nhp
01-21-2005, 03:57 AM
I've been playing pool seriously for about 8 years now. When I was 16, I developed a passion for the game that kept me at the local 24-hour poolhall from usually noon until 3 or 4am. All I did was practice, practice, practice, with help here and there from a local unknown hustler named John.
I didn't know a thing about fundamentals, all I did was watch the good players shoot, and try to emulate their styles, combining many different styles into my own. John would help me tweak my mechanics whenever I was having problems. The way he explained everything, so simple and precise to my malfunction, I rarely fell into a slump. All my game did was go upwards.
Around this time period, the poolhall I played at was formerly an action hotspot, but was starting to die out. All of the strong players flocked to another poolroom that was across the street from a police station. This place became THE action spot of California, it was a regular stop for top money players if they were in town.
The owner of the poolroom I practiced at took a liking to my ability, and let me play for free by myself as long as I wanted, and even let me stay there after 10pm when I was under 18. The one catch was, I had to bring action back to his room. He saw what was happening, little by little the regular house pros were leaving and going to this other poolroom, and he was losing business. I tried to help him, but to no avail. I didn't have any heart, I wasn't used to playing for more than $20, and all of the games I brought to his room were usually that amount. I played two different guys twice for $100 sets, the first time I dogged it badly, and the second time I squeaked by and won. I started to realize that my practice sessions were not paying off when I played for money. I would even get nervous playing for $5. No matter how good I played when I shot by myself, I couldn't play half as good for the cheese.
Little by little the action faded from the room, and the place became dead. There were a few regular customers, but only three of them, including me, were players, and we were all B players. Eventually, some Filipino players brought Santos Sambajon in, and the owner befriended him. Santos became the house pro, and was playing there nearly every day. He taught me on a regular basis for about 2 months, free of charge.
There was a big tournament at the Crystal Park Casino in LA, all the pros were there. Santos matched up with Roger Griffis, to play at our poolroom the following day of the tournament. Apparently Santos was a favorite to beat Roger, but Shannon Daulton showed up in his place, and beat Santos out of a couple thousand. The owner of the poolroom, who was staking Santos became infuriated, and I never saw Santos there again.
A few months after that, I was playing the best I had ever played at the time, what Santos showed me helped my game tremendously. My best friend, who had joined the Marines had finished training, and came to visit me. I didn't get a chance to play pool for about 2 weeks because of that, and when I came back to the game, I was playing horrible. Everything I had learned had gone out the window, even after 3 years of playing for hours and hours every day, just two measly weeks put me into a horrible slump that lasted for two months before I joined the Army. My stint in the Army lasted for a few months before I hurt my back and got sent home on a medical discharge. Now that I was home with free time on my hands, I wanted to start playing pool again, but my back hurt so bad that I couldn't play for about 6 months. Combining that with my stint in the Army, I took over a year off from the game.
When I came back, the poolhall near my house that I played at before was under new ownership. I started playing there again, and eventually got a job there, and struggled with my game for about 6 or 7 months, playing 5-8 hours daily until one day I found myself in dead punch while playing a weekly tournament. That type of play lasted me for a little under a year. By that type of play, I mean literally after warming up for about 15 minutes I would find myself in dead punch every day. At the time one of the new owners of the poolhall didn't want me going out to other poolhalls playing tournaments or anything, because he wanted to keep how I was playing on the hush. At that time I was playing the best pool of my life by far.
While I was working there I met a girl that I fell head-over-heels for, and I ended up quitting my job at the poolhall to go back to school. I cut back on playing drastically to spend more time with her, and as a result my game suffered dramatically. Ever since I fell into that slump I have been tweaking and changing my mechanics in desperate hopes to retrieve that 'lost ability' that is deep down inside of me hiding. After being together for 2 years, my relationship with the girl ended, and I got back into playing pool more often. The only problem is that I have yet to recover from my slump, which has lasted me over 2 years now. I've always thought the cause of my slump was in my mechanics, but recently I've discovered that it all comes down to how long I stay on the table. I don't have that desire (and the time) to practice all day anymore, I am more focused on getting good grades in school and getting a degree. I still love pool, and still wish to get better, but that is only secondary to my real goals. About a week ago I had the opportunity to play pool all day for about 2 days. I did so, and started getting that feeling in my stroking arm of complete control that I used to get when I was playing well. I realized that no matter how much you tweak your mechanics, you are not going to play good unless you really train your arm and your body by spending long hours on the table. You cannot reach your full potential unless you do so. You can have a set of text-book, perfectly sound fundamentals, i.e. stance, stroke, bridge, etc, but that is not going to make you play good. All that really is, is a basis that your ability relies on and is supported by. Your ability comes from countless hours of practice, a strong mentality from playing under pressure, and THEN your mechanics. So for those of you who are in a horrible slump, and are starting to change your mechanics around, stop, before you change something that doesn't need to be. If time permits, try to spend alot more time practicing by yourself and concentrating before you start putting your left foot here and your right shoulder there. Seeing a good instructor of course can speed up the learning process quite a bit. So this is where I'm at now, feeling silly realizing that over two years of struggling with my game could have been prevented, had I the time and the will to play for a few hours each day. Just thought I'd share my life story of pool, which really isn't anything since it's only been about 8 years. It would be great to hear everyone else's stories of their life playing pool and certain events, yada yada yada.
I didn't know a thing about fundamentals, all I did was watch the good players shoot, and try to emulate their styles, combining many different styles into my own. John would help me tweak my mechanics whenever I was having problems. The way he explained everything, so simple and precise to my malfunction, I rarely fell into a slump. All my game did was go upwards.
Around this time period, the poolhall I played at was formerly an action hotspot, but was starting to die out. All of the strong players flocked to another poolroom that was across the street from a police station. This place became THE action spot of California, it was a regular stop for top money players if they were in town.
The owner of the poolroom I practiced at took a liking to my ability, and let me play for free by myself as long as I wanted, and even let me stay there after 10pm when I was under 18. The one catch was, I had to bring action back to his room. He saw what was happening, little by little the regular house pros were leaving and going to this other poolroom, and he was losing business. I tried to help him, but to no avail. I didn't have any heart, I wasn't used to playing for more than $20, and all of the games I brought to his room were usually that amount. I played two different guys twice for $100 sets, the first time I dogged it badly, and the second time I squeaked by and won. I started to realize that my practice sessions were not paying off when I played for money. I would even get nervous playing for $5. No matter how good I played when I shot by myself, I couldn't play half as good for the cheese.
Little by little the action faded from the room, and the place became dead. There were a few regular customers, but only three of them, including me, were players, and we were all B players. Eventually, some Filipino players brought Santos Sambajon in, and the owner befriended him. Santos became the house pro, and was playing there nearly every day. He taught me on a regular basis for about 2 months, free of charge.
There was a big tournament at the Crystal Park Casino in LA, all the pros were there. Santos matched up with Roger Griffis, to play at our poolroom the following day of the tournament. Apparently Santos was a favorite to beat Roger, but Shannon Daulton showed up in his place, and beat Santos out of a couple thousand. The owner of the poolroom, who was staking Santos became infuriated, and I never saw Santos there again.
A few months after that, I was playing the best I had ever played at the time, what Santos showed me helped my game tremendously. My best friend, who had joined the Marines had finished training, and came to visit me. I didn't get a chance to play pool for about 2 weeks because of that, and when I came back to the game, I was playing horrible. Everything I had learned had gone out the window, even after 3 years of playing for hours and hours every day, just two measly weeks put me into a horrible slump that lasted for two months before I joined the Army. My stint in the Army lasted for a few months before I hurt my back and got sent home on a medical discharge. Now that I was home with free time on my hands, I wanted to start playing pool again, but my back hurt so bad that I couldn't play for about 6 months. Combining that with my stint in the Army, I took over a year off from the game.
When I came back, the poolhall near my house that I played at before was under new ownership. I started playing there again, and eventually got a job there, and struggled with my game for about 6 or 7 months, playing 5-8 hours daily until one day I found myself in dead punch while playing a weekly tournament. That type of play lasted me for a little under a year. By that type of play, I mean literally after warming up for about 15 minutes I would find myself in dead punch every day. At the time one of the new owners of the poolhall didn't want me going out to other poolhalls playing tournaments or anything, because he wanted to keep how I was playing on the hush. At that time I was playing the best pool of my life by far.
While I was working there I met a girl that I fell head-over-heels for, and I ended up quitting my job at the poolhall to go back to school. I cut back on playing drastically to spend more time with her, and as a result my game suffered dramatically. Ever since I fell into that slump I have been tweaking and changing my mechanics in desperate hopes to retrieve that 'lost ability' that is deep down inside of me hiding. After being together for 2 years, my relationship with the girl ended, and I got back into playing pool more often. The only problem is that I have yet to recover from my slump, which has lasted me over 2 years now. I've always thought the cause of my slump was in my mechanics, but recently I've discovered that it all comes down to how long I stay on the table. I don't have that desire (and the time) to practice all day anymore, I am more focused on getting good grades in school and getting a degree. I still love pool, and still wish to get better, but that is only secondary to my real goals. About a week ago I had the opportunity to play pool all day for about 2 days. I did so, and started getting that feeling in my stroking arm of complete control that I used to get when I was playing well. I realized that no matter how much you tweak your mechanics, you are not going to play good unless you really train your arm and your body by spending long hours on the table. You cannot reach your full potential unless you do so. You can have a set of text-book, perfectly sound fundamentals, i.e. stance, stroke, bridge, etc, but that is not going to make you play good. All that really is, is a basis that your ability relies on and is supported by. Your ability comes from countless hours of practice, a strong mentality from playing under pressure, and THEN your mechanics. So for those of you who are in a horrible slump, and are starting to change your mechanics around, stop, before you change something that doesn't need to be. If time permits, try to spend alot more time practicing by yourself and concentrating before you start putting your left foot here and your right shoulder there. Seeing a good instructor of course can speed up the learning process quite a bit. So this is where I'm at now, feeling silly realizing that over two years of struggling with my game could have been prevented, had I the time and the will to play for a few hours each day. Just thought I'd share my life story of pool, which really isn't anything since it's only been about 8 years. It would be great to hear everyone else's stories of their life playing pool and certain events, yada yada yada.