[Big_Bad_Bern]

I recently played in a Canadian 9ball tour stop in New Market, Ontario, Canada, and being around some of the greatest players in the world like Alex Pagulayan, Ralf Souquet, and Marcus Chamat not to mention all the top players from around Canada, I took the opportunity to sweat some fantastic matches and pick out any pointers or tips that I could pass on to the wonderful people here on poolchat and I was not disappointed.

The first thing I noticed was their demeanor, these players carried themselves with a professional attitude acting at all times with dignity away from the table.

What stuck me like a lightning bolt when they approached the table was how smooth they were and I am not just talking about their strokes (although they were like glass). It was their movement in general, they walked smooth, they chalked smooth, and they fell into the shot smooth and something that really surprised me they came out of every shot smooth.
They never rushed or hurried, if they were shooting a straight in stop shot or a four or five rail kick shot, or a tough jump or cut, they always approached the shot with the same rhythm and timing, looking smooth and fluid never rushed or hurried, never once did they get down and just bang away without an idea of what they wanted to accomplish.

Now when I got home I went down to the poolroom and started to watch players(some of which were the best locally) and I noticed how jerky people looked spastically sawing their cues back and forth, twitching like they were having a seizure. There was no smoothness in their actions from their strokes to the way they walked around the table or how they fell into the shot, many of them also pocketed a ball and maintained general stillness only to jump up after it was finished like someone shocked them on the butt.

The smoothness the pro’s displayed showed in how still they were during and after the shot, gently lowering into the shot and gracefully rising out of it, with only the minimum required movement during the stroke itself.

I also went to my video collection and started watching matches and it dawned on me why I had never noticed this before, they always cut from the player to show the shot result so this is a tip you could only get first hand.

Think about all the sports greats you have seen Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemeiux, Roger Federer, they all perform their chosen sports smoothly effortlessly and attain amazing results, but if you get a chance watch them off the courts, fields or ice, they walk smoothly, talk smoothly, gesture smoothly, they have brought this ideal into their very lives and embraced it in everything they do.

So why not try being smoother when shooting pool next time your out, you may like it, who knows it might seep into your everyday life.

Bern


[ Edited by Big_Bad_Bern on 2007/10/17 2:11 ]

[Kenster]

i WENT TO WATCH THAT TOURNAMENT WATCHED ALEX CRUSH MARCUS AND PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE ELSE IT WAS A GOOD TURNOUT. i PLAY OUT OF THERE IN A COUPLE OF LEAGUES A NICE ROOM.

[Big_Bad_Bern]

Hi Kenster, I too really liked that room it was well run, nice and clean and great food to boot.

I think my favorite shot was when Alex stacked the bridges to jump the five and make the four drawing for shape on the five and runout what a fantastic shot, Alex just shot Marcus into a coma, it was great to watch.

Bern

[The_Woim]

Big Bad Bern,

Pro pool players do have a smoothness like a dancer. Is it taught? Or are they born with it?

There's the IQ test. It's too bad there isn't a sensory-motor skills test. If there were, you would find that pro pool players score 25-35% higher than the general pool playing population.

Or, perhaps they worked on every single aspect of their game, including demeanor at the table.

Yours Truly,
The Woim

[Big_Bad_Bern]

Hi Woim, I find that the smoothness I see from the pro players comes from them having found their natural rythm. There are things a player can do to improve their rythm but the dedication required is tremndous and most players don't have the will power to accomplish this.

I am reminded of a quote from Buddy Hall's book (terrific if you can find one.), W.W. Woody the author and a very good player tells of how Buddy was so much smoother than he was, "Woody knew the importance of a smooth stroke, but he hadn't worked on it with the intensity that Buddy had. Buddy's stroke was so pretty that he could miss and still look like a champion. On the other hand Woody could make the same shot and look clumsy. Buddy was smooth and deliberate, making things look easy."

Woody who played pro speed (and made a living hustling) couldn't find the dedication to work on smoothing out his stroke because like most pool payers only the results mattered to him and as long as he got the same results as Buddy he couldn't motivate himself to do anymore work.

I also believe that short rack games like eight ball and nine ball don't allow players to find their natural rythm. It takes spending 3-4 hours at least at the table consistently hitting balls with a dedicated focus on rythm and structured drills to guide you to find your rythm at the table and to burn it in and make part of your natural play.

And to answer your question pro players smoothness is learned and then honed.
Bern

[Pin]

Wow, I like it.

So how do we find our natural rhythm, and how do we hone it?

It it just about playing until we fall into it? And then recognising and re-adopting that rhythm when we play later?


I've tried to watch the snooker players' manner and how they carry themselves occasionally. Only on TV, but I tended to get the impression they don't have that level of smoothness - not to a high degree. Perhaps the more rigid stance and stroke don't allow them to find their natural rhythms. Or perhaps the strict mechanical routine replaces it to some degree.

Although one player who does have that fluidity is Marco Fu - he plays with a very simple stroke: He sets up, pulls the cue back, and hits - instead of taking those 'practice strokes' behind the CB.

Interesting.


You do see a certain 'smoothness' in other pro sportsmen away from the game too. But I don't know whether that's one of the things they've worked on or a result of the inner confidence of having been so successful as to make the pro level.

[Pelican]

Big_Bad_Bern, on Dec 7 2007, 07:01 PM, said:

Buddy was smooth and deliberate, making things look easy."
Bern

Tell ya something else about Buddy, he never ever takes any shot for granted. Have seen him with the money ball 3 inches out of the corner pocket and the cue ball a foot away and he will address that shot just the same as he would a long 60 degree cut or a two rail bank. Totally focused when at the table.

Pel