Anthony Beeler
THE TRUTH ABOUT
PRACTICE TIME
ANTHONY BEELER
If you don’t manage your pool playing expectations, then you most likely will not enjoy playing very much. Worse, you probably won’t see any improvement in overall performance.
F
or about 3-4 years I really didn’t enjoy playing pool, and it largely had to do with unrealistic expectations. The combination of not practicing enough, thinking I could win more tournaments than I should, and not even playing that much made my time on the table unenjoyable.
is going to be a determining factor. This will greatly influence what your expectations should be.
If this is you, I am going to advise you to set few expectations for your overall performance.
Situation #1: You have very
This article will be centered on time. Why? Because time is one of the most precious resources that continually holds players back. If you want to get to a certain level of play, time
You work a full-time job. You might be married with kids. As much as you would like for pool to be a focal point of your life, it’s just not. It probably won’t be until you retire.
If you can’t play or practice much, you won’t have many previous experiences to build on. Playing a tournament in February, and then your next one in late September without picking up a cue in between means that literally anything is possible when you go out to play (usually bad).
little to almost no time to practice or play very much. I would say that most of you reading this article fall into this category.
In fact, unless you were a major player at one point in your life, it’s almost impossible to improve at pool with very infrequent practice or play. Your only goal should be to have fun, don’t worry about making huge gains because it’s just not realistic.
Situation #2: You play on average once a week, and can devote a few hours of practice.
This is another category most pool players fall into. If you are in this group, I would say that there can be a reasonable expectation of improvement if you spend your time wisely. Playing once a week is enough to see progress over time. Progress in pool occurs in small steps. You make small breakthroughs, and
10 | Billiards Buzz • October 2021
