Bringing the discipline when practice to match table.

[damienlch]

The idea is to use practice to develop habits that result in efficient play. When you compete, you are supposed to focus on decision making and not worry about the specifics of what you are doing. Essentially allowing yourself to rely on motor memory for execution, which where you will be most effective.

That said, are you having a warm up before matching up with friends? That could be a missing ingredient if you are used to warming up before practice sessions. Personally, I'm less likely to play at my best unless I've had 20 minutes to knock the balls about.

That is so true... I recall pottr mentioning something like that before. During practice, you can work on your mechanics etc but during actual play, all you should be thinking of is getting the cue ball to where you want it to... and stay composed. Anything more is likely to throw your game off imo.

[blinker]

Good habits help form in practice and matches. Most folk tend to stop thinking or go too quickly in matches or go too slowly and lose rhythm. If people are snatching the cue, try putting this in your practice routine. Get down, don't feather. Look at the cue ball, the object ball, the pocket, the cue ball, the object ball, the pocket again. During this brief second or two think; does this angle look correct, could I pot the ball with my eyes? If it looks 10/10, ok. If it doesn't, get up and make an adjustment. This is called the forward pause. By putting a fwd pause into your game, you slow things down a bit and relax yourself; it will help your rear pause (because your rhythm is better and you're now feeling a lot more confident about the angles and potential pot) and stop you snatching. People snatch out of stress/fear/pressure. Obviously, a nice rear pause is now needed, after a couple of feathers. The rear pause is essential, anything like 1/4-1/2 second is ideal, not too long such that the cue arm gets tense. I've noticed that when I put in a longer front pause, my feathers are shorter and fewer in number. Subconsciously, I believe in the shot and I'm not overfeathering nervelessly out of fear. My mind is in a good place. When Ronnie is on fire, he barely feathers, he sees that ball huge and he really believes deep down that he's seeing the correct angles. Another trick to stop snatching is to also 'feel' the inside of the thumb and forefinger contact points on the cue before you take the cue back and deliver it. The inside points should feel symmetrical on the cue, not leaning over, but both feeling vertical. When you take the cue back (in practice) try and feel and maintain this 'vertical' feel on these contact points and allow your hand to open the fingers naturally to maintain this feel. If you now drive the cue forward without a pause, at least you've got more chance of delivering the cue straight even if you do snatch. If you have a rear pause, your ability to deliver the cue straight should be maximised. Developing this feel will also aid you in how much weight you add to the cue ball, improving positioning.

This is so useful to know, the key is to make it so natural that you never ever think about your cue action when in matches. Agree on the front pauses that erases the "doubt" on potting that often result in snatches upon delivery which the brain is sub consiously trying to correct the aim

[ace man]

I think too many people compare performance at static solo drills with performance in actual frames which is total nonsense. Players tend to cite their top score at drill Xyz for that day, but conveniently forget the amount of poor attempts when they scored only 1 or 8 points. I am no exception to this.
In matches you never get the same repeatable layout as in practise. Usually the balls are positioned far harder, there could be clusters of balls, there aren't that many options at all and most importatntly, when you miss, it is you opponents turn, not yours! Then there's tons of safety play, shots to nothing, tactical stuff...this can easily get you very 'cold' and out of potting zone so to speak.
We can compare properly played serious practise frames with competitive frames, that is more realistic. But for sure, natural temperament, bottle, nerves and experience will have more weight at competitions.

[ghost121]

I think too many people compare performance at static solo drills with performance in actual frames which is total nonsense. Players tend to cite their top score at drill Xyz for that day, but conveniently forget the amount of poor attempts when they scored only 1 or 8 points. I am no exception to this.
In matches you never get the same repeatable layout as in practise. Usually the balls are positioned far harder, there could be clusters of balls, there aren't that many options at all and most importatntly, when you miss, it is you opponents turn, not yours! Then there's tons of safety play, shots to nothing, tactical stuff...this can easily get you very 'cold' and out of potting zone so to speak.
We can compare properly played serious practise frames with competitive frames, that is more realistic. But for sure, natural temperament, bottle, nerves and experience will have more weight at competitions.

+1

Totally different scenarios. Drills are for developing your technique and hard-wiring positional play. The breaks achieved in them are worth noting for personal progress but not relevant to an actual game. Open play practise is nearer your actual standard, but still not the same as a live game. At the moment mine are still miles apart and I am under no illusion what my present 'standard' is despite hitting a lot of decent breaks in practise.

[alabadi]

I think too many people compare performance at static solo drills with performance in actual frames which is total nonsense. Players tend to cite their top score at drill Xyz for that day, but conveniently forget the amount of poor attempts when they scored only 1 or 8 points. I am no exception to this..

spot on, this is what i have told the coach that i use, i tell him although my highest break is so and so, i only get that 1 in every 10 attempts.

its the times when i am way under that that is my true form, i am not consistent enough. he told me you set yourself targets so for example when you get 30 break you will probably get 10-20 most attempts, and when you get to 40 break you will probably be getting 20-30 more often and so on.

so your true level is the one you get regularly.