So a couple of days after I decided to practice only banks I found out that I'll be visiting Seattle. Since I don't really want to get there with no clue at all about how to play 9-ball or 8-ball I figure I'll have to practice making balls straight in until after I get back.

It's official - I suck at everything but banks.

There seems to be, at least for me, a completely different mindset involved. In bank pool the only target is the object ball. By that I mean I don't aim to have the object ball hit the rail at a certain point. It's all about the object ball and how much of it I hit. This approach works very well for banking but it leaves me woefully unprepared to shoot a regular shot.

Another thing I've completely forgotten is how to make very thin cuts. In banks the only very thin cuts are crossing banks and again, I'm only paying attention to the thinness of the hit. Having to cut the ball very thinly AND send it directly towards a target is an ability I've lost somewhere along the line.

Basically, in banks, the entire shot is a guess. You have to rely on your instincts to make the shot, and you can pretty much expect to miss about half the time. In regular pool, missing half the time is just not acceptable, and I have to decide whether I should try to hone my instincts for those shots or play a more calculating style.

I'm sure I'll post something about how I do playing my friends in Seattle, but for the record I'll predict that I'll get my ass kicked by the same people that used to have no chance against me.

Now if I can talk them into playing any banks, that will be a different story. Probably not a very fair one though.