I picked up pool about 3 weeks ago; last week I got myself a decent entry level cue to beat on. My question is what is the best format for me to practice while I’m trying to transition from the beginner stage to the amateur stage?

Currently on wed. there’s a free pool night at a local bar where some old seasoned players go, they are pretty strong players, usually 1 or 2 guys stay on the table all night and I will end up playing like 5-7 games in a few hours I have after I get off work.

The pool halls in my area are pretty terrible the one close to me closes at 12 because it’s also a bowling alley and the only serious one in the area is 20 minutes away while closing at 4am weekdays and 24 hours on Saturday.

My problem is mostly If I want to be around other players I either have to go to the bar which I don’t usually take my cue with me, If I start going out to the bigger pool hall I pretty much am only going to be able to play by myself, which I don’t know any strong drills or ways to really work on my game by myself.

I suggest and finding a pool room that has the atmosphere of a pool hall and they will likely have pool leagues running throughout the week.

Amateur pool leagues are great for learning because it contains a wide variety of different skilled players. Ask the better players if they want to shoot some games and a few tips. You'll be surprised how helpful the better players are in leagues, especially if its a team league.

In team leagues the best player or captain on your team is going to want the best out of you in order to win(team effort), so that player will teach you.

Go find a league and see if anyone is looking for a new player(you), who wants to learn the game. If you find the right people, you can end up learning a heck of a lot without losing or spending money(except league fees and dues)

Hope this helps, good shooting and good luck on your pool endeavors.

http://www.amazon.com/99-Critical-Sh...0132299&sr=8-1

You need to find a place to play obviously, but this book teaches you a lot of shots that could take years to learn on your own.

If you find an APA league almost all teams are looking for new players with a low ranking.

I honed a lot of my game from playing in the CPA (APA affiliate). I can honestly say that any of the leagues affiliated with the American Poolplayers Association(CanadianPA & JapanesePA), is the best league to join if you are a beginner who wants to learn the game.

My father was a CPA league operator and in the years he had it, I had seen many players new to the game improve beyond their own expectations.

And for two weeks in August, thousands of players and hundreds of teams, join the APA as they host hosts their National Team Championships at the Riviera in Vegas. Ive been to it once, and it was the greatest pool tournament experience I have ever had when it comes to cue-sports.

Find good players, and play with them all day every day until you can beat them all for money. Repeat.

Play Your Best Pool; Play Your Best 8 Ball; Play Your Best 9 Ball. All written by Phil Cappelle. These books have a practice drill section.

read 5 books from different authors and watch 5 instructional videos from different people. This will give you a good perspective on pool.

Definitely watch veps, which is Dr. Dave's instructional video, all or most of them are on youtube. I also suggest grady matthews video on kicking the ball, amazing. Banking with the beard vol 1 and 2 are very enlightening. Many other good videos exist, many bad ones as well. Watch the bad ones once and never again. Watch the good ones 5 or 10 times, true integration of the concepts will not happen in your first or second viewing. Read the books at least twice. Fundamentals are so important in pool, so you should not gloss over the basic things in books and videos. Master the basics and you are ahead of the curve.

Next all you have to do is practice all the time. In two years you will be tough to beat. You must put in the time though, that much I know.

You can only get smarter by playing a smarter opponent, like wamy said.

To get good at pool, you need good cue ball control, in other words it's an easy game if you can leave the white ball exactly where you need it to make the next shot.

This is what the game of 9-Ball is all about, running the balls in order from 1 to 9.

So, for practice, I like to play against myself in games of 9-Ball, always trying to win each game from the break running all the balls in a row until I sink the 9. When I miss, I just keep playing pretending I was my own opponent.

If you have trouble making certain shots, just set those up and sink them over and over until you can make them consistently. I play using mostly top and bottom spin and an open bridge, very very rarely hitting the cue ball with side english to get left/right action. Other than reading one or two books to get fundamentals, pool is all about practice and experience. If you enjoy the game, learning will be fun! Good luck.

I was just informed that Ray Martin will be releasing a 2-dvd set in September.

FYI

No matter how you want to get good at pool you must spend alot of time practicing, play better players than yourself and watch what they do along with shooting drills and watching videos.

I agree with part of this, but if you have poor fundamentals to begin with practice is not going to do you any good because you will be doing repetition of something bad over and over whether it be popping up, or even a chicken wing elbow etc etc. Watching other players can help a bit, but there are enough different ways of shooting that you should not try to mimick one type but find your own shooting method that works best from the preparation of the stance, to your bridge, and then the follow through. I would suggest if you are a beginner seek out a BCA qualified instructor to work on the fundamentals. Get a good base there and then watch as your game will improve over time quicker then just practicing poor fundys.

I just got a pool table. I'll be looking for practice drills to do to improve also.

that book is great.
when i wanted to learn i talked to a guy who is an encyclopedia of pool and asked him to recommend me some books. he recommended that one and the first two byrne books. learned a ton. good luck mang

I would also take a look at accu-stats, they have tapes of pro pool player matches that would drastically increase your ability.

Secondly check out "TheActionReport" on youtube -- nothing better than watching experts do what they do best.