Think B4 U Shoot, then Shoot without Thinking

I was talking with my friend, Sean Lane just the other day about the impending 9 ball match that we were expecting to play that evening. The discussion started out with us agreeing that it was important for us both to play our best, to not only win both of our matches but also to win our match by as much a margin as possible.I mentioned to Sean that I knew how to win my match if I could just avoid those stupid things I too often wind up doing.
Sean explained to me that I should look over my shot, decide how I needed to hit the shot to make the object ball and to get the necessary cue ball movement to obtain an acceptable leave on my next shot. Determine the speed, the spin, the angle the stroke etc. Sean suggested that I make all those decisions then forget about position and focus on striking the cue ball in the proper place with the correct speed and stroke of which I had just decided was necessary to accomplish my intended result.

Guess what! BAM! That is exactly what it means to "Think before you shoot, then shoot without thinking!" I often forget to think of this very simple rule to playing good pool, yet every time I find myself remembering that very same rule a little while before playing a match, I play exponentially better in that match.

That trend continued and I played one of the best matches I have ever played. I wound up beating a very good skill level 8 with a score of 55 to 21 (Match score of 16-4). Another interesting thing was that Sean also won his match with a match score of 16-4. I would like to think that Sean gave me some excellent advice and maybe by doing so he subconsciously took his own advice and it helped him in a similar way that it help me. Imagine that!

14.1 Continuous Straight Pool - My new obsession

A while back I ask the question on several pool and billiards forums "How do I practice break out shots?" and almost with out fail the answer came back from everyone and everywhere "Learn to play straight pool!"

I have been a closet fan of 14.1 since I first saw Oliver "The Machine" Ortmann beat Steve "The Miz" Mizerak in the U.S. Open or maybe it was actually referred to as the BCA Open Championship match at the Pick Congress Hotel in Chicago in 1989! The actual name would not and still does not matter that much to me, I would have gone regardless of what they called it!

I sat in the stands very close to Connie Chung who was a famous T.V. news personality in Chicago at that time. Of course she nor anyone else knew who I was. I went to see this match by myself using a free ticket which was given to me by a friend. (My friend bailed at the last minute in favor of some other engagement and I decided to not let that spoil my opportunity to witness my first pro pool match ever!) My friend Denise would probably be shocked to learn how my life has changed over the past 20 years since I saw that match. I have not seen or talked with her for almost 20 years now either.

Eleven years later in the summer of 2000, my wife and I met a couple playing pool on a bar table at a pub in Thousand Oaks, California. They ask us if we would join their APA 9 Ball team and we jumped at the chance to play league pool and the rest is history as they say...oops.....I have digressed....!

Here it is 2009 and I am learning to play 14.1 continuous straight pool and I have, as of August 28th, managed to make my first 25 ball run and I also managed to record that run on video. I NATURALLY uploaded it to youtube.com because I was so danged proud of myself for doing it. When I upload a video to my YouTube.com account now it is automatically announced on my Facebook.com Profile, my Twitter.com page and should also be linked to my blog here on Google Blogger.com. Nothing like tooting your own horn, huh?

So these videos got the attention of the gentleman who is responsible for the CueTable.com forum and Wei in return ask me to post my videos on his forum so we could talk about the shots. Naturally I jumped at that opportunity and got right on it. As a result of putting those videos up on CueTable.com another gentleman noticed. Non-other than David "Blackjack" Sapolis of DeadStrokeUniversity.com.

BlackJack and Wei both commented on my videos and gave me some excellent pointers on how to improve my game of 14.1! Now I need to get back to the table and start applying some of the advice these two super players have so generously supplied to me.

My next goal is to break 30!

Defensive Pool Shots in the APA

We were playing 9 ball last Thursday in our APA league match and I was scoring while on the other team there was a skill level 5 scoring.
The other teams player was a skill level 4 and was hooked pretty badly. He proceeded to shoot an amazing 3 rails around the table and made contact with the proper object ball just barely after which the object ball touched the rail making it a perfectly legal hit and a great shot.
I mentioned to the skill level 4 that I was marking a "D"....that comment caused his captain to spring out of her chair and proclaim "That is ridiculous! He was just trying to hit the ball, he was not playing "D"!" I responded that because he did not hit the object ball hard enough to expect to make it or any other ball on that shot that it should be marked as a defensive shot.

I have heard this same discussion take place many times durning APA matches so I was extremely happy to see this great video show up on YouTube.com today. It is by none other than APA Co-Founder Terry Bell and it is extremely well done. Thank You Terry and all of the APA for your efforts in making this instructional video.

Chris Malta's 2009 Scambuster Road Trip

I used Chris's advise regarding drop shipping long before most of the get rich ads you see on TV now.
He is really a smart guy so listen to this little video and then decide for yourself. Just be ware of all those scams to get your money if you do nothing else.
Chris Malta's 2009 Scambuster Road Trip

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Life and Pool

I woke up a little after 6 AM this morning and could not go back to sleep so I decided to relax in the Jacuzzi for a little while and watch the sun climb into the sky.

As I sat in the 100 plus degree water and felt my aching joints loosen up and my slightly old muscles relax my mind began to drift back to the "good old days when times were hard". I started to remember a lot of the things my Mom used to tell me when I was a kid and we were dirt poor. My Mom has been gone for just a little over a year now and it is hard for me to believe, even now, over a year after her passing away, that she really is gone from this earth. I used to call her on Saturday or Sunday morning while I sat in the Jacuzzi and we would reminisce about the "good old days when times were hard" so it just seems natural for me to think of that and of her as I sat there in that warm, soothing, bubbling water.

I play a lot of pool and while I enjoy playing pool I have begun to relate the game of pool to life. I have heard many good pool players say that pool is more than a game, it is a way of life. Some of the older and greater players have said "The game of pool is like the game of life." The more I play the game and think about it in those terms the more I see just what those wise old pool players are trying to say. Maybe Tom T. Hall should have included pool in his song along with "Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine....".

Pool is a game that is win or lose. It is a game that for there to be a winner there must also be a loser. As long as we play pool we will always have to accept that we will not always be the winner so it is simple logic that we must sometimes be the loser. As in life, the game does not always go the way we would like and we don't always have the ability to control the outcome. We are sometimes the fortunate recipient of an easy or lucky win so we must accept that sometimes we will be on the other side of that coin and be dealt an unlucky or unjust loss and we must know this will happen before it happens.

My zodiac sign is Libra and that supposedly means that I seek balance in all I do. I have come to believe that balance is important in all things and that is true in life and it is true in pool too. Me must have a good offensive game balanced by a good defensive game. We must win and we must also lose. We must pursue our dreams and all the time protect those things in life that are important to us. We must find balance between our commitments to family, career, personal growth, spiritual growth, present concerns and plans for the future. The Chinese have known these simple truths for thousands of years and call it Yin and Yang. Scientist refer to a law of physics that requires that for each action there must be an equal and opposite reaction. The Bible teaches us about the forces of good and evil.

In pool, as in life, we tend to learn more from the hard times or loses than we do from the easy times or the wins. That very well may be human nature but I sincerely believe that we can learn good lessons when we win and even better lessons when we lose. The real trick is to focus on the correct portions of the game or focus on the correct portions and events in life. Our life is what we focus on and there are good things happening even in bad times and so goes the game of pool.

APA 9 Ball South Coast Regional Championships - Sunday June 14, 2009

It took a while to get the video and slides put together because I had a lot of challenges to over come that have absolutely nothing to do with pool or the APA.

Hopefully this little video is worth the wait. With no further ado, here is the recap of the "Terminal Velocity" run for the gold!

Meanwhile, my wife, Carol and I have survived a pretty rough fall on our patio last Saturday, June 20th which resulted in us both going to the emergency room at Simi Valley Hospital for treatment. Carol had 3 fractured ribs, a fractured collar bone and a fractured clavicle plus a small cut and bump on the back of her head. I managed to compile a broken nose and a pretty nasty cut that required14 stitches to my forehead and nose. That was all on Saturday afternoon so we both spend most of the day on Sunday just trying to rest and recoup.

I then on Tuesday June 23, 2009 did this to remember just how that fall happened. Guess who's silhouette this is and NO it is not Michael Jordan's!

APA 9 Ball South Coast Regional Championships - Saturday Matches

The APA 9 Ball South Coast Regional Championship turned out to be a true pool player's tournament in all aspects of the game this past weekend at the Arena Sports Grill and Bar in Simi Valley, California. Pool players from all around the area converged on the Arena and the Grand Vista Hotel for a week end of fun and games but there were some very serious faces in the crowd too. Everyone was focused on the pursuit of a coveted APA National Championship qualification that would get their team admission to the once a year gathering of APA pool players from all over the United States and even other parts of the world as the APA continues to grow like a weed sprouting up all over Canada and now in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and other parts of the world.

Here is a little quote from the APA National Web Site:
"National Team Championships
August 21-29, 2009 Las Vegas, NV
The culmination of weekly APA League play is the APA National Team Championships, held annually at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. This event consists of three individual National Team Championships: Open 8-Ball, Ladies 8-Ball and Open 9-Ball"

I have to tell you up front, I spent all my time watching as a spectator because neither of my teams qualified. I would much rather have been playing and I am reasonably sure my teammates on the Maximillians would say the same, but I enjoyed the next best thing.

That was cheering for friends and I specifically followed the efforts of "Terminal Velocity" because 5 of the 8 players were former and current teammates. I have watched them grow into some really good pool players and each one exhibits a unique view and perspective of the game. I am proud to call them my friends and seeing them win would be very close to "as satisfying" as being in the winning circle with the Maximillians. I was not the only spectator though! A lot of players were there to cheer for their friends and family.

There were smiles all around and everyone enjoyed the competition and companionship of the like minded. Pool players are not that different from anyone else but it does take a special gene to enjoy a sport like pool that dishes out the agony of the long hours mixed with the tenseness of stiff competition under the watchful eyes of your friends, teammates, opponents and league management all at the same time.

The matches heated up as the day went by. Phil and Taz had their hands full trying to keep all the tempers in check, but they always do a great job. Some players competativeness can blur their view of the rules, their actual vision or their perception of the events right in front of them.
The league operators are ready and willing to offer a cool head and a keen eye to help keep everyone moving along on the straight and narrow. Skill levels got adjusted and team captains had to rethink their strategies if they wanted to be still in the trophy chase on Sunday.

A few cocktails were consumed and great food was eaten, cheers and applause were made on good shots and moans could be heard following a bad roll or a close miss. Teams won and teams lost, laughs were heard from happy players and some tears were shed over loses. In the end all had a great time and most of them will be in that race again next year. Only a few can brag about winning and that is exactly what makes it all worth the effort for most.

Here is a short video that captures some of the good times: