Earl Strickland & Johnny Archer pool-school review

Although I did quite well in school as a kid, I was never a good
student, i.e., 'good' as in quietly accepting everything the
teachers served us. This might also relate to my distaste I had
for authorities at the time -- whether it was my teachers,
parents, police, or any "high-horse" person that tried to imposed
things on me -- I had a hard time conforming and taking orders.

Well, back then, my billiards/pool instructors also had a hard
time making me do their exercises. To me it felt too militant as
they forced us kids to practice 3-cushion, snooker, straight
pool, and also rented a gym every Friday night for the obligatory
workout -- the idea was to get us in shape for the long
tournaments. The instructions were so fierce that many of us
just lost that fun factor of playing, and gave up -- including
myself. (However, my buddy somehow stuck with it, and won the
2007 team nationals, so I guess our instructors knew what they
were doing.)

So, fast forward to present time, now living on a different
continent and in very different times and circumstances. I'm a
bit older but not necessarily much wiser, so I've again picked up
this silly sport... and again let it consume my life. Hence, I
would jump on any chance to improve my game, which, admittedly,
hasn't improved too much since I was a kid. So when a
once-in-a-lifetime super master pool school was offered,
instructed by none other than two world champions, Earl
Strickland and Johnny Archer, there was NO WAY I would pass on
it.

My concern wasn't as much the cost of the class or how far I had
to travel, but more about how much one-on-one time I would
possibly get with Earl and Archer. But when the organizer, Mark
Cantrill, more or less assured me that there wouldn't be more
than 5-10 students, I instantly packed the cue and hopped in my
roadster to head towards Phoenix Arizona.

The next day, at noon, Tuesday the 22nd, after 12 hours of
driving, I stepped into Kolby's Corner Pocket in Tempe. Johnny
Archer was already there, drinking beer (well, root beer). As
soon as Mark introduced me, a pregnant conversation emerged
between Archer and I. Right away I could feel that this day was
gonna be a great experience -- Archer being very friendly and
down to earth.

Not long after, Mr. Larger Than Life -- Earl Strickland -- walks
in, just like a rockstar. Right away he attracts all attention
from everyone inside the poolhall. Earl didn't wait long before
unpacking his funky cue (sporting tennis racket wrap), taping his
fingers and starting to warmup/perform on the front table.
Unfortunately it didn't take long until someone made fun of him
miscuing, and Earl blew up: "I did not fly across the country
just to get heckled." Great, just fucking great -- even before
the class had started, someone had to set Earl off in a tirade.
Luckily that person wasn't part of the school, as I first feared.

When the class started, the final tally of students was only 6.
Just then I was thinking about all the pool-players in this area
who must have heard about the event, but yet chose to stay
home... were they all idiots..?!

Anyways, the six of us got divided into two classes, three in
each. My fellow pupils were Little John and Garrick. The three
of us started off with Earl as our instructor. The other three
had Archer. Two tables for each group.

The first thing Earl did was examine our "equipment", and sure
enough he found my cue quite curious. For some reason, I decided
to bring my 10mm John Parris snooker cue. Anyone who knows me
also knows that I have no filter between my little brain and my
big mouth. This, combined with a spontaneous mindset, have put
me in quite a few ignominious situations. And this day was no
different, as I rhetorically asked Earl why he hates us
Europeans. Well, I might be exaggerating a bit, but it felt like
everyone around me suddenly shied away, anticipating Earl
punching my teeth out. But instead of taking aim at me, he said
"I don't know how you folks can play with those toothpicks, so
where in Europe are you from?" As I was getting ready to duck, I
told him that I'm a Norwegian. Earl cracked a smile and then
told a funny story (at the expense of us Norwegians of course)
about when he once played in Oslo. It was hilarious, and also a
very good icebreaker. From there on I could tell that he was in
a very good mood. Actually, the entire time, Earl was very
helpful and patient.

After talking a bit about cues, including pitching his custom
made cue, Earl wanted to see each of us shoot a rack so he could
determine what speed we played at. First up was Little John who
ran that rack like a pro. Next was Garrick who also played as a
champ. As I watched them run the balls with ease, knowing that I
was up next, I couldn't help feeling like it was my first day in
school as a kid -- waiting for my turn to stand up and tell who I
am -- something that always gave me the shakes. And sure enough,
when my turn was up, I played like a Chihuahua in a blizzard.

Among the shot exercises Earl showed us were a fairly
straightforward cut & throw shots for position. However, it was
interesting to discover that you couldn't actually see where
Earl's tip hit the cueball -- as he always seems to aim dead
center but at the very moment the shot is fired, he applies the
english. It baffled me to a point where he let me stick my head
in between his arm and body to watch it really close up. Yet,
after repeating several monster stun shots, even from this angle,
it was impossible to figure out where the cue actually hit the
cueball. It didn't help much that Earl couldn't really explain
this either.

To me, the highlight of Earl's session was his pattern play
instructions, as this gave me some new ideas on how to run a
table. Having a world champion talking you through a rack as you
shoot is certainly inspiring.

At one point Earl set up a very tight cut shot, carefully marked
with chalk. The purpose was to show that the only way to pocket
a cut shot like this was to apply outside english. After trying
to make the shot, over and over again, Earl concluded that he
must have set it up too tight. Well, I started to argue that it
would perhaps be easier (and more precise) to use no english but
just focus on hitting it as thin as possible and hard. My fellow
student Garrick agreed. But when Earl insisted that there was no
way to make this shot without outside english, to his dismay I
stepped up and made the shot, with no english at all (and with my
gnarly European snooker cue I may add). Earl wasn't too happy.

This led to a discussion on what would be the safest way to
pocket a long cut shot when no position play was required. I
would think a natural roll (e.g. center follow) would be the best
shot. Earl emphatically disagreed, telling us that we should
always put outside english with some draw on all long cut shots.
Just as for the previous thin cut shot that he missed, I again
argued that the more english you apply to a shot, the more
factors are introduced that you somehow have to contend with.
Whether it's squirt, throw, or swerve, those factors will also be
compounded by, for example, different table cloths, or from one
set of balls to another, etc. Earl, who actually complained
quite a bit that the balls we used were too light, completely
dismissed my reasoning and insisted that we should ALWAYS use
english.

As an instructor, Earl isn't very analytical but rather
intuitive. This is perhaps why I think the combination of Earl
and Archer worked quite well, especially since Archer's approach
is very systematic and precise -- i.e, very different from Earl.
The only problem arose when there was some "de-learning" from one
instructor to next.

The first thing Archer corrected was the high finger-tip bridge
that Earl taught us. He also adjusted the stance and shortened
my bridge.

Archer is what I would call a good traditional instructor, being
very perceptive to the different needs each student has. Archer
was also more open to discussion and very responsive to my
(often) inane questions -- not only answering, but often
rebutting me by setting up other scenarios related to my initial
question. Very helpful and comprehensive. Besides, he's a funny
fellow -- very easy to get along with. For instance, in the
midst of watching me repeat some draw/position shots, he walked
up and smacked my bridge hand with his cue. Apparently, I forgot
what he had earlier showed me -- how important it is to keep my
palm firmly planted on the table.

Another thing Archer helped me correct, was that I often looked
around the table while already being set up to shoot. This urged
him to talk in length about how important it is to prepare your
shot and make all decisions standing up. Don't bend down until
you are completely ready to shoot, and if any doubt arises, you
should stand up again and rethink -- never recalculate or adjust
while in shooting position. He also illustrated this by
chalk-marking his bridge hand for a left-english shot, and then
marked the same shot for right-english. To no surprise, the
discrepancy between the bridge-hand positions was staggering.

During last portion of Archer's session, he had us pick any game
of our choice and play one rack with him as he would tell us his
thought-process while shooting. Since the tables had very wide
pockets, I knew I could run an 8-ball rack on him, so I opted to
lag for the break, that I won, which then set me up for a slow
2nd ball break shot. So here I've been driving 1,600 miles to
get lessons from the greatest of the greatest, and when I finally
got to show off my 8-ball game, on the break I smacked the
cueball straight off the rack into the corner pocket. Yeah, nice
going there, Peer. So it was Archer who instead got to run the
table -- oh well -- hell. As soon as the ridicule had subsided,
I instead persuaded Earl to make a video of us playing for his
cue (as we had spoken about earlier that day). At first he
agreed, but as I was getting my camera ready, he chickened out.
He told me that I could still buy the cue and make a video of him
while signing it, but he didn't wanna risk a video of me beating
him in a one-rack 8-ball game. No pacifier was thrown.

Although I could have easily written a short novel about this
day, I think I'll bag it here. The omitted stuff we talked about
during the class were mostly interwoven anecdotes from the
Mosconi Cup, jump shots vs kick shots, Earl hand pressing his
Elkmasters, etc, etc. Even though some of the
drills/instructions were less spectacular, I must emphasize that
all-in-all it was a very inspiring event that I will most likely
carry with me for the rest of my life. Many thanks to Earl and
Archer for being so classy to do this, and special kudos to Mark
Cantrill for arranging it all -- I wouldn't mind a rinse and
repeat. (Btw, hope your wife likes the wine.) It was also fun
meeting Jay Helfert (oh man you are old... you must be like... 50
or something..? just teasing ;^)

Other than that, here are a few things that I also learned from
this trip:

When my speedometer shows 148 mph, the GPS indicates that it's
only 142 mph.

An excessive amount of Starbucks ice-coffee can save me some
motel overnighting.

Sushi tastes best when shared with a hot Asian pool player.

-- peer

In article <Pine.LNX.4.64.0804270901510.13454@ccrma-gate.stanford.edu>,
[email]NO-NO-SPAAMpeer@ccrma.stanford.edu[/email] says...
> Don't bend down until
> you are completely ready to shoot, and if any doubt arises, you
> should stand up again and rethink -- never recalculate or adjust
> while in shooting position. He also illustrated this by
> chalk-marking his bridge hand for a left-english shot, and then
> marked the same shot for right-english. To no surprise, the
> discrepancy between the bridge-hand positions was staggering.

Thanks for sharing all of this. Not sure what you are trying to say
with this part though.

John Black
** Posted from [url]http://www.teranews.com[/url] **

"John Black" <jblack@texas.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.227e7ebfbdafa6f1989a2e@free.teranews.com. ..
> In article <Pine.LNX.4.64.0804270901510.13454@ccrma-gate.stanford.edu>,
> [email]NO-NO-SPAAMpeer@ccrma.stanford.edu[/email] says...
>> Don't bend down until
>> you are completely ready to shoot, and if any doubt arises, you
>> should stand up again and rethink -- never recalculate or adjust
>> while in shooting position. He also illustrated this by
>> chalk-marking his bridge hand for a left-english shot, and then
>> marked the same shot for right-english. To no surprise, the
>> discrepancy between the bridge-hand positions was staggering.
>
> Thanks for sharing all of this. Not sure what you are trying to say
> with this part though.

I'm trying to figure out the "I played like a Chihuahua in a blizzard."
part, myself.
a good post though.

John Black wrote:
> In article <Pine.LNX.4.64.0804270901510.13454@ccrma-gate.stanford.edu>,
> [email]NO-NO-SPAAMpeer@ccrma.stanford.edu[/email] says...
>> Don't bend down until
>> you are completely ready to shoot, and if any doubt arises, you
>> should stand up again and rethink -- never recalculate or adjust
>> while in shooting position. He also illustrated this by
>> chalk-marking his bridge hand for a left-english shot, and then
>> marked the same shot for right-english. To no surprise, the
>> discrepancy between the bridge-hand positions was staggering.
>
> Thanks for sharing all of this. Not sure what you are trying to say
> with this part though.

I'm guessing that if you get down, ready to shoot, then aim at the cue
ball with whatever english you plan on applying, you're already too late
as you should have calculated that standing up and lined up
appropriately. I think.

Thanks for the review, Peer. I note that you're with the Centre for
Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, which makes one more physical
/ computer scientist on this group. I bet those fancy-pants web-based
pool sites don't have our fraction of Ph.D. scientists ;-) Not that I'm
one, I gotta admit.

Dean <-- plays like a Chihuahua in a blizzard all the time