Pool-Learning how to play better
By: Chuck Valentine
So you play a little pool but you’re not that good and you would like to play better. How do you do it? Let me give you some direction and ideas. Although these are just my opinions, they come from my personal experience. I hope this sends you on the pathway of becoming at least an above average pool competitor because there is no better feeling than winning and being confident.
The first thing you need to learn, after you know how to hold a cue properly, (that’s another lesson), is to how to make your object balls go into the pocket. When I was a little lad of 8 years old, my dad started teaching me how to play pool. At that age, the only thing he taught me was how to make the ball I was shooting. He never taught me English or how to play “shape”. He told me, “You can’t shoot another ball until you make the one you’re shooting now.” That made sense to me. How do you get better at making the balls? Practice, Practice, Practice.
Now you can make shots pretty well, but I’ll tell you, I will beat a good shot maker 90% of the time because he never knows where his next shot will be and I do. I was a shot maker for a long time, into my teens in fact, and guess what, I got beat a lot. But since I wanted to get better I went to one of the local pool halls and played people that were better than me and I watched them and asked questions. One of the people that I played back then was one of the best amateur players in the country. Today he is one of the leading BCA instructors in the world. Anyhow, we would play straight pool up to 50 points and he would spot me 30 points. Many times I would be lucky if I even got a shot. I think I did manage to win one game somewhere along the line though. The point is that I learned so much about English, stroke, and shape that my game really advanced to a higher level. However, I still had to practice, practice, and practice.
Now that your game is better, just how good are you? Yes, you play your buddies and the local guys in the bars, but are they a real test of your newly developed talents? Why not start playing some tournaments? This will give you a real “feel” for how good you are and how much more you need to practice. Start small like bar tournaments and if you do well move up to some more competitive ones. This is an experience that can be very valuable if you are serious about becoming an accomplished pool player.
In summary, learn how to make shots consistently, practice, play people who are better than you, practice, and finally enter some tournaments to gage your skill level. There are many other ways to improve your skills like on-line lessons, books, videos, etc. but in my opinion the best way to improve your game consistently is PRACTICE! Do you see a pattern here? Good Luck and Good Stroking.
