2 weeks off...

i've had 2 weeks off from snooker, call it my pre season if you will, and i'm sick of not playing snooker, i love it to much, and i think the break has done me good, it must have, cause i'm fired up for playing tomorrow.

I think i've sorted my head out, i've been through some philosophies and i've decided that, fuck it, i'm not going to get as far as i want in snooker. my mate can be happy as larry for beating me, despite playing shit, he can sleep comfortably knowing he's played and won, whereas i can't sleep well knowing i've played bad and won, let alone lost.

So i've discovered that you have to beat whats infront of you, no matter what level, it's the same in football. I'm a forest fan and it's all well and good complaining your up against Blackpool or Bristol at home but you've gotta beat em, and simply drawing or losing to em (as we have this season) isn't good enough.

this compares to my snooker. it's all well and good feeling your better than someone, but if you don't beat them, then to put it simply, your not.

so i've got to keep my aims low. you walk out that club tomorrow with a win and your a winner, no one can take that from you, you've won. i've lost my last 4 matches and you aint jack shit if you cant win the next few games. sure i tend to give up after a few bad frames, and your a quitter, unless you can dig deep and do yourself, or others, proud by over coming the odds and winning.





my mental state has been bad the past few weeks, in all things going, uni, snooker and football. if i'm not doing as well as i know i can, then i give up, it's not going to happen.i THIS IS A SHITE ATTITUDE and i need to sort it, dick head.

it's affecting my game, on and off the table. i know in my head that if i'm not playing good snooker (or football) then my whole attitude stinks, even to life. i think i'm potentially at a bad time, but bollocks cause i'm having a good time and , well fuck it!

i'll keep learning at snooker, i need to, cause i can be a contender, i can be the champion of the world.


if i want

Something to get ready for

Snooker has been a bit slow this past month. I said i'd play snooker almost everyday to practice and get some form going. However finances have been slow and Uni work has been coming thick and fast, with only around a month to go tho!

I played today (my second match in a month) and well, lost it 3-2! i am quite shit and throw it away all the time. I know i need to sort my mentality out and concentration is at an all time low, not just at the table too, which is quite worrying, with my snooker and uni work suffering.

I found out a league at my club started last week, i must have missed the notices but a worker their is going to ask if i can get into the league this time around, fingers crossed! i'm going to practice at home some more to save cash, as soon as my new tip dries.

Quick Update

Not much on the snooker front at the back end of march, university and job seeking has taken a forefront in life! along with friends being back from uni i've not even played any pool!

I made an impressive and nerve wracking 54 break in snooker the week after my last post, but have not had a match since mid march, maybe tomorrow i'll sort a game.

So i've improved my best break, by 22, and had the odd practice match. Now easter is here i intend to try and play everyday be it practice or a match, subject to any work that needs doing or any hangovers that may come my way (had a few belters this past week!)

The good think with my snooker at the moment is that i've reached a standard where whenever i leave the club i can be happy with the level i'm at. Hopefully a game this week should confirm my ability and if i can hit, say, two 20 breaks in my next match i'll be happy. A win too would be nice.

Injury Setback

I've had a couple of niggling problems this week, although i have played and match and had a practice session.

I played football on saturday for the first time for a while, and after skipping a warm up felt a strain in my right thigh as i hit my first shot! serves me right i guess!

Anyways the problem stayed for 3 days when i played my match and was still in some discomfort leaning over the table and putt weight on it to lean into a shot.

I then practiced on Thursday and although my thigh wasn't affecting my snooker, my left shoulder was causing me problems. It's a reaccurance of pains i've had on and off for well over a year now and they were starting to affect my game.

So i skipped practice today knowing i need to rest up, looking to be back in shape for next thursday. My thigh feels fine today, playing football again on thursday didn't seem a good idea as it flaired up again worse than before, but overnight i think it's cleared completely. However unfortunately my shoulder is still painful and not fully flexible. I don't know now how to try and sort it. Whether to rest up for a week and see how it feels, or maybe do some weights and fight through it like i did with my thigh. I'll see, weekend off snooker again i think. Might even help my uni work if i'm away from the tables, something else to do in the day other than snooker!

The match on tuesday went to plan i guess, I won 3-1 playing solid enough snooker.2 match unbeaten run. Runs of results didn't matter too much before but they are starting to become important, especially with a likely league to be coming to our club soon i want to be playing well and with a strong run of form going into some big matches against much better opponents.

structure to my practice

Snooker has taken a bit of a back burner this past week as i've been in university a fair bit again. I've had 3 matches since my last update, and lost twice 7-4 and 4-3 in very dissapointing fashion, but i'll put them behind me, and have done with a 3-1 win recently were i got going allbeit after a couple of frames.

I've only been able to practice twice this week aswell, which is annoying, and may stay like this for a week or so as i'm going to have to start some uni work!

Thursday's practice was frustrating, as things didn't seem to drop as well, but i could take some positives, such as 5 successive straight long reds of the blue spot. Showing my cueing is improving through the work i've been putting in on the practice table at home.

Friday's practice was the best ive probably ever played, i had a relaxed attitude and my first hour flew by as i'd been potting very well. By then i was already happy with my work and knew if things got dreadful then i'd had at least a good hour potting. Things fortunately kept up and i'd potted well for 2 and a half hours.

I developed a bit of structure to my practice, which i want to keep up next time. I start by knocking the top colours yellow, green and brown. Some nice easy pots which require positional thinking. Then i crack on with a line up, then move on to potting several balls off each spot. Black downwards, which revealed i have a few problems mostly off the yellow spot, which i looked to rectify.

This is helping my game as pinks and blues (both long and to the middle) are forming my accuracy in and around the high scoring area of the table. Then i usually go back to a line up for break building or a long line where i pot what i want.

Throw in a few random long pots and i've set up a nice routine which lasts over an hour.

I've realised a few things about my game. When i miss its generally because i hit it too thin. So learning to hit the ball thicker seems a little strange but they were dropping square in the middle of the pockets, which as any player knows is good to be seeing regularly.

Also with my long potting i had a tendancy to put backspin on the ball, even if i didn't need to. I found this often leads to a kick or a wild contact where the object ball flies off. Topspin i feel gives me better control and the follow through often leads to better position, especially if it gets me by the black spot. Something i'll look to work on this week.

On the break building front things are getting better, but still no elusive 30. A 27 in a game last week and a 28 in practice on thursday, i missed a long red that would roll onto the black, so i potted the black meaning that one long out of position red cost me a 35 break. Not too bad to say within a week i've come close twice and could've bettered it by 5. Especially in a week were snooker has been on the back burner.

Think the call this week is for more practice, ideally i would like to avoid a match, but if the chance comes up i might just take it, as the form i'm in i'd fancy a win to boost my confidence throughout all my practice.

3 Days practice

This week i've practiced everyday, fortunately i've been off uni a fair bit too. I would've practiced today but i had a few things to sort and a bit of a hangover!

Practice is going good, and have seen a marked improvement even between monday and wednesday. I've mainly been working on the line-up and around the black spot, in an attempt to get my break building up. It certainly needs improvement, even still with the line-up my highest break is 25.

I've decided that i'm only going to focus on my break building in matches, sure i'll do the line-up but won't do myself down if i'm poor at building breaks. If i can focus on my long-potting and general position play i find it's more productive and generally fun. Especially as yesterday things generally seemed to be dropping and i could enjoy my time, it's the standard i've been wanting for months and months now. Finally i'm constantly happy and have a get up and go attitude about playing snooker and practice.

I've got a match sorted for tomorrow i think, and i'm hoping to win. It would be nice to play well but i think i just need to get another win under my belt, as i've not played a match in over a week and i want my practice to pay off, with a result. Preferably a big score and i don't want to concede more than 2 frames, because i think i'm playing so well that he shouldn't even get a frame in and that he'll have to play well to do so. I'd be annoyed if i let him get a frame in because i'd played badly or given him countless opportunities.

I also want to build up a good lead early on. If i can take the first 3 frames i'm sure i'd kill off his challenge, but something like 2-1 or 3-1 and he'd come back at me i think. I hope i can deal with his challenges, and even if i lose a couple of frames early on, i'd be annoyed, but would be good to see how he handles it if i start to attack when he has a lead. Fortunately he hasn't had any meaningful lead over me for a few weeks despite winning a few matches.

I think we're closely matched in terms of skill, however i want to push on now and consistantly be better than him. Fingers crossed it'll start tomorrow with a convincing victory, and with continued practice and focus keep winning for the coming weeks (and months) ahead.

Practice pays off

Well i played today and hit some decent form, my cueing was good, and i put it all down to the practice that i put in this last couple of days. The majority of shots cued sweetly, if my accuracy took a little while to get going.

I went 1-0 down in a scrappy frame (they usually are) but made an encouraging 15 break and finished out of position but pulled off a good safety. we went into the colours close, although he had a slight advantage and when i needed blue onwards we scrapped it out and he took the blue ( i stuck it up).

I wasn't to be down hearted and started well enough, i could feel my game slipping into place despite a couple of bad misses which angered me. I've realised the more effort you put in away from matches, the more you want to win. Some weeks i just want to go and play well, and other weeks i have a desire only to win. This is serving me well as at times i'm playing well and winning.

I clawed this frame back to make scores 1-1. I got some good little breaks going, fortunately the most of my scoring was around the black spot (where i've been practicing). And this set me up well for the rest of the night.

He took the next frame to make it 2-1 and i was really dissapointed. Again we got into the colours and no doubt a few more mistakes cost me this frame. Trouble is it's not because the opposition is playing well that i'm losing these silly frames, what rubs off worse on me is the fact that he's playing bad and still taking frames. Perhaps i need to work on my safety?

I can take encouragement though, however as the past few weeks we've gone into the remaining colours about even. If i can just learn to clear up the colours, i'll be happy.

Next frame i turned up the heat. Some nice safety and good scoring in and around the black spot. I took a break of 2 pinks and a black before missing a blue with the rest. gutted. Ah well my game fell well into place and i had to smirk as i won this frame before we needed to get into the colours. 2-2.

This last frame i took in emphatic fashion. I think i got a break in the twenties with heavy scoring either side to make my opponent put away his cue and walk out! Again! I have to say i loved it! Ok he was getting some bad luck but it's nice to know i can frustrate people by playing well. It doesn't happen to me, i could happily sit back at the tournament as i was destroyed and watch some great snooker. It's making me change my attitude to snooker. It's making me think that if someones playing well, how do i stop it? right now i'm thinking i need to play higher opponents. Ok i'm not destroying the easier opponents, but i'm learning!

I think if i can come up against someone i really need to get stuck into and stop them playing it could do me the world of good.

So after he left i started to practice. I've found out my club offer half rates if your on your own, so it's something i'm going to take up and get a few hours under my belt inbetween uni. I hit a few long pots sweetly and my form was spot on.

I even did a mini line up and hit a 20, so i can see room for improvement, rapidly. I got three breaks in the 20's today, my standard is well up. Now all i need to do is keep up my practice both at home and on the practice tables at the club.