Decided to sell my, less then one year old, shimmed Diamond Black PRC 9’ Pro Am for a WNT tour table. I’m excited and scared. I’ll either get better or check into a mental institution.

have a buddy who always says that he'd beat us with literally anything, including a stick found on the roadside.

challenge accepted! I present; pool stick. harvested green from my backyard. dried to 13% RH. hand shaved/shaped the offshoots. removed the lichen and did a single pass of 60 grit along the grain to remove any debris. 2 coats of epoxy, a 2000 grit polish and a waxed Black/Green linen to finish it off.

the grip is concentrically inline with the tip/joint, so it actually shoots really well - even though it looks completely out of whack. finished weight with the carbon fiber shaft is 18.7oz.

i think i understand that english on a cue ball is right english / which is a right of center hit - spins counterclockwise and moves more to the right than a center hit ball. and conversely left english - which is a left of center hit ball- spins clockwise and moves more to the left than a center hit ball. and following on a cue hit with right or left english will impart the opposite english to an object ball hit with this cue ball. can anyone explain this throw shot from 99 shots in relation to this please? i'm getting tripped up.

Just had a night of aweful pool in my pool league earlier this week. I was randomly missing short, simple 30 degree cut shots. I felt bad enough that I wanted to "go back to basics". I was always a causaul "play by feel from 20 years of experience" type player, around 400-450 Elo. I never learned what "proper stance" was, so I started Googling.

I am extremely left eye dominant (very bad vision in right eye), but I'm right handed. Google suggests that I "shift my head" so my left eye and my right foot line up with the cue and line of shot. I took my phone to a 1 hour practice session this afternoon for some recordings.

Questions for everyone:

1. Can you guys take a look at my stance and tell me if I'm doing something wrong? There's a picture and a short video of me hitting a few balls, links below. PS, the video showed some of my "better" shots. The shooting session was around 30+ minutes, I started shooting really badly by frame 3. My phone stopped recording after a few min for some reason.
2. I feel like I'm shooting worse today with my "more correct" stance suggested by Google compared to the natural way I normally shoot for the past 20 years. Should I abandon it, and play the "wrong" stance that I'm more comfortable with? Or should I just take the temporary loss and "fix my stance" that will make my current game even worse?
3. Is there a trick to "not miss simple shots"? When I'm shooting badly, I'm super uncomfortable with anything that wasn't straight in, thinking "I might miss this one" no matter how easy they objectively are. This includes half-table length 30 or 45 degree cut shots into corner pockets. I want to avoid that type of bad streak in the future, what is the best way to get out of it?

Thanks everyone for the help.

• https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMZdYQ_HpZJgjIUKaW2fvFlT57vKlWl7G5p91ti
• https://youtu.be/YyHRhDC51Og

In pool, what skill or shot do you want to learn or improve on the most?

My coach is considered one of the best jumpers in the world by many in the pro circuit. Decided to start working on it.

https://youtube.com/@avgpoolplayer?si=0B_XJz_ZtTZw-A6m

The more I really pay attention to most pool players locally (BCA, APA, TAP, UPL) the more I notice that almost every single amateur player adjusts when they get down. I don't mean a little, they adjust their stance, arm, elbow, aim and everything a lot after they get down on the shot.
If you do this you are hurting your chances of shooting consistent.

The drill I have all my students do. Throw 15 balls out on the table, spread them out so nothing is tied up or blocking a pocket. Shoot any shot you want but there is 1 big thing - Once you get down on your shot you can't do any practice strokes. Either the shot looks good and you shoot your final stroke... or it doesn't look good and you stand up and reset.

This drill teaches you how important your setup and alignment are while you are standing. You will see every single pro player and great shooter has 1 thing in common. They all get on the line of the shot and step into the shot from this line. You will never see pro's stepping sideways into their stance, or stepping backwards into their stance.
I tell my students I aim with my right foot (right handed shooter). I get my right foot on the line of the shot and step into the shot the same way every time. This way I'm already on the line of the shot.
I have had players come to me in a slump. They can't make 2 balls in a row and they don't know why. I have them do this simple drill and within 2 racks of this they are back to running racks normally.

So I’ve been playing regularly around 2-3 times a week for about a year now and I still feel as if my play is inconsistent despite practicing fundamentals every session. I want to make a big improvement in my game and I’m considering investing in lessons. One of the local instructors around me is Dr.Dave. I know that lessons from the man himself would be money well spent however he charges around $250 for a 1 hour session which is quite steep. Does anybody know of any other good instructors in the Fort Collins Colorado area or should I bite the bullet on training with him?

https://youtube.com/@avgpoolplayer?si=Rv1I2ffRsCYP3nxJ

I swore a few times trying to take this one down…

She was targeting the APA players around Chicago, but she also was going after Scott Frost, and most of the US Mosconi team.

She'll approach people first offering to help them pay less in taxes after tournament wins, or befriend you and offer the same if you have a regular job. Then she'll get into crazy credit card that seems that are too complicated to understand. They seem to work at first, but then they don't and she'll leave you with a bunch of credit card debt.

Took advantage of a cancer patient trying to pay her bills here, and a widow trying to cover her late husband's funeral costs.

She fled to LA, but she'll be lurking around most of the major pool tournaments.

That is her with Efren.

Stay safe y'all!

Really bad player here. Trying to improve and starting out with fewer balls so I dont get frustrated. Will move on to more object balls in the next days.

1 hour of practice where the ball barely fits (see first picture). Really focusing on "aim small, miss small" and ever missed shot was set uphold and tried until I made it.

1 hour of practice with Pocket reducers normal. This seemed much much easier. Still really focusing on exactly what part of the pocket I'm aiming at.

Then 1 hour of practice with no reducers.... I felt like a pro - i think I missed 1 ball in an hour. Still doing the "aim small, miss small" where I'm aiming at an exact part of the pocket.

Anyone else do extreme practice like this?

I have noticed since becoming an APA 7/9 that the gap between myself and the upper 1/3 of those at this level is such that it is difficult to compete. I am looking for suggestions on drills for skill development to allow me to compete and win at a higher percentage. The quality of players I am referencing begins at around a Fargo rate of 615-660. I am not robust and am probably around 560-580. Looking for suggestions...

So I have been practicing my cut shots for hrs every day and I have got pretty good at most of these I would say 7 to 8 out of 10 except these 2 shots I might make 3 out of 10 and the 8 ball shot is fairly easy. Why can I make the same shots going the opposite way without very much trouble? Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

I spend so much time doing drills, working on fundamentals and cueball control. Now I'm refining my ball pocketing skills.

Anyone that has shot with Pocket Reducers knows that even though the pockets went from 4 1/2 to a little over 3" pockets, they play even smaller than that because you can't rattle balls in. The shots are clean or no chance.

Put in that work!

Finally beat my goal of break and running a full rack of balls on a Bar Box in Under 60 Seconds. Give it a try! For free pool lessons and drills check out my YouTube Link in my Bio!

https://youtube.com/@basementbilliards?si=nRRk5DJjlL29P_UHsub_confirmation=1?

Wow all, never have I changed 1 thing that made such an immediate difference in my shooting. Today I changed my stance to more of an open and square to the shot style (I guess more of a snooker style). It fixed some problems I've been trying to fix for a while, but wasn't having luck diagnosing (unintentional spin and hitting where I'm aiming). My previous best on the mighty x drill was something like 15. Today I crushed it. Rattled off something in the 20's, than 40s and now I just went on a run that was definitely over 60. I couldn't believe it while it was happening. My cueball was stopping or barely moving after contact. The family doesn't give a damn lol, so I'm telling you reddit.

Not saying this will help you, but maybe. If anything it proves to keep working on your game, keep trying to fix things, and sometimes you'll have an "AHA!" moment.

Been playing for a little over 1.5years.

Happy shooting!

I wonder why when you see a up close stroke of a PRO you see the tip of their cue swing up and down as opposed to straight. Im new to pool so Im learning, I was always under the impression that your STROKE needs to be as straigh as possible and its a basic of pool.

Can someone explain to me why pros have that swing?is it because they are so good that at the end of their stroke it ends up being straight even tho its starts looking wobbly?

14 mins on this one tonight. Ideally try not to bump into any of the other balls although it gets trickier the deeper you get into it.

Great close control practice drill.

Give it a try.

Fellow geeks, my name is Kara and I need some advice. I’ve been taking pool more seriously recently and I would like some help or suggestions on some things without getting bombarded .02 seconds after I start scanning the table by every man that watches me or plays with me. I get so frustrated with it and I think it makes me nervous that everybody’s watching me and I start missing because of it 🤣
Anyway, I had mentioned that I’ve been taking it more seriously - I have considered myself pretty good, enough to a point where I’m considering getting my own tools. My friends that I consider to be really good have been a weird kind of shocked and compliment me on how good I’ve been getting. However, I don’t think my gauge or theirs is very accurate.
I understand the concept of the angles, I can do bank shots pretty well, I know the logistics behind where to hit the cb in order to get where I want. I think I could maybe be somewhat of a great player in the future! However, sometimes I’m better than everybody in the room and other times I’m the worst player to ever exist. The consistency is not there. I will have the perfect shot in mind but then I’ll go to hit and it won’t strike where I need it to. It’s almost like I glitch or something. I do think my form is off but I have no idea how to properly correct that. I also have no idea why it’s so inconsistent. I would really appreciate any kind of advice on what kind of drills I can do to better myself in this way.
Anything helps, and thank you to anybody that reads this post!!

New here.

What would I do here, I’m stripes.