So a couple of days after I decided to practice only banks I found out that I'll be visiting Seattle. Since I don't really want to get there with no clue at all about how to play 9-ball or 8-ball I figure I'll have to practice making balls straight in until after I get back.

It's official - I suck at everything but banks.

There seems to be, at least for me, a completely different mindset involved. In bank pool the only target is the object ball. By that I mean I don't aim to have the object ball hit the rail at a certain point. It's all about the object ball and how much of it I hit. This approach works very well for banking but it leaves me woefully unprepared to shoot a regular shot.

Another thing I've completely forgotten is how to make very thin cuts. In banks the only very thin cuts are crossing banks and again, I'm only paying attention to the thinness of the hit. Having to cut the ball very thinly AND send it directly towards a target is an ability I've lost somewhere along the line.

Basically, in banks, the entire shot is a guess. You have to rely on your instincts to make the shot, and you can pretty much expect to miss about half the time. In regular pool, missing half the time is just not acceptable, and I have to decide whether I should try to hone my instincts for those shots or play a more calculating style.

I'm sure I'll post something about how I do playing my friends in Seattle, but for the record I'll predict that I'll get my ass kicked by the same people that used to have no chance against me.

Now if I can talk them into playing any banks, that will be a different story. Probably not a very fair one though.

Went downstairs, racked nine balls, broke them, and banked six in a row. On my first try. Ho Hum.

I seem to almost always do quite well when I first start any given session - whether it's practice or playing against an opponent. Now I just have to figure out how to make it last longer than two minutes.

Today I switched back to banks-only mode to start preparing for the Derby City Classic banks division.

I had been, for the past few weeks, playing and practicing some 9-ball, 8-ball, and one-pocket in a futile attempt to regain the ability to (a)make a ball straight-in and (b)play position.

For the next three months I'll shoot only bank shots. I may not be able to better my finish of last year's tournament, but at least it won't be from lack of practice.

I've got all of my old RSB posts (the ones I had saved anyway) posted into the pool 'blog. That means that the actual Pool Ramblings page will be going away soon.

I would also like to hit Google and find any of my posts that I missed and get them into the 'blog.

I've decided, since I've got this spiffy new 'blog system in place, that I'll migrate all of the old pool ramblings from their old (very long!) page to the 'blog.

This may take a while, but I've put a couple of old messages in to make sure it will work and that the back-dating doesn't break anything.

Tonight I played several games of one-pocket against Larry* at The Bank Shot.

I am really lousy at one-pocket, but Larry is quite good at it, so I really enjoy the opportunities to play and learn from him.

Despite the great difference in our game, we ended up splitting the first few games playing even. This almost always happens when I play him.

Usually I can give at least partial credit to my ability to stay focused and know my limits. The bulk of the credit, however, has to go to Larry and his inability to care about a bunch of free games against a one-pocket beginner.

Anyway, after we split the first four games, Larry asked if he could play me 8-5 to see if the spot would help his concentration. I agreed to the spot, again just grateful to be playing such a good player.

We ended up splitting the next 8 or so games until we both quit at the same time.

I wasn't very impressed with my play tonight. I could pocket balls fine, and my safeties tonight were a little better than my opponent's, but whenever I tried to do both at the same time I sold out a shot. This is actually what I expect my one-pocket game to be like, and perhaps my better performances in the past have been mere flukes.

My opponent's problem was one of being too reliant on the pressures usually caused by money games. He missed far more than he normally does and became visibly frustrated by his poor performance. Basically he wasted a night's play because he wasn't able to perform without the pressure of money being bet.

This is exactly why I've never bought into the "Get used to playing under pressure" argument used by the gambling pool players. If you can only play well under pressure, what happens when the pressure goes away? You can't shoot well until you raise the bet and create even more pressure. This works until you get used to that, then the cycle starts over again. It's never-ending.

My approach is to feel no pressure, no matter what the circumstances. I try to play my best no matter what's at stake. This approach means that playing for funzies, for money, or in a tournament all do the same thing to my game - absolutely nothing.

I'm not saying that my approach is right for everyone, but I'm positive that it's the right approach for me. I want to play as well as I can all the time. Playing well is to me a more lofty and reliable goal than winning (or at least not losing) money or advancing in a tournament.

Larry ended tonight's session completely disgusted with his performance. I ended the session with a little more one-pocket knowledge and a couple of important reminders.

First, I need to fight to the urge to try to do too much with a given shot. Usually there's an offensive opportunity or a defensive one. I can't have 'em both on every shot.

Second, I think that needing to create pressure in order to play well is a self-defeating activity. To play well should be the only goal.

* - Name changed to protect the guilty.

Was messing around tonight trying to develop a better two-rail kicking system than the one I've been using.

I may be onto something. A system that does not require any math or memorizations, and seems to work pretty well for most angles.

If I get this clearer in my head I'll post more later.

Yay! My first practice on my shiny like-new equipment!

I racked nine balls up and broke, then banked nine in a row. That's right, nine in a row. This is exactly the opposite of what I thought would happen. I figured that the tighter pockets, the fast cloth, and the slick balls would conspire to make me miss way more than normal until I got used to the changes.

What I failed to take into account was that on cloth that is very new, with balls that are very slick, shots that have no business at all being made will slide right down the rail and drop.

This is what happened to me. After the initial nine banks I continued to make most banks for over an hour. At first they went in as I just described - very sloppily. After a while, however, something very cool happened. The shots started hitting the pocket centers. I really looked like I knew what I was doing there.

I guess my confidence was so boosted by the accepting pockets that I relaxed just enough to become very accurate on my banks.

I know that the pockets will become less and less forgiving over the next several sessions, but I'm sure going to have some fun while it lasts. Hopefully I can keep up with the changing table conditions.

Today, to go with my nice new cloth and retightened pockets, I cleaned and polished my set of Aramith Super Pros with some Karseal polish. I also cleaned my cue's shaft with Larry's cleaner and finished it off with some CueSilk.

While waiting for the polish on the balls to dry I went ahead and drew my standard lines on the table. First I used string to very accurately determine the footspot and drew a 3-inch "+" at that point. I drew a line across the headstring, another from the footspot straight to the end rail, and another set of lines around where a rack would be placed. For the footspot itself I used a hole-reinforcement sticker like I used in the connect the dots practice.

After taking a towel and buffing the balls off I was finally ready to play on the best equipment available.

I got my table back today as promised!

Actually all I "got back" was the rails with the new-improved tightened pockets and some new 860 cloth.

I can't wait to get down there and miss for a week because of the slick cloth and tight pockets.