practice by yourself

[EvilDealer]

my tables only an old riley table and cloth needs replacing aswell... i doubt at the moment anyone.. apart from me cuz it cost me nothing would want a serious game on it

you would be surprised! if i had a neighbour who had a table i would instantly be there best friend!

[cazmac1]

I would even pay for the table to be reclothed, it would save me money in the long term

[cueman]

Yeah a recloth would probably set you back around £300 for a top cloth, gotta be worth it, there is only you playing on it so it will last. I'll go halves if your local, LOL.

I practice usually for about an 1 1/2 hours maybe 2 or 3 times a week. That is enough for me, I don't have a break, just solid for that duration, usually find I find my form after about 20 minutes. Do a range of things, have a couple of line ups, few scattered reds and generally practice long potting and playing cannons into the pack off various colours.

Anymore than that and my concentration is usually going by that time and is detrimental to my play. Also I have a neck pain which I've caused with an injury playing in goal many years ago so I have to be careful not to over do it so again can't play for too long. Can be difficult when playing a tournament as I have to pace myself and make sure I have some pain killers with me.

I think too much practice is not a good thing. You want to enjoy playing and making the most out of the practice time. With having your own table you can play as much as you like but maybe space it out, instead of a long 3-4 hours, have 1 1/2 hours, then break for 2 hours, back for another hour etc. This I think will be better as you need time to recharge your batteries and so all the practice is geared up to prepare you better for matches. Most pros don't play solidly for 5-6 hours, its all in mini sessions, usually 2 hours tops then a break and then back for another 2.

[147wolf]

I would even pay for the table to be reclothed, it would save me money in the long term

i am about 100 miles from london m8 cheers for offer though

[147wolf]

Yeah a recloth would probably set you back around £300 for a top cloth, gotta be worth it, there is only you playing on it so it will last. I'll go halves if your local, LOL.

I practice usually for about an 1 1/2 hours maybe 2 or 3 times a week. That is enough for me, I don't have a break, just solid for that duration, usually find I find my form after about 20 minutes. Do a range of things, have a couple of line ups, few scattered reds and generally practice long potting and playing cannons into the pack off various colours.

Anymore than that and my concentration is usually going by that time and is detrimental to my play. Also I have a neck pain which I've caused with an injury playing in goal many years ago so I have to be careful not to over do it so again can't play for too long. Can be difficult when playing a tournament as I have to pace myself and make sure I have some pain killers with me.

I think too much practice is not a good thing. You want to enjoy playing and making the most out of the practice time. With having your own table you can play as much as you like but maybe space it out, instead of a long 3-4 hours, have 1 1/2 hours, then break for 2 hours, back for another hour etc. This I think will be better as you need time to recharge your batteries and so all the practice is geared up to prepare you better for matches. Most pros don't play solidly for 5-6 hours, its all in mini sessions, usually 2 hours tops then a break and then back for another 2.

thanks cueman some good advice there going to cut it back to 1 hour a day see how that goes, start having a day or 2 where i play someone in practice

seem to find that after 1 hour to 1.1/2 hours thats when i lose concentration i think sloppy play comes in as you know you can reset the balls up so mayby you dont give it everything... if you set yourself a time limit mayby try harder over an hour cuz you know thats all your going to get... plus hopefully dont leave your game on the practice table for the match, more fresher mayby

i keep trying diffent things... frustrating when your game goes to bits in a match after playing so well leading up to it..

[nrage]

thanks cueman some good advice there going to cut it back to 1 hour a day see how that goes, start having a day or 2 where i play someone in practice

Playing a decent opponent is some of the best match practice you can get.

seem to find that after 1 hour to 1.1/2 hours thats when i lose concentration i think sloppy play comes in as you know you can reset the balls up so mayby you dont give it everything... if you set yourself a time limit mayby try harder over an hour cuz you know thats all your going to get... plus hopefully dont leave your game on the practice table for the match, more fresher mayby

i keep trying diffent things... frustrating when your game goes to bits in a match after playing so well leading up to it..

Instead of a time limit, which might make you rush things, practice in more short sessions but don't worry about what you get done in any 1 session. Instead set yourself some mini goals, as these help to add pressure to shots you can probably make all the time in practice, and will cause you to miss them, like you might in a match under pressure situations.

For example, set up a tricky shot and see how many times out of 10 you can do it, then try and beat your record. When you get near to beating it, you will feel the pressure increase. If that becomes too easy, set a more complex goal, like potting a red off the blue spot, going in/out of baulk between the colours, and landing back below the blue for the next shot into/out of baulk. See how many times out of 10 you can do that, try and beat your record.

Adding pressure in practice will teach yourself to deal with pressure in a match, and gives you confidence because you know you can do it under pressure.

[thelongbomber]

Seems you know enough about snooker to critique a video if you had one. Try recording a video of yourself playing. It doesn't have to be HD but can help. Even the webcam off a computer is a good place to start.

Line-up or not
Well in one aspect you could say the lineup helps you practice stun shots, black balls, etc and when you eventually face that in match play, you have "muscle memory" for playing them. On the other hand, the lineup never appears in match play. I think both types of practice help each other really.

[147wolf]

Seems you know enough about snooker to critique a video if you had one. Try recording a video of yourself playing. It doesn't have to be HD but can help. Even the webcam off a computer is a good place to start.

Line-up or not
Well in one aspect you could say the lineup helps you practice stun shots, black balls, etc and when you eventually face that in match play, you have "muscle memory" for playing them. On the other hand, the lineup never appears in match play. I think both types of practice help each other really.

cheers bomber i tried camera a while back, good advice you can spot a few things...

how many hours solo do you practice a week ?

[genesisdecoy]

Hi. Just wanna ask. How do you practice by yourself? Do you start by regular set-up or is there any special set up to do? Sometimes I see people practicing with balls lying all over the table, is that the 'set-up' when practicing by yourself?

[jrc750]

Hi. Just wanna ask. How do you practice by yourself? Do you start by regular set-up or is there any special set up to do? Sometimes I see people practicing with balls lying all over the table, is that the 'set-up' when practicing by yourself?

Have a look at this site for practice routines, the line-up is a common one, or put colours on their spots and scatter reds everywhere trying to make sure colours will still pot
http://fergalobrien.ie/practice.html

[Inoffthered]

So you can play then. This might help you, when I was playing my best snooker I always started the first frame really well and as the match progress I got worse and the harder I tried the worse my game got.

This mainly applies to practice ( but can also help you in a match ). If you make a 50+ break in the first frame of the session you play, you usually go on to play well throughout the whole session. Always found that to be the case back in my playing days.