help me get better :-)

[Mellow Yellow]

I would call myself a pool player that also plays snooker however i would like to improve my snooker.

i have been playing snooker casually now for a year, maybe once every 3 weeks or once a fortnight at most.

I practice with a friend from pool but he is also much better then me at snooker, one of the better players in our town in fact. I know it is good for my game to play against a better player but i dont feel like i'm improving much, i also know that i do not play frequently enough to improve.

He currently gives me a 30 start to every frame as this gives him a target too but with my max break in the 20's and his in the 80's games are usually decided on the colours.

my target is to improve my breaks and in the long run get my start down as i've been asked to play in the local team if they are ever short.

my question, which i think i can answer for myself is, should i take everything back to the beggining and look at my cue action and stance before i take things any further? there is just no consistency to my game.

i'm thinking about filming my stance/action and putting the vid on here as i know my action is quite sloppy but i feel like a bit of a prat getting my mate to film me!?

i know there is no easy answer and it will take time and practice but i'm confident i can improve with a bit of direction.

cheers

MY

[jrc750]

Firstly, only playing once every 2 or 3 weeks is no good at all if your trying to improve, i play around 3 or 4 times every week and it still doesn't feel enough

[nrage]

my question, which i think i can answer for myself is, should i take everything back to the beggining and look at my cue action and stance before i take things any further? there is just no consistency to my game.

Ideally, find a good coach nearby and get some coaching. Get a lesson once a fortnight for a month, or two, depending on your progress. This will give you a solid base to build from. If you cannot afford a coach, or cannot find a coach nearby then find some exercises (search on here, youtube, google) which will help you practice the basics and diagnose any faults you might have.

Combined with that you will need to play more often, as JRC says. They say that multiple shorter practice sessions will be of more benefit than fewer longer ones. The reason for this is that you won't loose focus or concentration in shorter sessions, and by doing more of them you will, each time, reinforce the correct technique. Longer sessions may allow lapses in concentration and sloppiness to creep in, resulting in reinforcement of bad practice instead of good. If you can only manage a longer session less often, make sure you take short breaks after every 30-60 mins.

I believe that if you can get a solid base, if you can train into yourself a consistent compact cue action with as few moving parts as possible, then you will find that you improve much faster, especially with potting and positional play which require good consistent feedback to train and learn well.

i'm thinking about filming my stance/action and putting the vid on here as i know my action is quite sloppy but i feel like a bit of a prat getting my mate to film me!?

I bought a joby gorillapod with mobile phone attachments and I can film myself with that. It's not ideal, as the resolution is nowhere near as good as a proper video camera and it's sensitive to low light conditions - which is many snooker clubs. But, it does give me something to look at and diagnose any recurring fault. For example, a couple of weeks back I found I was consistently missing a long blue to the left of the pocket, a video recording showed movement in my grip hand at the point of contact and reminded me not to tighten my grip too early on the stroke. It could have been caused by a sighting and alignment issue, which the camera would have shown also.

Play long blues, and film from front on (the target pocket), behind, and the side (the open side, so the camera can see the cue and action). In each case you'll want to play it back in slow motion and look for the following things:

1. Front
- the eyes/head are in the correct place (depending on player, cue on center chin, eyes equidistant either side)
- the cue is on the line of the shot (camera center, object ball, white ball, cue tip, head, elbow visible above head are all on the line)
- during feathers/stroke does the upper body or head move?
- during feathers/stroke does the cue tip move left/right? or the cue offline?
- during feathers/stroke does the elbow move left/right? or drop? (ok on stroke as long as it's not too early)

2. Back
Similar to the front, you're looking for body movement and cue movement

3. Side
As above, but here you can see vertical movement i.e. does the cue travel on a plane or does the grip hand move up/down during the stroke. How early does the elbow drop? before/after the cue tip strikes the ball.

For an idea of the ideal/perfect action do a bit of a google or youtube. IIRC there are some good examples from Nic Barrow - showing our own Terry Davidsons' cue action.

Also the Terry Griffiths software examples include some footage of various players.

Finally, it might be possible (tho I've not tried) to find examples of pro players on youtube to download and play back in slow motion and analyse.

If you have any questions about technique search this forum because they've probably all be asked and answered before, if you can't find anything post and hopefully one of the resident coaches will be along to help out with specifics.

Best of luck.

[Dannyboy]

Have a coupe of hours with a snooker coach,and to improve your break building practice snooker routines line up's ect. Play better player's join a league and enter as many competitions as you can. Remember you dont become a good player overnight you must be prepared to put the hour's in on the practice table.

[hotpot]

As others have pointed out the basic techniques are a must for improvement and a good coach can start you off on the right foot . Another area that lets players down is shot selection , i,ve seen very good technical sound players who dont progress as their shot selection keeps letting them down . You friend is obviously a good player so watch his positional play and you will learn a lot , also ask him for advise in positional play .

The secret is to play for areas of the table that gives you the best options should you overhit , underhit etc , rather than being precise .

This is an area where your friend can help you a lot , but dont be afraid to ask for advise .

[damienlch]

Hi Mellow Yellow, I think that's very sound advice from Hotpot... not the least because I was about to suggest the same...

You would already have developed a certain level of proficiency in your technique if you are making 20s... So, although technique is obviously very important to help you achieve further aspirations, I think the "easiest" and fastest way to bring your game up a notch now is to improve your positional play... Choosing the right shots and thinking correctly help to simplify this otherwise very difficult game to play. I would go so far as to say that correct shot selection is often the difference between making occasional 20s and developing consistent 20s or even 30s, without even touching on your technique.

As what was suggested earlier, you have a good coach in your friend if he's making 80s. Observe his shot selection when he is in amongst the balls... chances are, you'll notice he often plays the type of shots you can play too, for e.g. soft stuns and screws, but always seem to land good on the next shot. Ask him if you do not understand why he chose that shot or how he played it... I'm sure he'll be glad to help you out... he'll find the game more enjoyable too if he can play with you on a par... but try not to ask when he's down on a shot... unless you are trailing of course...

[jrc750]

... but try not to ask when he's down on a shot... unless you are trailing of course...

That is good sneaky advice, i like it

[nrage]

If your friend is willing to, ask him for shot selection advice when you're at the table too. For example, approach the table, make your shot selection and then describe it to your friend, then ask him what he would do, if it's the same thing - excellent, if not, ask him why (if he's not already explained) and then decide which you prefer and play it.

This will do 2 things.
1. Make you think about your shot selection and position - all of us are guilty of playing too fast and not thinking enough at the beginning.
2. Make you describe it to someone, and listen to advice from them.

I had Terry helping me with shot selection at our coaching session and played a lot better than usual because of it. I still have a lot to learn about shot selection and what angles are actually possible on each shot and so on.

[armstm]

i'm in a similar boat to you... played loads of pool over the years and only a bit of snooker... i made the decision this year to seriously improve my snooker. i also have a friend who i beat at school but he usually beats me at snooker - he's a better potter, i'm better positionally. this year, i have played 3-4x a week and progress has been extremely slow. i've seen terry G and nic barrow, practiced 3-4x, played regular matches against better players, still not much progress.

actually there has been progress as i've unpicked loads of issues with my game but in terms of points scored, there has been precious little progress.

my experience/view is this.

i had a poor cue action when i was learning to play. eg my right hip was not stretched - (neither coach picked this up). i stabbed at the ball, didn't bring cue back slowly, had no consistent 1-2 into the shot, stood too close to the table for cushion shots.

you play best with your "subconscious". this brain learns the angles over a LONG period of time (e.g. the famous 10,000 hours to become a master at something). if ur cue action is not consistent or if you've played a lot of pool, then its quite likely the brain will have INCORRECT angles memorised. ie fine cuts in pool - you can get away with undercutting cos the pockets are easier. in my case i see this over and over again that i pick out the correct line of aim by standing behind the object ball in a straight line to the pocket - but then notice that my right foot that i attempt to put on this line is not on it! ie the subconscious has overruled me... its so ingrained. correcting this faulty subconscious is tedious and requires a lot of effort in practice and is still a massive work in progress.

the final part is that even with a poor cue action and faulty subconscious memory, there will be times when you "are in the zone". this has been the case for me before this year - i did a 50 in a line up and have had 20-30 in matches. this year however, i became too obsessed with getting everything right, understanding the theory. in other words, i had huge expectations, and also a tendency to over-analyse the shot (make sure of the potting angle). as stated before your subconscious has to be allowed to play. in my case my anxiety over missing meant that the conscious brain was taking the shot not the subconscious.

i'm reading the inner game of golf (which someone recommended on this forum) which i would advise if you have experienced this kind of nagging "you're going to miss" inner voice. i didn't have this voice at pool, because the pots are so, so much more forgiving.

[Mellow Yellow]

thanks for all the comments and advice guys, i've been in contact with a local coach and i'm going to sort out at least a couple of hours with him and take it from there. :-) along with this i'm going to try put a lot more practice time in and hopefully will be able to chart my improvements next year!!!