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.

Weekend Adventure

Saturday night XY and I headed out to the pool hall around 8pm.  We played a few hours then the locals came over and we played doubles - then we played Ring 10-Ball.  Personally, I found that to be incredibly annoying.  Yes, lots of people can play, but it takes for-freaking-ever; meaning I can never get in-stroke. I sit for 12 minutes between each shot/rack, then when I get to the table, I'm left with some ridiculous safe to fight my way out, so I only get one, maybe 2 shots at most. I actually got a 2nd rack of balls and shot by myself on the next table to try and get myself 'warmed up' for the next shot.  Also, call me crazy, but if I'm paying to play, I want to play - nonstop; not with a bunch of other people. They all pay to play as well, which I don't understand why they deal with it.  Of course, at least one of them works there so I'd imagine they play for free.

Aside from that, we had a good time.  The hours flew by, literally, and before we knew it - it was 4am.  So, we headed home, exhausted, hungry and a little slaphappy.

Bullet has been bitten

So, today I went to the hall, as usual, with every intention on buying a break cue.  As luck would have it, the sales guy was on the phone when I entered, so I just grabbed some balls and went to shoot around for a bit.  Then Morris's game ended with someone else so he and I got together.  I haven't played him in a while and with my own perception of my game improving I was curious to see how I'd do.  Normally when we play, lets say we play 9 racks, I might win 2.  So... it's kind of a goal for me to break even at least.  Not surprising, coming on cold like that, he took the first 2 racks - finally my turn to break. But wait! I don't have a cue. *sigh* So I hurry on over to the counter and ask Chris for one of the cues I tried the other day; he tells me he got some others in today if I wanted to look at those as well.  I found a 19oz jump/break version of one of the ones I had been thinking about previously anyway.  So, I grabbed it, chalked it and broke and excellent break.  The day went on and we went back forth with tough shots and barely missed shots.  Overall, I think I won 5, but I know he won at least 9.  So... better? Maybe.  oh! I even got to try jumping a ball! :)  I know he didn't approve, but it wasn't very far away.  I said I had to try the cue to it's fullest potential and he said he needs to go move his car. HA!  I said not to worry, I probably won't make it over the blocking ball.  It turns out that I did, and had I lined it up a little better I would've banked that 1-ball right in the corner.  *sigh*  I'm pretty happy with just getting over the damn ball!

The best part of the day, in my opinion, was him complimenting me on the improvement of my game.  That was pretty cool. :)

I made three kick shots, one of them on the 9 even.  Well, technically, I made 5, but when the CB is dead straight along the rail into the OB sitting in the pocket and coming slightly off the rail first doesn't really mean "kick" to me.  But, technically, it is.  I also made a pretty nice masse shot - and the biggest example of applying some of the knowledge I picked up came when I a straight, full ball only view of the 1 ball just off the rail. I was basically surrounding by balls that prevented me from hitting the OB off-center to make it.  So, I lined up to hit the ball straight on, but with slow-medium speed and using hard right english.  The slow speed combined with the spin "threw" the ball straight down the rail into the pocket.  I could've also shot a masse into it, but the distance was longer that I have been able to control thus far.

Overall it was a pretty good day!  Except I noticed my left shoulder hurt quite a bit on my first shots of the day - hrmm.  Pool injuries are waiting in my future I think. :(

5-Rail Kick Shot

I mentioned earlier that the other day I talked to a guy who gives lessons at C&C.  We were kinda joking around and he said, if you finding yourself like this in an 8-ball situation, in this instance, I say go for it:

Then he shot this:

Now, I'm assuming that was his cue position and the path is just a rough guess based on my memory. He missed the first try, but he made it the 2nd attempt.  I just stood there and laughed - someone across the hall called out "Who is that guy?!" (another regular, joining in on the fun)

I did not try it as I know I don't have the stroke to transfer the required english and power to the ball.  But, rest assured, I will try this someday. :)

Putting in the hours

All told, I played pool for nearly 6 hours yesterday.  Just under 2 at lunch, then just over 4 after work with XY.  It was a good time.  I played reasonably well last night.  I'm kinda kicking myself though because there was one rack where I broke pretty well, made a ball and everything was open.  I even saw the pattern to run the whole thing - the entire rack, I knew where I wanted to be, and how to get there for each shot.  Unfortunately, I was too worried about getting from the 1 to 2 and didn't draw it enough (opposed to too much) which threw off the angle to the 3 - but it didn't matter since I missed the 2 anyway.  ugh Oh well.  I'm just happy I saw the entire rack's pattern.  I made some damn good shots - but also missed some pretty standard ones. :(  The good news is that I'm getting better at adjusting my angles for throw coupled with left or right english.  I'm moving around the table better, and with more consistency too.

The funny thing is that I was *this* close to buying a jump/break cue yesterday but wanted to wait until today (payday) to get it - then last night I found myself wanting that jump cue THREE times! It wouldn't have mattered - I *might* have it, but I wouldn't possibly have made it, or been able to get safe - but I need to try those kinds of shots to see how they work and how I work.

As for the break cue - I'm still not sure what I'm getting.  The AZ Forums haven't been too much help - suggesting other brands and not even commenting at all on the three options I listed. *sigh* I guess I'll just play with them again and pick one to get it over with.  It's not like I'm going on tour with this thing anyway.

Found: Early Stage of the Mental Game

So... I'm very much one of those people who are affected by the weather. When it's sunny out, I'm always in a good mood. When it's rainy, cloudy and otherwise ugly out, I'm usually a little grumpy. It also affects my gaming - both on the console and the pool table. Today, it's a monsoon here, all day. I kind of expected to play like absolute ass today, and for a moment thought about not even going to the pool hall, but I did anyway.

The day started off pretty nice, as usual - at the table cold I shoot pretty well for some reason. This kind of 'auto-pilot' is actually called "Dead Stroke".  Which is nice insofar as getting my confidence up, but it also means I'm not necessarily doing what I want because I know what I want to do it and meant to do it.  It's part luck and mostly "feel".  Anyway, a few games of straight pool later the dead stroke is gone now I'm working at it.  And failing.  Always close, but never "on".  It's very frustrating to shoot the same shot 7 times only to miss it every time - the same way - every time. e.v.e.r.y.t.i.m.e.  The "good" news about that is I'm consistent in my inaccuracy which means it's a mechanics thing which means it can be fixed.  However, at that point I'm usually so pissed off that I can't really focus on the minor adjustment needed. Today, I took a lot of breaks between games, had a smoke, drank some water, etc and it helped tremendously to keep me calm.  Of course, this isn't news, but it helped keep my head on the table and continue to control my speed and stroke instead of hammering the balls just because i'm pissed at them.  So... part 1, staying focused.

Something I was not expecting today was to see the hall pretty full of people - lots of people. Loud people - well, louder than usual but nothing like a teen-hang out.  Avoiding distractions was easier than usual.  part 2: staying focused.

The end result of all this was that, for the most part, I was making good decisions on shots, and making good shots.  I developed a feel for the table early on (a table i've played on once before a few months ago) and used that to my advantage.  I think my stroke has improved in it's accuracy since someone said to me (something I know i've heard before but didn't quite understand) "push through the ball, don't hit it" just 2 days ago.  I feel more confident and trusting of my stroke, which is a huge benefit since I don't have to try and adjust for it.

Whenever I missed a shot, I shot it again.  Sometimes even when I made the shot, but didn't get the position I wanted, I shot it again.  Sometimes I shot the same shot multiple times with different english to try and get position more than one way.  I think my method of practice is improving and I think my head game has improved.  It's strange to think that has mostly happened in this last week, but, it's been a pretty good week.

We'll see what next week brings.  I'm buying a jump/break cue tomorrow, still not entirely sure which one yet - but likely one of those three I mentioned earlier.

Virtual 9-Ball

That diagramming tool has a random break generator! So, click it and tried to read the rack. Once I got a rack that was pretty open, I tried to outline the entire thing.

Here's how I would want to play out this entire rack:


Now, I wonder if I could actually do it? Doubtful, but I think I will try this sometime.

An application using side english

Using the previous layout, lets go ahead and add some english to the shot. Specifically to win a game 9-ball.

Look at this:



A) is the first shot. Shoot the cue-ball with low-medium speed with good left english and it should travel the path outlined, leaving an excellent shot on the 9 ball. (B)

Lets say the 8 was a little closer to the rail and the pocket, while the cue ball was also a little more in-line. Then you would have this scenario:



There are 2 ways to shoot this. The first and somewhat less difficult is to go three rails around the table using medium/medium high power (depending on your stroke and the speed of the table) and tip and a half right english. The 2nd way to shoot it is to use low left english and draw it across the table then let the english bring back across diagonally for position. You can see this on the 2nd page of this diagram. I found this to be a more difficult shot, and opted to go around the table instead.

My own experience with Throw

I've discovered a severe weakness in my game. Thin cuts. I'm pretty sure the issue comes down to throw. Allow me to show you with the new fancy tool:


There are three pages to this. The first is how I would normally look at this shot. The second page is the result of shooting that shot. The third is how I should shoot that shot.

The reason is because at that angle, just when the cue ball (CB) strikes the object ball (OB), it actually pushes the OB a little bit before deflecting off in the direction of the pocket. So, you have to account for this by cutting the shot a little bit thinner than you think you have to.

All of this is without using any side-english. When you had side-spin into the mix you now have to compensate for both deflection AND throw. It's possible to undo the throw effect by using opposite english, but that's not always an option if you have to play for position on the next ball.

This is what I worked on and think I have a better understanding of now. Tomorrow will let me know for sure - but after I worked on that for a while, my last two games of 9-ball were much more productive.

Pool Diagram Tool!

I just found this tool: CueTable.com

It's extremely bad ass.  So... instead of trying to paint the shot in GIMP or something, I can just post this:



This is just a test post, but it shows the intended path of the cue-ball to play position from the 1 to the 2.  This done by hitting the cueball left of center during the 1-ball shot.

Break Cues

Yesterday while at the hall I decided to try a few jump/break cues.  These three were what I tried:

Nick Varner NV23-5JB
Cuetec Jump/Break Cue - CT-99296
Action ACT56

The Nick Varner has a phenolic tip; which gives a harder hit but is harder to control.
The Cuetec has a fiberglass shaft which is warp resistant, leather tip and softer ferule.
The Action cue is traditional maple with an extra hard leather tip, but with what appears to be a carbon fiber ferule.

I can't seem to decide at all. I mean, I liked each of them almost equally. The Cuetec is the same same shaft width as my playing cue, whereas the others are 1mm wider.  The Cuetec has a very flat tip, the action has a nickel-radius tip, as did the NV.  I really don't do any jumping, but then again, I've never had the opportunity to try.  Yesterday was, in fact, the first time I've ever *properly* jumped a ball.  All three seemed to give similar results, but I think the Cuetec gave me the best results jumping.  The NV seemed a bit harder to control - which makes sense due to the tip.  The Action cue seemed almost identical to the Cuetec, aside from the butt-width.

The reality is that I will be able to adjust any of these equally as well in time, so I'm not sure there's any real way for me to decide.  I'm just wondering if there's any one which I should absolutely avoid?

9-Ball The Movie

I just ran across this on the APA website:



The Black Widow herself stars in this up and coming film about, apparently, the underworld of 9-ball.  Think: The Color of Money, but for the WPBA.  I will be watching out for this release.  Perhaps not in theatres, but... I will see this.

Weekend 9-Ball

Saturday evening XY (codename for step-daughter) suggested we go play pool.  She hasn't played in a while - and doesn't get to play all that often, so of course we head on out to the closest pool hall.  It's really not a fancy place at all, but they have decent-ish tables.  It's always flooded withe a bunch of kids yelling and screaming and whatnot, but it's still pool - and generally affordable.  I learned a few things that night.

I used to think that music was a nice addition to playing; generally because the place I go during the week is always pretty silent and I welcome the random song the jukebox puts on.  However, if one doesn't like the music playing, it can become quite grading very quickly.  Couple that with a table of older boys who think it's appropriate hit every ball has hard as they can and you have a recipe for my being extremely annoyed.  Now, the topper to finish all of that is the fact that I'm shooting terribly.

Normally, it's not an issue when we go there, but for some reason, that night, all those things added up and after the 2nd hour I was really getting frustrated/angry.  XY had said she was done, but I was determined to play a decent rack so I kept shooting for a bit.  Shortly thereafter one of the locals asked if we wanted to play doubles... we accepted.  Then after that we played a series of singles + winners.  Then another local got in on the action.  The first two, AJ and Carly then finally Josh.  AJ, honestly, isn't necessarily all that great of a shot - but could be with practice.  Carly has really good form and could be deadly when she's "on".  Josh is the best of the three, in my opinion. Personally, I think we're evenly matched - but that's his hall, his tight-pocket table and I was fortunate to get as many turns at the table as I did. I got lucky a few times and got back to the table in two racks to run out after a slight miss on his part. 

All told we spent just about 4 hours in the hall and although I lost the match to XY, I won every match against the locals.  It was a lot of fun and I'll be less hesitant to return there in the future having met a few others there.

Things I learned:

• It apparently takes me 2 hours in that environment to get my head and stroke in the game.
• It's important for me, personally, to play through the frustration period - this is similar to another hobby of mine (not important, but now glaringly obvious).
  
• When good player miss a shot, they leave a shot for the next player; conversely, when not-as-good players miss, they leave nothing for their opponent.
• Don't overthink the shot. I have good instincts, trust them - this includes backing off a shot if it doesn't feel right; but also includes going for a shot when I feel it.  If I stay down on a shot for more than 5 seconds, get up and reconsider - obviously it doesn't feel good.
• I'm getting my timing better on the break: I think it might be time for me to look into getting a break-cue.  I'm getting good action on the balls, good spread and somewhat decent position afterwards. Now, if I can just get a reliable and consistent cue to accompany me...
  

Side note: I made the 9 on the break... twice! :)

As an interesting coincidence, I caught the quarter-finals WPBA 9-ball Open on ESPN Sunday afternoon (why they didn't finish the tournament is beyond me, but it was really annoying!).  I saw Monica Webb play Greta (forgot her last name) and lose. :/  She missed a 6 ball that was a pretty thin slice, but not beyond her ability at all.  That let Greta back on the table with a 5-5 score, race to 7. Greta finished that rack then broke and ran out to win the set.  The interesting part of all that is the commentators mentioned that a lot of the people are now wearing earplugs to drown out the noise of the audience and any other tables in action.  I won't be doing that any time soon, but I can understand, now, how important it is to avoid other distractions.

Practice Drills

I did some searching around for practice drills and found a number of videos with some good ideas.  Then I found the one below which encompasses all the drills I found. :)  I only got a chance to try the first drill mentioned today - but it was a real pain.  It was at the end of the day and I hadn't been shooting too well anyway.  *sigh*  I will be trying these over the next week and see how it goes.

Simple Masse/Curve Shot

The last week or two I've been finding myself in semi-snookered positions (meaning there's a blocking ball between the cue call and the object ball).  Luckily, I found some videos which address what I'm calling a simple masse, others call it a curve shot.  However, none of those videos gave detailed instructions on exactly where to aim to get around or what kind of return you would get.  I've basically just been 'winging it' - with fairly pleasing results.

I was, just now, browsing around the apaleagues channel on youtube and found this:


This is a perfect example of what I've been working on/with lately.  I still haven't been able to get extreme masse action yet - meaning a hard curve with speed and/or power.  Playing mostly slow to medium these days though.