PoolSynergy: A Handful of Random Tips

Welcome to the February edition of:

PoolSynergy is a blog carnival where several pool bloggers collaborate each month to write about a common topic.

This month is hosted by John Biddle the Pool Student, who happens to be the person responsible for wrangling together a band of pool bloggers a couple of years ago to kick off PoolSynergy in the first place. John left his topic wide open for us... anything under the broad category of "Tips". Seems easy, right? Just pick anything.

Anything.

Seriously... anything, just pick it.

Just... pick... anything.

So there I was staring at the vast buffet called 'anything' and you know what? Sometimes having too many choices can be overwhelming. My mind wandered through obvious choices like bridges, stroke mechanics, and other elements in the ever-so-important fundamentals; practice routines; gear; and so on... and quickly concluded there are a TON of great tips covering most of those areas already floating around.

I didn't want to simply rehash; I wanted to come up with something possibly a bit different. So I started thinking in new directions and did my best to narrow my focus to these areas: Things that people commonly screw up and live to regret... and things that may be fairly well known to those who have been around pool for awhile, but possibly not known until they ran across the situation and had an "ah-ha" moment.

In other words, things people generally learn... for better or worse... through experience. This might sound a little backwards, but I actually consider myself uniquely qualified on this topic because I haven't been around pool as long as many others have been. In other words, I can still remember having the "ah-ha" moments because they weren't ten or twenty years ago (or more) for me... they were more like two or three years ago because I haven't been playing that long.

I've managed to come up with a list of ten here, but I'm sure there are many more that fit into this loose category I'm trying to invent here. Feel free to share some of yours in the comments section below if you'd like... I'd love to hear them!

Lest anyone wonders, I'm mainly concerned with serious or at least reasonably serious competition here - maybe a sizable tournament, or money is on the line or something. If you want to treat casual games with friends differently, that's a personal choice of course.

Be prepared

This is admittedly a pretty broad "catch all" tip to lead off with, but it never ceases to amaze me how many people screw this one up... even at major national tournaments. By "be prepared" I mean in all respects - make sure you have the equipment you need for the match and that it's in good working order. Make sure you're in good working order as well. Make sure you're not hungry, thirsty, hungover, etc. I live in Las Vegas, and have seen many people blow matches at major tournaments because they got too caught up in the "Vegas experience". Sure, enjoy yourself... but remember why you're there in the first place! I can only guess that the plane ride home would be a long one if you dropped out of the tourney due to a forfeit because you were passed out in your room. Face it, precious few people are capable of showing up just a minute or two before the forfeit deadline with disheveled hair and dried drool caked to our cheek; borrow a cue from someone in the audience and put the smack down on Earl Strickland.

Ensure you know the rules... and/or discuss and settle on the rules ahead of time.

If the match is a league match or part of a tournament, make sure you take the time to thoroughly familiarize yourself with the rules. Again, I see people unprepared in this area with mind-boggling regularity. No one is going to look out for you better than... you. If the match in question is some sort of serious individual match (perhaps some action with someone you haven't played before) make sure you discuss and agree upon the rules before the match begins. Pay attention to the game and your opponent... again, I simply cannot count how many times I've seen someone commit a foul or improperly rack while their opponent is simply not paying attention. I don't think the actions were intentional in most cases, but it happens!

Check out the table!
Again touching on the "be prepared" item, take some time to check out the table if at all possible. Obviously not all tables play the same... and sure, you'll both be playing on the same table so things will be "equal" in that respect... but the more you learn about the table and the quicker you can adapt, the better off you'll be. And any advantage over the competition is a good thing. Shooting a few balls to warm up a bit is one thing, but I suggest you dig deeper and work up a routine that quickly gives you an idea of the table's speed, rails, and identifies any oddities such as roll-off. Some good tips are given on Disc V of Dr. Dave's new Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP) (not to be confused with his older but equally informative VEP series of videos).

Cue cases under the table
Often tournament rooms are crowded and busy with people bustling about. Far too often, there simply isn't enough room to put things like your cue case, extra cues, etc, etc. Mileage may vary of course, but some folks easily have hundreds or even thousands of dollars sitting there, and all too often it's piled on or next to a side table or chair or whatever is halfway convenient. During your match, your back is often turned on that gear and you certainly aren't paying attention to it... you're completely focused on the table layout in front of you, right? I've known things to get snatched, and it isn't pretty on many levels. Certainly the monetary and/or sentimental loss can be significant... but also think of the distraction/disruption an incident like that can cause to your game or even the rest of the tournament! One of the safest places to stash this stuff is under the pool table itself. You're almost always facing it, making things really tough to snatch which is worth a lot in the "peace of mind" category.

Be conservative about close hits

I've seen and experienced enough controversy in this area to overcome my "shyness" about getting a referee or other appropriate person to watch a close hit. Eff it. Be reasonable about it of course, but you flat need to cover your butt on this one. If you wait until after your opponent's hit, it's too late. This, of course, is a two-way street. When I'm shooting and know I'm going to do something that might be questionable, I often point it out to my opponent and suggest we get someone to watch the hit - that way, I know it's coming and I'm (hopefully) not interrupted mid-stroke by an opponent jumping up and calling for a hit watch.

Always post money if gambling

Always. Ensure. The. Money. Is. Posted. Period. Of course I'm talking about any significant stake that you care about losing (which is a relative value from person to person of course). The plain truth is people gamble with money they don't have all the time. Often the people doing this are skilled at side-stepping your attempts at trying to get them to post. They prey on the human nature of wanting to trust someone and not wanting to "make waves". Don't fall into the trap.

Pay attention to the score

Admittedly, this is a pretty general comment because there's so many different ways to score, depending on the format being played... but I've seen problems in this area more than once and have become sensitized to it as a result. I've seen people advance the score using the "ball-knockers" over the table right after sinking the money ball, rack the next rack, then reach up and advance the score again (hopefully an honest mistake, but who knows?). The key is, pay attention to this kind of thing! Above all, don't rely on memory for the score. If there isn't some sort of score sheet or built-in scoring device on or above the table, a common technique is to use pennies or other similar coins on the table under the rails - start with two coins together at the middle diamond on the foot rail, then advance the coins to the next diamond around the table (in opposite directions) with each win.

Even better, make sure someone else is paying attention to the score if appropriate so it's not an issue and/or distraction to you and your game. Some league scoring systems are more complicated than others, and in the more complicated scoring situations it really helps to have a dedicated scorekeeper to you can keep your focus on the game itself and not the intricacies of individual ball counts and so on. Just make sure the scorekeeper knows what they're doing.

Thin racks for straight pool
This may seem out of place when compared to previous tips... but it was an "ah-ha" moment for me at one point, so I'm throwing it in here. There are lots of different types of racks out there - some made with wood, some made with plastic or metal. Some of the old wooden ones (like the ones at one of my favorite bars) tend to be quite thick. This extra thickness can cause problems every once in a while if you're playing 14.1 straight pool, so you might consider bringing along a thinner rack if you have one.

Keep your cool
I admit it, I've lost my cool a few times... I think just about anyone who's halfway competitive has. Even though I feel I was pretty justified in most if not all of the situations, I can't think of many times where I actually benefited from losing my cool. It rarely if ever changed the outcome of the situation, and it sometimes screwed up my game. OK, maybe it screwed up my opponent's game too, but I wouldn't say that's something you can count on. Do your best to anticipate and avoid problem situations... and when they come up (and they will) do your best to deal with the situation in as reasonable a manner as possible. Get it behind you, get your head back in the game, and kick his (or her) butt on the table.

Bar fight situation, grab the balls!
OK, I just couldn't pass this one up although I've never had personal experience in the area. If you're playing pool (or near a pool table) and people don't follow the previous "keep your cool" tip and a bar brawl breaks out... apparently the weapon of choice is as many billiard balls as you can grab. Who knew?? I would have guessed pool cues would be better, but not according to the book "Playing Off The Rail". If you've got a good arm (and I do... I was a quarterback in football and a pitcher in baseball) throwing balls are apparently pretty darn effective in such a situation - an "ah-ha" moment I had while reading the book.

Be sure to check out the other PoolSynergy articles linked from John's Pool Student blog.

First. Ever. Double. Carom!

League night last night; week #2 of playoffs for my Wednesday night APA 8-ball team.

As you may recall, my Wednesday night team is the one I took over as captain early in the season after the  previous captain had a bit of a falling out with the rest of the team. We rolled to a strong 3-0 victory in the first week of playoffs, so this week would determine first place in the division. Our opponents were a strong, balanced team and I heard they came back from a 0-2 deficit in the previous week to win 3-2, so I definitely wasn't going to take them for granted.

Earlier in the week I was doing a little pre-match 'homework' on our upcoming opponents, and couldn't shake my curiosity about their comeback upset victory (in my opinion, anyway, having played each team at least a couple of times during the season). I wanted to know what happened! So... I picked up the phone and made a call to someone on the team they played the previous week. I didn't know this person extremely well, but I hoping well enough that they'd be open to having a bit of a chat. I figured "what was the worse that could happen" right? Anyway, my instincts were right, and we had a very pleasant conversation. I found out how the individual match ups went and so on... and I got a critical nugget of information about a new player on the team we hadn't seen before. "The kid's rated SL 5 but played like a 7" was the comment that grabbed my attention. "I don't think he missed a single shot, and beat one of our 6's pretty badly." Bingo. I was suddenly very glad I made that phone call.

Walking into the host bar prior to the match, it was pretty easy to spot the new guy. I've seen everyone else on the team before, so he was a new face obviously. But it was more than that. It actually reminded me of a typical bar scene from "Color of Money". Young, cocky, strutting around, obnoxious. Wonderful. I'll refer to our star as Wonderboy.

I lost the coin toss, and the other captain deferred to me to put up first. Having already anticipated this possibility, I had a good idea who I was going to put up - myself, or our strongest female player. After some further thought and a quick discussion with her, I decided to put myself up. The other team matched me up for an even race. I shot quite well overall. I had a couple pocket rattlers here and there, and blew position badly on my key ball once... but other than that, I must say it was a very solid match for me. While I was shooting, Wonderboy was all over the place... checking the line on numerous shots, making loud comments here and there... fidgeting back and forth at the edge of my peripheral vision while I was down on shots, loudly cheering my opponent on, and generally being far more obnoxious than the average (or even above average) league player. I'm not sure if he was trying to shark on purpose, or if that's just the way he was. It didn't matter. I won my first two games quickly and never really felt threatened throughout the match. In the third game, I missed a tough shot on the 8-ball and my opponent was able to run out. We jockeyed back and forth a bit, but I ended up on top in the end. One down.

An observation about Wonderboy. He was the one doing the coaching during timeouts. He was new to the team and a SL 5, yet he gave all the advice while the captain of the team, a very capable SL 6 who did the coaching in the past, looked on. Interesting.

Another observation about Wonderboy... he was drinking... a lot. Both beer and shots. Interesting.

After my match, we were up 1-0 and it was the other team's put up. I already decided I'd throw off with a SL 3 if they put up Wonderboy. They didn't. They put up their captain, a SL 6, so I put our SL 7 against him. A few games later, we were up 2-0.

Wonderboy was still drinking heavily. It was our put up, but Wonderboy was up at the table already thinking he was going to play. I put up a SL 2. Their captain freaked out for a second, then realized it was our put up and he could choose someone else... so he threw up a SL 3. Our SL 2 is a methodical player and she played very well. The match went hill-hill and she narrowly missed a shot on the winning 8-ball. Slow play and a hill-hill match gave Wonderboy plenty of time to down a couple more drinks. We were up 2-1 at this point, and very much in command.

It was their put up, and Wonderboy finally got the call. Much to his chagrin, I didn't throw up a SL 6 like he was expecting. I instead threw up our strongest SL 3 (the female I considered starting the night off with). Wonderboy was not happy about that and actually more or less called me a chicken (I don't remember the exact words he used, but they were slurred in any case). Of course, I could care less. All I knew is that we had to win one more match to take first place in the division... and although I actually liked the odds of our SL 3 beating him given the handicap advantage (and his condition), I was fine with saving our SL 6 for the last match (likely against an average SL 3, which was pretty much the best they had left in the house).

Our SL 3 played extremely well. Wonderboy played surprisingly well too, it was obvious that he had skills... but as expected, his brief periods of brilliant play were peppered with careless mistakes. The match went hill-hill and down to the 8-ball for both of them. Well, almost. Wonderboy scratched sinking his last ball to give our player ball in hand on the 8-ball and the victory. We won 3-1 with a well warmed up SL 6 in ready five for the last match if necessary. It was a sweet and solid win. It was especially satisfying to take out Wonderboy with a female SL 3.

Oh, the double carom thing. Midway through one of my games, I was trying to figure out how to deal with a semi-problem ball near a corner pocket more or less blocked by a couple of my opponent's balls. I studied the layout shown... (the balls aren't perfectly positioned, just trying to give you an idea of the layout). The 6-ball could not go directly in to the pocket and there were no caroms available off of either of the blocker balls into the pocket. But then it suddenly jumped out at me that a double carom off of both balls would not only go, it seemed like it'd go pretty darn easily as long as I hit it right. I'm fairly comfortable with caroms these days and won't hesitate to use them if it's the right shot to take. But a double carom? I've maybe slopped something like that in before, but never intentionally lined up for such a shot in a match. I did a quick ego-check just to make sure I wasn't getting too cocky or something, and my brain kept telling me that it was not only the best shot, it seemed to be a fairly high percentage shot with the blocking balls perfectly positioned. So I stroked and shot it. And my ball dropped beautifully center pocket. I heard Wonderboy  mumble "not much you can do about luck like that" to my opponent... and I just smiled internally and lined up for my next shot. Life is good.

Know Thy Opponent

Quick question: How many of you keep notes on your opponents? I mean, actual no-kidding written notes that are reasonably detailed? I'm guessing most of you haven't even considered it. If so, you're missing out on what could be a huge advantage. You probably run into the same players on a fairly regular basis in local league and tournament play, right?

Pro athletes in several sport disciplines have access to and take full advantage of extensive notes about their opponents. Granted, in those arenas the notes are likely compiled by someone else - a coach or other designated person. You can bet that every serious football team knows the tendencies of their opposing teams in various situations - what play they're likely to run, who will most likely carry the ball, who will most likely get a pass thrown to them, what defense they'll line up with in a given situation, and so on. This is common even at the high school level and lower. In baseball, particularly pro baseball, a batter likely has access to the entire history of pitches thrown to him by any given pitcher. The history is done in agonizing detail... pitch-by-pitch; the type of pitch, the speed, position in the strike zone (or out of the zone), and ultimate result of each at bat.

Why is this done? For competitive advantage, of course. Knowing the strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies of your opponent will undoubtedly give you an advantage if you're able to exploit them. Would you play a particular person differently if you knew that they weren't very good at kick shots or bank shots for example? Would you approach safeties or push outs against a given opponent if you knew they had an effective jump shot? Of course you would. Would you rack the first 9-ball rack differently if you already knew your opponent tended to break from the left side? Yep.

About a month ago, I was talking casually to a strong player between matches at a tournament. He pointed to a woman across the room and asked if I had ever played her, and I replied that I had seen her play but hadn't actually played against her yet. He then told me that he had a league match against her a couple nights prior and that she was a fairly strong player... but a couple of games into the match he discovered that she was uncharacteristically weak at bank shots (given her skill level) and he used that knowledge to beat her. As luck would have it, I found myself matched up against her in a tournament less than a week later - and that same nugget of information helped me beat her as well!

That was the 'tipping point' for me. I realized how valuable such information would be if I kept track of it in an organized manner rather than trying to rely on memory. Although I see the same players on a fairly regular basis around Las Vegas, I typically won't play most of them more often than once a month or at least every few weeks due to normal rotation. Consequently, I didn't really remember useful details. Sure, I might remember the basics such as whether I beat them or whether they're a strong player or whatever. But useful details that I could exploit? Nope. Poof, gone from memory. So now I'm writing them down and you should too. The more info the better. The date, the time, the occasion, your skill level and their skill level at the time, the outcome of the match (actual score, number of innings, number of defensive shots, etc, etc) as well as any perceived strengths and weaknesses. Do they have a strong break? Where do they break from? Do they avoid side pockets more than they should? Do they tend to get rattled if they're behind? If you think it might be useful, write it down. Even if you don't, and it's a legitimate data point, write it down anyway because trends are important and you might discover something important about those data points down the road.

Keep the notes in a format and medium that makes sense to you. A small notepad might work, for example. I use my smart phone (an iPhone). If you feel really ambitious, it doesn't hurt to keep notes on other players you watch as well even if you aren't playing them... because you might play them at some point in the future.

The important thing is to get started. Make it a habit, and it'll become second nature before you know it.

There Just Might Be A Future In Defense

I'm at the stage of my game where I'm having to pay more attention to defense. Instead of just "sinking balls faster than the opponent does" or "oh my gosh I missed, but I'm not playing against someone who can run out" I'm having to work defense into my game more and more.

I knew the time would come... and thanks to my voracious appetite in reading, I have a pretty good handle on strategy and defensive theory but I've often fallen short on the execution side. Of course, many defensive shots are very difficult to pull off... often more difficult than a typical offensive shot because you need the softest of touch at times, or very VERY fine control of cue ball position because there's such a small window in which to hide it. And, as I'm sure many of you out there know, bungling a defensive shot sucks. Sucks really bad. When I choose a defensive shot over an offensive shot that I felt I had a 50% chance of making and then screw up the defensive shot I find myself regretting the choice even if it was "the right thing to do." The answer of course is practice, but how many people spend much time specifically on defensive shots? How much time do you spend on defensive shots?

Up until recently, I admit I have spent very little time on my defensive skills. Sure, like I said earlier, I study the theory... and I'll try defensive shots in practice games... but as hinted at before, I've often shied away from taking a defensive shot in an important match when I probably should have because the confidence simply wasn't there. Give me a tough offensive shot with a true 30% chance of making versus a semi-tough defensive shot and I tend to bite on the offensive shot more often than I should. Why? Well, there's the whole confidence factor in defensive shots because I haven't been practicing them until recently... but I've also been guilty of being over-confident on my chances of making the offensive shot. See, most of us tend to inflate our chances of making a tough shot because we haven't actually documented past results on paper and we're better at remembering our successes on similar shots than our failures. It's human nature. How many times have you said to yourself "I know I can make this shot - I've made it before!" when it's some kind of crazy kick-off-the-tip-of-the-pocket-corner kind of shot? Never mind the twenty times you missed it... you remember making it that one time so you know you can make it! So the 30% shot I mentioned a bit ago was maybe built up as a 60% shot in my mind because I didn't know any better... the odds seemed decent, so I took the shot... and missed. Don't get me wrong, confidence is good... and I'm definitely not suggesting that you should drive yourself crazy ruminating over whether you can make a given shot. It is possible to be confident in knowing "I can make that shot 40% of the time" because you've tested it and you know that's your percentage. If that's the best shot you have, by all means give it your all. If there's another option with a better percentage, consider taking it (depending on other consequences such as position and so on).

What should we take away from this?

1. Build your confidence in defensive shots by dedicating quality practice time to them. Set up common defensive scenarios and patterns and work on them! If you see a good defensive shot in a match on ESPN or YouTube or whatever, try setting up the initial conditions and duplicating the shot. The more confidence you have in your defensive abilities, the more likely you'll use them when you SHOULD use them.

2. Know your shot percentages. I mean, really know them. Set up some of the more difficult shot scenarios like a tough cut or kick or whatever - try it several times and record the results. Having an honest idea of your percentages will help you make better choices in the heat of a match (and it'll allow you to track progress as you improve over time).

This topic came to mind for me today because I have been thinking about and practicing defensive shots more lately, and I actually had a few defensive successes this morning. I was in two tournaments - one was a qualifier for 8-ball Doubles at APA Team Nationals this August, and the other was a qualifier for 8-ball Regionals (leading into APA Singles Nationals next year). I/we didn't qualify for either, unfortunately... but I was extremely pleased with a few of the defensive shots I made today, which is something new for me! In the past, killer offensive shots were always in the headlines of the "highlight reel" bouncing around in my brain after a match... but today, although I did make a few very good offensive shots, I'll have to say the defensive shots made the headlines. In fact, my doubles partner commented on one of my defensive shots as being "an ESPN shot" - and that has definitely never happened with me before! It was a tricky shot with a small window for success and I nailed it! I even intentionally chose the defense over an offensive option - so there's hope for me yet!