[Princeton]

This is my first post . I am retired and have good access to the 10' tables at the senior's centre. They play snooker and 8-ball where the one and fifteen have each it's own side pocket.

I like to play billiards; but I am 2nd from the bottom with about 10 guys. They love to beat me and I don't enjoy losing. It seems I feel that I am their favourite whipping mule. Do you keep playing and get defeated or not play and practise only.They lean on me pretty hard to play and say it's only a game for fun"

At my age of 59 I want to hold my own as a minimum; and would want to be better .

What is the 1st thing I should do to improve?

I have read some of fastLarry teaching and hope to apply this to myself, a little direction would be appreciated.

Thank you
Thor :-?

[TryingHard]

I think playing against players who are better is a great learning experience in itself. You didn't get into your experience with pool at all - how much did you play before now? And what was your career that you're retired from (some of my book recommendations might depend on that).

First and foremost, you have to work on your stroke. Probably the single best way to do this is to line up on a diamond, shoot at the same diamond across the table (lengthwise), and see if 1) you actually hit the spot you were aiming at, and 2) that the cue ball comes as straight back to your cue position as possible. If the ball goes fairly straight toward the spot you hit, but them comes off the cushion to the right, you didn't hit the cue ball on center (you hit to the right) and vise versa.

Of course the stance, the way you hold the cue, etc have to be "right" for you first, but this will tell you if it's right.

[begin edit] I forgot to mention - while you're doing this, consciously pay attention to what your body is doing while performing this drill - is your upper arm moving (it shouldn't, normally, for this type of shot). Also - is your forearm moving comfortably in a straight line? Is the cue (the part you can see) "wobbling" or not moving in a straight line?

Using a training cue ball (or simply a stripe if you clean the chalk off when you're done) will tell you if it's a clean hit. Line up the stripe so that it should just roll with the stripe staying along the line you're shooting and see how much the stripe "wobbles" down the table. If you executed a good hit, you'll see the stripe rolling end over end without apparent movement (which is harder than it sounds).

And - most importantly - when you're attempting this drill, you're going to be thinking about a straight clean hit - don't forget the things you learn from this drill when it comes to actually shooting at balls in a match :-)

[ Edited by TryingHard on 2006/7/28 21:58 ]

[Princeton]

Thanks for the reply, I played about 20 years ago in the local legion, and now have been playing for about 2 months. I have much more playing time now. I have ordered some books that FastLarry recommened, playing with a dufferin cue and am waiting for a meucci demo cue with a black dot shaft.

I have trouble with long shots, my cuts,getting out of hooks,shooting off the rag, draw shot, and sometimes will miss an easy shot. If I can make a 4-5 ball run; that would be my best as I am now.

I have been a tradesman involved in mechanics and steel fabrication most of my work life.

[TryingHard]

Ah, OK. I was definitely aiming too low on the suggestions then :-) But - I wouldn't discount the stroke practice if it's been a while - a wobbly stroke was my primary reason for missing balls (particularly cuts) for a while. I too had a lot of play under my belt and then laid off for a number of years.

Given your career (you probably had to use a fair amount of math), you may find this book interesting: "The Science of Pocket Billiards". FL hates it, but it was very helpful to me. It over-analyzes everything, and FL says there are some factual errors in it (specifically as regards squirt if I remember right). The biggest thing I got out of it was understanding why banks aren't a simple matter of figuring out angles, and how the cue ball reacts under different conditions after striking an object ball which helped with my position play.

If you're the type (like me) who likes to know WHY something happens, and cannot remember it unless I know why, you'll like this book.

[TryingHard]

Another drill that I thought of based on what you said about long shots. These are usually either 1) mental or 2) your stroke (or a combination of both like it was for me). FL had a drill for that problem which I cannot find right now, but this is gist:

Set up an object ball mid table, somewhere between the side pockets. Line up the cue ball near a corner pocket so that it's a perfectly straight shot to one of the far corners, and try to make it. Some people call this the hardest shot in pool because there's no angle and there's not a lot of margin for error. And once you get good on this shot, try it with follow and see if you can get the cue ball to follow the OB into the pocket - you're REALLY in stroke if you can do that.

[Princeton]

Thanks again for your help. Have been away for a couple days but tomorrow will get back to play. Just read Willie Mosconi,'s "Winning Pocket Billiards", now I have a lot of learning and practice to do. Will also do some work on the long shot.

cheers
Thor :-)