Practising....

[Gimme Danger]

Hi all.

I'm just interested in how often you practise (not against anyone).
I play 2 - 3 times a week with a partner / team match, but only recently have I started to go on my own for a couple of hours once a week.

If you do go, what aspects of your game do you look at? Is there a specific warm up you go through? How long roughly do you spend per session?

Look forward to hearing your views

[Sam_92]

I play almost everyday because I have a table at home. I usually just play a few frames by myself and then do the line up or long potting. Some days a friend comes up and we play a few. I try to play from 2 hours to 4 hours because I have homework.. *sigh*

[C-J]

about 2 hours is max for solo practise(for me),after that it becomes difficult to stay focused.Without focus you will not come very far,so make sure you are.
I do the line up always a couple of times,practise situations around the black(little canons for position)
I don't do a lot of safety(maybe i should 'cause it has cost me a few matched lately) but always concentrate on cueing straighter and create understanding (about sightning and angles)
I also spend some extra time on difficult(blind) angles.Don't be afraid to miss in practise,it's easy to look good playing only shots you are good at but it will not bring you very far!

[Blagonadezdins]

about 2 hours is max for solo practise(for me),after that it becomes difficult to stay focused.Without focus you will not come very far,so make sure you are.
I do the line up always a couple of times,practise situations around the black(little canons for position)
I don't do a lot of safety(maybe i should 'cause it has cost me a few matched lately) but always concentrate on cueing straighter and create understanding (about sightning and angles)
I also spend some extra time on difficult(blind) angles.Don't be afraid to miss in practise,it's easy to look good playing only shots you are good at but it will not bring you very far!

How do you start the line-up? I.E. what is the first shot you play after setting the balls up? I'm assuming the line-up is where you put all the colours on their spots, and then put all 15 reds in between black, pink, blue and brown in a nice straight line. Correct? Coz I'm not sure if I have been starting it correctly, as you are meant to.

As for the topic question - I do the line-up (what I have just described above) every time I go to practise. I do this around 2-3 times. Then I practise potting the colours off their spots, playing the shot each time from wherever the cue-ball has finished (this also having an impact on which colour I go for). Usually I will go for the tougher colour to pot, so as to improve my game, as well as some of the shots I can make 9/10.

[miscuehamburg]

I try to do practise routines for 2-3 hours/twice a week. It is not always possible, due to my club mates, who talk me into playing. Playing frames is fun, -of course-, but I think solo practise is more rewarding in the long run. I have asked Ian McCulloch what is the optimal relationship between playing practise frames and solo sessions. He said it would be roughly 50-50%.

When practising I do several different routines considering mostly straight cueing and cue ball control. Also I replay situations I have missed somehow in important games. Line up and colours on the spots are standard routines, which both I try to do 10 times in a row and count the average. Writing down my results animates me to concentrate in practising.

[C-J]

When doing the line up i place 3 reds between black and cusion,6 between black and pink,6 above the pink.I always start with the red near the cusion and play my way up,trying to pot the first 9 with blacks and the others with pinks.

[Z-E-N-I-T]

I practise 7 days a week approximately 4 hours a day but I like to play a match every now and then which I usually manage at the weekend. I have been playing that often for half a year now so i went on a way of fully recognising the angles so 75% of my practise is to spread the reds on the table and pot any ball I like to. But usually I start this exercise with a difficult one as it's usually that way in a frame. But I've been pretty confident about potting lately, so I'm focusing more on breakbuilding / cue ball control...

[MattWilson]

These days, I only play probably 3-4 times a week, for a couple of hours. I rarely find the time/motivation to practice for several hours on my own unless I have a tournament imminent, so I tend to play against players in my league team, normally best-of-3s for a fiver, just to keep the motivation to concentrate there.

When I first began learning the game, I used to practice on my own an awful lot more, I used to concentrate on the line-up to build up confidence when break-building, while also spreading the reds around with the colours on their spots to make more realistic match situations. Also, try and watch better players and see how they practice, copy them and look at the things they concentrate on. Try and concentrate when you practice on your own, otherwise it's really not worth it. I find an hour's intense practice is much more worthwhile than playing all day for the sake of it.

Try and practice against better players as much as you can. This may be difficult as they will not always want to play against you, but it is the best way to learn. John Higgins picked balls out for Hendry when he was younger, Maguire picked them out for Higgins, and so on... you'll learn so much more from watching the way they break-build and play frames tactically than from playing on your own. It may not seem like it's doing your game any good when you don't get a shot for a couple of frames, but next time you play your mate and gt 20 chances a frame, then you'll find you tend to make more of them.

And more importantly, don't over-practice. Stop playing when you want to stop, don't force it otherwise you'll end up hating the game. I've seen it happen to too many people, such a shame when they give up for good after all those years of practicing.

MW

[C-J]

Thanks for your useful advice Matt,

cheers,C-J

[Gimme Danger]

Yeah, thanks for all the advice. Plenty to think about!

[CoachGavin]

If you dont have much time available i would make sure that practice is good quality. As it says above when you start just messing about or hitting the balls about stop because this is not productive. Make sure you have clear objectives in your practice that are achievable but not too easy. Forinstance when i was younger my highest break was 91 and so when i practised the line up i aimed for a century because i knew i could do it but only if i concentrated. Clearing the colours from their spots is also a good practice because it comes up so often in matches. Once you do it once you can then play so that off the final black you have to play up for the yellow and start again )

[Gimme Danger]

If you dont have much time available i would make sure that practice is good quality. As it says above when you start just messing about or hitting the balls about stop because this is not productive. Make sure you have clear objectives in your practice that are achievable but not too easy. Forinstance when i was younger my highest break was 91 and so when i practised the line up i aimed for a century because i knew i could do it but only if i concentrated. Clearing the colours from their spots is also a good practice because it comes up so often in matches. Once you do it once you can then play so that off the final black you have to play up for the yellow and start again )

This I can now put into practice, and a lot more!. Thanks for this afternoon Gavin, was very, very good. Looking forward to meeting you again on the 1st

[MikeWooldridge]

as the old saying goes - practise makes perfect.

however,nothing can prepare you for the pressure of playing against an opponent.

practise the line ups, chuck the balls around the table. that's the way to learn the angles etc.. you have to do this.

BUT, practise against better opponents is the only way to improve your own match play.

nothing more depressing than getting someone else's balls out.

oooer. that sounds dirty....

[Gimme Danger]

[Stunrunthru]

I play a league match every Wednesday and the captain puts me on last usually. Whilst the other three frames are played I usually practice for around 20-30 minutes before my frame. This would be a few line ups and potting long straight balls off the blue's spot into the corner pocket with white behind baulk line.

Other than that I go to my local club on saturday mornings and have a few frames with some of the youngsters on the cuestars scheme. This helps me warm up for my match in midweek.