Welcome to Spidey's Place!

Well, everyone seems to have their own blog nowadays, so I thought I was missing-out by not sharing my private life with everyone. I thought long and hard about what I wanted this blog to be. After much thought, I came to the conclusion that I could care less if this blog turns out to be anything more than my personal uncensored ramblings about pool and life in general.

Over the years, I've been BLESSED by meeting some of the smartest minds in pool. Unlike some others, I've never taken the traditional path in improving my pool game. The "hit a million balls" theory sucks and it's horseshit. Sadly, hitting a million balls may not make you a player unless you have the visual acuity and coordination to apply the knowledge that each missed shot provides. If hitting a million balls would get you there, we'd have TENS OF THOUSANDS of pro-tour caliber players. We don't. Ain't that something?

One day, after smoking a cigarette and wondering why I wasn't getting to the next level after fifteen years of solid playing --- it came to me. Some days I "felt" the shot going in and some days I didn't. I realized that my perception of shots shifted from one day to the next. With this, I also found that when I aligned my body and aimed - it was an educated guess (albeit a good one). Sometimes it was good enough to pocket the ball and run out, and sometimes it wasn't.

I watched guys like Francisco Bustamante and wondered, "Why the hell does this guy address the cue ball to the left on every shot instead of CENTER!?" Logically speaking, why would anyone NOT address the cue ball at center? Yet, the guy almost never misses. I then realized there's a lot more to this game than what I knew and more existed than what was being told.

Some people like to be spoon-fed information while others go and find it. Fortunately for me, I'm one who gets the info - even if it takes me a year to get it. This blog will hopefully shed some light on alternative ways of playing pool. I'll stop short of saying "this stuff is the only way to play pool" - because it's not. It's the best way, for sure. But, not the only way :)

Over time, I'm going to post information about pivot aiming. Forget aiming as being a linear process. In my opinion, aiming the cue ball down a line to a "contact point" might be the most ridiculous things ever taught in pool. In fact, I like to call it "bad information" because there are far too many variables to ever master (for most normal people). The secret to improvement is gross simplification - and that's what this blog is about.