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

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

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

Most pool players lose way too many games because of poor mental decisions. They do not know how to systematically approach each shot and control their emotions to maintain confidence. This article will address three common mental mistakes that pool players make and will also show you how to eliminate them. Don’t Analyze your Stroke: Any thoughts about your stroke during match play are counterproductive to performing well. Whether it is in between shots or during play, trus

[Some very interesting information at the 2:26 mark!] ​​ We want to talk about an area you might have overlooked when you’re working hard to build up your playing skills. Please consider the benefits of the PRO ENGLISH TRAINER for the positive results it produces.: 1. Developing your center ball alignment accuracy. 2. Applying up to three perfect tips of English in any direction with pinpoint accuracy. 3. Mastering the degree of reflection required for your pool playing shaft

Most pool players lose way too many games because of poor mental decisions. They do not know how to systematically approach each shot and control their emotions to maintain confidence. This article will address three common mental mistakes that pool players make and will also show you how to eliminate them. 1. Don’t Analyze Your Stroke: Any thoughts about your stroke during match play are counterproductive to performing well. Whether it is in between shots or during play, tru

This time I’ll introduce you a classical masse shot played in the trick shot championship. In the WPA program this shot is rated as a 7/10 regarding its DOD (degree of difficulty). This might look hard at the first sight but it’s actually very realistic for any good/medium pool player. A good thing too is that it’s possible to do that shot without a masse cue. Of course it’s easier with a masse cue but it remains possible with a normal one! Also, this could actually happen in

The Stroke After we have discussed three out of four basic fundamentals, we come to the most important thing of all, The Stroke! If you have a good stance and know many bridges, that will never overcome your bad grip that leads to a poor stroke. But when you see and hear a sound of a good stroke, you “forgive” many flaws, and you know that you have a good player in front of you. What distinguishes players is the stroke! In order to understand the importance and real place of

Open Rail Bridge When you are in a situation where the cue ball is too close to the rail or on the rail, it is very hard to use a closed rail bridge, so we have to use an open rail bridge. Please notice that the word “rail” is part of the name of this type of bridge. So whenever you can, try to keep your shaft in contact with a rail while also in contact with the cue ball, and keep it in contact with the cue ball after contact in your follow-through. If you do this, you will

Closed rail bridge Very often, the cue ball comes close to the rail, so we can not make any bridge from the playing surface; we have to make rail bridges. Rail bridges can be divided into open and closed, but all of them use the term "rail" in their name and in their structure. In this article, we shall explain the closed rail bridge. It is the best rail bridge and one of the most powerful bridges in pool. 1st step:  Put your palm on the rail and spread your fingers with yo