Billiard Coach – Mike Fieldhammer

A T-I-P from the I-P-T?

Posted on 31. Jan, 2008 by Mike Fieldhammer.

I’ve just received the second installment of $333.33 (of the $2,000 total they owe me) from the IPT. Interestingly enough, the check is dated December 17th, but it wasn’t postmarked until January 18th. I’m just happy I got it at all. I wonder if Kevin Trudeau‘s recent back payments to the players had anything to do with the video outage last week during the IPT match between Deuel and Bustamante. I guess there is a lot of interest in these challenge matches and I think the streaming video outage was due to a large number of fans trying to watch online. The KT money situation must be grim. Pay for more bandwidth or pay off past due player refunds, hmmm…

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Checkmate! Chess cues debut from Samsara.

Posted on 29. Jan, 2008 by Mike Fieldhammer.

The folks at Samsara have done it again! Check out these gorgeous chess themed cues and complete chess set. This remarkable achievement is for sale. Inquire for pricing.

SAMSARA CUES PROUDLY PRESENTS
THE ULTIMATE CHESS AND POOL CUE SET

Ebony, Ivory, and Tulipwood are the three components used to create this exotic collection.

The engraving process is unique, as it is the first wood engraving known to cuemaking. The end mill tool used was .004 thousands of an inch and engraved a total of 412 yards (nearly ¼ mile) in the set of cues. The chess board was created by Dave Doucette as a yearlong project and is made up of more than 2,860 individual pieces of Ebony, Tulipwood and Ivory.
The Ebony and Tulipwood chess pieces feature hand turned and hand carved Ivory components. The chess board and complimentary chess pieces became the inspiration for the cues. Nearly 40 lbs of Ivory were consumed in this project.
There is also a display cabinet is made of Padauk and Curly Maple.

Proudly made in Rugby, ND USA by the Artisans of Samsara Cues.

All of the Ivory used is legal according to the Federal Register/Vol.57 No.15/
Monday, August 10, 1992/Rules and Regulation pg. 35473

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I’m not winning as many games as I think I should. I shoot balls in just fine, but I can’t seem to finish a lot of the table runs off. What gives?

Posted on 20. Jan, 2008 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Billiard Coach Answer:
Learn the Key 8-ball Concepts.

I’ve been working on a series of lessons for a player just like you. You’ve been around long enough to know how to play the game, but just aren’t running racks like you should. Great players look as though they dance through racks with ease, but this is a well rehearsed and choreographed achievement. They know that the ability to pocket balls is just one of the skills needed to play run-out pool. I’m going to outline a couple of the key concepts to help you become a run-out 8-ball player. Keep in mind, these important concepts must be devoured and digested in order to benefit from them. You must walk-the-walk and incorporate these ideas into your game. That is your everyday game and every game!

Key 8-ball Concept: Have a plan before you start shooting. The most important trip to the table during a game is your first. This is the time to take in information, observe problem areas, consider options for dealing with those problems, evaluate the risk/reward of those options, and then, and only then, take your shot.

It can take years of playing experience to train your brain to run through this series of logic exercises. If you don’t get stumped once in a while, you are not looking deeply enough into the pool table puzzles. Standing next to a pool table after making a ball after your break, or after your opponent fails to make a ball, is a delicate moment. It can seem to last an eternity when you are searching for the solution. You must develop the will and patience to establish your plan before you take your first shot.

Loads of players begin plucking off stripes or solids without regard to where it will lead them. They plop balls in pockets thinking they are making strides toward a victory when they are, in fact, digging their graves. On a 7 foot pool table, runs usually end because the player misses a shot or hooks himself. Missed shots are frequently the more difficult tester shots that he is forced to take because he played a poor pattern. Sure, he could have simply missed position or gotten a bad roll, but the shooter may have chosen a different sequence of shots so he didn’t have to play tricky position on their next ball or be at the mercy of rolls, good or bad. Having a plan that is easy to execute with the least possible chance of getting into trouble (i.e., difficult shot or difficult to obtain position) is one of the hallmarks of a well conceived plan.

Worse yet is having a run stopped because the last object ball or two are tied up or in unmakeable positions. The player has just taken his soldiers off the battlefield and allowed his opponent to come to the table with few obstacles to achieving his run-out.

This “Have a plan before you act” key eight-ball concept should include many of the following questions and, hopefully, your answers:
• Can I run this rack or will I need to play a safety?
• Does the eight ball have a pocket that it can be shot into?
• Is there a ‘foolproof’ key ball to get position on the eight?
• How can I get my problem areas taken care of as soon as possible?
• Are there any problem clusters or hard to get on balls that I need to address?
• Does my opponent have a tough table in case I miss a risky shot early in my run or am I done for if I miss?
• If the table is open, which suit presents an easier run-out?
• What is the proper order (pattern) to run to run the balls out?

Eight ball done right can be an elegant tango, gliding through racks deftly. Or it can be a mosh pit of aggression and muscle. Evaluate every rack to determine what type of dancing shoes to wear. If you are patient, open-minded, and practice your steps, you’ll be dancing through racks in no time.

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Why does it seem like I play worse in the summer?

Posted on 01. Jan, 2008 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Billiard Coach Answer:
Table conditions…due to the weather

Humidity! One challenging aspect of cue sports is coping with the weather. Sure, it sounds strange that an indoor activity like pocket billiards has anything to do with the outside climate, but changes in the weather can have dramatic affects on the way we must play our game.

In the summer in the Midwest, we can have a high relative humidity. An outdoor temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit may sound great, but not if the relative humidity is 80 percent. That is sticky, uncomfortable weather for humans. The pool rooms do their best to run air conditioning units to keep the pool room air cool and comfortable, but even so, the moisture in the air is many times greater than it would be in the middle of winter.

You may know that cooling moist summer air will cause water to condense on the air conditioning units and need to be drained away. This is because the air is cooled to a lower temperature that its dew point and the excess water is removed. The air does however retain moisture. In contrast, warming winter air which is already dry raises its dew point and actually feels dryer than unconditioned air. This will cause evaporation which is why your skin feels dryer in the winter and may need lotion.

What does this mean to a pool player? Pool table cloth such as Simonis has a very high wool content which has a great affinity to moisture. In the humid summer months, cloth can feel wet and slow because it’s holding onto moisture grabbed from the air. You may have the sensation while racking the balls that the wood rack is difficult to push along the cloth. It may feel sticky just as a t-shirt sticks to a sweaty body. In the winter, the dry, heated air will draw moisture out of the pool cloth.

These ‘wet’ table conditions in the summer play havoc with our pool game. The tables play slower and stingier. You must stroke the cue ball a little harder and with more spin on a wet table to accomplish the same action as you would on a dry table. The rolling balls have more friction because of the water trapped in the bed cloth. They also drag more on the cushions they rub before going into the pocket. This is why you must shoot balls more accurately in the summer. It is much the same as new slick cloth versus year old worn and dirty cloth. It is always easier to ‘slip’ in a shot on brand new cloth if you brush the rail before it goes into the pocket. Dry cloth is much like slick new cloth and moist cloth behaves more like dirty, worn cloth.

Moral of the story: Don’t expect to play quite as well on a steamy summer pool session. You may be dealing with difficult table conditions. Be aware of the extra demands for accuracy and stroke, and play the game as well as the conditions allow.

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