Practice routines you can do in the house

[ace man]

It takes a while for a beginner to get that accurate tho, so maybe starting with a large margin for error which is achievable and refining it is useful, no?

Not too large margin of error though. By the same token you could teach a beginner some things on a smaller 7ft American pool table with biggest pockets available, and then after a few months get him on a snooker table. It will be a shock to say the least. OTOH, I'm not a coach nor do I have slightest idea what would be ideal way to begin to teach some snooker to a beginner though. Let's leave that to experts in the field.

Practice makes perfect as they say. You say gadgets don't help, fine. But you do realise that using a mirror is using a gadget. Anything external to you, that gives you feedback is a gadget (or whatever term you want to use).

Yes, a mirror is a gadget. But I was being negative towards gadgets which are usually sold at billiard stores. They don't sell mirrors, do they? I have yet to see anything useful for sale.
Just admit it...what have you bought?

Have you tried 'the match box'? The pro's still do this as well as the baulk line.

I don't think I'm familiar the term.

[nrage]

Yes, a mirror is a gadget. But I was being negative towards gadgets which are usually sold at billiard stores.

My point was that I wouldn't lump all of those together as "useless", some of them are as useful as the mirror was for example.

Just admit it...what have you bought?

I have a marked ball, as mentioned earlier, and a 360 pure cue. Plus I've used my phone to record myself. All of that was useful to me, as the mirror was useful to you

[j6uk]

I'm not trying to put anyone out of a job but I think its worth repeating, oh and If your pushing these products tough.. The amount of so call snooker players Iv come across over the 30 years of playing who've got all the gadgets, they play for years and just keep con/suming the latest gizmos in their quest to do the one thing they dream of, to make a 100 break. They are all still there now, doing the same old things and struggling to make a 30. Still chatting away, not listening, knowing everything lol..
You probably won't find this surprising but on the contrary, all the really good amateurs and ex-pro's I know who 'tone for fun' laugh at these things. A lot of these players would call the ones who buy this stuff "mugs", there words not mine

Get back to the table with a good coach if your a serious player. enjoy

[vmax4steve]

If you really need a marked cue ball to know where top left and bottom right is then you are on a hiding to nothing from the start.

[nrage]

If you really need a marked cue ball to know where top left and bottom right is then you are on a hiding to nothing from the start.

My ball doesn't have markings for top left, bottom right etc.

[nrage]

I'm not trying to put anyone out of a job but I think its worth repeating, oh and If your pushing these products tough.. The amount of so call snooker players Iv come across over the 30 years of playing who've got all the gadgets, they play for years and just keep con/suming the latest gizmos in their quest to do the one thing they dream of, to make a 100 break. They are all still there now, doing the same old things and struggling to make a 30. Still chatting away, not listening, knowing everything lol..
You probably won't find this surprising but on the contrary, all the really good amateurs and ex-pro's I know who 'tone for fun' laugh at these things. A lot of these players would call the ones who buy this stuff "mugs", there words not mine

Get back to the table with a good coach if your a serious player. enjoy

You've posted almost this exact thing twice now, so you obviously think you're onto a winner .. but, I believe you've gotten cause and effect confused.

You've got a group of sub-30 break players, who all have gadgets. You've got a group of 100+ break players without. From this you've concluded gadgets don't work.

Have you considered perhaps the gadgets are an effect and not the cause? For example, imagine you're a 30 break player who isn't improving. You'll probably buy a gadget to see if it helps, right?

Now imagine you're a player who is improving all the time, would you buy a gadget? I can't think why.

So, gadgets are an effect, caused by lack of improvement, and what causes that? We've both said it already, lack of practice.

I bet if you ask the sub-30 break players if they've ever spent 1/2 a year+ playing 3-4 times a week the answer will be no. I bet if you ask your 100+ break players the same question the answer will be yes.

If you practice with a gadget which provides any benefit at all however small, it will make you improve faster over the long term. It stands to reason.

[j6uk]

If your wise you'll put your hands up and ask someone for help.

Have you considered perhaps the gadgets are an effect and not the cause? For example, imagine you're a 30 break player who isn't improving. You'll probably buy a gadget to see if it helps, right?

[Belloz22]

If your wise you'll put your hands up and ask someone for help.

Not everyone has a community for help...... not gonna trust what dave says down your local pub either. I always found the best feedback is the feedback you can give yourself and I guess some "gadgets" can help with that. Yes some are a con...... and some are expensive and glorified..... but if it helps you identify a problem early thay would normally take months of trial and error to find out, surely you are only giving yourself the best change of improving on those problems? And if you can do it from the comfort of home aswell, then it allows you to make use of dead time away from the table to continue improving and learning about your game.

[nrage]

If your wise you'll put your hands up and ask someone for help.

Won't do any good if you're not putting in the hours of practice required, bottom line. Coaching from a coach or better player is certainly better than a gadget and a gadget is better than doing the same thing again and again and getting nowhere.

[itsnoteasy]

Practice is pointless without sound technique, the players spoken about who have played for years and cant hit a 30 break could practice all day every day and not improve, as they must have poor technique to still be at that standard after all those years.
Teaching yourself is hard(not for all , like most sports some are very good very quickly) it is easy to look down on us duffers and tell us we are doing it all wrong, we know this, we are grasping at straws trying to be as good as the good players, its very frustrating for us, and if we see things for sale that state they will improve our game its very easy to buy into it.
Coaching i have come to realise is the only way forward, even then sometimes you just reach your level and run out of talent.
Dang i ment to post a daft thing i practice in the house but got distracted by all the other postings, so here it is,
My Son has an old cue and my Daughter had bought one of those cheap laser pointers for some presentation at her old job, so i taped it to his old cue drew a line vertically down a piece of paper placed it eight feet ish away and cued at it(from the chest freezer which is the closest i could get to table height) with the pointer to see if the dot ended to the left or right of the line, most of the time it was bang on so it proved i was cueing straight when it did wander it was to the left only by a mill or so which tallies with my table play as when i shoot the spots if its not straight its always a touch of left hand side on the white. Its handy to check if you are cueing straight on the back swing as well.

[j6uk]

A good coach will know in the first minute what the individuals strengths/weaknesses are, then that would leave the next 59mins to get you were you wanna be. Have you had coaching?

Won't do any good if you're not putting in the hours of practice required, bottom line. Coaching from a coach or better player is certainly better than a gadget and a gadget is better than doing the same thing again and again and getting nowhere.

[Gerry Armstrong]

Practice is pointless without sound technique, the players spoken about who have played for years and cant hit a 30 break could practice all day every day and not improve, as they must have poor technique to still be at that standard after all those years.
Teaching yourself is hard(not for all , like most sports some are very good very quickly) it is easy to look down on us duffers and tell us we are doing it all wrong, we know this, we are grasping at straws trying to be as good as the good players, its very frustrating for us, and if we see things for sale that state they will improve our game its very easy to buy into it.
Coaching i have come to realise is the only way forward, even then sometimes you just reach your level and run out of talent.
Dang i ment to post a daft thing i practice in the house but got distracted by all the other postings, so here it is,
My Son has an old cue and my Daughter had bought one of those cheap laser pointers for some presentation at her old job, so i taped it to his old cue drew a line vertically down a piece of paper placed it eight feet ish away and cued at it(from the chest freezer which is the closest i could get to table height) with the pointer to see if the dot ended to the left or right of the line, most of the time it was bang on so it proved i was cueing straight when it did wander it was to the left only by a mill or so which tallies with my table play as when i shoot the spots if its not straight its always a touch of left hand side on the white. Its handy to check if you are cueing straight on the back swing as well.

I agree that practice is pointless unless you are practicing the correct things in the correct manner with a sound technique. Practice makes perfect is totally wrong, practice makes PERMANENT is the correct equation. If you practice over and over and over again cueing across the white you will still be cueing across the white.

If you are serious about improving then arrange even 1 session with a coach who knows what he's talking about and leave all the gadgets, websites and internet forums to the side. They won't help you but the coach will.

[vmax4steve]

You do not know what your talking about. I do though, recognize your strengths, by been being a big mouth on tsf and saying nothing. All you've done is synthesized other peoples words and used them for your own egotistical ends.
Truth be told, you have nothing to offer here and hopefully this it a turning point for you. I recomend you stick to what you know best: Computers (Programming), Computers (Gaming), Science Fiction, Fantasy.

I thought I was the Omega Man.

[Belloz22]

A good coach will know in the first minute what the individuals strengths/weaknesses are, then that would leave the next 59mins to get you were you wanna be. Have you had coaching?

Yes I have had coaching...... and I have my own opinions on the usefulness of it

[throtts]

The secret to good / better snooker, - "confidence", it really helps. No, lads, you can't get it on prescription..lol.

I think the few on here that are in dire straits should just go down to the snooker club and start again by enjoying. Some on here over complicate the game, reading too much coaching tips ( which can differ ) and end up trying too hard which is what makes one to robotic and not natural. All the best to all.