Billiard Coach – Mike Fieldhammer

Samsara Cues Shop Tour Part 2

Posted on 22. Jan, 2013 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Here’s another video of the Samsara Cue shop in Rugby, ND.

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Fargo, Rugby, and Snooker Coming Up

Posted on 11. Jan, 2013 by Mike Fieldhammer.

There’s a busy week ahead. I’m leaving to Fargo Billiards & Gastropub this afternoon for their big tournament. Then on to Samsara Cues for some work next week. On top of all that, The Masters snooker tournament begins on Sunday and goes through January 20. Huzzah!

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Appearance Counts: Look and Feel Good for Success

Posted on 02. Jan, 2012 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Tip #2/31 for January, 2012.

The data has been crunched and verified. First impressions matter. Humans make subconscious decisions within seconds of meeting a new person. Your appearance and the way you carry yourself will affect your opponent. Arriving for an important match looking and feeling like a winner makes a difference. Small things like this can add up to cause an opponent to doubt their chances of winning against you. Your air and attitude portrays a confident and prepared persona. Professionalism. Think Ralf Souquet. Every time he removes his tip protectors, he’s unsheathing his doomsday machine. “Der Pool Queue des Schicksals.” Opponents and spectators know he means to be victorious.

In order to win, you must believe you can win. On some level, telling yourself you can do it pushes the mind in the direction of kinda believing that you can. “Fake it till you make it!” One of the thinks that helps me is belief in my equipment. I feel more confident in my abilities when I have confidence and pride in my pool cue. The new tip you’ve seen me shape in yesterday’s post is for my old Samsara Cue. Last month after running the 13th Annual Northern Lights Shootout, I returned home with this beauty which was getting a new wrap and refinish.

"Clip, clip here, Clip, clip there, We give the roughest claws. That certain air of savoir faire, In the Merry Old Land of Oz!"

Well, getting this baby back last week was more emotional than I care to admit. I bought it five years ago and played with it for a couple of years. Then, I decided flying with it was too stressful. It sat at MSP unattended in the bottom of my duffel for a few hours when I didn’t make my connection in ATL. Well, my year of flipping through cues and shafts had taken a toll on my confidence and thus my performance. Now it is refinished, sporting a new wrap, and I couldn’t be happier.

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Happy New Year! Here’s a Tip.

Posted on 01. Jan, 2012 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Happy New Year!  Start your year with a tip. Or 31 of them. Once again, I’m attempting to blog every day in January to start the year off right. This year, resolve to play better pool and you’ll be rewarded by a sense of accomplishment and to quote a friend, “A chance to win tens and twenties of dollars!”

Happy New Year! Light Painting over my diamond. No photoshop trickery at all. Click for larger view.

Below is a video I shot on my Canon 5D Mark II in my kitchen. As you’ll see, I’ve already removed the old tip, cleaned and prepared the gluing surfaces, and glued on the new Black Heart tip. All that remains now is to trip and shape the tip.

This end of the pool cue is where the ‘rubber hits the road’ or in pool parlance, ‘The tip hits the cue ball’. Don’t forget to chalk. Don’t forget to keep your cue tip in ship shape. I’ll revisit the subject later this month.

I’m still looking for ideas for this month’s instructional tips. Please contact me or post something on the forums (anonymously even!) to help me complete this series of 31 articles.

Thanks,

Mike Fieldhammer

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