You know, it really does bother me that I don't keep this 'blog more up to date. I say that it bothers me all the time, but I don't even do anything about it.

Yesterday I went over to The Bank Shot for a while. I ended up just practicing by myself. I could have done that at home.

Got this message today:

On your newest video...did you notice the extra practice strokes before the miss at the end...looks like the money ball was treated differently in the setup. I hate it when that happens.

Watched the "foiled again" video again. You're absolutely right - I took an extra practice stroke.

Looks to me like I did it (subconsciously) to try to convince myself that I was lined up correctly when I wasn't. You can tell that I wasn't lined up correctly because I missed the shot by 73 miles.

Also, the stupid cueball had just rolled four feet further than I'd expected it to. I was actually planning to bank that last ball cross-corner. So that may have thrown me off a little too. I should have taken more time before I bent over the shot.

Anyway, thanks for pointing that out!

I've been trying since early this morning to get another nine-in-a-row caught on tape.

No luck, but I did get another eight.

It's over on my movie page.

I see a bunch of people coming here from this thread at azbilliards.com.

Thought I'd suggest this entry.

I've started and aborted this entry several times. I know what I want to say but actually putting it into words has proven to be a lot tougher than it should be.

Back when I first started to learn how to bank, I don't know why, but I adopted what I'll call the object ball overlap method of aiming.

I just learned the various banks in terms of how much of the object ball to hit. For some banks it was a half-ball, for others a nearly full hit. Whatever.

Take the shot above for example. I learned that making this shot required a full hit with a touch of inside english.

Of course speed is important as well.

What I never really paid attention to is where the object ball should hit the cushion.

This is the exact opposite of my method for shooting all other shots. In 9-ball, 8-ball, one-pocket, or whatever else, driving the object ball at a specific target has always been my primary objective.

In the shot above I couldn't give a rat's ass how much of the object ball I'm hitting. I think it's about a third of a ball, but I could not care less. My goal here is to drive the ball into the pocket.

This difference in the way I approach the shots has been causing a big problem for me as I change from one game to another, and I've spent a lot of time trying to settle on a specific approach. One that would work equally well for any shot.

For the longest time I've tried to work the overlap approach into games like 9-ball. Sometimes I've had good days, but more often I've had pretty shitty ones. I stuck with this approach for so long because it worked for banks, and in my mind banks were always the tougher shots. If the overlap approach worked for those shots then, dammit, I should be able to make it work for easy shots where you're just cutting a ball into a pocket.

Well it's time to admit that I was wrong.

Bank shots are not harder, they're just different.

So what I've been doing lately, what's been keeping me so busy practicing that I've been neglecting this 'blog so much, is completely rebuilding my approach to bank shots.

I spent a week, an entire week, playing nothing but 9-ball. I never banked a ball. This was tough, but I needed to redevelop my old method of approaching a shot. I needed to work on driving those object balls at a target instead of just hitting them where I thought they needed to be hit.

That week, as I expected, did wonders for my 9-ball game.

After a week I started practicing banks again. I forced myself to always pick a target on the cushion and drive the object ball to that target.

At first, as I expected, my banks sucked giant donkey balls.

But then something pretty cool started happening.

I began to relearn the bank shots. The balls started going in. They're still going in.

And the really great thing, the thing I was hoping to accomplish with this, is that I can switch from banks to 9-ball to straight pool to whatever, and my game does not suffer. I'm using the same approach - the same style - with every shot I shoot.

I am becoming an all-around player, which is something I've never been since I started banking.

Been playing most days, alternating between banks and 9-ball.

Both are going fairly well, and I'm sticking with a single shooting style, so that's something new I guess.

Not much else going on with my game.

I need to get out to The Bank Shot. Maybe this Friday.

We'll see.

Not sleeping anymore, so I spent last night and most of today playing banks and 9-ball.

Shooting pretty well, but I'm sure it won't last beyond my next good mood.

Haven't picked up a cue for a couple of weeks now.

It not that I don't feel like playing, I just feel like doing other things even more.

I'm sure this is just temporary. The urge to hit balls will come back some day.

I just finished reading Willie's Game, finally purchased after several lost eBay auctions, and in honor of Mr. Mosconi I played nothing but straight pool all day.

I actually had a run of 52 early, but most of the day consisted of me running 14, then missing the break shot.

It really does suck to know exactly what needs to be done, yet be unable to perform.

I just need to get something off my chest.

People are pissing me off.

People piss me off all the time I suppose, but in this particular case they're pissing me off about break cues. Specifically the heavy vs. light debate.

As the argument goes, a lighter break cue will allow you to generate more speed with the cue, and that increased speed more than makes up for the fact that there's less mass hitting the cueball.

Well, lah dee dah.

I suppose, if I were so inclined, I could grab myself a light break cue and wind myself up like a softball pitcher, maybe even get a running start like Happy Gilmore, and really *WHACK* the damn ball. I might even be able to get an accurate hit every now and then.

Allow me to hit the cueball with less speed, however, and I'll hit the damn thing accurately every time I break. There are two components to a power break, and I'm going to list them in the order of importance. Pay attention here:

1. Accuracy.

2. Speed.

This shouldn't be news to any of you. If you know enough about pool to be reading this 'blog then you know I'm right. All the speed in the world does you no good if you can't hit the head ball correctly.

The point I'm trying to make here is that a slightly slower speed, combined with a more accurate hit, can result in a better break than an inaccurate hit at 100 miles per hour.

Just because somebody (I bet it was Sigel) said years ago that he preferred a lighter break cue because he felt it improved his break, that doesn't mean that every other self-professed expert else has to start parroting his words until the end of time.

Some people lose too much accuracy when they try to break at full speed. Some people are better off with a slower speed.

And those people are probably better off with a heavier break cue if their goal is to break the balls the hardest.

Don't argue. You know I'm right.