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  • #31
    Originally Posted by markz View Post
    Originally Posted by Bigmeek View Post
    FFS mate relax and enjoy this wonderful game. Rule number one is appreciate that your never going to be world champion. Set yourself some realistic targets and try to achieve them. Try to be as good as you can with your God given talents.
    I've been playing the game for over 50 years and have NEVER achieved a competitive 50. Doesn't stop me trying! Got the same problems as you with only one eye but never seen it as an hindrance.
    Bit of coaching/encouragement, hours on the practice table will pay dividends eventually.
    I don't think some beginners realise how hard it is to reach 50 break standard. I admire your honesty stating in 50 years you've never had one. I've heard all sorts of nonsense about high breaks, latest one was a guy struggling on line up but had a 134 ten years ago where all the balls were close to being in a line lol
    Getting to 50 is very hard especially if you don't play much.

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    • #32
      Originally Posted by Dave Walton View Post
      Getting to 50 is very hard especially if you don't play much.
      I agree Dave, plus whatever practice you put in needs to be productive or it's easy to stagnate and not get anywhere.

      Comment


      • #33
        Originally Posted by Snookclops View Post
        Lastly, when I’m playing well making breaks, I don’t even look at BOB
        Yes you do but you just don't realise it as it's a split second subconscious playing with no thought kind of thing. Once you realise you've potted a few your conscious mind takes control and then whatever you're doing subconsciously correctly goes by the wayside because you'll not be looking where you're supposed to.

        Its very hard to do I know but you have to relax and let your subconscious take over, play freely, a bit faster so there's no time for conscious thought processes. Just look and and see the pot, see the position you want next and just get down and shoot and see where it gets you, and stop playing this lucky git all the time, mate or not these people will get you down, but if you must when he breaks down and leaves you something very tricky then play safe.
        Speak up, you've got to speak up against the madness, you've got speak your mind if you dare
        but don't try to get yourself elected, for if you do you'll have to cut your hair

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        • #34
          Originally Posted by vmax View Post
          Yes you do but you just don't realise it as it's a split second subconscious playing with no thought kind of thing. Once you realise you've potted a few your conscious mind takes control and then whatever you're doing subconsciously correctly goes by the wayside because you'll not be looking where you're supposed to.
          Very well said indeed.

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          • #35
            Ok, but how many times do I play a stupid shot because I didn’t think it through?

            Can we say that shot selection is a conscious process but aiming and cueing isn’t?

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            • #36
              I also think expectations are ridiculously too high and you need to calm down and enjoy snooker for what it is.
              If your best result in solo potting black to black is 5 in a row how in the hell can you hope to make a 50?

              That's only 5 balls you've potted, to make a 50+ break would require a minimum 13 balls to be potted assuming 7 reds/black & 1 yellow.
              I don't say this to put you down merely to offer advice about what your doing to yourself mentally and to take it easy enjoy yourself and better play might actually come out.

              I know loads guys who are decent players have played for many many years and can't make a 50 break, it ain't easy and watching too much snooker on tv would convince you otherwise these guys are highly and then some skillful at snooker it's such a difficult game.

              I think you should play some different players, some guys do carry a little luck at snooker especially if they are at the table more which it sounds like your mate getting the better of you is this will only compound your frustrations and sounds like it really is causing you a problem. Maybe find another regular practice partner to play who is closer to your level or slightly below sounds as if your mate is slightly better player you need a variation of standards so you can have the confidence to try things against lesser players. Line up and solo is great for technique and learning to have confidence but it also needs to be practiced properly so my advice would be see a coach as a total immediate requirement to find out whats wrong with your game cos the hours youve put in you should have progressed more you have a basic fault in something and if you keep going with that your only wasting more time. If you fix the fault you'll start to make more rapid progress trust me this is experience talking here I coached myself up to 40 break standard with a timing fault and wasted loads of hours until i got some professional help from a brilliant coach then i started making 80-90 breaks almost overnight compared to how much i slogged it out to hit 40s

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              • #37
                Originally Posted by Snookclops View Post
                Thanks all, will read pm and be back soon, at work presently.

                Issue is my 27 was like 3 years ago and I am just stuck. I do stupid things and don’t know what to do at some points.

                I play a mate who played a lot as a kid. It’s always super close, but I lose 95% of frames.

                I have done SO much work on technical. I bought nics book, even my playing partner says I look textbook.

                I just want to see some improvement, I probably have, but perhaps being good enough to string a few breaks together. 9/10 I pot a good red and miss a colour.

                I also seem to leave my opponent in the balls, yet even when he makes errors, I am on cush with a difficult pot. I just don’t get chances like the ones I give away. I miss pots by a fraction.

                This is turning in to a moan, but given how much I’ve learned, I should be moving forward. I made a big leap forward about 3 years ago and haven’t really improved, despite practice.

                The coaches just told me things, like getting down on shot straight, slow backswing, follow to chest etc, but I know the theory. I know it inside out and back to front. I perhaps need a plan.

                I know I’m not going to hit tons without 20+ hours per week for years, but getting more 10-30s would be great. Some frames I barely make a break! I just have long pots miss or mess ups safety and end up seeing my opponent mop up easy balls, balls I could probably clear I just only ever get a long pot, not an easy chance. Often these are from complete errors from opponent yet I never end up in the middle with a pot on, and then I’ll miss it.

                This game really is hard
                wow its like you are reading my thoughts...lol

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                • #38
                  Originally Posted by Snookclops View Post
                  Totally agree, but my first goal was to beat my friend after he beat me many times.

                  I must have done 15 hours a week and obsessively researched the game for about a year. I got better but my friend still beat me, almost every frame.

                  Once I had done about 3 hours a day for a week and he turned up, drunk, and still beat me. With no practice.

                  This is why I am here,

                  Perhaps it’s mental. I usually get in the lead in the first frame, get a few in offs and do a stupid shot and lose narrowly. Then I lose it completely and I can’t pot a ball. However, he reaches a level I don’t, he might make 20s more regularly but they are nearly always close games.

                  Driving me mad. I’ve succeeded at everything I’ve tried with practice. I am super disciplined when I tried but losing over and over just broke me, I can’t beat this guy and as soon as the bull**** starts, the flukes he seems to get over and over (he admits I am unlucky), plus my stupid decisions....usually an in off etc, I weaken and can’t get into it. I’d still say he’s a better player but one would think I’d win 30% of frames, given most are finished on blue, pink or black. Rarely am I beater before colours.
                  its not about the amount of hours you put in , its the quality , you have to have goals each session you practice. so for instance if you are working on your straight potting you would practice straight blues from around 18" when you can get 7-8 regular the you move the white back 3-4 inches and do this and so on until you reach the baulk line and can pot from there 7-8 out of 10.

                  so each practice session should be built like this. set yourself goals that are reasonable and give yourself a time frame. if you can't achieve this in that time, well that task isn't reasonable and you should adjust accordingly.

                  as for coaching, Nic Barrow is good and will analyse your technique, however he will advocate that you need to learn how to cue straight first before you can move on to anything else.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    I usually make a few blacks, but I run out of position. I’m not sure if just setting up a half ball black and potting over and over would help.

                    I often start my line up with a straight follow shot to corner to get on pink/black. I virtually never miss these shots in a match. I just can’t see how I can get it wrong, it’s my first shot on line up so I’ve played this shot more than any other.

                    I wonder if just playing certain shots over and over is better than attempting line up.

                    I’ve had 30+ on line up. I just never find any shots in a match are similar, there are so many pot varieties.

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Originally Posted by Snookclops View Post
                      I usually make a few blacks, but I run out of position. I’m not sure if just setting up a half ball black and potting over and over would help.

                      I often start my line up with a straight follow shot to corner to get on pink/black. I virtually never miss these shots in a match. I just can’t see how I can get it wrong, it’s my first shot on line up so I’ve played this shot more than any other.

                      I wonder if just playing certain shots over and over is better than attempting line up.

                      I’ve had 30+ on line up. I just never find any shots in a match are similar, there are so many pot varieties.
                      The line up is a useful tool but it is just that.
                      It is the best practice routine for any levels but what your describing is one of the very real problems with it that you'll find at your level especially. I would say the line ups biggest benefits are for a good player warming up his cueing or ironing out a technical fault in his game and it is also a good tool to a decent player for positional play.

                      As a pure learning tool of basic shots that come up in matches it is ok but as you say some shots are not always replicated especially for those who have not mastered positional play to create simple 3/4 ball pots over and over again like an experienced break builder would.

                      For your level the thing I would do is this.

                      20 mins - straight cueing excercise long blues
                      20 mins - blacks from spot 3/4 ball pot half ball pot whatever you struggle with until you dont struggle with the shot do same thing with pinks and blues.

                      20 mins - working on colour clearance break it down into one shot at a time if you need to for example only play yellow to green for 20 minutes or only green to brown whatever you find you are no good at focus on that the most we all have problem shots.

                      20 mins - return to the line up with only 5 reds inbetween pink and black or maybe just blacks off the spot

                      this would be a better way to practice for your level if you have only made 30 on the line up you have a long way to go to clear it and it's lot of balls set up for no reason this will also dent your confidence if you can clear the 5 reds line up or even a single red plus all the colours then add one more red and so on it will build your belief in yourself rather than breaking down on the 4th or 5th red all the time.

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                      • #41
                        I used to spend a lot of time playing blacks off the spot. It's an easy pot you're going to play a lot, so useful for cue ball control. Pick an area you want to leave the cue ball, and practice different speeds, stuns, screws, to get there. Then narrow the angle and do it again. Rinse and repeat. It's much easier to make breaks if all the pots are easy

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                        • #42
                          Originally Posted by Mark187187 View Post
                          I used to spend a lot of time playing blacks off the spot. It's an easy pot you're going to play a lot, so useful for cue ball control. Pick an area you want to leave the cue ball, and practice different speeds, stuns, screws, to get there. Then narrow the angle and do it again. Rinse and repeat. It's much easier to make breaks if all the pots are easy
                          Blacks off the spot there is so many things you can do here to spice this up.

                          Just play:

                          Black to black from any position see what your highest score is.
                          Black to black but only from one side of the table stun the white high on black all the time not allowed to use two cushions
                          Same thing but only using two cushions to get count highest score
                          Black to black but from opposite sides of the table using back cushion go from one side to the other round and round.
                          Add a single red inbetween pink and black and use same ideas as above replace red once you pot it to play round and round black and red using the back cushion to stay on same side of the table for each shot or roll through on the second red to go round.

                          Theres so much you can do with only couple of balls that will improve your scoring tremendously at your level.

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                          • #43
                            A coach up at SWSA sorted me right out. I thought I had all of the basics down but I wasn't finding the line and cuing around my hip. I also stuck a video up on here and got some really solid and useful feedback - you should definitely do that.

                            I've seen Bob Hill as well and thought he was great. Where about's in the South West are you?

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                            • #44
                              Yeah if I was close to SWSA I would make a point of going there +1 for that a good coach you need first and foremost to see what basics you are doing wrong before you spend lots of hours on more routines they won't help until the cue action is good.

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                              • #45
                                Bob taught me a few things to be fair, perhaps I am just assuming some flaw which only if resolved will massively improve.

                                He said he doesn’t remodel actions just works with what you have.

                                One thing I think might be an issue, my cueing arm is bent in at the elbow. It is not straight. I wonder if this is a major fault but neither coach corrected it.

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