Diary of a Pool Shooter - The Adventures of FastMikie

A lesson with Scott Lee

2008-05-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I had a 4 hour lesson with Scott Lee (Internationally Famous Pocket Billiard Instructor and Trick Shot Artist). He teaches the very precise BCA-approved style characterized by the Set-Pause-Finish system. My style was developed on my own, by watching others, so it is a soup of intuitive quirks that is completely unreliable. Therefore it has been my search for consistency that has

Ronnie O'Sullivan - 3rd World Snooker Title

2008-05-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite players, bad-boy Ronnie O'Sullivan has clinched his 3rd World Snooker Championship. Click here for the story and videos. Click here for some great shots! Watch Ronnie run the world's fastest 147. (top)

Traffic check - 6 months

2008-05-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

Six months ago I started keeping track of traffic to this blog. Here are the results since then: According to NeoCounter, that green widget in the sidebar, (Total Visitors by Country): In the last 180 days there have been 16,912 visitors from 109 countries. For the same 180 days, according to Google Analytics, there were 8,993 Visits 5,778 Absolute

Back to the basics

2008-05-06T17:44:00.001-07:00

Taking the advice of El Maestro, I got back into the competition scene to get myself "tournament tough" for the US Amateur Championship which is 137 days from today. Not one to back away from a challenge, I signed up for the toughest tournament in the San Diego area, at On Cue Billiards in La Mesa. What I learned from the experience is that I forgot a lot about competing! Although I did win one

New license plate - 14pt1 (14.1)

2008-05-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

In California, you are what you drive, and what you display on your license plate. For several years I resisted the urge to get a "vanity" plate, but somehow I fell prey to this one (14pt1). 14.1, or straight pool, is the game I prefer. I shoot pool because I can not paint, or sculpt, or sing, or dance, or play a musical instrument. I shoot pool, therefore I am. (top)

OB1 shaft

2008-05-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

Last week I was getting some supplies at Quality Billiards, and some shaft work done by the owner Dave Whitsell, and had an opportunity to try an OB1 cue. It played very nicely, with a good feel. It reminded me that I had an OB1 shaft at home that I bought many months ago to try, but never found the time for it. Today, I hit some balls with it and liked it a lot. It gives a definitely different

Words of Wisdom

2008-05-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

Jeanette Lee, at 23 years old, and #1 on the women's pro tour, during the 1994 WPBA National Championships in her come-from-behind win over Loree Jon Jones (JL was down 1-4 and came back to win 9-5): "I've tried playing without ego, and it's so obvious when I'm trying to be humble: all the heart leaves me. "Sometimes you just gotta go for it and go for it with confidence and know you're going

Practice Review for April

2008-05-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

The Optimum Practice spreadsheet is now online with complete data for the month of April. It shows only 15 practice sessions, because I missed 4 sessions due to being back in Philly for my father's funeral, but I did get in a total of 33.4 hours practice, pocketing about 3700 balls, averaging 1.7 per minute, which shows me I was taking care of business. Additionally, I had several perfect drills

Good, Bad, and Ugly

2008-05-03T13:35:00.001-07:00

The important advantage of video recording of practice sessions is that it reveals Truth. For example, the video below, from last night's Optimum Practice session, clearly shows that I do not stay down on the shots on the 5 ball. I should replay this a lot, and say to myself, maybe scream it, "Stay Down". I'm thinking I also should focus on a pause in my back swing on these shots. This is two

Video evidence of practice progress

2008-05-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

You may have seen this drill before, but this is almost certainly my best attempt. Video recorded in last night's Optimum Practice session. The shot on the 8 ball is the best one of this attempt. Because I went a bit wide with my position off the 7, I got almost straight on the 8, so I really had to hit it very firm, with lots of top left. Notice that the cue ball hits the bottom rail

Gods are smaller in person

2008-05-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

I won't bore you with some shot-by-shot analysis, of the matches you can see for yourself for free at the IPT website. But here are a few observations. This was the first time I have seen a live professional pool match, in person (not on TV). 1. Gods are smaller in person. When I arrived on the scene, the first person I recognized was Oliver Ortmann, one of the world's top straight pool

Today! IPT Challenge Matches, free!

2008-04-29T00:22:00.000-07:00

I'll be right there, in the audience, watching Efren Reyes, Austin Murphy, Oliver Ortmann, and John Schmidt, playing some great pool. I'll have to drive all the way to Hollywood, but you can have an even better view, and for free, from the comfort of your own computer. Today only. Tuesday, April 29. 5pm Pacific time. Do it! Broadcast Details! IPT

I'm getting closer...

2008-04-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

My instructor, Tony "El Maestro" Sorto, taught me this challenging multi-player game of rotation pool played almost exclusively in his native Honduras. It is one of my goals to run the table, on video. So I have made it a regular part of my Optimum Practice session. Last night, I achieved a new personal best. If I hadn't flubbed the position on the 10 ball off the 8, I could possibly have run

Short Banks

2008-04-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Bank shots are just one area where I need to improve my game, so I added this little drill to my Optimum Practice routine. I got the idea from one of Bert Kinister's training videos. (top)

Straight Pool Bank Break Shot

2008-04-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

During last night's practice session, I was doing some racks of straight pool going for a high run attempt and found myself with this situation. Typically, I would play safe at this point, but since it was practice, and there was no opponent, I chose to go for something unconventional. The 11 ball on the corner of the rack just looked like it would bank as long as it didn't hit one of the

Combination Bank with Bonus Carom Bank

2008-04-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

I was practicing some Honduran rotation and was faced with this situation on the 5 ball which would not go cross-side so I played the 5 into the 6 for the long bank into the corner, and got a bonus with the 5 ball caroming for a bank in the other corner. (top)

Practice Milestone: The Sorto String

2008-04-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

The "Sorto String" is one of the main drillsin my Optimum Practice routine. Last night, in one stretch of 4 attempts out of 10,I made two perfect runs through the 9 balland two 'almost' runs through the 8 ball.(making the 8 but just barely touching theside rail with the cue ball)This gave me a new high average for the session. It's truly a beautiful thing when it works! Practice stats of note:So

Pool movie: Turn the River

2008-04-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

Is it a pool movie, or a movie with pool?Opens May 16 in Los Angeles.Here's the website.Here's the trailer: (top)

Straight Pool Video: Crane vs. Balsis

2008-04-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

For the 1966 U.S. Open Straight Pool title Irving Crane vs. Joe Balsis played in Chicago. After an early safety battle, perfection happens! Watch this 7-part video for a clinic in excellence: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Each part is about 10 minutes, the limit for YouTube videos. (top)

Kamui gets action!

2008-04-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

Check out these videos of the action you can get with a Kamui tip (and a great stroke helps, too). (top)

Video review

2008-04-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Some of my pool videos collected in one place. Navigate through the videos by clicking the ">" to go forward, and "<" to go back. Click the center of the large image to play the video in a separate window at YouTube for a full description, rating, comments, etc. (top)

A clean cue ball does weird stuff

2008-04-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

Immediately before last night's practice I asked practice assistant Dave to clean the balls, including the cue ball. It's so easy to keep them clean because I have a BallStar 2000 machine. I never gave it another thought until I started the practice routine and on the first drill (lag shots) I did worse than ever. It seemed that the foot rail was dead. And yet, it also seemed that I was using

Reduce variables, become more consistent

2008-04-18T23:36:00.000-07:00

One incremental improvement that I added to my practice routine is with the chalk. I used to use a pocket chalker device but I got out of the habit. But they are far superior in several ways. First of all, your own chalk will always be way better than using the stuff you will find in most pool halls, bars, etc. Also, you save time by having it handy and not have to walk around the table for it.

Goal vs. Plan Disconnect

2008-04-18T23:25:00.000-07:00

I was reviewing my Plan for Excellence in Pool and noticed a disconnect. One of my goals is to run 50 balls in straight pool, but I'm not practicing straight pool. Duh. It's not likely to happen, is it? So that's why I added straight pool to my daily practice routine. And now my chances of running 50 balls have increased tremendously. I feel better already. Last night I did this little run of

Scott Lee coming to Mikie's Fun House

2008-04-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

Scott Lee's Traveling College of Billiard Knowledge is coming to San Diego to give me a lesson at FastMikie's Fun House on Tuesday, May 6. Scott is an "internationally famous pocket billiard instructor & trick shot artist" and a protege of BCA Master Instructor Jerry Briesath. Check out the Scott Lee website. Scott has some available time on his visit to San Diego, so you might want to