phil in sofla
06-05-2003, 02:36 PM
We have an amateur only tour going on in south Florida, where they keep out most of the top A players/semi-pros, but still have a pretty stout field. They're non-handicapped races to 7 on the winners side, races to 5 on the losers side, double elimination, and the winners of the winners side and losers side play a single race to 9 for the finals.
I've entered four events and gone TWO and out three times, only once getting to a hill-hill situation (and losing that). Last Saturday, I won my first match on the double hill, and so got another longer race to 7 my second match (lost 7-4 to the eventual winner of the winners bracket), and lost my first losers side match 5-2 to one of the previous winners in this tour (who cashed a few times in the old Florida pro tour, not as a winner, but in the money).
While this was still almost as bad as I could do, it felt a lot different and better, even if I was still maybe 3 match wins out of the money, or worse.
Even getting my brains beat in by these guys is valuable, as I get to play better players and see their strategies and moves on the table. The very next day I found my game had improved, playing more the way these guys played, and without any conscious decision on my part to do so, I was hitting more softly and smoothly, more rolling balls, less juice and pace on the balls, making pocketing and running out easier.
I notice the same thing after viewing tapes with great players, but I don't tend to watch those repeatedly, and so the 'training' effect diminishes over time. Getting into tournaments, on the other hand, I can do regularly, probably weekly if I want, and I'm going to make doing that a priority, as well as reviewing my various tapes for a third/fourth go-round.
Apart from getting personal instruction, these are probably the two greatest improvement courses of action anyone can take.
I've entered four events and gone TWO and out three times, only once getting to a hill-hill situation (and losing that). Last Saturday, I won my first match on the double hill, and so got another longer race to 7 my second match (lost 7-4 to the eventual winner of the winners bracket), and lost my first losers side match 5-2 to one of the previous winners in this tour (who cashed a few times in the old Florida pro tour, not as a winner, but in the money).
While this was still almost as bad as I could do, it felt a lot different and better, even if I was still maybe 3 match wins out of the money, or worse.
Even getting my brains beat in by these guys is valuable, as I get to play better players and see their strategies and moves on the table. The very next day I found my game had improved, playing more the way these guys played, and without any conscious decision on my part to do so, I was hitting more softly and smoothly, more rolling balls, less juice and pace on the balls, making pocketing and running out easier.
I notice the same thing after viewing tapes with great players, but I don't tend to watch those repeatedly, and so the 'training' effect diminishes over time. Getting into tournaments, on the other hand, I can do regularly, probably weekly if I want, and I'm going to make doing that a priority, as well as reviewing my various tapes for a third/fourth go-round.
Apart from getting personal instruction, these are probably the two greatest improvement courses of action anyone can take.