Play, Don't Practice

I have had poor play now in money games twice over the last two week, following days of detailed practice here at home on the table. I felt like God the way I had developed as far as stroke, long accurate stop shots, the 9B break was explosive, it all worked. Then I took the game to the PH for my regular episodes of $-pool and was a C-player all around, including those solid shots that I made 9 out of times during my drills. I am beginning to think that the only way to really get better at pool, is to play a lot of pool, not drill. In fact, I think taking time completely away from pool altogether ahead of competition is better, unless you can costantly PLAY and compete. Practice, to me, can be a slow down. sid

Practice is good in the sense that it helps you build up your hand /eye coordination, stroking skills, aim, and mechanics. Practice helps you download the data for muscle and visual memory.

Play is important, and helpful too, in that it presents you with interesting challenges, introduces competitive stress into the equation, and helps build mental toughness.

For a beginner, lots of practice on all of the basics is paramount. But, once you are have developed a reliable stance + stroke, and are comfortable playing, too much practice can temporarily dull the edge on your game. The trick is not to overdo practice, and yes, play more.

There are times too, when it's really good to just take a break for a while. Every once in a while, I stop playing, practicing, or thinking, about pool for anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month. When I finally decide to go back to pool I just get into a game or match feeling refreshed and confident and usually play my best.

I luv praktis. I praktis (solo) over 20 hrs a week -- and i play komp say 1 hr a week -- and i play friendly games (versus an opponent) say 2hrs a week. And praps 90% of my praktis iz drills -- sometimes playing one class of shot over and over -- allmost all day. Often playing one set shot over and over -- replacing the balls by hand -- and uzing temporary or permanent marks. Today i am mainly praktising shooting lefthanded instead of my natural righthanded. But i take lots of short breaks and long breaks. Dont overdo it -- it haztabe fun.

Hmmmmmmm -- aktually, in fakt, i rarely praktis at all -- i shood hav called it EXPERIMENTATION not praktis. And every little experimental rezult or trick goze into my diary, with diagrams.
Hmmmmmm -- in fakt, the more i think about it, i havta agree -- praktis iz sort of boring. Thats why i havnt been able to advance to the next level -- i dont prakis enuff. But experimenting iz better than nuthin.
mac.

The main difference between playing and practice is the sense of competition. When I practice I like to do drills that make you move into tougher shots when you are making the easier ones and if you miss you need to drop down. That way you are competing, albeit with yourself but competing none the less. An example for me is to begin banking balls with each one being placed for a tougher shot than the last ... then you can't quit untill you make 15 in a row. If you want to quit your session and you're up to shot 13, 14 or 15 in the drill then there is pressure knowing you'll need to start at one again if you choke one. It's what works for me.

Yes counting etc puts pressure on your praktis, just like in a game.
Thats another trouble with my praktis -- when i do praktis, ie try to run a big score, i dont even count -- i might play for 10 minutes without missing, but i wouldnt hav a clue what my score iz. Definitely not a good way to praktis.
mac.

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Originally Posted by cushioncrawler

Yes counting etc puts pressure on your praktis, just like in a game.
Thats another trouble with my praktis -- when i do praktis, ie try to run a big score, i dont even count -- i might play for 10 minutes without missing, but i wouldnt hav a clue what my score iz. Definitely not a good way to praktis.
mac.

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Recognizing that not putting pressure on yourself while practicing makes it easy to fix ... start keeping score when you practice!! :smile:

Not only in pool, but this applies for almost everything. If you will work hard and will play by heart, then definitely you will improve your game and that will pay you somehow. If you are not able to achieve the goal that you wanted to get by good practice, then also there will be a lot more improvement in you.

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Originally Posted by Sid_Vicious

I have had poor play now in money games twice over the last two week, following days of detailed practice here at home on the table. I felt like God the way I had developed as far as stroke, long accurate stop shots, the 9B break was explosive, it all worked. Then I took the game to the PH for my regular episodes of $-pool and was a C-player all around, including those solid shots that I made 9 out of times during my drills. I am beginning to think that the only way to really get better at pool, is to play a lot of pool, not drill. In fact, I think taking time completely away from pool altogether ahead of competition is better, unless you can costantly PLAY and compete. Practice, to me, can be a slow down. sid

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Maybe its your nervous. Maybe its you let people get inside your own head. Half of beating a man at the table is having him believe your gonna beat him. Half of winning is brleving your gonna win. I believe im gonna win every time i pick up a stick.

Practice is necessary when you want to improve one particular skill. For example, working on very sharp cuts or long table straight-in shots.

I recommend to all my students to work on a specific skill for no more than 5 minutes. Then take a 10-15 minute break to come back with a fresh attitude.

At the very least, a few minutes of intentional learning from mistakes is worth more than multiple hours of banging balls around with or without a friend. Save the practice time for specific skill development. When you get tired of practicing and just have to rest your patience, set up "play the ghost" games for the rest of your table time.

If "banging balls" with a buddy, give him a massive handicap to force yourself to be competitive. If approximately at your level, he wins - you pay $1.00, you win, he pays 25 cents.

Practice is necessary when you want to improve one particular skill. For example, working on very sharp cuts or long table straight-in shots.

I recommend to all my students to work on a specific skill for no more than 5 minutes. Then take a 10-15 minute break to come back with a fresh attitude.

At the very least, a few minutes of intentional learning from mistakes is worth more than multiple hours of banging balls around with or without a friend. Save the practice time for specific skill development. When you get tired of practicing and just have to rest your patience, set up "play the ghost" games for the rest of your table time.

If "banging balls" with a buddy, give him a massive handicap to force yourself to be competitive. If approximately at your level, he wins - you pay $1.00, you win, he pays 25 cents.