Very few pool players understand that their performance will reach a stalemate after they master many of the mental and physical aspects of the game. This “lack of improvement” occurs because they have not developed the ability to balance both their conscious and subconscious mind. The fact remains that you cannot play pool completely subconsciously. This is a common problem that needs to be addressed—if you can’t clearly define where the problem lies in your mind, how can

Recently one of my students asked, “How can I erase the memory of a missed shot and not let it create self-doubt for the rest of my match? Whenever I play a bad match I immediately start to think about how much that’s affected my chances to win that particular tournament. Negative thoughts start to creep in…it’s hard to rebound from a poor performance.” As a coach, I usually tell my students that thoughts are just thoughts and to treat them as such. When your brain produces

Grady “The Professor” Mathews once said, “Pool is 70 percent mental.” Over the years, you have probably made enough poor decisions to believe this is true. Why, then, do we associate our playing ability with physical skill? Honestly, some players are more definable by the way they think than by the way they stroke the cue ball. Take the big breaker who crushes the rack but throws a temper tantrum every time he scratches: Yes, he’s got a powerful stroke, but before long his em

The System of Having No System When considering Aiming Systems, let us look to the master Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee may someday be surpassed in certain physical elements of his art, but it’s more his philosophy that will be considered the paradigm for excellence. For without the way he approached Martial Arts from his mental plane, the physical would have never been achieved. The basic concept of “the style of having no style” or in our case, “the system of having no system”, is n

General FAQs – Laws of Pool These apply to just about everyone. It is nearly impossible to avoid these laws and their consequence. They don’t apply every time, but when they do, it is a personal intervention from the hands of any one of the many billiard gods. • The more balls you make in an inning, the easier it is to miss an easy shot. • On a 9 Ball hill-hill game, if you make the 9 ball, the cue ball will scratch. • The better you play, the easier you can be beaten by a

We all know that our beliefs have a huge impact on our lives. From an early age we are in pursuit of the elusive self-belief. Discover it and almost anything can seem achievable, but we are also told that self-belief is something we either have or don’t have. It’s essentially a gift we are born with. The reality is you may not have natural self-belief but you can create it and it’s so much easier than you may think. For a greater understanding allow me to tell you a story. Sa

The last article we looked at how our physiology impacts our state. We will now place our focus on the second component that creates our state which is our internal representation (Our internal thoughts). This will provide a better understanding of what’s happening and how to implement change. Our emotions are created by a small part of the brain that for simplicity we will call the emotional brain. There are of course many causes for the emotional brain to become active, but

AWARENESS IS A SKILL Awareness of a shot is not something to try to achieve. You don’t actively create awareness. It is a skill you possess. When you automatically know that you are in line with the shot you are in the awareness mode. When you know the stroke, once again, it is the awareness mode. Most importantly, you know you are going to make the shot. That knowledge comes from your awareness skills. Practice shooting without thinking but being aware of the dynamics of the

The main difference between the professional player and the best amateur is that the pro does not miss shots. They have a unique way of aiming at the object ball.  And the men will not share this information with anyone, not even their wives. It is a closely guarded secret. The reason I share this with you is because it is time for you to think about how you are going to aim the ball. There are many systems out there that really create more confusion than anything else. Aimin

In this industry we are all looking for that competitive edge.  In the end your stroke and creativity on the table is the only thing that will separate you.  With that being said the equipment that you choose to put in your case and on your cue really defines what you’re capable of doing on the table.   The tip has the most contact with the cue ball. So tip contact is important. The brand Taom chalk has been in the industry for a while now and is always making improvements i

As you well know, I’m a Master Instructor that focuses a lot on mental game, so if you think you are getting a magical stroke tip here, this article may disappoint you.  But if you want enhance the way you think and allow yourself to deliver more straight, smooth strokes, well then maybe I can be of assistance. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRACTICING AND PLAYING There are fundamental differences between practicing and playing. One of the major differences between the two environme

As a Master Instructor, I work with numerous students each year. One of the most popular topics in pool of late has been the discussion of how professional players aim. Many pros use the old ghost ball system, or aim through the aid of their memory from thousands of shots they have struck during their careers. However, the majority of professionals prefer to use some type of concrete aiming system. Aiming systems range from the very simple to the complex (Center to Edge). P

As a Master Instructor, I get the privilege of working with junior players of all ability levels. Some are among the best in the world and many are striving to become the best they can be. Mental coaching for junior player is perhaps the most rewarding work I do. Teaching a young player how to develop a positive mindset and watching them grow in both ability and confidence is great! I not only help them become better players, but it will also help them in school and other s

When you are to arrive at your goals in pocket billiards you need to know exactly what your goals are. You don’t walk up to the ticket counter and ask for a ticket to California. You must specify which city and airport you intend to land in. Many players start out in this game with no real goal. They play, pound balls and learn from other amatuers as they go along. If they do have a goal it is vague with no real way to measure it. “I want to see how good I can get” is not me

Three-cushion Carom Billiards From the book “ Carom Billiards:  Around the World Patterns Patterns ” Group A: Short Leg into Long Rail, Group 1, Shot A1b Starting layout For this shot, this is how the balls are laid out on the table. With the cue ball at the lower left corner of the table, the other balls are up-table, near opposite side rails. The layout below shows how the shot was played. The Shot To make this shot work, the cue ball kisses off the red ball at a very thin

A Pool Instructor’s Journey – Build the Foundation Fellow pool enthusiast – let me take the time to share my background as we begin this journey to continually improve your skills.  My name is Tanner Pruess and I was born in South Dakota, a haven for bar-table pool. Growing up with a long line of established pool players in my family tree aided to a decent game at a very young age. The biggest catalyst that turned me into a top rated amateur was attending a clinic hosted by R

Roku is another high quality chalk manufactured by Kamui. It was released in July 2018. I had an opportunity to get a pre-release version of this chalk back in April, which is the basis for this review. The pre-release version I reviewed is exactly the same as the official production released version of the chalk. The Roku chalk is another in the line of premium chalks. These premium chalks such as Kamui Roku or Great White are quite a bit more expensive than standard chalks

Bill Smith “Mr3Cushion” has been one of the top players in the country for all of his 40 year career as a professional 3 Cushion player. He can teach as well as he played and brings us a great opportunity to this great game. The SECRET of the Half-Ball The Half-Ball Aiming System THE KEY FACTOR in my game’s acceleration over the years is what I’ve learned regarding the achievement of maximum effect and speed with the help of my late mentor and best friend Ernie Presto. Peo

Allowing headphones during league or tournaments has become a bigger conversation among tournament directors and pool players. It wasn’t that long ago a few players were using headphones during practice, and even fewer were using them while playing league or during a local tournament. However, in recent months there has been a striking upswing in use. It appears that more players are seeing a benefit to their game by blocking out peripheral noise and getting into the “zone.”

Sometimes we face a shot with a tentative spirit. In our mind we remember missing that shot. Missing that shot has become a perception and we turned that perception into our mind set. From our mind set we act, we think and we perform. Practice is designed to erase our faulty perceptions about a missed shot. But we have missed too many shots, and even in practice we miss those shots. How do we develop a confident stroke? There will always be that shot that sticks out in our m