If your friends don't dance then they're no friends of mine.

Okay, okay, not really. Sorry.

Today two good things happened at the pool hall.  1) I got to hit with a Samsara cue 2) I came up with a new little game for myself.

1) After talking with the hall for a minute, he said he did have two Samsara BarCues left from the original lot of about 15.  So, I hit with one for a while.  Now, the joint was wood-wood with a piloted hole and it didn't meet flush, which I thought was strange.  The tip was very soft and probably the reason for why the "ping" was so deadened sounding.  I could barely hear the thing.  House-cues are louder than this thing.  The shaft it came with wasn't to my liking at all.  I guess that's a "straight" taper - but it reminded me more of a 3-cushion shaft than a pool shaft.  Although it didn't deflect any more than my current cue, it didn't deflect much less than mine either, and for $500 I want something a little straighter.  So... while I really like the design of the Samsara cues, I won't be putting out any money for one of them.  I'll stick to their break-tips though.  Now, I just want to hit with a Schon and compare it to the Carolina, and I'll be ready to make a decision.

2) I was hitting some shots from Byrnes Book of 350 Shots wherein he demonstrated a good safety shot that required "stun-through" action on the cue ball.  So, I started working on that shot.  Then I started working on other safety shots.  Then, I came up with this safety dance:  Throw all 9 (or 10) balls on the table, and then toss out the CB.  Shoot the balls in rotation - but each shot you are trying to get a strong safety out of it.  Freeze the CB and/or hide the OB.  Each time you get at least 65% of the OB blocked, take it off the table (unless it's a really easy kick to MAKE - like if you block the shot, but the OB is in the jaws, that doesn't count).  Go through the rack that way and see how many shots it takes to get through. 

So, you have a goal, you have a score, which means this is a measurable skill drill. Yay!  You could make it more interesting by making a rule on the number of rails used or only half-ball hits or only thinning the OB, etc.  Lots of ways to play safe; which is why I'm calling this in my practice log the "Safety Dance". (hence the title of this entry)

Breaking the 1-pocket barrier

So, something interesting happened this past weekend. We were at the poolhall, it was late in the evening, and I wasn't shooting too well.  I was playing Josh, who's about my speed so it's usually a good game, and after a while, he asked if I wanted to play some 1-pocket.  Well, I haven't ever played. Not once. I've watched it from afar quite a few times and I tried to watch a match or two on youtube, but it's hard to dedicate that much time to the game.  I've turned down lots of offers at my usual place because I'm on a limited time-line there and this game takes a while.  So, it's late, it's Josh and I say, "Eh, why not?"

So... we play it even, first to 8-balls.  The first game, was a real learning experience - as you can expect I lost... badly. Something like 8-2 (fouled a few times, but oh well).  The 2nd game went a little better. I started seeing the smallest hint of patterns and defensive moves.  I still lost, but it was closer, I think 8-6.  The 3rd game, was much better.  I learned very quickly that unless it's a dead ball, don't try it if you don't need to.  I also learned very quickly that leaving your partner with absolutely nothing is almost more fun than making  a ball for yourself.  I took my time with most shots, evaluated the percentages, and calculated the leave if I missed.  As a result, I owned that game.  I won 8-2!

Offensively, I made some good cross-bank shots and got pretty good shape for the next ball.  Defensively, I nearly always left my opponent behind the stack, or frozen to another ball.  Whenever he got a ball close to the pocket, I kicked it away, even if it meant passing up a chance to make a ball in my pocket.

Overall, it was more fun than I expected it to be; but I won't be switching schools just yet. ;)

It's Good To Have Goals

So, taking inspiration from this blog and this blog I'm going to form and post my goals for this year - and [current] the end-of-the-road goal.

My end-all goal, as of now, is to be able to win a local tournament.  This will not happen this year, but it's where I'm aiming for now.  Start small.  I haven't picked out a tournament to win because there really aren't any tournaments in this area - at least none that are played on the 9' tables.

One of my goals this year is to improve my ranking from 4 to 6, on the scale my local hall uses, which is "Missouri 8-Ball" league rankings, if I remember correctly.  The scale goes from 2 through 9.  2 being an absolute beginner, no position play, poor mechanics; 9 being an A or AA player - likely to run several racks in a row. In my first tournament (fail), they gave me a rating of 4.  They were considering giving me a 5, I think because of how interested I am and how often I ask questions and seek information; I'm glad they only gave me a 4 though - it was the right call.  I feel like I should be a 4 or 5 now.  I feel like I have improved over the last 2 months and I hope to be able to show that somehow. 

I don't know what's really expected of a 6-rated player - but I do know they are expected to be able to run a rack with a good layout, play good position, have good knowledge of safety play.  I feel like I have that ability - on a really good day.  I know the ability is there, I've done it - but it's not consistent; and that's what separates the top players from the others.

Another goal is that I want to seek out other good players in the area and play with them, learn from them and hopefully help each other with practice; be it drills or position play or safety play or just general stroke training. I have a pretty strong feeling that if I had a solid practice partner, things would progress a little quicker.  I like playing Morris cuz he's a pretty good player, but I dont think he seeks out information and he never practices - always plays other people.  That's good practice too, but sometimes you just need time to work on a shot.

My last goal is that I want to work towards running a rack successfully at least once a week.  I play often enough, albeit in small amounts, that I think this is feasible.  I'm learning new patterns all the time, it seems, and there's no reason I can't run 7-9 balls, provided the layout is decent.  The key to doing this, in my opinion, is entirely based upon speed control and the subtleties of english.  Speed control moreso than english, I think.  I have to be able to reliably get the cueball 2, 1.5, 1, 1/2, 1/4 table-length after contact - and depending on the fullness of the contact adjust to account for the loss of speed.  Every table is different, but there are general guidelines.  On a slow table what is 1 table length might be 1.25 on a fast table so while I'd overrun it, it should be simple enough to account for the difference after only a few shots.

First 10-Ball Break'n'Run!!!

I'm pretty busy this afternoon with post-processing photos, but I just wanted to post about something that happened at the pool hall last night.

First off, let me remind you that I recently changed everything about my pool playing.  On Friday, I played and was seriously contemplating going back because it was just murderous.  I realized now that I was too focused on my body and didn't really focus on the shot.  And that's fine - I expected to get worse before I got better, but it's tough to accept that sometimes.  Friday night, we went to the pool hall and I played a little better.

Last night we went back to the pool hall and had a little bit of time to warm up before our game partners arrived.  Apparently, it was just what I needed.  After everyone was warmed up, we racked up a 10-ball rack and I broke.  Got a good spread, made a ball on the break but the 1 was nearly married to the 3.  Good for me it was wired to the corner pocket.  After some consideration, I took the shot and sank the 3, leaving a longer than I wanted shot on the 1.  The 2 was sitting good after that.  I took a lot of time lining up for the 1, but I made it and stopped the cue ball.  After that, things get a little hazy in my memory as to where each ball was because we played for the next 7 hours. heh.

The major point of this entry though is that first rack... I ran the entire rack!  I got a few rolls and had to make a few difficult shots, but I used my stroke when I needed to, and I played smarter position than I have in a while.  I'm learning (strangely enough) just how useful center-ball is.  I'm seeing the tangent lines easier and I getting better at controlling my speed.  Although I came up short on the 10 and left myself with a pretty thin cut, I still rattled it in.  I could not believe it.  I still can't believe it!  I WISH I had the video camera with me.  I meant to bring it, but in a rush decision to get there on time I just forgot to grab it.

The rest of the night we played teams and/or ring games, which, in my opinion, are a sure-fire way NOT to get in-stroke, so no other game was as impressive.  Although I played pretty well all night, winning more games than losing, I also missed a lot of shots I shouldn't have. 

Still, I had a great time, and again, thanks to Gene and Gary for showing me even more tricks and sharing their knowledge with me.

This is one of my goals for this year - I want run a rack at least once a week.

Great Safety Battle

This is one of the best safety battles I have ever seen.  It's during the 2nd rack of the match - and it is impressive.

The World Pool Masters = Alex Pagulayan vs Raj Hundal

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.