I'm working a new page.

I'll call it "Eye Openers" and on it I'll put shots (mostly banks at first) that were shown or taught to me that truly surprised me when I saw them.

I've got some movies made for four of them and hope to have the new page and the movies available tomorrow.

Just a follow-up to the last fascinating entry.

LoL, sorry, I ment a rack of 9-ball at your movies page!

A rack of 9-Ball would be pretty boring I think.

Now if I can ever capture myself stringing several racks together, and then somehow compress the movie down to a reasonable size, I'd definitely publish that.

Of course before that can happen I have to actually (a)not suck, (b)turn my stupid camera on, and (c)be fully-dressed.

Got this message via my form thing on my main page:

Ey dude nice site maby you should put a movie of you running a rack up here I would love that

I'm not sure what the suggestion is.

Just a quick update to remind myself of something.

Hey Dipshit, if your game is a little off, and shifting your weight and/or varying your pace hasn't worked, try raising your stupid head a little.

Just a couple of inches could provide the visibility and alignment you're lacking.

Just a quick note to myself to remember to try varying the number of practice strokes I take on those occasions when things feel a little "off" but I can't pin the blame on anything specific about my style.

Preliminary testing indicates that changing my rhythm can have a profound effect on my play.

I'll probably write more on this topic once it becomes more clear in my head.

I just can't stop.

About every 30 minutes or so I just have to go downstairs and shoot some balls.

They just keep going in the holes, and I really look like I know what I'm doing.

This is so much fun!

The other day when I went into my little mini-slump and then pulled myself out of it I had no idea how I did it.

Last night it happened again, and this time I paid attention.

What I did, and I know that this sounds really stupid and simple, is make a slight adjustment to my weight distribution.

Specifically I'm now leaning a bit forward instead of being balanced equally on both feet.

I don't know why, but this slight change works wonders with this NewOrleansJoey style that I've been using.

I blame this on a couple of things.

First, I didn't even play any pool for several days. I was too busy with things like my site redesign.

Second, I went bowling on Saturday.

I think the combination of a lack of steady practice and a little muscle fatigue in my right arm must have done something.

Sunday and Monday I sucked.

Tonight I managed to fight the panic welling up inside me - the feeling that I'd fallen into another of my multi-year slumps - and brought my game back to where it's been for the past few days (weeks? I don't even know).

I'm not sure exactly what I did. I guess I just kept trying to keep the same NewOrleansJoey style I've been using. Eventually it worked.

Two things amaze me about my little mini-slump.

I cannot believe how quickly it came, then after a couple of days, how quickly it went away.

It was seriously like flipping a switch.

What also amazes me is the incredible contrast between SlumpingDave and ShootingDave. I mean, for the past two days I'd go ten shots in a row without making a ball, then tonight all of a sudden I ran four racks.

It's truly like two different people.

My money's on the one that runs racks.

For the past couple of days I've caught myself several times altering my stroke when practicing banks.

Instead of the smooth even practice strokes continuing on to a smooth even actual stroke, I've been kind of jerking that last stroke.

Why have I been doing this?

First, because it's the way I was shooting nearly all last year and most of my subconscious banking systems are well-suited for that stroke.

Second, because it's a hell of a lot of fun when the banks go in with high regularity.

I try to keep myself reigned in though. I remember all too well how using a bank stroke that didn't translate to regular pool completely killed my regular games.

Whenever I catch myself straying from the compromising style I've been trying to perfect I immediately switch to 9-Ball or One-Pocket for a while to get everything back where it should be.

Racks of 9-Ball are falling like dominoes, but the banks suffer quite a bit.

I just have to keep at it and eventually I should be able to stick with one style that works equally well for all shots.

As I've mentioned before I occasionally do a search for "barenada" on the various pool message boards and newsgroups, just to see what's out there. Along with general comments and feedback about the site I've noticed that the comments about ME have become more numerous. These more personal comments nearly always fall into one of three distinct genres which can be paraphrased as follows:

Fan: Wow this guy is great! He must be the best banker in the world! Man I wish I could shoot like that!

Detractor: Dave sucks. Any pro/top player/road player would tear him apart.

Females: Wow that guy is hot. And he likes cats. I must have him now.

The truth about my play lies, as it does for the incredible majority of players, somewhere in the middle of the listed extremes - and actually a lot closer to the "sucks" end of the spectrum than to the "great" end.

I've got a records page up, and on it I clearly state that those are my personal bests - not my averages.

I've got a movies page up, and while I don't specifically state it (It really should be obvious) many of those shots and runs took quite a few attempts before I got them taped. I wish I could walk downstairs and bank nine whenever I felt like it, but wishing doesn't make the balls go in.

I got an email this morning from a guy asking me why I don't turn pro. I though I'd answer him here. There are several reasons:

First, I'm not good enough. That's the sad truth. The sadder truth is that I may never be good enough. I've learned to deal with that fact, as have thousands of other players before me.

Second, there's no money in it. I'm just guessing here, but I'd venture that maybe a half-dozen men pros make more than I make at my regular job - and most of what they make is probably from endorsements. Many more make a lot of their money from gambling. Since I don't enjoy gambling, unless I could manage to be one of the six best players in the world (not bloody likely) then I'd be taking a big pay cut and would probably end up living in my sister's garage or something.

Third, all of the traveling would surely get old very quickly.

I've got my records and my movies on the Internet not because I want people to think I should turn pro. I've got them there to show that even a dweeb like me can do some good things every now and then. I couldn't bank a ball to save my life a few years ago. Now I can bank a ball, and sometimes more than one. If I can learn to be a decent banker, as I learned to be a decent 8-Ball and 9-Ball player before that, then anyone can.