Johnny Archer and Earl Strickland visit FastMikie's Fun House

Yes, true story... Johnny and Earl stopped by tonight. We started the evening with a really fine dining experience overlooking the ocean at the totally excellent Pacifica Del Mar restaurant, and then headed back to my home (lovingly known as "FastMikie's Fun House") for some pool. Yeah, it really happened.

It's not every day that I get two of the world's greatest players to hang out at my place and stroke a few, so pardon me if I'm still a bit amazed by it all.

I set the tone of the evening right off the bat. I said right up front that I already knew they we great, so they didn't have to prove it with fancy trick shots. What I wanted was hard core lessons. Watch me shoot for a bit and then tell me where I need to change. I told them to relax, no performance anxiety here, it's not about you guys entertaining me, it's all about me learning what I can in the few hours we had together.

We started off with Johnny and me shooting some straight pool, which he says he really enjoys. He showed it, running a couple of racks on me, and of course I was completely out of stroke after not shooting for the last 10 days, and nervous of course, what with me playing one world champion while another world champion is watching.

Earl noticed that he could help me with my bridge, so we got into that for a while, and then Johnny shows me how to use my new jump stick (Predator Air), which was very interesting because I never jumped a ball before, but Johnny had me doing it in no time flat. Then Earl gets me using his stick to hit some radical english/draw/cut shots which I can not make with my stick, and we start talking cue weights, and tips, and wraps, and taper. And they both worked with me on my draw shot. Oh, I can draw the ball, of course, but my draw fades fast when I get 5 diamonds away from the object ball. They showed me how to deal with that. Next we worked on my break shot. Johnny helped a lot with that.

Do you get the impression that I was getting light speed pool lessons and that I could never learn at such a pace? Well, that's why I had the video camera running the entire time!!

After several hours of trying to absorb the wisdom of pool champions, we took a break and just sat down and talked pool for a while. Just two gods and a wannabe, hanging out. Johnny drinking Mountain Dew and Earl and me drinking water. We talked about the early days, when they were just getting into the game, we talked about some of the mental part of the game, how they prepare for competition, and how they deal with the pressure, and on and on...

And of course the video camera was running the entire time. But it wasn't "in your face" video like you have on TV. The camera was on a tripod across the room, and I operated it with a remote control without a lot of fuss, so it was really like it wasn't even there. But some things came up that they wouldn't want to get out, so of course none of that video will be seen on YouTube unless they approve it first. I promised them that up front, so they would feel completely comfortable with the camera running.

Just before midnight they had to leave, to drive north to Los Angeles to get some shut-eye before their next tour stop, so I asked them one final favor: to show me their favorite shot, but not a trick shot... a shot that comes up in competition, a shot they are faced with that is real tough, but for some reason they just smile because they love the shot, the action, the challenge. And, of course, the video camera got it all.

I guess I'll be doing some video editing for a while.

I walked them to their car, and realized that I didn't take any photos, but it really didn't matter. I don't need my ugly mug messing up a photo of Johnny and Earl just to impress others. I would prefer if what I learned from them could find its way into my stroke and my game, and some day, after pulling of some incredible tournament-winning shot, I could simply say: "Johnny showed me that." or "I leaned that from Earl." That's good enough for me.

What impressed me the most about the entire evening is that both of them were real easy going people, helpful, polite, and considerate. Yes, both of them. They get along real good with each other, and they gave me their full attention. And when you consider that they had just put in a full 8 hours teaching 2 different classes of pool students at a pool hall in town, well, I guess that's a real tribute to them both.

Wow, what a night!

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Back at it...

And so it was, in the fullness of time, after 10 days of not stroking a cue, our hero FastMikie returned to the practice table. He threw out 15 balls, ran 3, missed, then ran 20, missed. He was relatively pleased with that, however, in the first hour there were 2 miscues, which clearly showed the effects of being ever so slightly out of stroke.

It was good to take a break. And it's good to be back.

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Pool players like to watch

More than twice as many people are have subscribed to my YouTube videos as have subscribed to my blog (which includes the videos). What does that tell us?

1. Pool players in general "like to watch" rather than read.
2. There is a high degree of functional illiteracy among pool players. (?)
3. My writing sucks.
4. Pool players are lazy. ("A picture is worth a thousand words.")
5. All of the above.
6. ???

I would agree with #3, when I'm in a humble mood (rarely), but I get enough positive feedback via email and my guestbook to keep me un-humble most of the time. I have always suspected that I am among the very limited number of people who actually read anything about pool, and an even fewer number of people who spend money to buy books about pool.
(check out the FastMikie Billiards Library)

If my hypothesis is correct, I'll have little negative feedback about suggesting that many pool players are functional illiterates simply because they will never read this! That sort of reminds me of the thought that the Clairvoyants Association never has to notify their members of the time and place of their meetings. Think about that... I'll wait...

And such is the delusion of writers in general: thinking that someone will actually read what they write. I can not find the source, but I have heard that the percentage of books actually read in their entirety is tiny compared to the total of books sold, which again is a fraction of the books published.

Why do writers write, especially if what they write is seldom, if ever, read? I have no idea about those other poor souls, but I have addressed this burning issue in this post. The short story is that I get value out of it even if nobody reads it. So if you are not reading this, then I'm not the slightest bit bummed, but if you are reading this, then I'd seriously enjoy hearing from you if you have any thought to share about how to improve this blog, or the videos.

If you are one of those who prefer to watch, you can subscribe to my YouTube videos, if you haven't already. Click here, and then click the big yellow button when you get there. As of this writing, there are exactly 70 videos I have contributed to humanity, almost all of them pool related. And a few oceanfront related. Enjoy!

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What's in your Wordle?

It's called a "Wordle". You feed it a bunch of text from your website, and it grinds away and comes up with your own personal wordle, based on the frequency distribution of the words in the text. Simple, right?

What you see above is what I got from feeding it a bunch of text from my main website, and this blog. Once again, proving that there's more to life than pool.

What's in your wordle?

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Measure Your Pockets

There's a lot of talk about "tight" pockets, and "buckets", and all that jazz, but here's a real authority showing how to deal with the issue, once and for all.

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Video: U.J. Puckett on 60 Minutes

Check out this classic video footage of the legendary hustler U.J. Puckett being interviewed on 60 Minutes by Harry Reasoner:

Part One

Part Two

All this is on the fascinating website of Freddy The Beard: Secrets of a Hardcore Pool Hustler

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Taking a break

Due to circumstances beyond my control, my "Optimum Practice" routine has been interrupted for about a week. Of course I could have opted to continue with sub-optimum practice, on the theory that any practice is better than no practice at all, but I chose to make lemonade from the lemons presented, and take some time off. It's always good to step back and clear the mind.

After watching my all-time favorite movie "Out of Africa" again, a few nights ago, I was reminded that I've been spending too much time indoors, and I need to get out more. Preferably, more time on the beach, doing some freestyle Frisbee.

Pool is cool, but Frisbee is the best. For starters, there is no score keeping, it's just pure art-form, pure play. Additionally, it's better exercise, more aerobic, and you get fresh air and sunshine. Finally, consider these immortal words: "When a ball dreams, it dreams it is a Frisbee."

Unfortunately, my style of frisbee requires a beach, and daylight hours, and a little bit of wind is good, and somebody to throw it back... all of which makes pool a lot more convenient. So when given a choice, I'll take BOTH!

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New IPT videos now online

Finally available, free, the two video matches I attended last month in Studio City, CA.

Mike Sigel vs. John Schmidt in Straight pool (14.1) race to 125

and

Tony Robles vs. Karl Boyes in 8-ball race to 15

Visit the IPT website and check these free videos!

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Are you a straight shooter?

Of all the skills needed to play this game at a high level, you might put close to the top of the list the ability to shoot straight. In order to shoot straight, it helps a lot to have a straight stroke. This is not big news, of course, but it came to my attention very rudely when I was trying the Playing Ability Test (PAT) Level 2 drills, especially drill #2, Stroke Straightness.

It involves stroking the cue ball to go between a gate only two ball-widths apart, three times, as shown in the video.



The first several times I tried this drill, I was having no success at all, even though in PAT Level 1, the drill only requires two passes through the gate, and I had no trouble with that. It appeared that the extra speed required by PAT Level 2 was severely testing my stroke.

About that time, I heard about the LaserStroke product. It's a miniature laser beam which slides over your cue shaft and reveals just how straight your stroke really is! I decided to check it out, and, in a word: "Wow!" I could not believe how wobbly my stroke really was. I couldn't keep that laser still while stroking, at first, but after a couple of sessions with this device, I got much better at it. And my performance in the drill is much improved.

It's a real-time bio-feedback device for pool shooters!

I showed it to a couple of other players, and they were also very impressed. You will be too. It's utterly simple to use, reasonably priced, and there's nothing else like it that I've seen. It's so small it will fit easily in your cue case.

Check it out: LaserStroke.com

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A successful evening at the table

Malve stopped by last night to try his game again. He was probably feeling strong about his last visit when he won the hill-hill game in a short race to 5 at 9-ball. But this time the story was different.

We started off with some 9-ball, which I won 7-2.

And we finished with some straight pool, which I won 100-39.

I was shooting pretty good straight pool, but I can do better. I'm working my way up to a 50-ball run. I can feel it...

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Pool Library (updated)

Just added many new books and DVDs in the FastMikie Pool Library.

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PAT - Playing Ability Test Spreadsheets - All Levels, updated

I have been receiving some good feedback from readers on the PAT spreadsheets, and some have made some excellent suggestions which I have been putting into effect. Lately, I added the PAT Level 3. One reader, Kimmo, contributed the Start Level spreadsheet, for which I didn't have the workbook. Other readers suggested more simplified methods of calculation, etc. And I even came up with some improvements on my own.

Click below for the new
Playing Ability Spreadsheets - all levels

You will notice that these new ones are much simplified with less visual clutter from columns which are of no interest to the user, but which show factors and intermediate calculations, etc. These rows are really "hidden" and (if you like the clutter) can be unhidden by simply highlighting all columns, right clicking and then clicking on "un-hide".

Another feature allows you to set a "threshold" below which your drill performances will be highlited. (see column R for this factor).

Additionally, I have added links to YouTube videos which show the drills which I have recorded.

Again, please let me know if you have any trouble or suggestions.

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Practice, practice, practice

Here's PART ONE of two clips of some more straight pool practice, this time a run of 24. It starts with a somewhat broken rack after a failed break shot. This was a struggle, but there are some decent shots needed to compensate for my less than perfect position plays.

At 4:20 in the first rack I pulled a nice round the table shot for position on a secondary break of the rack. I didn't want to shoot the 10 ball because I wanted to keep that for my break shot for the next rack.

Here's part two:

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