Ask Ginky – August ‘09
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| George “Ginky” SanSouci |
This is the first of what Pool Student’s Blog hopes is a regular monthly column. George SanSouci, better known as Ginky, has agreed to answer serious questions about the game of pool and how to get better at it. This is a great opportunity to ask a pro for advice on your most pressing problem, so don’t hold back. We are happy to receive your questions, and more than one is OK, though we reserve the right to pick and choose those that will have the biggest interest to our audience. We’ll use your name if you include it, or you can remain anonymous if you’d prefer, just let us know. Send your questions to John Biddle via the Contact Page. Remember, if you don’t ask any questions, don’t expect any answers!
Pool Student Question: For a person on a limited budget, who is serious about improving their game, how would you allocate the available budget across the following choices?
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One on One lessons with a good instructor
Group lessons with a house pro
Instructional books or videos
Videos of pro matches
More table time
Ginky’s Answer: I have always believed that lessons are a good investment. You can practice as much as you want, but you won’t get any better if you don’t realize your mistakes, and take steps to improve them. That’s why you always need someone who is more skilled than you are to give you some structural criticism, pointers, and drills for you to learn.
While practice makes perfect, you need someone to help you get to a higher level. Instructional books are good, but why pay to buy them when you have the internet; same goes for videos. Though purchasing DVDs is helpful at times, I would strongly suggest lessons first, pool time second, and the rest is optional.
You can practice as much as you want, but you won’t get any better if you don’t realize your mistakes.
Pool Student Question: I have a tendency to move or stand up just before I hit the ball. It seems the more I concentrate on not doing this the worse I get. Any ideas?
Ginky’s Answer: Video tape yourself playing. That way you can figure out why you’re doing this. Maybe it’s the way you’re holding your cue. If you can’t control it, take a few practice strokes before you go for your shot, that way you’re more likely to make it, even if you stand up right before you shoot. But it’s important you learn to control it.
Have a friend remind you when you’re at the table, but don’t forget to video yourself playing. That way, when you review the tape you will be more likely to remember next time. Also, take your time to evaluate the position of the balls on your first shot, therefore, you think ahead of time, and you’re less likely to stand up and look.
Pool Student Question: I’m an advanced beginner, with an APA rating of 4. I play 8 Ball in league, and it’s the only game I play. Should I stick to playing 8 Ball until I get better, or would spending some of my playing time on another game be more valuable? Which game(s) would you recommend?
Ginky’s Answer: Don’t just stick to 8 Ball, you should learn all the disciplines. The only way to try to master your particular choice of game is to practice all of them: Straight Pool, 9 Ball, 10 Ball, 8 Ball, One Pocket, Banks, Billiards, etc. I’ve learned all the disciplines and that’s what I believe has helped my overall game.
Don’t just stick to 8 Ball.
All these games have different strategies, so by learning them, you widen your horizons and it gives you the ability to have more options at the table. You don’t need to master all these disciplines, but it helps a lot. I always recommend my students learn a few different games. Straight pool for one is very important, one pocket and banks are a few I would definitely recommend you look into.
Pool Student Question: When the cue ball is within a foot of the object ball, I can draw back the length of the table, but when it’s further away my draw disappears. Help!
Ginky’s Answer: It’s all in your follow through. When the cue ball is close to the object ball and you follow through normally it’s like a long follow through. When the cue ball is further away you have to follow through longer to maintain the reverse on the cue ball.
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| Play to Win |
Pool Student Question: Can you recommend any good books on the mental game? Have you got any tips in this area?
Ginky’s Answer: Yes, buy Play to Win, by Larry and Hersch Wilson. This book has nothing specifically to do with pool, but its lessons about fear, and how to manage it, are excellent. Fear of change is what stops many from becoming better, and this book will help a lot.
Pool Student Question: I don’t like to gamble, I don’t even buy lottery tickets. I’ve been told by a number of good players, and I read it on numerous forums, to bet on games as a way to increase the pressure which will help my concentration and focus. Do you agree? For this purpose, is gambling better than playing in a league or playing in tournaments?
Ginky’s Answer: I don’t promote gambling, but unfortunately it’s necessary in this sport, because you’re not going to do things, knowing that if you lose you’re going to have to come out-of-pocket. That’s as opposed to playing in a league or tournament, where you’ve already invested the money and you can play more freely, knowing that you could only lose what you already put up. Which essentially is gambling. Try playing the lotto, buy a scratch off. Ha Ha.
Pool Student Question: I play about 10-12 hours/wk split over three days. I don’t enjoy doing drills, but I read repeatedly that I’ll get better at a faster rate if I do them regularly. Is that true? If so, how much of my precious table time should I devote to practice instead of to playing?
I’m not looking to go pro or anything, but I do want to go up a level in my league handicap.
It’s not the quantity of practice but the quality.
Ginky’s Answer: You should definitely practice before you compete. Don’t practice in competition. It’s not the quantity of practice but the quality. Drills help but they will only let you go so far. You need to work on your weaknesses for the most part. Play a game by yourself and try to run out. If you can’t, do it again, and again until you run a consistent amount of racks and you feel satisfied.
Pool Student Question: My instructor advises me to use center ball (high, low or stun, just no english) on at least 80% of my shots. Every good player I know uses english much more than 20% of the time. Who’s right?
Ginky’s Answer: Get a new instructor. Center ball doesn’t exist. 99% of the time when you think you’re hitting center ball, you’re not. You’re probably applying a little bit of left or a little bit of right english when you’re hitting the cue ball. Therefore when you think you’re hitting center you’re applying english and when you miss you wont be able to correct it because you thought you used center ball. So, you’re better off intentionally using a little bit of english so if you make a mistake, you know how to fix it.
Pool Student Question: How can I kill the cue ball on a cut shot into the rail? I always seem to hit these way too hard.
Ginky’s Answer: You can’t, because it’s a cut shot, and because its near the rail the cue ball is going to hit the rail immediately so you can’t kill it. You’re far better off going back and forth to obtain the position you want.
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3 Responses to “Ask Ginky – August ‘09”
jeffrey bartolo
- August 22nd, 2009
hi mr. San Souci,
does the q ball really deflect when appling english or is that a myth?
John Biddle
- August 23rd, 2009
Please submit new questions for Ginky via the Contact Page (link in upper right corner of every page). Let’s keep this comment section for discussion / disagreement / elaboration / etc. on the questions already asked and the answers Ginky provided. Thanks.
Pool Cues
- September 14th, 2009
As you know, different tips have different densities or levels of hardness ranging from soft to extra hard. At its most basic level, the softer the pool cue tip, the more likely it is to mushroom or flatten out with each hit of the cue ball. What this means is that a soft tip will require more maintenance than a harder tip.
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