Practice question

[MatthewHamilton]

Hello everyone,

I have a few questions about practising. It's a lot easier for me to practice without an opponent in terms of arrangements and getting decent opponents; will 2-3 hours a day of practicing BY MYSELF do me any good? Also, do you think playing a high amount of pool (4-5 days a week) is good or bad for your snooker game?

Are there any drills I can do apart from plain playing, vs. myself or a decent opponent? And then is playing a weak opponent bad for my game overall?

Thanks,

Matt

[RaNeN]

Hello Matt,
You will find almost everything here on this site Click Here

[MatthewHamilton]

thanks

will check it out.

but how about playing pool? good or bad?

matt

[RaNeN]

Maybe it will make the game difficult for you in the beginning. As a Snooker table is bigger than a Pool table. But once you get used to the Snooker table you wont have any problem.
A lot of professionals play 9 ball too. It dosent affect their game. So dont worry.

[missneworleans]

Yes, O'Sullivan like to play pool

[MatthewHamilton]

well

if it's good enough for The Rocket, it'll do for me.

Matt

[The Statman]

If you are happy practising on your own, then great! Should do you no harm.

I am absolutely hopeless with solo practice, discipline wise. I find it impossible to think, "If this were a real game, whould I go for this shot or would I play safe?" and I just end up going for pot after pot. So I ALWAYS play an opponent. It is much easier, I find, to treat it as a serious game. It seems a bit pointless going for a good safety shot when I am my opponent!

Sort of adds to the pressure, makes it a bit more life-like, if you have a real opponent who you want to avoid leaving an opening, than half hoping you'll fail to get out of your own snooker so you'll be left with a chance to make a decent break.

But as I say, that's just me. If you've got the discipline to put in serious practice, then go for it, and think yoursef lucky that you aren't me!

[MatthewHamilton]

Thanks!

Sounds like good advice.

What about the difficulty though of finding decent opponents? To play you regularly I mean. most of my friends are only average pool players and novices when it comes to snooker.

Matt

[hegeland]

I play both pool and snooker (mostly pool) and so far it has only done me good.

I also find it hard to get any decent opponents, especally in snooker, and I often play to get a moment for myself and relax, so I end up playing on my own too often for what is good for my game. I notice I sometimes have a big diffculty once I get behind in a match, something I blame on lack of match training.

A lof of people where I play only wants to play with their regular practice parter, thus making it a bit difficult finding "free" ones. But now that I have started to improve my game, more people come to me and ask if we can play a game, so that is nice.

[Cessy143]

Sounds like good advice.

What about the difficulty though of finding decent opponents? To play you regularly I mean. most of my friends are only average pool players and novices when it comes to snooker.

Matt

It's vital that you practice/play regularly with a better player or at least someone on par with you.

Re solo practice, its so important to concentrate on your weaknesses, ie shots that you struggle with. Its all too easy to go along to your club for a few hours, line up the balls, hit big breaks, clear the colours etc. I admit, this will make you feel good, but your game will not improve as it should.

Remember, Hendry ruled the game for years,,why?, because he had no weaknesses.

[MrFIsh]

Ive played Pool in a league for a good 4-5 years now but have played pool since I was about 8 winning my first competition back then. I did play snooker back then as a young lad but it faded away. As I was awau down Susses in Pontins Camber Sands, I was unfortunate to miss the Pool competition so entered the snooker competition having not played Snooker for well over 2 years. In my shock I won the competition and got invited to the finals in Prestatyn in early December. Knowing this I started practicing snooker again and when the finals came I ended up reaching the semi finals of the tournament having expected to get beat in the first round.
During these months my Pool game has improved very significantly and has helped me with my cue action very much. As long as the same cue is used in both Sports in can only help in my eyes and I am now continueing to play my snooker after my recent progression in my recent tournament.