Dear Tom
Jerry Conba's article in the January Issue of the BQR spurred me into putting more purpose into my practice sessions which, due to the billiards wasteland in which I live, are carried out on my own. Since January I have religiously been recording all my breaks in every practice session and then calculating the session average. The results to date show that my individual breaks have varied between 0 and 163. The cumulative session average is about 34 and I seem to be stuck around this figure. I must stress that I start every break from a good position, usually at the top-of-the-table. As Jerry, and others, rightly point out, it is essential to set targets. My current target is to average 40 per session based on the following:
Therefore my practice session target works out at 3 x 13 = 39 rounded up to 40.
I realise that this target is based on a great deal of supposition. These suppositions are not altogether unreasonable, and though I am falling short of my target I am not too unhappy as targets should be challenging. I would be interested in the practice methods of other readers.
Thanks Norman. I wonder if one of your estimates is over-optimistic, and that is that a player should get a good leave once every three visits on average. Whilst it is true that the run of the balls tends to favour neither player in the long run, the run can be very perverse at times and especially in short games. Do you think that your good leaves comes up as often as one in three - on average? It is an interesting experiment to close your eyes and scatter the balls around the table and then see how good the leave is for one or other of the white balls. You may find that such random leaves turn out to be good rather less than one in three. Of course, in actual play, leaves are not random and depend to a large extent on the skill of the players involved. It is generally reckoned that the better the player, the more likely he is to leave something when he breaks down, but not always!
I think your average target for matches (13) is reasonable though there are many players who wish they could guarantee even this modest figure. During the recent World Professional Championship qualifying round held at the Norbreck Castle, of 16 two-hour sessions, in only seven of these was the average of 13 exceeded, and this from 16 professionals including players of the calibre of Everton, Chapman, Agarwal, Murphy, Wildman, and Kothari - and those I have not mentioned are hardly novices.
As regards practice methods I wonder if you are perhaps making life a little too easy for yourself. Lindrum (Billiards P.40) talks of earning position and recommends starting from a run-through and a short jenny (Diagrams 15 and 16. P36.) It is obviously of little use gaining position if a player is then not capable of scoring many points, and scoring has to be practiced whether at the spot-end or by the all-round method, but it has always to be remembered that the balls are not that often left in one's favourite scoring position. I remember asking Russell some years ago about his practice methods, and he told me that, at that time, he, "put them at the top," or in positions where he could fairly easily work them to the spot end. I have asked him the same question much more recently and he has replied that now he mainly practices in-offs. Anyway, keep at it Norman, you'll pretty soon reach that practice session average of forty.
Readers comments on practice and practice methods please.
There are now 19 teams in two divisions with four players to a team. In the event of a player not being able to get and no reserve available one of the other players is allowed to lay twice. Games are of 120 up off handicap. There are 95 registered players for the 93/94 season. There are ten trophies to be played for and matches are arranged with other west-country leagues.
"I would welcome a series of articles on billiards play all the way through from stance, cueing, shots from the break to 3 or 4 cushion cannons. I am not a good player myself being around ninth or tenth on the handicap list, but the standard of many players for various reasons is appalling and I would welcome anything that could improve the general standard, hence the suggestion."