Video/Kitchen Table

[jdub]

Hey guys

Here's a short video of me practicing the walk-in and stroke on my kitchen table. I know it's not the same as seeing me on an actual table, but hopefully it's enough to receive some critique. This is the way I've been playing lately, and the approach is helpful with keeping my head on the line. Before I continue with it, I just wanted to make sure there weren't any major flaws.

Judge away

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCZRkXPYhWA

[j6uk]

like your vid man,
nothing wrong with training at home, i do it in the kitchen https://youtu.be/gqgMcFtYQUc. like your stroke too, very loose but straight in comparison. but in pool we can kind of get away with it

[j6uk]

i saw some of your drill vids and i see you playing off the cushion rail a lot, so positional play looks as loose like your stroke, and that would be a problem in match play.
you play competitively?

and i woudnt worry about your walk-in too much as just make sure your head is dropping straight down on the line you chosen




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[tomperty]

I think a lot of the approach is very good. It looks stable and the head is in line.

One comment I will make is that, during your final delivery, the cue appears to drop away from your chest and chin. This will result in you losing the 4 contact points that guide the cue alone one plane and reduce sideways/up/down movement. This may just be because you're not actually cueing a ball however.

[tomwalker147]

I watched a couple of your videos, thanks for posting them. Your cue action looks ok, if 9 ball is your game I'd say you have one of the best cue actions going for a 9 ball player.

Minor critique from me would be that you're bringing the cue back a long way on the backswing, this could cause you to lose accuracy and in my opinion is the reason you lose the 4 contact points tomperty mentions above.

[jdub]

i saw some of your drill vids and i see you playing off the cushion rail a lot, so positional play looks as loose like your stroke, and that would be a problem in match play.
you play competitively?

and i woudnt worry about your walk-in too much as just make sure your head is dropping straight down on the line you chosen




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Thanks. Getting the cueball to be more in the center is definitely something I am working on improving. I do play competitively. League once a week (8 and 9 ball), and the occasional tournament.

[jdub]

I think a lot of the approach is very good. It looks stable and the head is in line.

One comment I will make is that, during your final delivery, the cue appears to drop away from your chest and chin. This will result in you losing the 4 contact points that guide the cue alone one plane and reduce sideways/up/down movement. This may just be because you're not actually cueing a ball however.

I caught that in the past, and thought it was an issue. While it may be, I have noticed that with a lot of top players, the cue comes off the chin on the final stroke (Ronnie/Selby). Then there's Trump who does keep the cue on his chin throughout, and I'm wondering if that's because he mostly plays with a pinned elbow?

Anyways, I'll give it a try.

[jdub]

I watched a couple of your videos, thanks for posting them. Your cue action looks ok, if 9 ball is your game I'd say you have one of the best cue actions going for a 9 ball player.

Minor critique from me would be that you're bringing the cue back a long way on the backswing, this could cause you to lose accuracy and in my opinion is the reason you lose the 4 contact points tomperty mentions above.

Thanks I appreciate the compliment. I'll play any of the major pool games, but 9 ball just happens to be my best.

Definitely agree with you about the way too long backswing. I'm trying to to shorten my bridge length by straightening my bridge arm out slightly. I think that will help.

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

It's all practice from here on in but get switched on mentally.

As you watch snooker, break the table up as if you are playing on the colours- that helped my 9 ball tremendously. Learn to put the CB on the blue spot at will, to the inch. You rarely have no shot if you land there.

Learn aggression. Fancy the f*ck out of every shot. The white is your b*tch: remind it, regularly.

Good to see you looking svelte, beebs - that will really help. Keep that up, it's really important. Strengthen your core muscles - this will hurt in the short term but will enable you get lower on the shot, so more stable.

[jdub]

It's all practice from here on in but get switched on mentally.

As you watch snooker, break the table up as if you are playing on the colours- that helped my 9 ball tremendously. Learn to put the CB on the blue spot at will, to the inch. You rarely have no shot if you land there.

Learn aggression. Fancy the f*ck out of every shot. The white is your b*tch: remind it, regularly.

Good to see you looking svelte, beebs - that will really help. Keep that up, it's really important. Strengthen your core muscles - this will hurt in the short term but will enable you get lower on the shot, so more stable.

Thanks. I've seen your posts on here, and thought they were familiar. Remind me who you are if you don't mind. You can PM me if you want.

[Big Splash!]

Hi, I guess your left eye dominant then. Nice cue action. Do you use boxer stance? Apart from what Tom says, I thought your cue is quite far from your hip but getting it closer may require squaring up a little in the stance, which can be tricky.

[jdub]

Hi, I guess your left eye dominant then. Nice cue action. Do you use boxer stance? Apart from what Tom says, I thought your cue is quite far from your hip but getting it closer may require squaring up a little in the stance, which can be tricky.

Yep. LED and boxer stance. It was hard for me in the past to use a more square on stance, but I'll give it another go if you think it would help.

[itsnoteasy]

I caught that in the past, and thought it was an issue. While it may be, I have noticed that with a lot of top players, the cue comes off the chin on the final stroke (Ronnie/Selby). Then there's Trump who does keep the cue on his chin throughout, and I'm wondering if that's because he mostly plays with a pinned elbow?

Anyways, I'll give it a try.

Like others have said , it's the length of backswing that's causing the trouble( that's if you feel you have any as you cue very nicely) you are only playing on a little table and you only have to move the cue ball around a few feet so most of your shots don't need a twelve inch backswing. As for the elbow drop, the difference between you and a snooker players drop is, their elbow stays still and high ,then drops on the follow through, yours drops a lot on the backswing and stays there( look at the head on shot, ( last shot on the video iirc)check your elbow on the window frame, whatch it disappear on the backswing never to be seen again, then look at J6 practicing at home , watch his elbow)I don't know much about nine ball cueing but that's a fault in a snooker action. Could I ask a general nine ball question, why are your cues so long? What's the point in it? You have a different cue to break then there are no shots that need any type of over the top power, it just seem more about position so why not get a nice 12 mill snooker cue .

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

Like others have said , it's the length of backswing that's causing the trouble( that's if you feel you have any as you cue very nicely) you are only playing on a little table and you only have to move the cue ball around a few feet so most of your shots don't need a twelve inch backswing. As for the elbow drop, the difference between you and a snooker players drop is, their elbow stays still and high ,then drops on the follow through, yours drops a lot on the backswing and stays there( look at the head on shot, ( last shot on the video iirc)check your elbow on the window frame, whatch it disappear on the backswing never to be seen again, then look at J6 practicing at home , watch his elbow)I don't know much about nine ball cueing but that's a fault in a snooker action. Could I ask a general nine ball question, why are your cues so long? What's the point in it? You have a different cue to break then there are no shots that need any type of over the top power, it just seem more about position so why not get a nice 12 mill snooker cue .

Some players do - Gray and Drago, for example. C8B players very often use larger sized snooker cues.

As for length, standard is 58" for American pool cues. They are not longer than snooker cues. But you are dead wrong about power - cues are heavier and thicker because power shots are routine - 2.25cm balls are big and heavy, and snooker cues lack the grunt required to move them with control. That said, heftier cues are becoming less necessary as the game has evolved in recent years to be more precision based, through faster cloths and smaller pockets.

As for long backswing, watch melling!

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

Hey guys

Here's a short video of me practicing the walk-in and stroke on my kitchen table. I know it's not the same as seeing me on an actual table, but hopefully it's enough to receive some critique. This is the way I've been playing lately, and the approach is helpful with keeping my head on the line. Before I continue with it, I just wanted to make sure there weren't any major flaws.

Judge away

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCZRkXPYhWA

Just watched your brainwash drill - didn't know it was called that, and can see why! It's one of only two drills I've ever done, the other being all balls in a circle in the middle of the table, which i did 5 times in a row on my first attempt and couldn't be bothered with again lol. Did brainwash for a few weeks and got up to 5 in a row, but could never do 6 - it's brutal, much more difficult than it looks, those last few balls are a nightmare to stay in shape over. An easier alternative is to arrange the balls like the baulk colours on a snooker table, at both ends of the table, with the remaining 9 balls down the middle. You can hit rails with that one.