I agree with what was said previously. Take advantage of the good players, play with them as much as possible. When you are not playing, watch them carefully.

Years back I moved to a new town, did not know a soul. There was a local bar where there were a bunch of really good players. In particular there was an older Cambodian gentleman and his younger nephew who were fantastic. So....I made friends with them. Bought them a few drinks, hung out with them. Eventually went in on a pool table with them we installed under the trees next to a stream behind his laundry mat....(Ironically stereotypical I know). Once he got away from people watching, they were even better. (they don't like to give up how good they really are in case a money game comes up ha ha ha). Good players introduced me to good players, my game grew exponentially in a very short time. I asked questions, was humble, was thankful, was respectful, was eager, and hungry to play more. When I felt up to par, I joined several leagues, practiced plenty, absorbed all info I could.

Whatever you put your energy into you will be successful at.

some good advice allan, but i had to delete the links. the site considers it spam for self promotion. sorry. appreciate the sound advice though.

This thread is chock-full of great advice. Kudos to everyone.

If I could reiterate any point it'd be to always play people better than you. I've learned tons from playing small money games vs top shooters around town. Be polite and ask questions.

First starting out it can be very hard but find a friend that has played a while and get some general knowledge from them. Once you are comfortable at the table ask the manager at your local pool hall if there is anyone who gives lessons and then take a few lessons with them. When they first try to make changes to things it may seem like you get worse but you have to learn the fundamentals correctly or you with never have a chance. Some instructors give lessons in there home or after hours if they own or manage a room. As you get better it may mean that you have to go farther away from home to find even better players to take lessons from.
Beware of any instructor that does not concentrate on fundamentals first and foremost. As my great friend, running buddy, and mentor Vernon "Bernie" Elliot always told me "Before you can become the best 10 you first have to be the best 1". (If you don't know who he was you can google his name. And some people misspell his road name as Burnie instead of Bernie but that was because they got burned playing him). While most people get bored with the drills perfect practice leads to confidence and perfect play. Knowing your weaknesses and either eliminating them or playing in a manner where they cannot be exploited makes you almost unbeatable.

Love me some pool. Definitely an amateur here, I've never run out an 8ball table or anything. I need to get better at long shots.. I feel I see the lines well by long shots, say down table slight angle.. too inconsistent. After probably close to 1k games I'm just getting some form of ball control - had played 'so long just thinking, 'ok let's sink this one and then try and sink the next' instead of actually setting it up so that I DO make it.

I play pool left handed which is weird, because it's pretty much the only thing I do left handed. I think my bridge could use a lot of work too.. I just kind of rest the cue on top of my thumb.

stoned watching efren reyes vids..

watching these makes me analyze commentating and the people behind the voice a lot more; what they're like ha. Some of these dudes are the absolute nuts and then some are... a good laugh. Poker any1?

I don't think it really matters at this stage who your playing. I'd say play by yourself and get your angles down pact. That's the most important thing, obviously. Play by yourself and just run the table and repeat. After that, you can start learning how to play for position through ball choice and then you can combine that with english to perfect your placement- all through many hours of practice.

Idk, i've been playing for almost a year now and I'd say I'm above average of the people I started playing with and better than some that used to be better than me. Definitely not on a pro level though, and not even a member of APA, but I would consider joining if I had the time.

I never really had anyone teach me to play so I just kind of taught myself through trial and error.

The most perfect drill is to put the target ball on one of the spots and put the cue ball on the other spot and then try to sink the target in the corner pocket without scratching.

Honestly this is no joke. You want to get better fast, start gambling. Soon youll get tired of losing and learn what your doing wrong.

A good game is to break at 9 ball, you get ball in hand off the break, play the rack as you usually would and count how many balls you make (including break). Do this 10 times in a row. Add up all the balls you made and divide by 10.

Whatever your score tells you how many ball potter you are, 3.2, 4.1, 1.2 etc. This works as a good guide when running out for money.

Repeat is every couple of weeks to measure your improvement.

practice, practice and more practice.

drills that is~

As a beginner definitely not this. IF (key word if) you have poor fundamentals you would just be repeatedly practicing bad habits and that is not a good thing when trying to improve at the game.

Play nine ball!

takes years to get good, some guys with huge talent get better faster, still takes years. i have played almost 30 years, i'm a solid player, miles behind the champion's tho. Cant train in what God left out.

there is no pay-off in pool, enjoy it for what it is.

AZ Billiards has some good information, and lots of BS drama too. good site overall.

The number 1 tip in the whole thread imo.

Pool is like anything, once you hone the skills req, then its down to experience and confidence.

Practice makes perfect.

Peeps may not agree, i mean we all have our own way that works for us, but ive seen this approach turn my brother from a kid who wanted to get good bad enough to do drills for 4 hrs a day every day > to someone who when on his game cud break n dish 13/15 games (uk 8ball) which is a world class standard.

Obv there;s alot more needed than drills, but its a great place to start

* last but nt least.....practise or play vs peps better than you.....this will tune ur game and improve it faster than anything else...

Keep us posted how its going , gl

Just play lots of tournaments

Hi, i play english 8ball pool internationally
I dont play 9ball or any american pool but i would concentrate on your cue ball control and technique to begin with... pots are alot easier if your white is in the right place

if you cant see a run out dont try and take it out, place safe and force a mistake

play good players, ask questions.. alot of questions

if your just sitting around and two good players are playing, watch them how they do it

Drills are boring and i wouldnt recommend them, although it may be beneficial hitting straight shots corner to corner for 10 mins before each session of pool you play

practice makes man perfect that absolutely right

Digicue from OB cues:

https://www.facebook.com/obcues/vide...1716352839966/
https://www.facebook.com/obcues/?fref=nf

A sensor that attaches to the bumper of your cue and vibrates when it senses a bad stroke of any kind.

A friend of mine (whose opinion I trust completely in this) tried a prototype out at the BCA championships and claims that it works as advertised, and ordered one. They don't ship til November, but once he gets it I'll see if I can try it out and put up a review here.

Seems like it should be a HUGE help to beginner and intermediate players.

As an amateur, you must practice to have the fundamentals:

1. How to form a stable bridge. Very important is the word stable.
2. How to hold your cue. The arm, elbow, lower arm and hand should be parallel to your cue. The cue must be held like carrying a baby bird. Never a tight grip.
3. Get the correct shot line.

After the above, you must have the most important drill of all. Set up cue ball and object ball in line with the corner pocket. In other words, no aiming system required. Then try potting the object ball.

Vary the distances between the two balls and also the object ball from the pocket.

Once you are able to shoot quite well, I will share with you the secret of improving from an amateur to a good player (beating those strong players at the pub) within a month or equivalent to 10 hours of practice.

At times, practicing without any supervision might be harmful. You build up bad habits because you are practicing with these bad habits.

It doesn't mean a chef who cooks for 10 years is a good chef. If there isn't any feedback, he could be cooking the same crap for 10 years and only become faster in cooking that crap, but at the end it is still crap food. Lesson learnt: You need feedback from others.

Practicing aiming system is actually not wise. If you can't even pot straight balls, the aiming system won't work on you. Everytime you miss pocketing the ball, it could be two reasons - the aiming system or your cueing action.