The Many uses of a Towel

Experience has taught me to be prepared for anything that is possible to happen during a pool match. One of the many tools that I make a habit of bringing to my matches is a towel. I often bring two towels. One that is soft, to wipe my face and neck with. And another that has no threads or possibility of leaving anything on the playing surface, to clean the Pool Table with. You can purchase that latter towel at most large grocery stores or Walmart. They are the popular choice for drying dishes with. Let’s refer to that towel as the Tea towel.

I bring a soft towel to wipe my face and neck with if I am getting a little hot because of the room temperature or anxiety. Sometimes I bring that towel with me to the washroom and soak it with cold water to wash my face with. Most pool rooms don’t have towels for you and paper towels don’t feel as good on the skin as cloth does. This often cools my body temperature down and helps me feel better. Being cooler and more comfortable can assist me in making better decisions. Sometimes when I am sitting in my chair and need a little “alone time”, or I am just a little too emotional, I will close my eyes and cover my face with my cool/damp soft towel for a few seconds or maybe as long as a minute. This only happens on very rare but important occasions. However, it can be just enough to help me re-focus, find my confidence, my desire, and my inner power. Then I can get back to being the best me again.

A Tea Towel can be important to you in many situations during a pool match. You can wipe your cue butt and hands if your hands are little sweaty. You can clean the cue ball and/or other balls if they are too dirty. This will assist in preventing a skid from happening and help the balls roll and react the way they should for best control. You can apply Q Slick or whatever polish you might have to your towel. Then use the treated part of the towel to polish your cue shaft or pool balls. Sometimes the table cloth is very dirty and that can make it difficult to control the balls properly. Soak the tea towel with hot or warm water. Then wring out the water until the cloth is just very damp. Use this cloth to wash the table cloth clean. Do not use a cloth that can peel and leave threads on the playing surface, or is soaking wet. In fact this is definitely the very best way to clean a pool table that has worsted cloth, like Simonis or Championship. Don’t do this on a Snooker table or table with lots of nap. I recommend that you get your opponents approval before doing anything with the balls or cloth.

Being prepared is always a matter of choice. I have found that many people seldom or never prepare, but these are often the same people that complain about the conditions, or anything else that they can find to complain about. Others, are forward thinkers, and are interested in exploring possibilities and transcending the status quo. Those are the players who have the potential to reach their personal goals in their pool playing future.

Enjoy the Process!

Paul Potier

A Road to Snooker Excellence

In the 1980’s I played a lot of Snooker. I was tired of always losing to the same guys that gave me 20 or 30 point spot and won my rent money. So I decided to change how I spent most of my time on the snooker table. I am about to share with you some of those things! First I started playing matches against myself. I would give my left hand a 50 point spot and play my right hand against my left hand. At first my left hand didn’t have a chance and it always felt awkward to shoot. I had a hard time just making a ball for a while. But after a few months my left hand was running 30 and 40 points fairly regularly and eventually I had my highest left handed run of 88 points.

Although that is a success story in itself the real improvement was in my confidence and patience. In fact every time I would change from left handed to right handed I would get this wonderful feeling of power, almost as if I became Superman with the transition. So as my left handed shooting got much better so did my right.

Another thing that I changed was the type of drills that I would do. For many years the main snooker drill that I spent time on was the line drill. But I realized that the most important part of the game, especially in close games, was the end game when the reds were all gone and we were just shooting the colored balls. So I designed my own drill. It was a progressive drill. I would put all the colours on their spots and take ball in hand anywhere I want.

 From that position I would try to run out the colours in order. If I missed any ball I would start over again. After succeeding in running all the colours I would respot all the coloured balls and add a red ball. I could put the red ball wherever I wanted but I generally put it near the black ball. Then I would put the cue ball wherever I wanted (ball in hand) and shoot the red, then a colour, then all the colours in their respective order. If I missed I would re-spot all the colours and the red ball and try again until I was successful. Once I successfully ran out from the one red and the colours I would place 2 red balls and do the same. Then 3, then 4, etc. BTW I only took ball in hand for the first shot of any run-out, all other shots were from playing position from the ball before it.

Within months of starting these new and different ways of spending time on the Snooker table my game elevated extremely fast and high. Of course these two new ways to practice were not the only changes that I made but they were a significant reason for my improvement. I was starting to win matches that I would never win in the past. My road to Snooker excellence was on a fast track and continued that way right through my pool years as well. And yes, I did win all my rent money and more back off of the same guys that used to give me 20-30 point spot. In fact they seemed in denial about the new me and it took a long time before they stopped playing me altogether.
I hope you find this article helpful in your own search for excellence!

Enjoy the Process!

Paul Potier www.paulpotier.com