started to wonder if perhaps the cue or tip was my barrier. "Look how far my tip passed the resting point and how hard I hit it - it shouldn't be possible for the cue ball to just stop! It's supposed to come back at least 8 inches with that much draw." became something of my personal mantra for a while.


I struggled with issues like that for another month, every day at the same pool hall with just about all the same people around. I asked for advice, help, tips from anyone that would give them, and I listened to other players talk amongst themselves to try and pick up on something, anything that would alleviate this ailment in my stroke.

One day I was working on some rudimentary angle drills trying to get various positions from them when at some point I just became frustrated and stared at the table a while. As it happened, on the touch-screen game a few feet away was one of the local instructors that will sometimes hang out between lessons. I finally decided to ask him for help. My initial question was about how to aim for the particular shot on the table, and while that was helpful and I had many other questions, I also didn't want to push my luck, since I wasn't paying for his time. It seemed fortune favored me that day because after watching me try out his suggestion and seeing my continued frustration shot after shot, he walked over and said, "You're hitting the cue ball; don't do that. Push the ball."


I stopped and focused on that phrase for a few moments. "Push the ball?.... hrmmm ... Push.. the... ball!!!!" Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head. It was my biggest "EUREKA!" moment since I started learning. I had to try this, so I set up the shot, got down and focused on "pushing" the ball, instead of hitting the ball. The speed was the same as it had been before, the aim was the same - but this time, everything worked. The object ball dropped and I got the cue ball back to the other side of the table, right where I wanted it. I was ecstatic! Everything that people had told me, everything I had read in various forms and most notably Jerry's definition of a stroke involving "throwing the cue through the cue ball" finally made sense. Everything made sense. It was as if I was finally at peace with my stroke. I no longer had to force the stroke because I was no longer focusing on the hit, my contact point with my cue wasn't exactly on the cue ball - instead it was past the cue ball. I started to envision the entire stroke mentally, seeing the cue push through the cue ball. I spent the rest of the day pushing the cue ball all over the table with tremendous success. I left that day almost giddy.


Now I'm positive that I had heard or been told or read that phrase months earlier, but it didn't make sense then. My guess is that I wasn't in tune enough with my stroke at the time for it register. Whatever the cause, that day it hit home like a bomb. From that very day forward, my pocketing percentage went way up; and whenever I feel like things aren't going well, I fall back onto that phrase. "Push the ball." It's the quickest way for me to get back in stroke and keep me there.

The conversation wherein I learned how to stroke took no more than 5 minutes and had I not been open to critique it might still elude me. If there's a moral to this story, it's this: You will never know when the final piece of the puzzle will fall in your lap. Always be open to learning. Knowledge is whimsical and you can not predict its serendipitous nature.

For more great articles and stories from this month's issue, visit http://www.pooltipjar.com/2009/12/poolsynergy-volume-ii/

Zen Pool and the Karen Corr Rail Drill

I finally got a chance to sit down and finish Zen Pool over the weekend.  I wish I would've picked this book up a few months ago.  In an earlier post I mentioned the video "How to play pool right" which is where I first learned about deflection; and while that was a big help, it would've been even better to have more of a diagram to study rather than a video.  This is only one reason I would have wanted this book earlier. 

The book starts off with a strong sequence of articles/chapters talking about the mental aspect of the game: how to spot when you are 'in the zone' and ways to push yourself there.  All those sections were beneficial to me. The author talks about needing to trust your stroke and how hard it is to get to that point.  How it's important when you're not playing well to fall back on your fundamentals to get through the tough times. However, his talk about fundamentals were vague - stance, stroke etc - were almost glossed over.  He did mention other resources for more in-depth review of those specifics, but I was personally hoping for more pool-related information (so I wouldn't have to go through multiple titles at once).  I could have also foregone the recaps of matches he watched which seemed almost like filler material to get the book to the required number of pages for print.  They are good examples (stories) of what he's talking about - but they seemed a bit out of place; breaking the flow of information.  It's just my opinion though. 

The book, I think, is a good book - especially for beginners and intermediates, but honestly anyone above intermediate probably won't get too much out of it - unless they have no mental game (which is unlikely as they've progressed to that stage somehow).  Still, I would recommend it for just about anyone, it's very affordable and even if you already know everything, it's an entertaining read.  I'm sorry Max, but I don't think it will awaken the master within by itself - but it will help nudge the master in the right direction.

---

The Karen Corr drill I posted about the other day...  I got to try it yesterday - almost all variations posted among those 6 videos.  Surprisingly, it didn't seem quite as hard as I thought it would be.  However - I also took advantage of the leniency given by the video.  Still - it was not easy and it did shine a spotlight on the deflection issue.  IMO, this is the best way to learn your own cue's deflection rates.  I learned more about how my cue deflects with different distances and speeds yesterday than I have for the 6 month's I've owned this stick.  I strongly recommend doing this.

How To Do a Rail Workout in Pocket Billiards on Howcast

If you can't ride the rail past the side pocket then when you get position off the the 3rd ball, just shoot the last three in the other corner - it allows to try deflection on the other side of the ball - theoretically the same - but a good exercise nonetheless.

Side note: the wind chill is 5(f) today - and overnight it'll drop to below zero.  Guess I'll have to start wrapping my cue case in a blanket to walk across the parking lot.

A note for myself

Try this drill someday when you are feeling really good... otherwise, anger, frustration and disappointment will win:

http://www.howcast.com/videos/3070-How-To-Do-a-Rail-Workout-in-Pocket-Billiards

A Bit of Practice - The L Drill

This weekend was pretty low-key.  I was supposed to have a friendly match with my brother in law, but he had his wisdom teeth removed earlier in the week and wasn't feeling up to playing; which I completely understand.  So, I went to the hall anyway and decided to do some work.

I warmed up with my new "usual" warmup exercise (see the Warm Up Drill video in a previous post), a few times around the table.  Then AJ asked if I cared to shoot a few games - sure.  So we played a while, then it got busy and he went to help at the counter.  Amongst all of the games, somewhere I found myself out of line and was jawing every other ball.  So, during this break, I did a stop-shot drill at varying distances along the long rail.  After that, I tried the "L" drill for the first time:

I did the drill on each corner.  Well, lets just say I worked through each ball in the drill on each corner.  I was unable to successfully run the balls in order without missing, all 9 in a row - but I never expected me to do that anyway.  My position play is decent - meaning I know where I want the CB to go, and generally how to get it there - but my speed control is lacking and I tend to overrun position.  When I try to combat that, I underrun by a significant amount.  Of course, the 2nd time I shoot the shot, I'm usually able to get it just about right.  Having the first shot as a guide is great - and I do learn from it - but it's very frustrating to so consistently come up short or long on a shot - and so rarely exactly on the spot.

I think I found this drill to be easier than the 9 balls down the center of the table drill.  Maybe because I was only working with one pocket? Or Maybe because getting position up the center line is easier for shorter distances?  I do know this ... by the time I was rounding the corner of the "L" my position was around the 1st diamond past the side-pocket (too far away).  This happened nearly every time I tried this drill.  Which inevitably led me, in an attempt to correct this, to come short on the last 2 balls.   It's strange, even the 4th time through the drill, I still managed to make the same mistakes - even while thinking that I can correct them.  *shrug*

My "shot of the night" was actually 2 shots back to back.  The situation: 9-ball game, opponent has left me half-hooked for the 5 ball.  I know I can hit this ball with a slight masse around the blocker - I think maybe if I'm lucky I'll make it, but I'll definitely hit it.  Well... I made it!  But, then the ball creeps on over to hide behind the 9 ball - hooking me for the 6.  It's essentially the same shot, so I line up, jack up, and pull the trigger ... and to my amazement, and those watching, I make that one as well!!  Here's the layout:

I quickly threw this layout together, and the 9 might not be in the exact spot.  It was only a half-ball (at most) blocker.








I spent the rest of the night playing one of the employees, making some good shots - working on safety plays rather than attacking all the time.  It was a good time.

2-rail Position Drill

I tried this today:


Wow - that's quite a bit more difficult than I expected.  Of course, I realize now that I set it up incorrectly.  I had the OB at the 1x2 diamond spot - and it's supposed to be on the 1x1.  But, I knew today wouldn't be that great - just aren't feeling it today.  However, I will definitely be trying this again, and soon.  I also did my usual drills, warmup, angle and 9 down the center.

Tomorrow I have a matchup with my brother in law - it should be a good time. I expect to play well into the night. And I'm actually excited about that.

A Milestone!!!

I've posted here before about my usual lunch partner, Morris and how whenever we play he wins.  And how it's been a goal of mine to win a day's overall score on a day when he's shooting well.  As it happens, today was that day!

The last two days I've gone at lunch, I've done drills 90% of the time.  Specifically these:





Now, I've never successfully completely any of those in the manner in which they are supposed to be done (ie: without missing or fouling) - but each week I try them, I get a little closer.  In addition to this, I've been reading that book Zen Pool mentioned the other week.  This week, I have found my pocketing skills have increased by a big margin from such a simple tip from that book: Focus on the exact spot on the object ball you want the cueball to contact.  This seems almost automatic, but for some reason, I wasn't focusing on a spot, rather an area.  After employing this spot-based aiming system, I'm pocking most of my shots dead center pocket.

So, back today.  I had planning on running through another drill I haven't yet tried, but shortly after I got there, Morris showed up.  So we started playing.  He gave me first break and as luck would have it - I sank the 9 on the snap. Heh.  Next rack, I broke dry, and he combo'd the 9 off the 1.  It looked like it was going to be an exciting day, and it was.  After about 6 racks, he said "Lets race to 5, put some pressure on ya."  So we cleared the wire and away we went.

The first set, I went up 3-0, but then blew position towards the end of the rack and gave him the table on the 7.  Then it was a back and forth through the racks with him coming out on top and I lost 5-3.  The 2nd set was all me.  Literally.  Now, I didn't run any racks, but I hardly missed; I also got lucky a few times, but still, I ran off with that set and won 5-0!!  The 2nd set, I went up 2-0 (meaning I had won 7 in a row!) and he made a comeback bringing to 3-4, then he goofed and scratched and I won the last 2 racks to win the day 3 sets to 2; total score: 13-9.

I have to say, the shot of whole day was this one.  The cue ball was about an inch and half off the rail and in dead straight line with the 8 into the corner pocket.  I thought about using force-follow to hopefully bounce offline and come back up off the short rail, but the chance that I would follow the 8 into the pocket prevented me.  So, I lined up the shot straight on, jacked up the back of the cue and added just a hair of right and power-stroked it.  I kept my head down to ensure good follow-through (as best as is available in that position).  I heard the 8B drop and then looked up, to my surprise I saw the cue ball slowly creeping across the table towards the center - giving a fairly easy shot on the 9.

Overall, I shot today the way I know I can shoot - and I'm very happy with myself.  Previously I would get little glimpses of this, for 2 or 3 balls then that's it.  Today I would consistently run 5 or 6 balls with a decent spread.  Now, if only I can keep this level of focus and stroke - I'm looking for the next improvement already!

Bar Box Rant

I posted the other day about entering a tournament over the holiday break. I also said I'd post my rant about bar tables... well, here it is.

Now, as a precursor, it's entirely possible that my experiences are not the normal experiences. I realize that there are levels of quality in all things and I recognize that my particular location isn't exactly high-up on the scale.  However, some things are unforgettable/unforgivable.

I have never seen balls as nicked up, filthy, dented as the balls that were on these tables.  The tables were the standard 7ft coin-operated tables; but they clearly were assembled as quickly as possible as there is no way they were tested for accuracy or balance.  The foot rail make a clink/thud sound when you tried to bank off it; something both my opponent and myself commented on.  The rail was dead.  It wasn't the only one, but it was the worst. 

A little background - I play on 9fts with relatively fast cloth on a regular basis, so making the switch to these 7 foot tables gave me a number of problems - but couple that with what I discovered about this particular table and it cost me at least one game.

 

Like I said, I had been having speed control issues and this was no exception.  I'm not very confident with this shot, so I hit it perhaps a bit too hard, but I also know that I don't scratch, even hitting the 3rd rail, it's close, but it's not a scratch.  The line I drew here is close, but not 100% accurate, it started curving just beyond the 1st diamond heading towards the long rail and it just barely toppled into the pocket.  The insult to injury of this shot was that I had just completed my longest run out of the day; and needed that rack to get back into the match.  So, instead of being down 4-3, this scratch put me at 5-2.

I played on a number of a tables that day and all of them were similar in levels of filth and damage. Maybe it's just how bar tables are - especially considering they're coin operated and that location is notorious of loads of teenagers.  But, when the 9ft tables are kept clean, well clothed and the balls are kept behind the counter and in good condition, it's that much harder to accept such poor conditions.  I mean, I couldn't get a tight rack to save my life, no amount of ball spinning or tapping was holding these things in place; which is why I suppose so many people smash the rack like the Hulk - which damages the balls - downward spiral much?

Anyway, I've made it clear that I do not like those tables anyway - and I've made it especially clear that I will not for almost any reason, play in another tournament held on those tables.  If that hall wants to have another tournament, have it on the 8 9ft tables you have, not the 16 bar tables, and I'll be happy to play in that.

It's precisely things like this which keep me from entering a league - I refuse to play on such low quality equipment.  This is a hobby and I won't force myself to play on anything I don't want to play on. And no. I don't think I'm being unreasonable.

Stroke Drill

My end drill for the day. Shoot through the gates without touching the other balls. Slow, medium and hard speeds.

Strange how my cam phone shortens the apparent length of the table. The cue ball is on the foot spot and the 2 balls up top are on surrounding the headspot.  This is a 9ft table. heh.  The table immediately behind this one is a 7ft bar box, the table behind that is another 9ft though.

Last Minute Tournament

So, yesterday was a big 9-ball tournament out at Ride The Rail on Telegraph.  Initially only XY was going to enter as she played for free (being a girl and also a C player). It was $10 for me, with a chance to win $500.  Yeah, that didn't so much happen.  It was on bar-tables, not my favorite.  I'll save that complaint for the end of the entry:

It was scheduled to start at 5pm with a max number of 64 players. I'm not sure how many they had, but I dont think it was 64.  Anyway, the previous day's tournament was running late in the 2nd half ($1K 1st prize) so we didn't get started until almost 6.  In the first round draw I ended up drawing this kid Justin who we knew from Sportcenter.  I won the round 7-4.  I'm glad to have started off with that win - and for some reason even moreso that I played someone I sorta knew.  It took the nerves down a bit - although he claimed to be a C player, and he was not.  C players don't get position like he was getting 50% of the time. *shrug* 

The 2nd round guy was this guy Keith, and he was a pretty decent player.  I would definitely like to play him again.  I got some rolls, but he got more of them unfortunately.  I really lost it when in the 6th game I ran the last 6 balls playing pretty decent position - but also having to deal with some pretty thin cuts that I would've missed on a large table - finally getting to the 9, making another thin cut, then not being used to the table-size/speed the cue ball went two rails towards the side pocket, then the table took it and it curved 4 inches on a slow-roll straight into the jaws.  If I had won that, like I was supposed to, I believe I would've gotten all my confidence back; as it was, I got scared of the weird rolls, dead-rails and unpredictable speed of the chewed up cue ball.  He won his hill match with, get this, a carom off the 6 to bank the 9 - to combo the 8 and have the 9 follow.  Then he tells me he meant to do that.  Sure.  Okay - you might have seen that - but if you could've done that at any time, you wouldn't have hung the 9 2 rounds ago, nor would you have scratched those three times.  Anyway - I go down 3-7 (I gotta check my log to be sure, but I'm pretty sure).

So, now I'm on the loser's side of the bracket and I draw this guy Bobby.  What he's doing on the loser's side, I have no idea - he was good. Real good. Better than me.  He made some mistakes, and for the most part, I capitalized on all of them, but he was more consistent and had an excellent feel for the table, speed-wise.  He was also part of the top 16 of the previous day's tournament; which I didn't think they let those guys play in this one.  oh well.  It was a pretty good match - considering the skill differences. I made some good shots, a great carom off the 5 to the 9, if I don't say so myself. But, in the end, he took the last two racks in a row to win 7-4.

XY (my stepdaughter) had a rough time, her first round was against a pretty good player - who was also being kinda rude to her (they played on the table next to us).  She lost 7-0.  Then on her next match, she drew a guy, a little younger, and started off down 0-3; but then game back to tie it up 5-5.  Unfortunately, she scratched on the 9 the next rack, given 6-5 and he wins the next rack, so she went out with 2 sets.  But, she was happy to  have played - but equally as frustrated with the bar tables. heh.

I'll post my bar table rant in a separate entry, I want to spread this around actually.

Guess im gonna enter the tournament today. Bar tables, race to 9 on the winners. 7 on the losers. Top four win cash. Here goes nothing. :)

Late Night Pool and Bar Boxes

Friday night, XY went to the hall with some friends while I played my new Assassin's Creed 2 game for a while.  Her friends left early, so I went on up there to play a while and give her a ride home.  I don't recall doing anything spectacular that night - aside from being pretty consistent and winning games.  No fantastic shots or run-outs unfortunately.  I've discovered something though... I'm being quite a bit more consistent with the number of balls I can run; which isn't enough, but it's a start. 

A number of times I'd get to the table on the 6 and run out with few problems.  If I get there on the 7, it's almost a locked in win.  However, when I break, I rarely run more than 5 balls.  So, it seems that something is preventing me from going any further.  Either I start thinking about how I could be out if I'm careful (thereby distracting my head from the current shot) or I get more and more out of line, forcing harder and harder shots.  I think it's a bit of both.  I know the latter holds true, I know that for sure - and I used to catch myself focusing on the rest of the rack while on the 3 or 4 ball and have mostly corrected myself of that habit.  One ball at a time - with eyes on the next 2. 

That's how I'm playing right now.  And for the most part, that's fine - but it's also shown me that I don't have as clear of an idea where the CB will be traveling as I had previously thought; causing me to get out of the line.  I have a decent shot making ability, so for the most part it doesn't kill me - but it does make me frustrated; which does affect my shot making.  So... some more things I need to work on, obviously.

Last night, XY suggested we hit up the bar-boxes so she can practice for her tournament next weekend.  I still haven't decided if I'm playing in it - but I'm thinking not.  It's interesting playing on those tables, like it's almost difficult to take them seriously - to really get down and shoot a serious shot on them.  At first I was shooting wildly because, lets face it, everywhere is close to the next ball on that thing.  I never did get a break'n'run - but I did run 1-9 on a practice rack while XY was at the jukebox.  Thank the makers for those giant pockets though - cuz a few of those shots would have never gone on a 9ft table. haha  I was a bit disappointed in myself though because I didn't break'n'run out on that thing - as easy as it is to sink balls, I still managed to hide myself playing position - which is a bit more forgivable, imo, because I'm used to sending the CB 15 feet, not 8 for 2-rails position.  *shrug*  Next Saturday we'll be back there playing a good long time, as the tournament is Sunday.

Back in the Saddle

So, last night XY and I went back to the pool hall.  It was the first time I've played since Monday. Okay, 3.5 whole days, but still.... it felt like a long time.  We did some warmup racks and then she wanted to do some drills, so... we did.  Nothing too serious, mostly rail drills and draw/stroke drills.  It was nice playing again - and surprisingly, I played pretty well.

Today's adventure was nice as well.  My usual hall, C&C, was dead empty, so I went to the double-shim'd table (tight pockets) and shot some position drills for a while.  A little while later this other regular, Todd, came in and we played a few racks.  He's a very good player and regularly beats Morris so I was curious to see how this would turn out.  We didn't have a lot of time to play and he was experimenting with some different stroke techniques, so we ended up with a 3-3 score before I had to go.  It should've been 5-1 or 4-2 though - as he jawed the 9 once and then the 8 another rack. 

Afterwards, we talked about strokes and whatnot - he gets awesome CB action, i mean, awesome - but his stroke is non-existent.  He stabs the ball; which just befuddles me how he's able to get such good action.  However, he definitely inflated my brain a bit with comments about my stroke and mentioning watching me play from time to time.  I missed easy balls, but I think it was because I was overconfident on them.  In general, I'm feeling pretty confident about a lot more shots than I used to - but there are still some that I need to make sure to check more than once.  I really believe that in not too long a time, I will be able to run some racks, provided the break is decent.  As it is now, I can't seem to run more than 6 consistently - each one gets just a tiny bit more out of line and by the 7th ball, I've completely gotten out of line and either hit it way too hard or way too soft - if I make it at all, the 8th ball is near impossible.

I hope to get some quality pool time over the thanksgiving break, but we'll see how that goes.  I'm also an avid gamer and will be picking up Assassin's Creed 2 on the way home today (I preordered it) and I expect that is going to occupy some hours. heh.

Thank you Samm!

Just a quick shout-out to my first and only follower; Samm Diep.  Be sure to check out her many sites, including The Tip Jar where gives advice and updates on her own pro-am progress and writes for Pool Synergy which I posted about yesterday. :)

My 3-Rail Bank Shot

Last night, XY surprised me by taking me to the pool hall on her dime; which was definitely a nice surprise.  Overall, the night was less than stellar, but at one point, myself and Josh, another local, were playing and when got down to the 9-ball he tried a 3-rail bank that just missed.  So, we kept trying to either kick or bank the 9 at least 3 rails.  After one of his attempts, he left me nearly straight in the corner along the bottom short rail.  I thought about it for a bit then shot this:



I was ecstatic!  I wonder if I could do it again if I had to? haha... not on the first try i'm sure. On the other hand, i don't have to make it again - i just did.  I'll be keeping that shot in mind if/when I ever play a Banks game.

Articles, Help and Advice

Some things have come up which are going to prevent me from playing pool this week - at all it seems.  This is quite annoying after last week's seemingly unending hours of play.  However, I think/hope this will be a good thing.

I bought 2 books last week: Byrne's Complete Book of Pool Shots and Zen Pool.  I'm hoping/expecting that between these two titles, I can gain both information and confidence in both the physical and mental aspect of the game.

Byrne's book appears to be a nice collection of how-to and what-if shots for nearly all types of situations/positions.  The next time I go to practice seriously, I'll be taking this book along with me. I hope to work through all the situations/position/chapters eventually - but for now I'm just starting small and choosing a few that caught my eye as I flipped through it.

Zen Pool is more of a 'what to do, how to prepare *mentally*' kind of book.  I expect to read these throughout this week and am looking forward to putting my new skills into action.  This will take considerably more time and effort, I expect.  But I'm looking forward to bringing my game to the next level.  This means I'm going to have to spend more time doing drills to hammer out the mechanics, further train my body and allow my subconscious to handle those high-pressure shots.

Lastly, I just added a new link on my sidebar to www.poolstudent.com (AKA Pool Synergy).  I just found this site, and already I am favoriting the URL.  Here are a few articles I particularly enjoyed reading today:
Play Pool Without Fear, How to Practice, How to Practice Part 2 and finally one that I find drives me up the wall more than just about any other topic: Learn to Win Under Pressure (why we choke and how to avoid it).

That's all I have for today - but it's plenty of information for you to browse through.

Lots of Pool Yesterday (jumps and tricks)

So, first up, the WBPA Tour Championships are being streamed live; and I watched some of that. Then I went to the pool hall where I played a lot of pool (too long actually).  Then later in the evening, XY suggested we go play since she was wanting to go, so we did.  Instead just being there the 3 hours I had originally said, we were there 5 hours.  I played reasonably well and hit balls with confidence, I'm learning to control my speed better when I have to put a lot of english on the ball.  Especially when I need to use low-right/left and draw back across the table 2 rails.  I'm gaining a lot of confidence in that shot specifically actually. Which is very nice.  The same with a lot of the cut shots I had so many problems with before.  I'm getting pretty happy with my playing.  Still don't run more than 5 balls consistently though.  Have to work on that.

I finally made a pretty good jump-shot yesterday too.  Here the curved line represents the jumping action:


I did learn a trickshot last night though.  I found an archive of layouts on cuetable.com and this was the only the one I could remember enough of to figure it out.  It's fun, for sure, and I make it every time. :)



Today is more live streaming. :)

Happy Friday the 13th!!

The 'Color of Money' and Other Trick Shots

In a previous post, I talked about making the "Color of Money" shots.  Well, here they are in diagram mode (plus a few others I like and have made)

The first one is the traditional shot, named as such during artistic pool competitions.  The 2nd page is just something that caught my eye during the movie.

The 3rd is one that I just learned last weekend; although I'm not 100% sure on the placement. This seems a bit too simple and I'm betting the "real" shot is a smaller angle.

The 4th and 5th shots are ones that I've been shooting for a couple of years on and off.  The 4th shot is a higher success rate for me than the 5th - but regardless, I've shot the both, made them both.  They are fun and pretty easy to do with some practice.

Eye of the Tiger - Stop It

Why is damn near every trick-shot video on youtube accompanied by Eye of the Tiger? Seriously - you aren't fighting some incredible david v goliath battle with your own pool table.

do.not.want.

Doing "fun" drills with Xy. in other news, we watched the color of money and Ive made both trick shots tonight. :)

Trickshot from Poolhall Junkies

Amongst our fooling around, AJ set up this shot... which is one, thankfully, I have practiced a lot over the years:



I made it my 2nd attempt after readjusting his position.  The OB must be on the diamond in order to get enough 'umph' on it from the CB's angle into the opposite rail so that it lines up on the pocket when the CB comes back.

Speed Pool

Last night XY got me to go the pool hall after I had intentionally left my stick at home so I wouldn't go during lunch. I felt I just needed a break.  But, I went ahead and gave it a try anyway.  Although I was feeling quite exhausted for some reason most of the day, I still played decently.  It a pretty low-key night, nothing was too serious and I even got a chance to run a drill, so to speak.  She was taking a break and suggested I run the 9-ball position drill, but i really hate that one, so I did this one instead:


Which, i can't say i've ever done start to finish before.  I even got out of line a few times and was able to go 3 rails to get back in position for the next shot.  That's a definite improvement over my last attempt from just a few weeks ago.  So... that made me feel good.

After another few games, it was getting late and things were getting silly.  Then XY said she wanted to see how fast she could clear the table.  So, we broke out the stopwatch on my phone heh. The initial goal was 2 minutes.  She got close a few times, but never made the 2 minute mark.  AJ made it in 1:57.  Then I made it in 1:21.  he tried again and got 1:32, then I tried again and got 0:57.  It's all about the break. :) If you get a good break, it's all gravy from there.  No one beat that time last night.

As silly as it seemed at the time - I really think that little game was pretty helpful.  I didn't have time to mull over each shot and plan everything out to the letter. I had just enough time to get down, shoot and hope the CB goes to that area for the next ball.  It really took a lot of the mental anguish over shots out of the game and just let me body take over.  It's almost like a reset.  I'm planning on what to do as I'm walking around the table then I get down and pull the trigger.

It's by no means a way to play - but it is, I think, something I will keep in mind for those days when nothing is working.  I should run a few racks like that to shut off the brain and let my muscle memory free.

Tournament: Fail

So, the tournament was yesterday and I have to say that entire day couldn't have gone much worse. First off, I slept poorly and not nearly long enough. I had to get up 2 hours earlier than usual, but that was only a problem because I slept so bad. I got to work nice and early though, did some internet stuff then left for lunch. I stopped by to hang out with MX for lunch then went to the pool hall around 2pm - the tournament was at 7:30. I know my cycles enough to know that I going to start hot, get really cold - then really angry - then finally nice and calm. How long this takes is entirely variant, but I wanted to make sure I gave myself plenty of time to work through these.  The afternoon started with me playing Morris as soon as I got there; which was fine I suppose.  But man, I was off. Really off, nearly from the get go.  I only ran more than 2 balls a few times, which is just ridiculous - most of the time I was still getting position, but I just couldn't ever seem to make the first shot.  oh well.  At 6, he left and I had a protein bar and sat and waited.  I thought about continuing to shoot, but I also knew that I was getting tired, so I decided to wait it out.  I'm still sure that was the good choice. 

Anyway, the tournament begins and I draw player number 13.  At first I thought it was going to be a good omen (given my affinity for friday 13ths).  My first round was against Juliana - a 6.  I was a 4.  We flipped a coin (instead of lagging, my choice) for the first break and I won.  I broke, made a ball, but left myself a long back-cut bank on the 1B - a shot I make probably 85% of the time - but not this time.  She ran to the 6 and rattled it in the jaws.  I ran the last of the balls - which included making a tight bank on the 9B.  I broke again and didn't get anything.  She made the 1B and then played safe on the 2B.  We had a bit a safety battle for about 2 or 3 shots till I left her a window and she ran to the 7, then played safe again. It wasn't the greatest safe because the 7 was right in front of the side pocket, but the CB was hidden behind the 9B downtable. My options were to jump or kick.  Since I hadn't made a successful jump all day, I decided to kick.  I missed the ball entirely.  It doesn't matter that I was really close, the fact is I fouled.  She ran the rest.  The 3rd rack she broke and didn't make anything, but I, again, didn't have anything but a long rail bank.  I thought, surely I'll make it this time... nope.  She ran 5 balls and left me safe, a good safe. I kicked, scratched.  She ran out.  The 4th rack was pretty similar, she broke made the 1 and 2, but missed the 3 leaving it a half-diamond on the long rail, however, again, leaving me hooked behind the 5B (position on the 4 though) near the opposite side pocket.  Here I actually made a great masse shot and got around the 5 and the CB caught at just the right time and curved right into the 3 nudging it just enough to pocket it in the corner.  I thought THIS was the shot that was going to bring me back into the game. I make the 4, but the 5 hangs in the jaws.  She runs out. The next rack, somewhere along the lines I missed a kick entirely again and in my frustration I tapped the CB with my stick while it was still rollling (though in no danger of hitting another ball - it was still a really bad move).  She somewhat condescendingly reminded me that that was entirely not allowed - which I knew, but was just too damn frustrated to care.  It was embarrassing though, and it was just one more thing.  Oh, the rack before then, when she won her 3rd game, we noticed that there were 2 chips on my wire - there should've only been 1 though.  She asked me about it and I said I only moved one, then she asked how I thought that could've happened. I said I have no idea, I'm pretty sure I cleared off the wire and I'm pretty sure I only moved one.  She said she didn't remember me winning a 2nd game, and I agreed and said that I have not.  So we fixed that without any issue.  That was embarrassing as well.  All of that coupled with my poor playing really threw me off.  Anyway, during the 6th game, she somehow missed the 9 and left me damn near straight in.  I jumped up to the table and looked at it.  I got down and then realized I was too excited, so I stood up, took a deep breath and looked at it again.  I got down, shot it and because the CB ever touched the 9B, I felt my arm swing and I knew I had missed it.  Jesus f'n christ how did I do that?  2 racks later, I think, she again missed a tough cut on the 9 but left the CB and 9B frozen in a weird angle near the first diamond, pointing into the 1/2diamong area on the long rail.  I thought it would maybe cross-corner, so I hit it pretty good, the 9B moved to the 1st diamond on the short rail and the cue went zipping into the upper corner pocket.  It's now 5-1 and she's breaking again.  She runs to the 4 and misses, but it doesn't matter cuz I miss it, and she gets out.  That's all she wrote. 

Overall, it was terrible.  All I wanted to do was play well, but I barely got any time on the table.  I HATE winner-breaks tournaments for that reason.  Whenever I did get there, I'm basically coming in cold and totally out of stroke - and I'm almost always left with a really difficult shot.  Alternating breaks would at least give each player a fair chance at staying at the table. 

I played like a 2 and today I'm feeling beaten down about it.  I feel like Kevin Costner in Tin Cup after she shoots an 83 on the first day of the Open tournament.  Don Johnson asks him how he shot an 83 and he Kevin says "i missed an 3 foot putt for an 82." I missed a near straight in shot on the 9 for at least a 6-2 score.

On the table next to us was this older man, who was a 4, playing this real hoosier of a guy, ranked 2.  He barely knew any of the rules of 9-ball, and at one time asked if jumping was legal, and as we said yes he got down and scooped the CB into the air before we could even stop him.  Afterwards we said that was an illegal shot, you have to hit down on the CB to jump it.  He didn't quite understand how that works; which is fine - it's a weird concept at first.  He ended winning 2 games and the older gentle was noticeably annoyed.  I know that Julianna was set to play him (Melvin) next.  Btw, Melvin had his wife (who's name I didn't get) and his son, Bubba, (seriously) with him.

Back to my game - I could come with up a number of excuses - lack of sleep, lack of practice, we played on the old one-pocket table, which I never play on... ever, was too nervous, nervous about playing a girl, nervous about playing a 6, nervous about playing someone that remembered me from 2003/4 when I used to go to chesterfield billiards, just plain nerves.  But the bottom line is, I played horribly - and no matter what the excuse, there's no excuse for missing some of the shots I missed.  There just isn't.  I should be able to make some of those while so drunk I'm seeing triple.

I didn't even bring my stick today.  I'm going to take today off - it'll be tough because I really want to get back on the table, but I'm feeling pretty down still.  Even though I got a good night's sleep (finally it seems) last night, I'm just not up for shooting poorly again.

There's another tournament at the end of the month, it's much larger than this one - but it's on bar boxes - and it's quarters.  XY is determined to play in it - she gets in free.  I would have to pay $10.  I might do it. Not sure yet.  There's also a Banks tournament at C&C coming up, $20 fee/$5 greens and it's double-elimination.  I might do that one, we'll see.  I do love banking balls.  It's not handicapped though - race to 3 on the winner's and 2 on the loser's sides.

Today's the Big Day!

So. last night I ended up going to the hall with XY.  We stayed a little longer than I had hoped, but everyone wanted their turn to try one of the drills I was practicing.  We got home around 11:30, but then I sat on the couch to relax a minute ... then fell asleep.  I woke up at 3am to some retarded infomercial.  I staggered on up to bed, only to be awakened 3 short hours later. *sigh* this is not the good night's rest I had hoped for.  I'm taking off work this afternoon so I can get some practice in - but I think I'll go home and freshen up a bit before coming back out to the hall.

I've already drew up my tournament notebook which looks something like this:

R	R+	!	/`	~	x	w/l

• R is rack number
• R+ is longest run in rack
• ! is balls made
• /` is balls missed
• ~ is safeties
• x is scratches
• w/l is obviously win loss
  

I also have little superscript notes for shots that indicate banks, kicks, combos, caroms, jumps and safety escapes. I think I've covered all the data I want, so... as long as I'm diligent about recording the info, it should be fine.  I've been doing this by hand the last two really big matchups I've had and it's not too difficult if I do it after each shot.  I only use hash marks, so I don't have to keep track of the exact balls I made.

I'm also in the process of writing a little app that will allow me to enter this information into a database so I can start doing trend analysis on my game.  The idea is that I will send a txt msg to a specific email account after each game with this info and the app will read that email and store that in the database.  Then I can just run reports at my leisure. Of course, i'm still working on the reading email from code thing - I have to convert someone's C# to VB to have it integrated with the rest of my website (secured and hidden from public view, of course).

Oh well.  I'm actually glad I started doing this today because it's kept my brain from worrying too much about the match later this evening.  I wish I had started the coding earlier this morning though, I would've like to at least have the email reading thing done before the tournament.

Longer Match (24-16)

Today's lunch started just about as soon as I entered the place. Morris was there and said he'd be ready in a few games.  While I had planned on practicing on the new one-pocket table, practicing in a game is probably better for me right now.  So, off we went.  I can't possibly try and recap all the action, but I know that I was first to 4 games; which means if this had been in the tournament, I would've won.  Overall, I'm very pleased with my playing today - save a few shots of course.  I totally miscued the only jump attempt, which really pissed me off since I specifically practiced that shot/distance sunday night.  I made some good kicks/escapes from safe - but I never really shot a good safety; got lucky a few times, but oh well. I combo'd the 9 a few times as well.  I dont think i'll play tonight - just relax and make sure to get a good night's sleep.  Tomorrow will be a long day.  I'm excited, but also nervous. *eee*

Venom Trickshots - WTF?!

This is just... wow.  I mean okay, it's a video production, with I'm sure lots and lots of hours of outtakes - but just that some of these shots were ever made... I really wonder what the future of artistic pool holds. :)

Bring on the Tournament!

It's official.  I'm playing in the tournament on Wednesday.  The organizer said I was a 4, and it'll be adjusted as I play.  I expected him to assign me a 5, but I'm guessing that lately they've caught glimpses of my bad hours.  Which is fine for me.  I have some more confidence that I'll make it past the first round. :)

Today started off poorly. My brain was all over the place and I wasn't feeling my stroke.  During a cool-off period Morris came over so we started playing.  I actually did pretty well today.  We played a lot of games and I'd have to check my notebook to see the final score, but based on memory, I think it was something like 13-10 him.  I had some good runs and made some good shots - got some bad rolls and scratched a bit more often then I wanted. I also got lucky a few times with 2 kick shots, but I'll take it.  There were at least three games where he scratched making the 7 and he gave me the game because the 8 laid perfectly for the 9.  I appreciated his confidence. :)  I was making those cut shots that was been the bane of my existence lately; although I still dogged a few too many shots - and once I missed my BIH shot to get position - and didn't get that either.  That's just embarrassing.  I suppose that's why I'm only a 4 though.  *sigh*  Wednesday is going to be a tough day. Gonna need to figure out a way to eat something around 5 - something that's not gonna weigh me down.  I'm thinking protein shake, but we'll see.

The Up and Down Skill Level Pattern?

Friday, I again, was playing fairly decently, then got a match with this guy who I'm not sure I'd ever seen before.  He asked if I played for time or anything, I said nope, just fun.  Good thing too.  I won the first two racks, but then the hour of shit-horse play struck me in the face. and I lost the next 8 matches.  Then I won one and proceeded to miss, yet again, another relatively simple shot in the next rack.  I'm not sure I won another game.  He went to go play one-pocket with some other guys eventually, but the finally tally was something like 13-3.  It was mostly light-hearted and at one point he did mention that he knows I can shoot, i'm just off.  Which is true - it comes in waves.  Good for 2 hours, suck for 2 hours, good for 2 hours, suck for 2 hours.  I just hate it that it always seems to happen when I get a match.  It's my biggest reason for not signing up for the tournament in 2 days yet.  I suppose I should just to get the experience and maybe get some sort of ranking, but... I don't feel confident that I'd make it past the first round; and all that's all I want to do.  Not get eliminated the first game.

Anyway, friday night, xy and I went to the hall again and nearly closed it down.  The same pattern of start good, suck then end decent appeared.  I'm more able to identify what's happening now, but making the adjustment - and keeping it there is still quite difficult.  oh well.  it's all practice, right?  My accuracy is going up though.  on a decently spread table i'm averaging 4-6 balls now i think.  I have to get to my practice log to make sure.

Transition From Practice to Play - Fail

Today's adventure started out wonderfully actually.  I was taking my time, locking my chin, compensating for throw, getting good position, making good shots during my practices.  I did this for at least an hour. Was feeling pretty good for the upcoming match with Morris.  Then he got wrapped up into another match and I ended up playing Clarence.  He doesn't really like 9-ball at all and will usually only play one-pocket.  His brother was playing Morris and Ralph was taken up with someone else.  I had asked him earlier if he wanted to play banks, but he declined.  Then later he comes over and says ok, lets play some 9-ball.  he breaks, nothing goes in and the CB and 1B are basically an easy shot.  I miss - as if I hadn't just made that shot 27 times in the hours. The 2nd game I thought I had him though.  Same story, he broke, pushed out on the 1.  I ran the 1 through the 6, missed the 7, but got a lucky roll and got safe.  He missed the 7 and left me a shot. I made the 7 and 8 and left myself with a not-too-easy-but-not-too-hard shot on the 9, again, another shot I'd been making most of the day, and just totally dogged it.  Lather, Rinse, Repeat.  I didn't win a single game because I failed to get position on the 8 or 9 most of the time. Too worried about over shooting it, left me way short usually.  He finally left to go play with Ralph and I had to get some food or start throwing a fit.  I stopped counting at 6-0, but I'd guess it went to 9 at least.

There's no way I can enter a tournament if that is how I'm going to play when it matters.

My Longest Run Out

While this isn't necessarily all that impressive, it is, as best I can recall, my longest run-out.

I broke, scratched, nothing fell.  My opponent makes the 1B, scratches.  I get the table back like this:



Progress through the 8 pages to see what I did.  I was so excited by the time I got to the 9-ball I had to take an extra few seconds to gather myself. My next goal is to run an entire rack.  During practice, I always take ball in hand after the break if I don't have a shot on the 1B, and I think this has helped, because I was able to study the layout of the table and I chose to start with the 2 in the corner, mostly because it had no other place to go, but more importantly because it meant that the 2, 3, 4 and 5 at least should be mine.  Once I got there, I played it basically one ball at a time, make the shot the first, then add position.  It worked out pretty well.

Yesterday was a damn good day overall.  I bought a glove and wasn't sure how I'd like it.  I'm still not sure, but it's nice having a pretty smooth sliding action consistently now. I also went back to doing chin-lock practice - and in doing so, I've upped my accuracy back to where it should be.  I also think this is why I'm making more cut-shots than I have the last 2 weeks.  Considering being sick the last 3 days, yesterday's combined total of nearly 7 hours of pool really went pretty decently. :)

Back on the table

Well, I've been sick the last 2 days and stayed home from work to try and knock it out as fast as possible.  That also means that I haven't shot this week yet.  Which is probably for the best.  As frustrated as I was getting the last week or 2, a break is probably just what I needed.  I guess we'll see.  However, I'm not 100% over my illness, but at least my head is clear - thinking anyway. Still some sinus blockage, but mostly my chest is congested now.

The US Open was last week and BCN has videos uploaded already. :) So, right now I'm watching Johnny Archer (The Scorpion) play Mika Immonen (The Iceman).  I already know who wins, but it's fun to watch the matches.

My tournament is a week from today, and I'm still not sure if I'm entering. I really should just for the experience.  I've seen a few blogs talk about how practice is nice, but the only way to really prove anything is in competition.  Which is entirely true of course. One of them says the problem with a lot of tournament and their relatively low-entrance numbers is because people only enter if they feel they can win - otherwise, they're just giving up the entrance fee.  I know I wont win, and I don't expect to make it past the 2nd round - but I want to be confident that I will make it to the 2nd round at least.  That would be enough for me, I think.  The 3rd would be ideal, but I'm not pushing my luck.  I have to decide how I'm going to play.  I tend to be pretty aggressive in my playing - going for low-percentage shots because I like them as opposed to playing smart and playing safe.  I always feel like a jerk when I play safe, but I know it's part of the game.  The other thing is that the guy I usually play with never plays safe either, so...  *shrug* that's his style I guess.

Regardless, I'm curious to see how today's playing will turn out.

Don't Eat the Cue Ball

Nothing too exciting relating to pool this weekend.  Friday, the fiance and I hit up a haunted house, which was fun - then afterwards I went to a pool hall for a few hours.  Didn't realize how exhausted I was until Saturday when I tried to remember how I played and it was mostly a fog.

Saturday, after seeing my tweet about Paranormal Activity, my sister called and said her and her hubby were wanting to hang out and maybe play some pool, so we hit up this little bar with a table upstairs.  Long story short, around 2:30am one of the really drunk (and/or high on something) bikers came up to play a game and kept stomping around the room, running in place, kicking the jukebox - and at one, picked up the cue ball, stuffed it in his mouth then spit it out on the floor.  WTF?! hahaha - we left shortly after.

Sunday, XY and I watched the semifinals and finals of the WPBA tournament at the SkyUte casino on ESPN. Congrats to Ga Young Kim!  As much as I really like Jeanette Lee, I have to wonder what happened during her match with Kelly Fisher... she didn't seem herself at all - but I suppose having just given birth is a pretty good excuse. :)

I'm home sick today - with what is probably the flu that XY had last week.  I thought I would escape it, but apparently not. :/ I see a lot of xbox and playstation in my future.

The anger, the fury and the frustration

I don't understand it.  I really don't.  I mean, I'm practically "studying" the game nowadays and I think i'm getting worse by the week.  I played decent once this week. once.  the other 4 days have left me wanting to throw the cue across the room and walk out. or cry. maybe both.  Pockets spitting balls out (when it bounces back and forth between to the corners of a pocket then gets kicked out), poor stroke, no action, no position, missing 1 or 2 out of every 3 shots... i can't take it. I just can't.  I'm too competitive or something, but I can only miss for so long before I just become furious.  at which point i sit down, smoke a full cigarette and cool off.  but when the very first shot upon my return is more of the same shit, i can't stay cool after that.  i'm not even talking about doing drills - which makes everything worse.  just regular play.

Read on for a laundry list of things that are broken and an example of what's going on.

Long Match (20-8)

Yesterday was day #2 playing reasonably well. I started off just playing the ghost, as they say.  Then Morris showed up and we started playing. I was making some good shots, getting good position, but still... missing some pretty basic cut/rail shots. I used to be really good at those rail shots, but that's something I've lost entirely now.  I did make some good masse hits/escapes though.  Anyway, missing easy shots caused the match to be a disaster - on the scoreboard.  i didn't track the number of balls made, which I should have, because I think we were about even, however, the final score was 20-8.  I lost.

Today there are 2 drills I want to run. One is rail shots, the other is a positional shot:

AWESOME Trick Shots on a MINI table!

this is just sickening...



awesomely sickening! haha

Back to normal!

So, since last Friday, I've been playing terribly.  My stroke has never once felt right, I'm not getting good action on the ball - and I'm missing everything.  Use to be, I could blame it on throw - but not so much anymore. Everything is just "off".  Well, today I tried something to get it back. I played considerably slower than usual. I didn't do any drills at all. I just shot.  First I tossed the balls on the table (all 15) and basically played a loose game of 8-ball against myself. I did that twice.  Then I played 2 rounds of straight pool, reshooting those I missed and/or lost position.  Then I played 9-ball the rest of the day. I broke, and took ball in hand to get started if I didn't have a shot on the 1b.  I made some really good shots, including one rail rider past the side pocket even. :)  I also missed some shots that I shouldn't have.  I made some good combos, not so good banks, and one jump shot even.  The jump shot was even a cut shot! It was a short jump and I only need to get over half a ball, but I jumped, and made the ball - extra lucky was I got position on the next ball. 

Overall the day was good.  The best part of the day was when I realized I was trying to stab the ball. I had lost my follow-through.  As soon as I made a mental effort to "push the ball", my accuracy went up 15-20%.  Things, I think are good again.  If I play well the rest of this week, I'm buying my spot in the tournament in 2 weeks.

Rating System

I just found a rating system that is pretty nice.  And I have to say, honestly, I think I'm a B-/C+.

Reaching the B- level player level is perhaps the biggest hurdle, as a good number of players peak at the C+ level. B- players are quite capable of running racks of 8-ball or 9-ball, but they lack consistency.

A B C D Rating Explained

(edited)
After the way I've been playing the last few days, I feel like a D player. I can't seem to make anything beyond the 2nd ball.  I almost always get position - but what good is that if I miss the first ball.  I seriously want to just destroy things.

Weekend Pool (Banks + Practice)

Friday, XY and I went to the pool hall again. It was an otherwise uninteresting evening par for the course I'd say.  With one exception.  I played my first game of "Banks" ever.  Bonus: I won my first game of Banks ever.

Bank Pool: Racked like 9-ball, broken. If you make a ball on the break, keep shooting, but spot it when your turn is over.  The object of the game is successfully call and make *cleanly* 5 bank shots.  No kicks, no combos.  Pure and simple bank shots.  If you scratch, you lose a point and a ball is spotted. If you make a ball without banking it, it's spotted and your turn is over.  If you bank a ball by caroming off another ball it's spotted and your turn is over.  Scratch is ball in hand behind on the headstring, no other fouls.  Must call the ball, the pocket and the number of rails.

I really enjoyed this game. A lot.  Lucky for me, I have long made it a practice method to play what i call "bck" - Bank, Kick, Combo.  I made a few really nice cross-side shots and a few standard shots.  I will definitely be playing this more in the future.

Sunday, MX has business up in north county, so I had her drop me at C&C while she worked.  The biggest lesson I learned was that I should NOT run advanced drills to warm up.  I failed - every attempt -  and I was infuriated with my playing, which only set the stage for 2 more hours of extreme frustration.  I could have played through it and gotten into stroke, but her work was finished and I had to go.  I must find a way to keep anger out of my game. I'm okay with missing, I'm not okay with missing the same shot 12 times in a row.

I really need to find a playing partner - I never get as angry when playing with someone else.

Damn the 1-Pocket Tables!

So, Cue & Cushion (my usual hall, link in the sidebar), recovered one of their tables yesterday, but they also turned it into a one-pocket table.  This is really annoying.  Well, I mean that it's annoying because the difference is the pocket openings are smaller than "standard" pockets.  By about an inch I'd guess.  Technically, the pocket is 4.5 inches wide - 2 ball widths - but its really amazing how much smaller they play.  Standard pockets, best I can figure are about 5.5 inches?  It's 2 and a half balls wide, these pockets are just 2 balls. Balls are 2.25 inches in diameter, so...

The good thing is if you can get good on that table, most other tables are a breeze.  The bad thing is running drills and practices become THAT much more annoying.  I wasn't able to complete a single drill with any relative flow. Having to shoot the same shot 5-9 times and still not getting position is really quite frustrating. 

As far as playing on new cloth goes, I'm not entirely sure I noticed *that* much of a difference - outside of the color and lack of chalk on my hands.

I'm sure I'll play on it again, but man it's annoying.  In the end, I had to revert back to how I play on a snooker table - very very softly.  A snooker table's pockets are a mere 1.25 balls wide, so there ZERO room for error there.

Rail Drill

This is the drill I worked on most of the day yesterday:

Start with the ball near the center and run the balls in order without hitting any other ball.  I did not complete this drill without having to start over.  I know that I can't, but I did make sure that I reshot any ball where I either missed or hit another ball or didn't get position.  This took a long time to do, but these are the shots I need the most practice with.

I'll be practicing this drill pretty much every day, along with a few others I picked up of ForceFollow's website I mentioned yesterday.

Here's the progression through the balls with intended/expected position:

Quick Update (Drill Videos + NO Pain)

I found Force Follow's website today and WOW is there some good info out there!  I've been watching his drill videos most of the afternoon. I tried a few of my own today and it went reasonably well.  When I get more time I'll build a CueTable diagram of what I was doing.

Secondly, after reading all the suggestions online yesterday about my shoulder pain, I tried to really focus on what I was doing with my left arm - and today NO PAIN!  So, key things to remember: Don't lean on the bridge arm with weight if at all possible.  Do NOT push yourself up off the table with the bridge arm still extended.  When considering a shot, do NOT lean on bridge arm while the elbow is locked.  DO put the bridge elbow down on the table as often as possible.  Take a note of your weight distribution, try shifting your weight between legs and your arm to see how it feels.  I played for 2 hours today and my shoulder didn't hurt at all. :)

3-Cushion Magic

I found Mike Massey's Blog and on there this video:


If you want to see some magic, watch it.  It's only 8 minutes and it's incredible. :)

Shoulder Pain

I've mentioned previously that my shoulder has been hurting when I start playing.  Today, it started and never quit.  I had a feeling it was due to the rotator cup and/or the amount of weight i put on it during and after a shot.  Well, I did some searching around it seems I was right - or pretty close to it.  Now, I'm not foolish enough to grab a diagnosis from some internet forum; but I do think the symptoms are so similar that the suggestions given, which have worked for the original poster, are definitely worth a try.

The Path to the Tournament

Today's pool hall adventure was something pretty awesome.  I get there and the parking lot is near full. I walk in and most of the tables are taken; and the people I'd usually play with are busy.  So, I grab a tray of balls and find a table.  I haven't even put my stick together when Kevin (an instructor who hangs out there and to whom I've talked only a handful of times before) asks if I'd like to play some 9-ball.  Of course I accept!  I'm also strangely nervous, but trying to keep it in check.  We only got to play 2 games, which he, of course, won - because his student had just arrived for the day. But it was interesting to watch him move around the table.  Then Morris showed up and we played the remainder of the day. 

Now, I didn't make any fantastic shots, per se, but I did make three back-cut bank shots - one all the way down the table - and mostly got position.  Unfortunately, whenever I miss, most of the time I'd be in position for the next ball - which often meant he was snookered behind some other ball.  So: Point for getting position - Negative point for missing the shot.  This constant having to fight out thing really got under Morris' skin and I think it threw his game off.  Either he's miss the object ball, or scratch - sometimes both.  The table seemed to have only 2 speeds: too slow and too fast.  Getting distance-based position was a real trick, one that neither of us actually got a good grip on all day.  Normally, Morris can cut balls with very impressive accuracy, but today for some reason, he was off - to me, it seemed as if he wasn't accounting for throw, or was just simply out of stroke.  Regardless, he let me back to the table frequently and I was lucky enough to only 3 balls to clear to run out.  Today was my day to win, it seemed.  He, again, commented on my game, which is indeed pretty awesome.

Just before leaving, I heard someone mention a 9-ball tournament next month - now that caught my ear pretty strongly.  I will be entering this tournament.  It's November 4th, single elimination.  I have discovered a few other key elements to my game I really need to work on - most immediately the thin cuts.  I've gotten better, but they're still a gamble for me.  I also need to retrain my eye because every time I see a less-than-half-ball hit, I immediately think "bank" - I need to start thinking "cut". More often than not, a cut shot will offer more positional opportunities than a bank shot will.

I plan on spending a lot of time shooting the next three weeks and really try and work out some issues.  I have no delusions of winning the tournament, but I really don't want to go out the first round.