Between running the Predator Tour and recently becoming a father again, I have been away from the game for a bit.

Recently, though, I’ve been trying to get back into the game, mostly in preparation for the World Tournament of 14.1. It takes a while to get your game back, but I’m starting to get into a comfort zone. It’s all about confidence. You have to be able to look at a shot and know that you are going to make it. If you wonder even the slightest, your game is going to struggle. You’re going to play scared, and that’s no way to play. You end up jumping up on shots because you haven’t played enough to reach that comfort level. You need to get to the point where your body isn’t tight at all and you’re just in synch with the shot.

Still, getting back into the game isn’t easy. I know most of the clusters and patterns in straight pool, but I really struggled at first. I wasn’t even making it through a rack. But it is all a matter of playing. After a few days I was consistently hitting 50-70. At the beginning, my fundamentals were rusty, which led to having no confidence in what I was doing. It was frustrating. I know the shots and the patterns, but I wasn’t executing. The answer was simple. Like I always preach, focusing on your technique will lead to consistent pocketing, but focusing on the result will lead to consistent missing.

You can’t listen to the voice in your head that causes you to wish the ball into the pocket. It will become habit and it will become part of your game. When you are getting back into the game, you really need to focus on your stroke. The stroking arm should be the only moving part of your body during the shot.

And when I do make a mistake, whether it is pocketing or position, I stop what I’m doing. I no longer focus on running balls. I focus on correcting what I did wrong until I get to the point where I know I’m going to make that shot over and over.

The other thing I do — and this can be used in other games — is sit down and look at every option available to me when I come upon a funny pattern that I’m not entirely sure how to run. I literally step away and study the table. Most people shoot the first shot that comes to mind.

Another piece of advice I have is how to respond when your opponent hits you with a high run. Players are usually so anxious to get back to the table that they shoot too quickly. I have gotten into the habit of taking two to four extra practice strokes for the first rack or two to work my way slowly back into a rhythm. You’ll be surprised how much that will help you bear down and zone in. Again, this works for any game.