How is your pool game? (Original posted 2-20-08)

My pool game is pretty strong these days.

How is you game?

When we look at our past record of playing that billiard game pool, I think most of us will find that our game improves as time rolls by. This holds true for those of us who play pool on a regular basis anyway.

It seems that players will increase their skill level and then plateau for a while and or possibly even go into a slump.

When we play through the slump however, we usually notice improvement in our game and then continued improvement until the next plateau. I know for me this cycle has occurred numerous times over the past 20 years.

The last several years, the slump is only obvious to me. My game is pretty strong about any day and even though I know I’m in a bit of a slump or that I could be playing better.

When you are evaluating your own pool game or you are down on your game, remember that when you shoot your way out of the slump, you will be playing better than ever.

Shooting some billiard drills is a good way to accelerate your way through a slump. Sometimes a good competitive match for some money or a nice friendly bet will do the same thing.

How strong is your game?

Do you run racks on a regular basis? Do you need a few innings to complete a game?

Have you ever studied the fundamentals of billiards?

If you have not studied the fundamentals or you don’t know any practice drills, then I would suggest that you learn both. You can find almost anything on line and my blog will lead you to some cool resources. There is even a free billiards fundamental course on my blog.

Learning the fundamentals and shooting some practice drills can improve your game  in many ways.

It will boost your confidence and the tougher shots will become routine for you.

You will know which shot to take and which path the cue ball will take.

You will notice huge improvements in your over all pool game.

Leave a comment with your thoughts, questions and stories on this article. I would love to hear from you and I’m sure others who read this in the future would enjoy that as well.

To Your Run Out Success.

Ted

Original post from Wed. Feb 20 2008. Thanks to the way back website, I am still retrieving the old content for this blog.

Let’s play pool. (original posted 2-22-08)

Play Pool, Ted Billiards match

Don’t you just love to play pool?

If you answered yes to the above question, you are not alone. (I know big surprise)

There are thousands of pool players at various skill levels. According to yahoo search marketing software, 87000 people did a search for pool cue last month alone. Isn’t pool a great sport? I know many people do not thing of it as a sport, but it really is a sport. (Check your ESPN guide and you will find billiards quite often.)

I love to play pool. We had a league match last night and while taking a few practice shots before the match, it dawned on me that after playing the game for over 25 years, I still love to play.

Last nights match was short and sweet. The opposing team was short a player, which set the stage for a quick match since we only had to play 20 games instead of the normal 25.

I played 3rd and the score was one to one when I played my first game. I won the coin toss and started with a pretty decent break. I pocketed a ball on the break and proceeded to clear the rack. I shot a nice break out on my only trouble ball, put down all the stripes and my cue ball rolled kind of funny on the 8 ball.

I had a long shot on the 8 and barely had room to clear one of my opponents solid balls. The eight ball hit that solid ball on the way by and the 8 didn’t fall. The next shot I took was following a safety from my opponent and it was a Masse kick shot. I made a good hit on the 8 and spun my cue ball to a nice spot leaving my opponent a tough shot.

He missed, I shot the 8 in the corner and our team was ahead 2 to 1. I could have picked up $1 from each of my team mates if I had made the first 8 ball attempt. We pay one dollar on the run.

I had no run outs last night as opposed to last week when I had 2. I did have to pay out on a few runs. Two of my team mates were in the zone. I went on to finish the night with 3 wins and one loss. Our team won by a land slide. It was a drag for the opposing team because they had to give us 5 games due to their missing player.

Let’s play some pool!

To your run out success.

Ted

Another post I found on the way back website archives. Kind of cool I am able to retrieve quite a bit of the original content from this site.