English as a Lifestyle

OK, I seem to be continuing this trend of getting fewer posts up than in the past, but I'm sure it's just a phase I'm going through - LOL.

Truth be told, I've been extremely busy and playing pool nearly every night of the week lately. It's been a good run - but during this burst of activity, other parts of my life have fallen behind a bit. I haven't been able to concentrate on focused practice and drills. I haven't been to the gym in who knows how long. Normal around-the-house 'stuff' is falling behind a bit. My kids don't recognize me anymore (unless they want money or food).

And so it goes in the life of a Pool Hall Junkie!

Truth be told, I've enjoyed this burst of activity, and I think it's done my game some good. I don't begrudge any of it, and I don't feel like I've 'lost control' or burnt myself out. In some ways, it reminds me of the Fartlek training I did back in my high school years (hey, I didn't name it, only did it... and no beans were harmed).

I picked up some new experiences, played in new leagues, and met new people. All good things for my game!

Starting next month, I've decided to consolidate my league play a bit to free up some nights for other things like deep practice (The Talent Code) to focus on improving specific areas of my game. I've identified several areas that need attention, and put together a plan that should address them quite nicely. I'll be discussing the elements of my plan in future posts over the next couple of months.

Back to my recent burst of pool hall activity - one of the "new" things I did was join a 10-ball league. I've played in a couple 10-ball tournaments before, so it's not a completely new game to me... but this is the first time I've played it in a league setting. I've noticed that 10-ball has improved my overall game a bit. The called-shot format has forced a bit more discipline upon me... especially since you can only call one ball and one pocket. While playing 9-ball, I occasionally take shots that involve two or more balls through caroms or billiards. Often, I'd take such shots knowing the odds were good that I'd sink one or the other, or maybe both and any of the possible outcomes were fine as long as I made a legal hit and pocketed a ball. When you have to call one and only one ball/pocket, you're forced to look at the shot more critically.

The break is a little different in 10-ball too, but I'm happy to report that I've done a pretty good job of sinking balls on the break more often than not.

There are only two weeks left in the season, and it's been a great experience. I really like my teammates, and it's given me exposure to players I've never played before as well.

One such player I played last week. I had to spot him a game on the wire, so he's somewhat less average on the average hack scale than I am.

Um... have you ever picked up on something with an opponent that made you simultaneously cock your head to the side in WTF-type amazement, try to keep a straight face, and get eye contact with teammates to see their reactions? Of course you have! Well, at least some of you have.

This opponent seemed to be seriously enamored with English. Overly enamored. Terribly, dreadfully enamored.

Prior to most shots he'd stand upright, studying the shot... then say something like "1.5 right" to himself... get down on the shot and shoot it. I must say I usually ignore what people are saying to themselves at the table, and so it took me a little bit to pick up on this... but once I did, I found myself being drawn in with serious jaw-dropping WTFifness!

He was using English on just about every shot. Worse, it became apparent that wasn't just using English for position on the next shot. After missing a not-too-difficult bank into the side pocket, for example, he made a remark to his teammates along the lines of "I didn't get enough English on that one, I needed one and three-quarters tips of right and just couldn't get it."

And his teammates nodded silently.

WTF?

That shot in particular could have been made with a center ball hit... or pretty much anything in the vertical plane (draw/follow) and/or varying degrees of right or left English. Sure... some choices may have led to a scratch, but he wasn't explaining away a scratch... he was explaining away a miss! Bizarre. And even more bizarre that one of his better teammates didn't point that out to him at some point (he does have a couple of really good players on his team).

Numerous other thoughts came to mind: how was he "calculating" the needed amount of English for the shot in the first place? Was this method calibrated for his tip? His cue? The cue ball? His stroke? Was he even remotely aware of the numerous factors that affected the applied spin on the cue ball?

Anyway, it was entertaining.

Sure, there are differing opinions on the use of English, but personally I try to follow the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid) as much as possible. I cue in the vertical plane of the cue ball whenever possible, and try to set up for natural position if I can. Of course that's not always possible. Yes, I use English here and there to get better position on the next shot. On occasion, I screw that up pretty badly which brings me back to Earth!**

The use of English for the sole purpose of sinking an object ball (via spin-induced throw or cue ball to object ball spin transfer) should be a very rare thing, in my opinion.

The bottom line is English introduces all sorts of additional variables into your game that can affect aim: throw, deflection, swerve, and squirt to name a few. Worse, some of these effects vary due to other factors such as ball cleanliness and so on... which introduces even more inconsistencies into your game as you travel from venue to venue!

** Ironically, I screwed up shape badly on the final 10-ball of this match with overzealous use of English... but managed to recover, thank goodness.

Them's the Breaks

We are only three weeks into the Spring season for APA and I actually haven't even played many matches in these opening weeks but so far I've managed to log three 9-ball "snappers" during league 9-ball matches and one 8-ball break during an 8-ball match. Time will tell if the trend continues, of course, but needless to say I've been pretty happy with my break lately.

The 8-ball break is particularly significant since it's the first one I've done in a long time (6 months, maybe?) due to pretty much abandoning attempts for intentional 8-ball breaks during that period of time. I stopped trying them because aiming at the second ball in the rack tends to be a riskier shot - it's fairly easy to scratch either by pocketing the cue ball or by hitting the cue ball off of the table. I was getting a good spread and pocketing balls more often than not with a 'normal' break, so I opted to reduce my risk and stick with that.

So what's changed recently? Well, after chatting a bit with Sondra Friestad earlier in the month, I realized it had been some time since I dedicated much more than perfunctory practice on my break. While very little of our discussion about breaking and break practicing made it into the edited version of the interview, she and I talked at length about the importance of a good break and how so few seem to dedicate time to practicing such a critical shot.

We were in complete agreement during that discussion because I remembered doing nothing but breaking for hours on end for a period of time about a year and a half ago... my kids ducking for cover and calling me names every time I sent the cue ball into the family room where they were... but I made some big improvements; got my power dialed up to a reasonable level, and got to the point that dry breaks were more the exception than the rule.

As a result of that intensive practice period, I've got a fairly strong break. I generally clock in at or just under 20 MPH as measured by the iPhone Break Speed app, which I think is pretty respectable. Once I got to the point that I was satisfied with my break, I more or less put it on the back burner while working on other areas of my game. (Hat tip to Michael Reddick for turning me on to the Break Speed app)

After my discussion with Sondra, I decided it was about time to circle back around and focus on my break again for a bit. Since I'm generally satisfied with the power of my break, I decided to put some time into improving my accuracy.

Probably the biggest factor in increasing my accuracy was an improved bridge, particularly when breaking from the side rail as I often do in both 9-ball and 8-ball. The bridge I used to use was a simple two-finger bridge as shown in the first picture to the left. Basically, the shaft glided over the felt on the rail and was loosely guided by my index and middle fingers.

While it's not apparent in the picture, the palm of my hand is elevated and no part of my hand (other than the two fingers) come in contact with the shaft. This is a fairly common rail bridge, but not a particularly stable one. It's extremely easy to move the tip side-to-side by moving the butt of the cue side-to-side, for example.

My improved bridge is shown at right. Notice how I've tucked my thumb underneath and laid it next to the shaft. The shaft now slides alongside my thumb and middle finger, and my index finger actually serves to snug the shaft up against my thumb and middle finger. This seemingly minor change results in a huge gain in lateral stability of the shaft.

With the old bridge, my fingers were only in contact with about 1/2 inch or at most an inch of the shaft (lengthwise) and they created a simple pivot point. I could easily move the butt of the cue side-to-side to freely move the tip side-to-side. With the newer bridge, my thumb and middle finger come in contact with about four inches of the shaft which eliminates the simple pivot point... I get much more resistance when I try to move the butt of the cue side-to-side. This bridge, in addition to some recent concentrated practice, has definitely improved my aim to the point that I'm much more confident in getting a good hit on the second ball (which is generally considered to improve your chances of sinking the 8-ball on the break).

Why Do I Miss?

I'm at the stage of my game that I'm really trying to work on my consistency. I can make shots. I can (and have) made extremely difficult shots like razor-thin cuts from the length of the table and so on... shots that usually prompt TV commentators to predict an upcoming safety. If I'm focusing well, I can sink corner-to-corner-dead-straight-object-ball-in-the-middle-of-the-table shots with high regularity. But yet, I miss shots that I shouldn't more often than I'd like to. So, like many other pool players out there, I'm making a concerted effort to to improve my percentages on 'basic' shots. By 'basic' I mean shots where the cue ball and/or object ball do not hit a rail or another ball. I'm talking about straight-in shots or varying degrees of cut shots. No banks, kicks, caroms, billiards, etc... just the basics.

So, back the original question - why do I miss? Simple question, amazingly complex answer. Any number of things can result in missing a given shot. Unless you know exactly which factor caused you to miss, it's pretty much impossible to correct the problem directly... so the general approach to improving at shot making usually focuses on improving upon the factors most likely associated with inconsistent play and missed shots. For purposes of simplification, I've decided to group the various 'miss factors' into three categories:

Stroke. With little doubt, a smooth consistent stroke is the primary foundation to excelling at pool. You can be a genius at angles, theory, and strategy; but if you can't hit the cue ball consistently, your play will most likely plateau at some level (actual level may vary, but probably below where you'd like). In my attempt at simplified categorization, I consider the stroke to be comprised of several elements including stance, bridge, grip, arm position, follow-through, and so on. In other words, I consider the stroke to be pretty much everything leading up to and including consistently hitting a cue ball exactly where you want to hit it. I've put quite a bit of time into working on my stroke and while there's always room for improvement, I think I've got it to a level that it's usually not a significant factor in my misses (or if it is, I usually know because the shot felt wrong). Because the stroke is so important, it's discussed at length in numerous books, DVDs and other resources. One of my favorite DVDs on the subject is in the set I recommended earlier this month. As I mentioned in my recommendation, the entire first DVD of the set is dedicated to a "perfect stroke." Another DVD that does a good job of discussing stroke fundamentals is Max Eberle's Powerful Pool.

Aim. For my purposes, I consider 'aim' as being the process or act of determining where the cue ball needs to go in order to make a given shot. To me, successfully delivering the cue ball to the point of aim is more a function of the 'stoke' category discussed above... but I certainly agree there's overlap between the two. Aim influences proper body alignment for a successful shot, for example. What I'm really trying to isolate in this category is what many people call "aiming systems" which is one of the current areas of focus in my own game. Improving my stroke definitely improved my game, but I still have some unexplained misses that I can't attribute to stroke problems (or other problems, below), so I'm not entirely certain I'm aiming properly on all shots. Therefore, I've decided to embark on a review of the various aiming systems out there to see if there's something useful that I'm not currently using.

And just what am I using? Good question. I more or less started out with the ghost ball system as I imagine most people did. Through practice, drills, and experience I've developed more of a 'feel' system that a lot of more experienced players develop over time. Yes, I've been able to walk up to a table and pound a long back-cut into a blind pocket without even thinking about it, so I know I have some amount of 'feel' aiming brewing inside me... but the whole 'feel' thing is against my nature... I'm an engineer and therefore tend to seek out something more quantifiable; something I can actively troubleshoot and improve rather than something I just put faith into automatically improving though hours and hours of practice. The problem is, when a 'feel' shot goes wrong I have no quantifiable way of determining why... and that bothers me.

Although I've looked at many of these aiming systems before, I can't say that I've really done a deep dive to figure them out and perhaps more importantly try them out. That's going to be my project for the next few weeks or so. I expect it to keep me busy for awhile. There is some discussion of aiming systems in books and DVDs I already have, and there's also a wealth of information online. Dr. Dave has a page dedicated to aiming, and several of Bob Jewett's Billiards Digest articles discuss aiming systems as well. While reading one of the articles, I ran across a reference to a book entitled "The Secret of Aiming" by Randy Kukla. I wasn't able to find the book searching online, but I just happen to know a Randy Kukla who plays pool (quite well, by the way). The one I know doesn't live in Essexville, MI as Jewett's article stated, but I figured my odds were pretty good it was the same person. A quick email confirmed, and I should have a copy of his book in my hands soon. I'll ask him if he's willing and able to sell it to others as well in case anyone else is interested - please let me know if you are.

Beyond commercially available books and videos and/or Internet resources, there are several folks who advertise some sort of "secret aiming system training" in with fundamentals of pool classes that they offer. By no means a comprehensive list, a few such programs (in no particular order) are: Tom Simpson's "Beat People with a Stick" course, Stan Shuffett's PRO ONE, and Gene Albrecht's Perfect Aim. While I would absolutely love to attend one or more of these courses, it's probably not going to happen anytime in the near future due to higher priority things competing for my $$. I believe a couple of the programs offer or will offer DVDs showing their aiming systems, so I may look into those at some point.

If anyone has input regarding resources I should look into in the area of aiming, by all means drop me a comment!

Other. To be honest, I mainly tacked this category on as a catch all for the time being. I recognize that there are some other factors that can contribute to a miss. Equipment, table conditions, nerves, distractions, as well as quantifiable factors such as squirt, deflection, throw, and so on. I realize some of these factors (such as the last few) can and ideally should be factored into aiming systems, or at least considered during the aiming process... but for now I decided to keep them separate in order to simply things a bit. I'll revisit and expand upon many of these factors at some point in the future. [update] p00lriah made a huge point in a comment that I should have covered better in this section, and that is that you need to keep an even keel and treat every shot the same! Don't get tense on a money ball - and at the other end of the spectrum, treat every shot with respect... even the little simple plinkers. Thanks p00lriah!