Consistency: How?

[nutscrewsandbolts]

I started playing snooker seriously 6 months ago. Before that, I used to play pool irregularly with friends on weekends. Now players in my club say that my snooker is improving exponentially. I usually go back home in high spirits, because even if I lose, as long as the game is good, I'm happy.
Last night I played 9 frames, and won seven. I had my highest break of 28, two breaks of 25 and one of 17. I won 7 out of nine frames with an opponent who is usually slightly better than me.
Today all hell broke lose. I gave my opponent 35 points in fouls in one frame, and missed every black off the spot, gave away easy reds when trying to play safety and snooker shots. At least once a week this mental block + bad luck occurs, where I can't play anything I intend to. In-offs, completely missing thin cuts, forgetting the potting angles, and incorrectly predicting the cue ball path. All seems to happen at once.
Should I just accept this as part of the game? Does this happen to others as well? How can I remain consistent in my game?

[checkSide]

Hi nuts.

Welcome to Snooker!

Consistency after only 6 months of playing is virtually impossible for mere mortals like yourself and I. Unless you are blessed with supreme talent, or have the time to practice 8 hours a day, you will need to work on your game with the long term view.
You just need to talk to the good players in your club to see how long they've been playing to reach that level.

It takes literally years to develop the intuition needed to consistently,

1. see the potting angle every time,
2. know the shot to play in terms of where to hit the cueball,
3. deliver the cue precisely every time from numerous positions around the table.

What you should be doing at your stage is figuring out what works FOR YOU in different situations.

i.e. practising the shots you find hard and miss regularly. Only with practice will you develop a feel for how to play each different shot consistently.

These are only my observations from playing seriously for around 15 months.

If anyone has a quick fix answer to your question, I would love to read it as well!

Cheers

[1lawyer]

haaaaa consistency the search for the holy grail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhRUe-gz690

[JamesFoster]

Last night I played snooker for the first time in about 15 years, and I haven't played pool in 8 years. Anyway my highest break was 17 and on the line-up it was only 23. What surprised me was that I potted some great balls but I really struggled to control the cueball. I also missed colours off their spots a few times. I think this happened because I trying to do too much with the cue ball ie deep screw, side, pinching the pockets. I was also amazed at the speed of the table, especially 1/4 ball pots. But I played some good safety, ie break off shots.
Anyway, my point is that this is a game where you need to put the time in. And if you can work on cueing straight then you will really improve. I know I must have cued across yesterday or moved my head on the shot more than a few times. Also think about getting a few lessions from a coach. Practice doesn't make perfect, but no-one can become decent without it. Anyway if you think snooker is a difficult game (which it is), then check out these russian billiards/pyramids videos:
http://www.russiatoday.com/Art_and_F...cognition.html
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?...ient=firefox-a