Month: April 2012

I must have been told this over a thousand times by non pool players…  “I suck at pool, but after I’ve had a couple drinks I play really good!”  LOL this is funny right?  I call it the two beer threshold…  any less and they are still not that good, any more beer and they get dramatically worse.

For those of you who may drink on occasion, have you ever noticed how beer affects your pool game?  What I always say when people tell me this is “yeah that’s because you are more relaxed and not worried about the outcome so much.”  Even non pool players feel pressure to perform when they play.  They are surrounded by friends probably, everyone eyeballing what they are doing, and of course they don’t want to look bad, so they get tense.  They try too hard to control what little ability they have.  But then all of a sudden after two beers, they could care less what their friends think, they act (stroke) with more confidence, and all of a sudden start making balls in from everywhere.

Now, as a pool player, I’m not recommending that you go out and drink a couple of beers everytime you play.  What I am recommending is that you make a decision not to care what other people think, relax, and to play with confidence.  Add a little beer to your stroke without drinking any beer.

One way to do this is practice playing some speed pool by yourself.  This will force you to act on instinct and trust your gut feelings, then once you slow down, you will have that knowledge of yourself doing some cool things just shooting from the hip.  Another thing you can do is play while imagining your whole body has turned into a wet noodle, lol.  Really, just relax every muscle in your body, and in turn your stroke should become slippery smooth and relaxed with a very long and straight follow through.  Then, this will carry over into your more “focused and controlled” game and stroke.  Loosen up baby!

You can be a two beer champion… without the beer!

Thanks and see you soon…

Max Eberle

PS:  To transform yourself into a pool shooting machine click here to learn more

OK, today I’m gonna be a little blunt.

I want my students to have real results and have real improvement, so it’s time for a little tough love.

It seems like everybody these days wants to be a wizard on the pool table right away.  They want to pull off crazy shots, learn advanced strategy, kicking, cool bank shots etc…  and then when I watch them play a little, they can’t even hold the cue properly, they are jumping up on their shots, they are hitting their body with their cue on their stroke, or to avoid this they are steering their cue off line and delivering an ugly stroke.  Yet they want advanced strategy, and they can’t even pull of a friggin stop shot when they need it, or draw the cue ball 6 feet for shape on the 9 ball.

When I have a new student, I know what their problems are before I even see them hit a ball.  This might sound arrogant but it’s not.  It’s just reality.  I’ve been teaching for 20 years and I know what people are doing wrong.  It’s always something from the previous paragraph… and usually combined with several other things like not aiming while standing, not knowing where the stroking line is, having no idea what they want to do with the cue ball until they are down (or changing their mind), changing the aiming line (stroking line) while down on the shot…  the list goes on and on…

It seems like everyone wants to do insane Corey Deuel Shots before they can just consistently make easy looking run outs…  Man oh man!

Let me tell you.  You’ve got to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run, and run before you can fly!  Now I want you to be able to fly, just please do me a favor… take the time to go through the proper process of improvement so that you can one day fly.

Ok now when I say crossing the river I’m talking about the land of riches and super skill and strategy on the other side of the river from where you are standing.  It’s wide and deep river filled with hungry piranhas and crocodiles, undertows and giant man eating catfish.  If you try to swim across this river without first mastering the basics…surely you will be eaten alive.

There does exist however one sturdy and safe way to cross this perilous river.  If you take this bridge what awaits you on the other side is a resort style life with all the amenities and possibilities your heart desires.  You can run out in whatever way you choose, just because you feel like it.  You can make long shots, short shots, bank shots, kick shots into the pocket, make the cue ball land on a dime at will, and win events on a regular basis.  Sound good?

Well that bridge is the fundamentals. Be different than the slew of amateurs out there who just wing it, play kind of decent, and then when they get the river bank, simply stare at the other side dreaming and wishing they could cross to the land of bounty yet don’t have the bridge to get there so they just stay on this side or jump in only to get eaten by a rouge great white shark, or worse yet eaten by a big carp. Don’t let that be you.  Find the bridge and walk across surely and safely to the other side to run out land.

Ok now go make that bridge more solid, straighten out that stroke, stay down and follow through on your shots, and mark up another bead on your side of the scoreboard!

Go kick some fundamental ass!

Max Eberle

PS:  To learn how to build your own solid bridge and cross the dangerous river to the land of run out, click here.

 One of the many cool looking mid-century modern homes in Las Vegas, NV.

Hello my friend,
If you’ve turned on the television recently, you may have seen “Cowboy” Jimmy Moore on Classic ESPN or some classic sports channel, beating his opponents on the pool table. He is a legend and hall of famer, a straight pool master, and known by his peers who included Willie Mosconi to be a master of the cue ball.

The Cowboy has a son named Jimmy Moore or Jimmy Jr., who I’ve recently become friends with. He is a really cool guy and and excellent player in his own right. Jimmy Jr. Has been telling all kinds of great stories about his dad, and this drill is one of them.

He said his dad used to shoot this 35 no count, even on the money. Basically you line up all 15 balls in order from the bottom of the foot rail in a straight line out past the spot. I’ve found that after the 8-ball or so, you’ll need some space between the balls so you can still hit the contact point. In the drill you must shoot the balls in order, into oposite corner pockets every shot. There really is no rule that you must go 2 rails with the cue ball, or only 1 rail with the cue ball every time. You can even bank a ball if you get out of line, or draw the cue ball 3 rails to get back into shape if need be. But you MUST shot them in order, and into opposite bottom corner pockets every shot.

Then, when you make the 15 ball, you place the balls back up and work DOWN the line, and back up 5 to get to 35! WOW! I’m still working on getting the first 15 balls in order.

I’ve done the one pocket, one rail drill many times (I’ll post that one as well) but never this opposite corner drill quite like the “Cowboy” used to do. By the way, Jimmy Jr. said he usually won this bet. Just incredible. And he liked doing it on a 10-foot table, which is what I’m playing on in the video. I can vouch that it does indeed help your cue ball control. Just 2 nights ago I ran 168 balls and it had been several months since I broke 100. The “Cowboy” used to run 100 or more every single day, and even guarantee that he would run 100 within 2 hours or not get paid for his pool hall exhibitions. Wow.

Have fun with this drill!

See you soon,

Max Eberle

PS: Click here to learn about my dvd set Powerful Pool and how it can elevate your game