How do you practice your Game?

[_Harry_Potter_]

Some like to do Line-Ups while some play entire frame by themselves to practice it like a real thing - playing against themselves.

Some practice color clearance and some do 51 clearance / 59 clearance and so on sort of clearances.

Just wondering how do you practice your game (viz: improve your game) and prepare yourself for the matches/competitions!

In case you do multiple training/practice drills - which specific drill to improve which particular aspect of the game?

[markz]

All depends on the level you are playing at. Someone knocking in 20s isn't going to benefit from the same training/practice drills a ton maker will be doing.

I enjoy playing line ups because I can concentrate on technique and to try and clear whatever I have set up. My aim has always been to trust my technique and easy to get in to your natural pace around table doing line ups. The angles you play always come up in games as well, especially around the pink with little stun T shots to middles and corner pockets.

[OmaMiesta]

I used to practice the line up religiously but now I find its much more effective to spread around a couple of reds in random order and try break building from there. Simulates real life match scenario more and challenges your positioning a bit more too. I also practice the long straight blue or any straight shot down the table a lot.

As for long potting I usually set up a ball somewhere on the black end of the table and position the cue ball on every baulk colour spot repeatedly switching angles every 10 shots.

[_Harry_Potter_]

Thank you for sharing your ideas!

[dcrackers147]

I do a variaty of challenging drills to keep me sharp. e.g format the reds into squares small and big with the colours on their spots and try to clear the table without the white touching a cushion. I also put all the reds in an X with the pink being the centre point and try to clear. If I do line up's try to stay on the black throughout which gets tough!! I only practice solo for 2 hours tops but make sure I am deciplined within these 2 hours. Sunday was my first solo session back since last winter (always take a break in the summer) I put in a solid practice session then played a team mate the monday and made a 89,65 in 4 frames.

[tomwalker147]

I do a variaty of challenging drills to keep me sharp. e.g format the reds into squares small and big with the colours on their spots and try to clear the table without the white touching a cushion. I also put all the reds in an X with the pink being the centre point and try to clear. If I do line up's try to stay on the black throughout which gets tough!! I only practice solo for 2 hours tops but make sure I am deciplined within these 2 hours. Sunday was my first solo session back since last winter (always take a break in the summer) I put in a solid practice session then played a team mate the monday and made a 89,65 in 4 frames.

Good work, I do likewise. I do the X around the pink also very good drill!

[markz]

Thank you for sharing your ideas!

How do you practice Harry?

[_Harry_Potter_]

How do you practice Harry?

I start my practice session with Brown to Black spots cue drill. After that I try to pot black off the spot, re-spot it everytime and try to keep the cue ball as align as possible. Never get more than 3-4 straight blacks like this though
Then I try long blue for some time. I prefer to keep few balls on the table 1 or max 2 and try to practice with them as this gives me less chance to pot easy options if any.
Then 1 frame with my buddy. I was lucky to have couple of 40-50's break few months back and I was thrilled. Perhaps the balls were placed like this or I was able to get position naturally. Now I am not able to cross even 20 barrier
Maybe because I am tweaking my approach a lot to settle it to the one that suits me the most. But playing snooker has improved my pool skills a lot in last few months!

[MrRottweiler]

I start my practice session with Brown to Black spots cue drill. After that I try to pot black off the spot, re-spot it everytime and try to keep the cue ball as align as possible. Never get more than 3-4 straight blacks like this though
Then I try long blue for some time. I prefer to keep few balls on the table 1 or max 2 and try to practice with them as this gives me less chance to pot easy options if any.
Then 1 frame with my buddy. I was lucky to have couple of 40-50's break few months back and I was thrilled. Perhaps the balls were placed like this or I was able to get position naturally. Now I am not able to cross even 20 barrier
Maybe because I am tweaking my approach a lot to settle it to the one that suits me the most. But playing snooker has improved my pool skills a lot in last few months!

They are good routines that I do as well especially potting the black off the spot. It's a good test of cuing because it's very easy to lose position and hard to recover from it. If you're not making the breaks you should be try changing your practice routines a bit and have a lot of reds on the table. I used to like setting the table up like a frame and then taking a few reds and putting them in pottable positions and placing the cueball to give myself an easy starter. I would then try to make big breaks while respotting the colours myself. It was recreating matchplay and making me think about how to break up the pack and I could do this for hours. It was helping me because I was playing every shot with position in mind and getting a lot more pots in than I would with fewer balls on the table. Towards the end of the session I would just have 2 or 3 reds near the pink and black spots and try to clear up from there and then spend some time trying to pot yellow to black. I wouldn't get agitated if I wasn't playing well because we all have days off form and just putting in the table time would make me feel more confident and match ready.

When I worked at a Snooker club I used to practice on my own for 4-6 hours every day and sometimes more. I practically lived at the club and probably still would if it hadn't closed down years ago. I would brush and iron the table and make sure the match balls were clean and then just start potting balls. It would take me about 90 minutes just to feel warmed up and then I would go in to a zone and sometimes could make high breaks but I could never take my practice game to the match table. After a few months of practicing for several hours every single day before or after my shift at work my game was the sharpest ever. My confidence was through the roof and I had also reduced how attacking I was because I used to take on a lot of foolish pots. I started consistently beating players who I had once considered better than me. The worm had turned

[Byrom]

Turn mobile off -

Routine 1 - Baulk line practice 10 mins - focus

Routine 2 - get fluent - scatter reds on table try n clear up miss a red put two back on miss a colour put it back on spot n carry on

Routine 3 - 100 long balls either side

Brew break

Routine 4 - weakness - work on a particular shot 100 times

Routines 5 T Line up - Pink Cross - the take one ball clear path next red line up thing.

Routine 6 - cluster reds try n make cannons n clear

Cig break - dinner - brew - chat rubbish have a laugh

Routine 7 normal set up couple of reds broke off long red - stun low or high on black smash pack try n clear

Few target driven Routnes from ding ap and barrow thing pass or fail move on mark off

Clear colours 3 times

turn phone back on - get nagged - go home.

[GeordieDS]

That's quite impressive Byrom, I've seen Gary Wilson and Elliot Slessor practice and your routines put them to shame

[tomwalker147]

Turn mobile off -

turn phone back on - get nagged - go home.

That's brilliant, my Mrs has somehow allowed me to drop her to ASDA to do the shop, play snooker for an hour whilst she does then go help her with the bags...

[Byrom]

That's quite impressive Byrom, I've seen Gary Wilson and Elliot Slessor practice and your routines put them to shame

Well I doubt that for one reason - It is a good practice regime I do but the main difference is they are pro standard players - its their job and they will do their practice regular every day to improve - I am a hobby player so I do mine when time allows on the odd day to keep to a standard.

Regular focused practice is far better than the odd splurge - unfortunately.

The toca thing that J6 does is a good thing to have and do if your an am player and cant get to a table every day like most of us cant - consistent cueing practice is a good idea I never thought of before - but probably would help greatly because there are so many times I go to the table cold and the first bit of practice is about finding my timing.

[GeordieDS]

Well I doubt that for one reason - It is a good practice regime I do but the main difference is they are pro standard players - its their job and they will do their practice regular every day to improve - I am a hobby player so I do mine when time allows on the odd day to keep to a standard.

Regular focused practice is far better than the odd splurge - unfortunately.

The toca thing that J6 does is a good thing to have and do if your an am player and cant get to a table every day like most of us cant - consistent cueing practice is a good idea I never thought off before - but probably would help greatly because there are so many times I go to the table cold and the first bit of practice is about finding my timing.

Like i said i see them regularly in the club and they obviously practise more than you but in terms of routines what you do is much better

[Byrom]

Like i said i see them regularly in the club and they obviously practise more than you but in terms of routines what you do is much better

nice of you to say - I am the type of person that loves solo practice - some players find it a bore or a chore - I love it - would play till my feet fell off every day if I could