Wednesday night, I returned to Rack ‘Em to practice. It’s free pool there on Wednesdays after 6p.m. I grabbed a table off in the corner and begin piling rocks for about an hour.
I’d forgotten how much I like to practice there. The place is like a dungeon. It’s in the downstairs of a Bingo Hall that’s been there for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it sounds like Tyrannosaurus Rex is dancing upstairs and don’t even think of attempting to make a phone call because there’s definitely no cell phone reception there, but I love the place! It’s a classic, old school pool hall.
In fact, before Tuesday, it had been so long since I’d been in there, and I especially hadn’t been in there since Steve passed away, I kept thinking I saw him on Tuesday night. I would see someone out of the corner of my eye with is hair color or build and just feel like it was him. It made me sad…
Speaking of sad, as I drove past Table Steaks on my way to Rack ‘Em, I could see it was still very dark and very closed inside. I hope they are open by tonight.
Well, I wish I could report that I made some great progress with my new shaft, but it wasn’t exactly the case. Honestly, I don’t believe I’m really as disciplined as I could be and probably should be with my practices right now. Honestly, I just felt like stroking some balls. All I did was pile rocks, play some straight pool, and pile more rocks without letting the cue ball touch a rail. I didn’t shoot any other exercises or do any other homework from Bob. I just wanted to stroke in balls.
The challenging thing was that with the recent mechanical fix and now the new equipment, it’s been tough to identify whether I miss from my new stroke or from my new shaft. So, I guess I can at least report that I’ve been disciplined enough to have been shooting lots and lots of stop shots lately. I have been starting off with about 30 stop shots. The stop shot is my friend…
More discoveries and recent progress with the new shaft:
- It’s VERY difficult for me to aim shots where I’m using extreme inside english with very little angle. Those used to be my specialty with my old shaft. I could come out of any corner no matter how straight I was. Now, I just keep following the object ball into the pocket. UGH!
- Jacked up shots are getting a little easier.
- The closer the cue ball is to the object ball, I more precise I feel like I need to be. I can not accidentally adjust AT ALL.
- I played a few racks of straight pool and didn’t miss one single break shot (the kind where the break ball is beside the rack and you have shoot them sometimes with inside – yeah! I made all of those! Pretty sweet!) No high run to report – was just happy to make all the break shots.
- It’s SOOO much easier to miscue under pressure. The slightest mis-stroke and you can hear that wretched sound.
When I walked out to my car Wednesday night, it was cold and soggy outside. It had rained or something like that while I was inside. I couldn’t wait to get home. My back was killing me.
Thursday night was league. I ended up subbing and only won 2 out of 5 games. I played pretty decent but still not 100% comfortable and confident yet.
Tonight, I played some 8 ball at home with Mike. I know I won more games than he did. The table was not breaking to friendly but I got out when I was supposed to and didn’t give him very many chances. I felt pretty good about how I played. Tonight, though, I was really more focused on my stroke and staying smooth than on my contact point, honestly. I mean, it’s a bar table for Pete’s sake! It was fun to be able to gripe about my shaft when I missed though. Heehee…
Samm, I miscue with my older Z2 which has a worn down tip. Which type of predator are you using? Z or Z2 or 314 or 314-2? Is it a new tip? Or is it worn down? The standard Everest tip on Z,Z2 is pretty good.
If you don’t have a TipPic handy, here something that I learned on my own…
Lick your fore finger and thumb, then clean (and slightly moisten) the edge of the tip. Now chalk will adhere strongly to the tip! I do this before an important shot where I cannot afford a miscue. Also, whenever you have the cue ball in hand (for breaking or whatever), wipe the ball clean. My belief is that even a hair on the ball can cause a miscue.
The other problem I had when I started using Z2 was the shaft is thinner and it might wobble in my closed bridge hand, leading to me cue off center or miscue.