You’ve actually made me enjoy doing drills over the past few years, and I’m ever grateful. People just assume I automatically want to throw down once I walk in, but I always try to do at least the acid drill before I shoot. You’re the best in the biz, B. Always enjoy your confidence and techniques. 🤟🔥
Continuation drills are definitely the game changer. I have several drills I have developed over the years on my own. I have my favorites and then those that really push my level of focus through the roof. I'll start with an easy one then slowly moved up to more challenging, more complex drills along the way. If players want to grow you can't be afraid of challenges along the way. If you're playing in leagues, tourneys and you run across shots that are difficult, you miss write them down. Take them back home to your table or local pool hall and work on them. Example: I use to hate long shots or straight in shots, had difficulty with them, I practiced them. Back cuts, jump shots, bank shots to some degree, kick shots, etc, etc..... Please don't blame it on the other person you're playing, the equipment, lighting, etc, etc because you're not fully commiting yourself to improving. When first starting out about 10 years ago there were several players I just kept losing to. I really got tired and fed up wiith that.... I worked, I practiced on succeeding at the table. Now they're not wanting anything to do with the table I'm playing in league, tourneys on... plus when playing lower skilled players stop taking them for granite and thinking, "I've got this" and then you don't..... bury everyone you play, no mercy..... Than you Brian, your an inspiration.......
I've started doing 9-10 ball racks for about 2 months now, learning spins and working on power levels and my game has improved so much! Also if I'm running a rack and I miss stupidly too often I will just restart to avoid getting frustrated and I also do the 3 foul rule as well to make myself have to think instead of hammering trying to escape a hook and hope for a hit. Also doing straight pool to warmup and always doing strokes with straight shots to warm up
I've always enjoyed doing drills. I set up the shots I struggle with until they're no longer an issue for me (whole rack, 10 times - top, center, stun and working on my draw shots). Keeping the drill easy at first and then challenge myself with harder shots. I'll player higher seeded players in weekly tourney's. They know I love to shoot and bare down on me lately cuz they know I am and can ne great at this sport. Love your advice!
My favorite drill is the semi circle of balls around the corner pocket. One thing i've noticed is after four or five shots, I miss. At that point I stop and analyze. Aside from attempting perfect position, I've learned to discipline myself to stop after three or four shots for the sake of mentally regrouping. We miss in part because we keep thinking that we won't miss and yet we loose concentration. You need to take that mental break. With those slight pauses, you can run a thousand balls in that corner pocket. Provided you can have a table big enough to accommodate that many balls. LOL.
One of your past vids you mentioned,"practice shots with the money balls(8or 9)" that has stuck with me and has helped me capitalize when it counts ...
Today I spent about 4 hours at the pool hall. I broke an 8ball rack and shot until I missed then drilled the shot that I missed on using the remaining balls. I ran out 2 racks today btw. Really nice to feel like my practice is paying off finally.
One thing I do is that instead of playing in rotation, I find my game improving in all areas by calling the second shot and by describing what reaction ahead of time that I'm expecting of the cue ball to set up for that next shot. If it turned out to be incorrect, then the ball that was called for the second shot has to be the first ball hit. Teaches you how to get out of a snooker created by your own miscalculation of the previous cuedall reaction to your last shot. Makes for an interesting game. Also, incorporate this with a game of side ball.
Good ideas! Progressive drills can liven things up a bit, too. Make the shots longer and maybe add in more cut angle, until you miss, then shorten the next one up, slightly. I also like positional drills, especially discovering different paths to the same CB resting point, since in a real match, your usual path may be blocked. I like practicing the latter on pocket hangers, which many players neglect, thinking it must be easy (they're wrong!).
Brian Yes I finally took your #1 advice -work with a pool coach. Wow. Yes- I didn’t know- Thank you. I still watch FXB tho you said not to listen to YT…. You’re the best.
I play 1-2 hours day on weekdays and 2-4 hours on weekend days. Perhaps 95% of the time I do drills. I play games when I go to the pool hall. One of my favorite drills is pattern play. I throw three balls on the table, one at each end and one in the middle. I have to shoot the balls in order, low to high, and figure out the pocket for each ball before I start shooting. Once I complete this drill three times, I move to four balls. After I succeed, I go to five, six, seven, eight and nine balls on the table. When I get to six balls, I switch to just thinking three balls ahead. I also do draw drills and bank shots every day. Just a rack or two of each. Like Bryan says, I rotate drills too. Kicks on one day, for instance, or rail shots on another. Sometimes I shoot several racks just using one clock position on the cue ball. Every shot has to be draw, or follow, or top right,etc. You get more used to how the cue ball will react by doing that.
Another great video Brian I always used to play 8 ball against Myself until I learn from one of your videos just to Run a rack and no particular order This helped me greatly It almost seemed to put me in a rhythm so simple I don't know why i didn't think of it I must have been living under a rock because I have never heard of x but I have now Thanks again
For me I set a timer maybe 15min max for each drill I do, that way I can stay focused, take a break and start a different exercise. Of course it helps when you have a table at home
Great video Bryan. I love when your videos come out at lunchtime, so I can watch while I eat and then go practice. I made up a drill I really like, balls 1-6 placed in random rotation one diamond in front of each pocket, then sink them in rotation, without hitting any balls except the one being pocketed. Balls can only go in the pocket they are in front of. To make it even harder, I sometimes put the seven ball on the center spot, really hard to avoid it! I do the X drill too, and a few others, but I should do more reps on each drill than I am doing now. Thanks for another great video!
Great video 🎉..... Drills are the key 🎉... Time on the table every day 🎉..... Consistency on the basics 🎉.... Until they become routine muscle memory action..... like tying your shoes 🎉.....
Brian happy weekend. I'm still a bit confused about the screw on tips. I get that Most are junk. But what about Yukon and some other higher quality ones? The benefit of added masse with a smaller 10-11mm tip I would think would over-ride the longevity of the tip. Especially because jump, masse and break shots aren't that frequent. Especially in A.P.A. because you're only allowed a break stick and a shooting stick. I'm not concerned WHATSOEVER how I look to others. Because winning NEVER looks bad to me. I'm a 7 and schedule is open where I can dedicate going to the next level. Pro is my goal. Would appreciate any input on this. Thanks Bro RED
If you buy the best masse cues, the tip is actually much wider >13mm and SOFTER- The best break cues are in the 12.9 range. So smaller does not help so much. The best screw in tips are like the best plastic tires for a car. Not great. If it works for you, use it. But you are not going to see a pro using them. Also, changing tips during a match (if it is allowed) will be banned if the APA figures it out. The are a little slow to move on these things. That rule book seems to be about 15 years old.
Great and very accurate information! I have been playing for 11 months. I am an APA 4, hoping to be an APA 5 in the next 6 months or less. I practice drills every day. I play in APA and BCA Leagues twice a weekend a week. I love to practice and I do drills as Bryan recommends. I play BCA 8-ball and APA 9-ball. I now practice more with 9-ball and 10-ball. Learning a lot more about position play. At this time, MAKING my shots is far more important than trying to use English/Cue ball spin to get better position. I hear too many better players, after missing a shot, say “well I missed, but look at that great position I played”! How ridiculous is that statement!
One of the silly things players say. Look at my position…I have to remind them constantly that if they made the shot the cb would not be on that spot. I appreciate you taking the time to tune in.
Thanks, I am the 68 yr old guy trying to take the game back up again. I practice couple hrs every day, it consists of setting all balls rolling radomly where they may, then try and run the table. I am improving and that improvement brings more enjoyment to the game. I will try and do more drills, hell yes its boring, but I will try. Sidenote: what has really chocked and surprised me in this, pool is every bit as challenging to become proficient at as any sport out there!
I got a pool table last November and, for the first time, decided to try and improve my game. Since then, I've been practicing for at least an hour every day. Some days as much as 4-5 hours. I've grown to really like drills, especially the line drill. The biggest improvement that I seem to notice is the knowledge of the physics of the game. The improvement in my actual game is much, much more difficult for me to see. My friend says otherwise even though I seem to still be fairly evenly matched against him (we're both around 500 FR). My mental game is something that I wish to improve the most. One thing that I have never done though is gotten professional coaching, thinking that brute force of drills can do the same for me and save me money. I think that I may take your advise from this video and make the investment. I love your approach to blunt yet effective teaching methodology. Keep up the good work and thanks for your videos!
I can't name ONE person that is Great at a sport who did not have coaching along the way. Most European and asian players get constant coaching. No Wonder Why they are killing us in the pool rankings. Coaches see things that need work that we can not see on our own. I even have a coach for my one pocket game. It speeds up your improvement much quicker.
