From poke to stroke

I confess, I'm a Poker. Does anyone have any advice on turning my poke into a stroke. I know I'm doing it, but can't seem to correct it. I find myself practicing my bad habit rather than correcting it. I'm sure that once I stop poking the cue ball my game will improve greatly. I would appreciate any insight you may have.

[Chris Cass]

Hi Cami,
This is a great question. Most people who don't follow thru the cb, do poke. Coming from a women is also unusual. Most women I've seen play tend to hold their grip, further back on the cb than forward. It's hard to relate without seeing what's going on exactly.
I will say, when your at the practice table. Try lining up your cue tip close as you can to the cb, then check to see if your grip hand is far enough back on the wrap, to form a 90 degree angle at the elbow. This ensures that when you hit the cb that you'll follow thru to the cloth, when your shot is completed. Do this on a table length shot to get the feel down. I'm thinking the problem is in your mechanics. Try this and see if it helps. Don't be afraid to hit the shot. Let me know if this helps.
Good Luck,
C.C.

[Ken]

Chris, If you are assuming that Cami is a woman, that is incorrect.
Ken

Sorry, I'm not a woman, Cami is short for Camillo (Named after Italian Grandfather)

Sorry, I'm not a woman, Cami is short for Camillo (Named after Italian Grandfather).
But thanks for the reply

[SPetty]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

I find myself practicing my bad habit rather than correcting it.

<hr></blockquote>

Cami, I think through great deducemanship, I've uncovered a great deal of your problem.

Stop practicing the bad habit. Practice the good habit. Hope that helps!

No, really. Learn how to do a good stroke. Go to school or watch some videos or read some books. Then practice that good stroke. Then practice that good stroke some more. Your shotmaking may go to pot for awhile, but keep practicing that good stroke.

Hi, Cami,
Chris gave you some good info. I would like to suggest you line up a straight in shot, parallel to the long rail (when facing table left rail if right handed). Place the object ball approx 1/2"- 3/4" off the rail, on the first diamond. Then do the same with the cueball a little past the 3rd dianmond.
If you find it difficult to form a bridge then line the shot straight up in a corner pocket at the same distances.
Strike the cue ball STRAIGHT THROUGH with center ball with a dead level cue. The result you are looking for is the cue ball not to stop, but to replace the object ball. After contact with the OB, the CB should make a 1/4 roll replacing where the object ball was positioned.
What is happening is the CB is sliding across the felt.
The only way this shot can be done correctly is with a good solid, dependable stroke.
Practice this shot and warm up with this shot and the poke will disappear.

[JimS]

Hi Cami...welcome to the ccb.

I just returned to playing pool three years ago after a 40 yr lay-off so I had, and have, a lot to learn.

I took some lessons and then got lucky and hooked up with a guy, who's become a very good friend, who can PLAY (gives gawd the 8 &amp; the break and knows the game!). He's become my Coach.

Whenever he wants me to learn something new or replace a bad habit he has me do the new behavior 1,000 times to "burn it in" as he puts it.

If you do a stroke exercise 1,000 times trying to do at least 100 a day for 10 days you'll have a new stroke "burned into" your brain.

Maybe set up straight in shots with a piece of chalk on the table about a foot in front of the cue ball, and off to one side, and follow through to a distance equal to the placement of the chalk. Do it 100 times a day for 10 days and...NEW STROKE! You could do this on your dining room table...don't have to have an object ball to shoot or even a cue ball. Just stroke to a target about 15" to 20" in front of your bridge hand.

This has worked for me. Repetition of desired behavior makes that behavior a habit.

Hope this helps.

Regards, JimS

[heater451]

Cami, do you follow through on your break stroke, or do you 'stab' at it?

I think most 'poking' comes from 'punching' the cueball--trying to strike the cueball and pull back. And, this is probably exacerbated by the fact that most people hit too hard.

So, when you practice a shot like Scott mentions in his reply, below, don't feel like you have to "strike and clear". The cueball is going to move away from your cuetip, and that's why you can follow through the ball.

You might even try 'pushing' the cueball, with a soft to medium stroke.

Imagine hitting a balloon back and forth to someone. If you smack it hard, it will go shooting off on a (mostly) uncontrolled line. However, if you give it a kind of tapping-push, you are "following-through" with your hand, and can control the direction of the balloon better.

Hi Cami, to leave the poke behind you need to know what a good stroke is and more important what happens with a good stroke but does not happen when you are using a poke.

One thing that happens with a poke is you will "stop" the cue at the cueball hit. In order for this to happen the cue must already be slowing down before the hit. This is not a good thing.

We all talk about follow-through but not why we do it. It would seem that once the cueball has been hit and is moving away from the cue why should continuing movement of the cue make any difference? Does the cueball look behind and see the cue coming? Of course not, yet follow-through does make a big difference.

When I was a boy my father, when talking about how to succeed in life used to say, "Ron, you must aim for the moon in order to hit the top of the fence!". It was many years before I really understood that I needed to put forth more effort than was required to make sure I succeeded.

This is the story of follow-through, it is very important not to let the cue slow down before it hits the cueball. By continuing the forward stroke past the cueball this will be prevented.

This was a long way of saying something very simple, a good stroke will cause the cue to accelerate throughout the stroke without any percived slowing down at contact.

One way to practice this is to pick a spot 4-6" past the cueball and make sure the tip reaches that point. When you can do this without flinching or jerking the cue you are almost there.

This is the last part, after your warmup strokes, stop at the cueball, check that the tip is pointing at the correct place on the cueball. Now start the backswing slowly, backswing slowly, backswing slowly. as you change to the forward stroke start increasing the pace until you reach the cueball. Continue increasing until you reach that spot 4-6" past the cueball. Welcome to the stroke!