continuing concentration

[Shockerz]

LOL - I've never seen that done, but I had thought about it before - didn't know JW had actually played like that

The problem with practising rest shots is the setting them up, especially after a miss - it drives me crazy

The technique I've been using recently is to let the cue hand flow upwards on the shot, ie so the tip dips down and through the ball - works well for stun and small screw shots

If you watch Alex Higgins with the rest, you'll get the idea, especially when he's feathering

Also I find it easier to not hold my cueing arm elbow too high (like Shaun Murphy does) - It works for me better to keep the elbow a little lower (still parallel to the bed of course)

But the real trick is all in the timing of the shot PLUS bags of confidence through practising with it

I'm certainly not the person to give advice on rest shots but one of my team mates asked me why I can't pot with one. I got the rest out for the after noon and couldn't miss with the b****y thing; at one stage I potted 4 rest shots in the trot and I'm 6ft 2 so it shows how poor my position was each time to keep leaving another rest shot but they went in.

I always hold the rest between 2nd and 3rd fingers and keep my hand fairly parallel with my elbow (which I use as a fulcrum so it doesn't move). I'm right handed so keep my left hand slightly bent and just try and stay loose.

I just prefer the old Jimmy White method as you have to keep still and if the rest was that great, we'd play all shots with it..............Don't answer that one though as I get enough stick from my team players!

[MrRottweiler]

Great work hitting the 50 Sometimes during solo practice I can count the break in my mind and don't feel it interrupts my concentration but other times it can be a distraction and make me miss so when that happens I just forget about trying to keep track of the break and just get down and pot balls. Get myself into a nice rhythm and try to clear the table. Now you have made a half century it will probably not be long until you make a ton but that will much harder to achieve when your counting it with each pot. The nerves will set in so set up a camera to record the whole session and then watch it to count up the breaks. I used to do that with an old camcorder I stuck to a curtain rail so it covered a top down view of the length of the table which was perfect for the line up.

It's important to clear your mind of any other worries or tasks so you can concentrate 100% on the table. Money worries, work or relationship problems need to be resolved so you're not thinking about anything else but snooker. When your mind is clear of all that clutter you can concentrate easier and longer to make bigger breaks. It's also important to count your own breaks to make sure you never get cheated either deliberately or by mistake.

[tomwalker147]

[I]

My advice is if you must count - Just remember the colours you pot and try not disturb your rhythm

8 blacks 3 pinks 2v blue etc add it up after roughly ... it does not matter really

Byrom- I was just about to say exactly this, I count the colours rather than the total. Mental arithmetic running through your head is seriously off putting when down on the shot!

[vmax4steve]

But the real trick is all in the timing of the shot PLUS bags of confidence through practising with it

The real trick is keeping your eye on the object ball when using the rest as you are more upright and have a peripheral view of the table it's really easy to move your focus elsewhere.

A friend of mine who no longer plays was terrible with the rest until he started using the rest like it was his bridge arm and used the half butt (1980's it was) like a normal cue. It worked a treat for him, I tried it a few times and it certainly works.

[tmax]

The real trick is keeping your eye on the object ball when using the rest as you are more upright and have a peripheral view of the table it's really easy to move your focus elsewhere.

A friend of mine who no longer plays was terrible with the rest until he started using the rest like it was his bridge arm and used the half butt (1980's it was) like a normal cue. It worked a treat for him, I tried it a few times and it certainly works.

Thanks for that - makes sense on the upright position

I'm gonna try the under-arm rest cueing idea

[Shockerz]

Thanks for that - makes sense on the upright position

I'm gonna try the under-arm rest cueing idea

Need to do it for a whole session and keep still as you would normally. Lots of guys have tried it in the club and 2 shots later before finding their style have said oh that doesn't work for me; it didn't for me either after 2 shots!

[Byrom]

I'm glad you have brought this up. I have always counted line up and sometimes lose track as the numbers build up and then stop to add it up. Since I have stopped counting I pot a great deal more, get better position and am close to clearing more times.

I've also tried not listening to the ref as you are potting as well when the scores are adding up, just pot balls until the crucial part!

Ahhh yer welcome a great player told me once after I told him my high break in play and on line up - he said I was doing a few things wrong upstairs doing this - fixating on a number in normal play and in practice and placing importance on it - therefore inviting tension into your arm/game and also interrupting your natural flow/pre shot routine by continually doing mental arithmetic like the other poster mentioned.

Took a while to shake off the habit but was some of the best advice I ever got back then

[Shockerz]

Ahhh yer welcome a great player told me once after I told him my high break in play and on line up - he said I was doing a few things wrong upstairs doing this - fixating on a number in normal play and in practice and placing importance on it - therefore inviting tension into your arm/game and also interrupting your natural flow/pre shot routine by continually doing mental arithmetic like the other poster mentioned.

Took a while to shake off the habit but was some of the best advice I ever got back then

In the line up now I just count the reds that are left. Since doing this my minds got nothing to think about but the next shot so you certainly feel free to play each one as they come up rather than thinking, "How many's that now?"

Gotta transfer that approach to matches now!

[tomwalker147]

In the line up now I just count the reds that are left. Since doing this my minds got nothing to think about but the next shot so you certainly feel free to play each one as they come up rather than thinking, "How many's that now?"

Gotta transfer that approach to matches now!

We've all got a mate who doesn't count your breaks. You stop and ask 'how many's that mate' and miss the next shot. Well I do anyway.
Same principle applies to the line up, don't bother counting just pot the balls.

[alabadi]

In the line up now I just count the reds that are left. Since doing this my minds got nothing to think about but the next shot so you certainly feel free to play each one as they come up rather than thinking, "How many's that now?"

Gotta transfer that approach to matches now!

i've switched from counting breaks to just how many reds remaining. this has worked great but now i'm finding that when i approach the last 4 reds that more importance and maybe expectations are affecting me.
i'm not physical thinking about it but maybe subconsciously its making me more tense as i approach clearing the line up. ive now reached that the last 2 or 3 balls dozens of times and mess it up.

[Byrom]

i've switched from counting breaks to just how many reds remaining. this has worked great but now i'm finding that when i approach the last 4 reds that more importance and maybe expectations are affecting me.
i'm not physical thinking about it but maybe subconsciously its making me more tense as i approach clearing the line up. ive now reached that the last 2 or 3 balls dozens of times and mess it up.

Of course this can happen - a good routine to help you past this is not just to do the line up but also to practice clearing colours at the end of every solo session. Set a realistic target its hard at first if your position play or shot selection not up to that standard yet but it gets easier - most frames are won on colours so its invaluable as you progress.

Set a target to clear them at least once before you go or up to pink or give yourself five goes to beat your best go....as a player progresses to alabadi standard he should be putting three or four reds up and trying to clear. Try and play up near blue to middle on right side on last red as it easier to get on yellow.

If you marry the last practice exercise with the line up it will give you more confidence to clear as you have done the end bit over and over before

I do think you can learn stuff doing line ups of course but they never end up like this in a game the high break you get here does not count your aim should be to just play the game and keep solid focus and rhythm - enjoy the game for all its silly ups and downs.

[itsnoteasy]

We've all got a mate who doesn't count your breaks. You stop and ask 'how many's that mate' and miss the next shot. Well I do anyway.
Same principle applies to the line up, don't bother counting just pot the balls.

I have had it happen to me twice Tom, both times I reckon I was up or around the mid sixties, ( you can just tell by the time at table that you have knocked in a decent one)when I missed and asked what was that, one didn't know and we tried to count it back but couldn't remember but the worst one was when I missed I looked up as if to ask for the score and got" so your giving me a shot then" hadn't even bothered with my score was just bothered they weren't getting a shot!
I haven't a clue what my best is on the line up, used to count when I first started , I remember saying to myself if I get a fifty on the line up I will stop obsessing over this game so much, that didn't quite work out lol.
I don't know if this will help anyone trying to clear it, but I used to find the reds up around the blue ( if I left them till last) were very easy to run out of position on,so I deliberately left a couple of reds down by the pink so if I was too high on the blue I could bail out on them or if I was too low and had to go in and out of baulk I had a much bigger area to land in and still be half decent on a red.

[Shockerz]

Maybe 3 to 6 reds in a triangle just below the pink and the rest as line up so you have to go into the reds at some point to get used to clipping a red out at some point.

[alabadi]

Of course this can happen - a good routine to help you past this is not just to do the line up but also to practice clearing colours at the end of every solo session. Set a realistic target its hard at first if your position play or shot selection not up to that standard yet but it gets easier - most frames are won on colours so its invaluable as you progress.

Set a target to clear them at least once before you go or up to pink or give yourself five goes to beat your best go....as a player progresses to alabadi standard he should be putting three or four reds up and trying to clear. Try and play up near blue to middle on right side on last red as it easier to get on yellow.

If you marry the last practice exercise with the line up it will give you more confidence to clear as you have done the end bit over and over before

I do think you can learn stuff doing line ups of course but they never end up like this in a game the high break you get here does not count your aim should be to just play the game and keep solid focus and rhythm - enjoy the game for all its silly ups and downs.

I always practice the colours, my best is 5 from 10 nearly got a 6 missed black I was tight to the cushion.
I also got 3 in a row back from black to yellow and continue .

The line up although might be easy for the established players can be difficult for the average player to complete.
For me it focus and concentration that let me down, majority of the misses at the business end are straight forward 3/4 balls or just of straight. I shouldn't be missing them type of shots.

What I have learnt throughout my limited years as a snooker player is there are no easy shots. Every shot should be fully respected in particular the ones that on the surface look basic but as I and many no doubt have found out there are no easy shots

[itsnoteasy]

I always practice the colours, my best is 5 from 10 nearly got a 6 missed black I was tight to the cushion.
I also got 3 in a row back from black to yellow and continue .

The line up although might be easy for the established players can be difficult for the average player to complete.
For me it focus and concentration that let me down, majority of the misses at the business end are straight forward 3/4 balls or just of straight. I shouldn't be missing them type of shots.

What I have learnt throughout my limited years as a snooker player is there are no easy shots. Every shot should be fully respected in particular the ones that on the surface look basic but as I and many no doubt have found out there are no easy shots

I seem to be the other way round to you Alabadi, I can really concentrate with the last few reds on because I know I'm in with a good chance of clearing it. It's around 6-12 reds I will miss stupid shots, or play an awful position, as the concentration to get going has gone and I'm just drifting waiting to get to the interesting bit at the end lol.