I Love This Game
Posted 12-07-2010 at 12:08 AM by gunzby
Pool is a lot more like poker than some of you may realize. In poker you might fold hand after hand for hours before getting that lock up hand. In pool you may practice for months and months before something clicks and then you are suddenly in the midst of that same type of fleeting excitement.
I have recently experienced a frenzy of this excitement. I started out trying to train my stroke to be as straight as possible. I started out by only practicing on a double shimmed table. This brought about a lot of improvement, but just didn't get what I imagined my stroke could be. By chance I decided to toss out some balls on a 5x10 snooker table. I quickly learned how straight my stroke needed to be to put 2.25" balls into a 3" pocket and excitement ensued. I finally found my stroke, which was the biggest breakthrough I've had since coming back after a 10 year layoff. Suddenly those 50% shots are now 75% shots and the 25% shots are 50% shots. Oh how exciting it is to get those AA hole cards after seeing J/2 for hours and hours.
Another poker comparison is that you may sit and fold over and over again before hitting those high hole cards only to find those cards just keep coming. I found this same thing happening to me. I was practicing one day and decided to measure my break speed with....well Break Speed Pro. My break has always been between 19-20mph, that is until that day. For some reason it hit me that I should bridge back a few inches and see what happens. Whammo! First break is 24mph. Thinking this was a fluke I immediately rack up again and stick it at 25.5mph, then 23mph and 24.5 and so on and so on. Ooooh yea A/K in the hole and here comes the flop AAK!!!!!!!!!!
It's things like this that make this game so great, and one that is not quite like any other out there. It's the small discoveries that create huge leaps in your game that keep you coming. It's being a part of a game where better players give you some tips and all you had to do was walk into a pool hall. And finally it's something you can't find in any other sport which is having one of the top players in the world helping you for no other reason than because they love this game too.
That is why I love this game.
I have recently experienced a frenzy of this excitement. I started out trying to train my stroke to be as straight as possible. I started out by only practicing on a double shimmed table. This brought about a lot of improvement, but just didn't get what I imagined my stroke could be. By chance I decided to toss out some balls on a 5x10 snooker table. I quickly learned how straight my stroke needed to be to put 2.25" balls into a 3" pocket and excitement ensued. I finally found my stroke, which was the biggest breakthrough I've had since coming back after a 10 year layoff. Suddenly those 50% shots are now 75% shots and the 25% shots are 50% shots. Oh how exciting it is to get those AA hole cards after seeing J/2 for hours and hours.
Another poker comparison is that you may sit and fold over and over again before hitting those high hole cards only to find those cards just keep coming. I found this same thing happening to me. I was practicing one day and decided to measure my break speed with....well Break Speed Pro. My break has always been between 19-20mph, that is until that day. For some reason it hit me that I should bridge back a few inches and see what happens. Whammo! First break is 24mph. Thinking this was a fluke I immediately rack up again and stick it at 25.5mph, then 23mph and 24.5 and so on and so on. Ooooh yea A/K in the hole and here comes the flop AAK!!!!!!!!!!
It's things like this that make this game so great, and one that is not quite like any other out there. It's the small discoveries that create huge leaps in your game that keep you coming. It's being a part of a game where better players give you some tips and all you had to do was walk into a pool hall. And finally it's something you can't find in any other sport which is having one of the top players in the world helping you for no other reason than because they love this game too.
That is why I love this game.
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