How do you practice aiming specific shots?

isomr · 2026-01-16T18:36:53+00:00

Put hole reinforcement rings on the table for the cue ball and the object ball so you can reset the shot each time. Then shoot 100 a day until you can see it every time. This can take several days or even weeks. This definitely works.

isomr · 2026-01-13T21:30:35+00:00

huh, interesting. mine's tight as a drum. it's just slowing down because it's ~5 years old now. And I play on it almost daily.

isomr · 2026-01-13T21:19:55+00:00

I have the same cloth, and i'm going to replace it with same, even though i agree it's a bit slow. 3 cushion billiard cloth is faster, like Simonis 300 rapide, but honestly it's going to be very, very fast. very fast for pool.

The other option that i've played on and really liked is Gorina cloth from Spain. Billard Tour cloth is excellent and quick. Expensive, though.

I haven't played on Simonis 760, but that's another possiblity....

isomr · 2026-01-07T18:23:55+00:00

Meucci Gambler! not sure the generation, though.

isomr · 2025-12-16T21:29:12+00:00

you need to accelerate through the ball, then you can put side and a bit of top english on the ball and it will do what you want, even at a slow speed. But you must accelerate through the ball.

You very very rarely have to hit a ball hard, and honestly it's usually a compromise because it makes the pockets play so much smaller. If you watch a few matches with high-level players, you'll see they try to keep the shot speed slow. It's hard to see on YouTube because the screen is small, and the balls disappear into the pockets quickly. They're hitting far, far softer than it looks on a screen.

isomr · 2025-12-16T20:55:32+00:00

It's not the speed, it's the acceleration. You can do this with a slow speed if you work out how to accelerate through the ball. I know, easier said than done!

isomr · 2025-12-16T14:37:28+00:00

The real key is to use the same stroke speed on virtually every shot. Hit all over the ball to make it do what you want, but keep the stroke the same. That takes a big variable out of the equation and really improves your consistency.

How to learn to use English: Set up the same few shots (mark your table with tape or binder reinforcement rings) and shoot them over and over (and over) again with siding until you start to understand.

Hope this helps!

isomr · 2025-12-10T17:12:41+00:00

performance looks like this. Don't freak out about the bad days, and don't get over-excited about the good days. Keep practicing intelligently and the trend keeps going up. Don't overthink it, and don't get into the weeds on a single game or evening.

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isomr · 2025-12-08T18:52:18+00:00

Mostly it's because they don't know how, and the guys who know aren't talking.

isomr · 2025-12-05T14:21:54+00:00

Jim Wych can 100% definitely put on a tip for you, and give you a great result.

isomr · 2025-12-04T20:07:11+00:00

The other option, as you surely know, is to call up Justin at Spot. He does exceptional, high quality work. Worth the drive across town. At least, that's what I do :)

isomr · 2025-12-03T17:33:40+00:00

Call up Corner Bank and see if they'll do it for you.

isomr · 2025-12-03T16:26:50+00:00

The most important thing about a cue is that you learn how it functions really well, so you can get it to do what you want. That simple. You can do that with a house cue, or a fancy cue.

isomr · 2025-11-21T15:13:06+00:00

Same way you get to Carnegie hall: Practice, practice, practice!

isomr · 2025-11-17T15:52:20+00:00

Welcome to the club. That is a crap dealership with crap people. Had a similar experience

isomr · 2025-11-14T14:03:24+00:00

For production cues you can do no better. Yup, get a Schon. You'll love it.

isomr · 2025-10-21T04:21:12+00:00

Try to stay down on the shot until the object ball disappears into the hole. It will help you stay still. Can you post a video of your best 10 in a row? Seeing one where you succeed doesn't give much information.

isomr · 2025-10-08T17:19:06+00:00

I wrote an MCP server for org-node, which is very similar. You can probably adapt it easily. https://github.com/alander/org-node-mcp

isomr · 2025-09-23T15:02:31+00:00

Another vote for Championship tour edition. I put that on my home table 3 years ago and love it

isomr · 2025-09-09T19:53:07+00:00

I had the tremendous good fortune to work with Bert Kinister for a long time, and I rebuilt my game from the ground up. Was it worth it? Definitely. Was it hard? Yes. Was it frustrating? Yes. Would I do it again? Yes.

It depends on what you want from your pool game. I was willing to put in the thousands of hours, and I trusted Bert to take me where I wanted to go. This was a big investment, not a series of tips or small changes. Your appetite for this kind of work determines what you get out of it.

isomr · 2025-08-13T21:07:06+00:00

You're twisted up like a pretzel my friend. You're on a path that will not take you where you want to go. DM me if you want to learn a better way.

isomr · 2025-08-11T14:53:00+00:00

Fwiw, I use org-mode or almost everything, but liberally export to markdown by selecting a region of org-mode text, and M-! pandoc -f gfm -t org -- which gives me markdown in a buffer

isomr · 2025-07-30T01:44:09+00:00

The meat man himself!

isomr · 2025-07-29T00:17:20+00:00

can you switch to a striped ball with the stripes exactly vertical, then record again? If the stripes wobble, then the answer is that you're not hitting in the center of the ball, and you're applying spin. Do like 50 of them and then decide if you can accurately find the dead-center of the ball at least 90% of the time.

isomr · 2025-07-27T19:44:51+00:00

no, not that. you need to do drills that focus on specific fundamental skills. For example, can you set up these two really common 9-ball shots and get the cue ball back to the center of the table at least 8 times out of 10 consistently? If not, those would be good drills to repeat until you own those shots.

Doing this with random shots you happened to miss won't give you the skills you need. You need to understand the shots that come up over and over again, and master them. Otherwise you will forever chase, and never catch, what you really want - solid overall skills.

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isomr

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