Secret of Success, from a tea bag

Patience gives the power to practice;

Practice gives the power that leads to perfection.

(from the tab on tonight's Yogi green tea)

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Woody Allen Wins Pool Tournament

I had not been planning on entering it, and I felt rotten when I woke up the morning of the Big Quarterly 8-ball Tournament.  I didn't get much sleep at all.  I was listless, and unfocused, and when I tried to hit a few on my table, every shot missed by a mile.  My vision was fuzzy.  I figured there was no way I was going to win the tournament, so why even show up for it?


But, the deciding factor was that I kinda missed hanging with the guys who frequent the room; I hadn't competed in this tournament since I won it 9 months ago.  That was the second time I won it, so I have been staying away in order to not wear out my welcome.  


So, with my fuzzy vision, and well over 2 years of not practicing at all, this was a good opportunity to show up and let them beat up on me, and we can all have some good fun, and then the Next time I'll try for the 3-peat.  This was my humble plan.


Strangely, I won it anyway.  I wasn't happy with my game at all.  I missed some shots that were inexcusable, giving my opponents many opportunities.  I lost one match to "Lefty" Bob, who won it last quarter.  But somehow I just hung in there until the end.


So what can you learn from all this?  I guess it kinda proves what Woody Allen was saying: "80% of success is showing up".  Thanks, Woody!




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Pool Notes

I was going through an old computer that I used for recording some of my practice sessions and found a file called "Pool Notes".  It got me curious, so I opened it to find some thougths you may find interesting.  Here it is in its entirety:

Pool Notes:

Enjoy giving each shot your full, consistent Attention.

Practice the way you want to play.

Don’t pick up the cue unless you are going to give the shot your full Attention.

Pre-shot routine:

1.      Breathe – Oxygen: brain food

2.      Relax

3.      Self Talk:  Relax, Breathe, Confident stroke, follow through

4.      Walk around the table

5.      Plan 3 balls ahead

6.      Touch the position target

7.      See the shot

a.       See the shot, the stroke, the follow through

b.      See the ball go into the pocket

c.       See the cue ball go to the position spot 

Pre-match

            A.  The night before the match:

1.      Get fully rested.

2.      Equipment

a.       Tip maintenance

b.      Clean glove

            B.     The morning of the match

1.      Eat right

2.      stretch

3.      Visualization

i.                     See yourself winning

ii.                   See yourself being relaxed, smiling, breathing

4.      Affirmations:

1.      I am in the match for what I will learn from it.

2.      I have all the tools.

3.      I can make all the shots.

4.      I have the experience.

5.      I have the knowledge

5.      Self hypnosis

During the match

A.     Tunnel vision

a.       Focus only on the table

b.      Composure: Confident, Emotionless

c.       Continuous positive self talk

d.      No conversations.

e.       Bear down from the start.

Self talk

A.     Everything is going extremely well

B.     I am breathing easily

C.     I am remaining calm and relaxed

I use my high intelligence to play percentages, see opportunities, natural patterns.

I know how to win.  I have an excellent record of going undefeated.

I never give up.  Never. 

I have an excellent record of success in my Life.

Situations:

A.       When there are only a few balls left on the table, and no easy runout:

DO NOT TAKE LOW %  shot.

Play a double shot strategy. 

Don’t give the opponent a shot.

i.        Push a ball in front of pocket

ii.    Push a ball in front of his

iii.   Push a ball for breaking cluster

   B.  Sharking:

Ignore it.  Do not reply.  Smile.  Let it go.

Only MY behavior is of importance.

           

Max Eberle's "Powerful Pool" Fundamentals DVD set

Max Eberle is one of my favorite pro players.  Sure, he's a great shooter, but he's much more than a typical great shooter.  He's smart.  He thinks deeply on the game.  And he writes well.  I have reviewed his book "Zen Pool" in this blog way back in 2007.  Great book.  Read my review here.

One thing that distinguishes Max Eberle's game is his fundamentals.  He is rock solid and very consistent in the way he approaches his game.  If you study him closely, you can learn a lot.  Now Max has made it easy by releasing a new 3-DVD set called "Powerful Pool - World Class Fundamentals - The Seven Primary Skills".  

The first DVD, about 84 minutes, covers stance, grip, and bridge, and the many variations of each of these skills.  It's very complete and an excellent video to follow along with while you are at the table.  The other two DVDs cover stroke, aim, stop, draw and follow.  The combined set runs about 4 hours and 40 minutes.

Some of his teaching methods are really innovative.  Very early in the first DVD he gets us out of the pool room into the fresh air to show the similarity between pool and the throwing motion and follow through of other ball sports.  I've seen a ton of pool training materials, but that's a first.

My practice sessions have been few and far between lately, so I am really looking forward to using these reviews to get back in the game.  

Highly recommended!

The list price is $99 for the 3-DVD set, but you can get it straight from Max, on his website: click here.

Outrageous shooting!

I use a Kamui tip, but I can't do anything like these amazing shots. I guess it takes more than a great tip.

And, I'm not really into trick shots, but these are some of the best I've seen. Enjoy!

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Longoni Cue Extension

There are many times when you need to stretch to reach a shot, and that's where the normal "mechanical bridge" comes in handy. The problem with the bridge is that you lose a lot of the feel of a shot, and you are standing in an position that is not natural. Your sight line is not normal, you must make adjustments to your aim, and the success rate for shots using the bridge are lower.

That's where this neat cue extension comes in. It fits over the butt of your cue and gives you another 14" or so of reach, while allowing you to use your bridge hand, giving a more natural feel for the shot.

It's too big to fit in the cue case, so it goes in the tournament support bag. Click here to check it out on Amazon.com.

(I used this extension twice to good effect in my recent straight pool match win.)

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Be careful what you ask for!

Ten days ago a pool shooter called me out. Challenged me! What was so unusual about it was he did it on Facebook, on my birthday, and made the stipulation that I post the result of the match on my blog and on Facebook.

So, I'm just doing my job here, posting the results...

Straight pool, race to 100, final score 100 to 24. Winner: me.

Now that my contractual obligations have been taken care of, I guess I can take this opportunity to mention that I did have one run of 33 balls in that win, which was quite pleasant, especially since I have not been practicing for about 2 years.

Be careful what you ask for!

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What's in the case?

Updated as of September 15, 2010 as part of the PoolSynergy project.

For a look at what's in other players' cases, click PoolSynergy.

Cue Case
Made by Jim Murnak
"Vintage" model

Playing Cue

Samsara #1676, 19.2 oz.
lizard wrap

with two Predator 314 Series 2 shafts,

30" with Uni-Lock joint,
with Kamui soft tips





Break Cue
Predator Willie Hoppe Limited Edition
#169/500
Predator 314 Series 2 shaft, Tiger XH tip
with Limbsaver
18.7 oz overall

The Stuff Inside
Ultimate Tip Tool
Tiger Paw cue holder

(gift from Samm Diep!)

Miltonio signature bridge head
Sir Joseph Billiard Glove
Hand towel (2004 US Amateur logo)

Blue Diamond chalk
Log Book & pen

Shaft cleaner (leather pad)
Ball position marking device
Playing glasses, cleaning cloth, case
Band-Aids



Tournament Support Bag:

Longoni Cue Extension
Water
Advil
Snacks (Fruit/Nut Bars)
Hard Candies

iPhone 4

Swiss Army KnifeDental FlossVisine
Personal Business Cards

Robot learns to shoot pool in a week

Robot goes on sale next month. Check this video:

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Glass Top Pool Table review

A friend in Singapore sent me this video and asked my impression of this glass top pool table:

Here's what I told him:

As for the pool table, it is a clever thing, of course, but I think that, as a piece of furniture,

it would only fit in with a very modern/contemporary home. And, as far as how well it plays, I would have some serious reservations with it. First of all, since there is no cloth, I think that the small pieces of chalk, which are always present because of chalking the cue tip, would create havoc with slow rolling balls. On a cloth covered table, small pieces of chalk work their way into the cloth, leaving the playing surface smooth, but the glass has nowhere for the chalk to hide. It would get dirty very quickly with hand oils, smudges, etc. Very impractical. And I think it would reflect a lot more noise.

Finally, I am thinking that some shots, such as draw, jump, masse, etc, might be difficult without cloth, which creates the friction that is needed for these shots. I would think that if such advanced shots were possible, the demo video would show it. Also, if it played as well as a pro table, then they should have some pro testimonials, but I have not found any.

The price appears to be about 3 times what a professional grade tournament Brunswick sells for in the USA (list price), which is what I use here at The Fun House, and is the standard in the industry, the Gold Crown.

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Watch Out Mika, I Gots Me A Kamui Too...

All of a sudden you notice that your tip needs replacing, or that it's going to need replacing soon, and every time you shoot pool after that you get to thinking about that tip... Sooner or later you just know that if you don't get the damn tip replaced like *right now* you're going to be using it as an excuse, and that is just not acceptable.

That's what happened today. I could just not bear the thought of hitting any more balls with that old Moori medium, and I was Jones-ing to try a Kamui soft for way too long (have you *seen* the videos on the Kamui site?). So I dragged my lazy butt out of my easy chair and headed out into the god-awful heat of Santee, which is a 50-mile round trip from the cool breezes of Del Mar. There's only one reason for such a sub-optimal way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and that's Trust.

Dave at Quality Billiards in Santee, CA has been doing my cue work for years, and, as the name implies, he has always done a quality job. I'm not going to change now! I even endure the cigar smoke just to get the best work in SoCal.

I was thinking that I wanted a Kamui soft, but Dave says the Kamui soft is like the Moori medium, and that if I wanted something softer I should get the Kamui super-soft. That's what Mika uses, he says. Yes, Dave, whatever you say. You are the tip-god and I am just a wannabe. I go have a fast lunch and it's done when I get back. Forty bucks. He grinds the tip down to my preferred nickel shape and cuts it back to my preferred size, and I'm good to go... I hit a few balls on his table, and I just know this tip is going to be a good friend.

Watch out Mika, I gots me a Kamui too...

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Touch shot, impossible without right english

Two rails to the pocket is only possible with right english. Impossible with center ball hit.

Right English creates the angle off the first rail, an un-natural angle, which will then contact the second rail so that ball is given to the target. The fun here is in finding the touch. It's geometry AND physics. The angles are exaggerated because of the spin and speed.

Good pre-match warmup to settle down and get to know the table.Second shot rattled and dropped.Last shot dropped clean.Requires smooth follow through.Challenge to dial in consistently.

Touch shot.

(iPhone 4 video experiment with clarity, sound and upload procedure, link with facebook, etc.)

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Nobody doesn't like the Magic Rack

Update 7/11/2010: All of the following still applies, except that it is not good for straight pool because so much play is in the area of the rack. It definitely can make a ball roll off-line when slow rolling. Now, here's the review I wrote two months ago:

In the history of pool, it seems that more creative energy has been given to ways to rack the balls consistently tight than any other aspect of the game. Remember the Sardo rack? Now there was a Rube Goldberg contraption if ever there was one. And what about the Laser Rack? That attempted to solve the problem with getting the rack straight, but didn't do anything about getting a tight rack. And of course the Delta-13 aluminum rack is a great product; it produces a more consistently tight rack than anything else I've used so far.

But I've just seen the future, this weekend at the Mezz 10-ball tournament at Hard Times Bellflower, CA. That rack was used exclusively for the entire weekend, and while there might have been some justifiable anguish with the tight pockets (sub 4"), there seemed to be general agreement that the Magic Rack was a good thing.

I just love it when someone comes along and invents something which is so simple, so obvious, that you wonder how come it wasn't invented a long time ago. When you compare the Magic Rack with the Sardo rack, you would think that the Sardo rack is some sort of weird joke. It's just a super thin slip of plastic, triangle shaped, with cutouts for the balls on the perimeter. You place the balls by hand on the triangle and the balls nestle in for a perfectly tight rack. And it's perfectly silent, unlike the very noisy Delta-13. And it does such a great job that tournaments move along much more quickly because it's so easy. Spectators are spared the boredom of watching players go through all the contortions of trying to get the balls to behave.

Want to know what other players think of it? Check out this thread on Billiards Digest Forum.

Where can you get one? It's so new that you can't yet order from their website,

but you can send an email to info@mezzusa.com.

Of course, as usual, this is NOT a paid endorsement.

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