Many players believe that they get bad rolls, or that certain situations
develop on the playing surface of the table that keep them from running out. I
believe that the reasons we fail to run the rack is mainly due to bad habits
that we have developed over time. I believe that there are 10 bad habits that we
have all had at one time or another, and that we utilize these habits
subconsciously, either out of desperation or by necessity. Bad habits are the
result of poor decisions. They are also the result of laziness. We find the
easier, softer way, and avoid progress at all costs. These habits root
themselves into the deepest and most difficult to reach parts of your game,
making it seem nearly impossible to ever alleviate the symptoms and deal with
the problems head on. No situation is impossible. No situation is helpless. When
faced with problems such as this, we shouldn't stay in helplessness, Instead of
saying, "I can't because," train your mind to say "Well, how CAN I?" Along with
identifying these bad habits, I will pass along to you 10 good habits that can
and will enable you to run out the rack! Remember, we don't have bad habits,
they have us! BUT.... we can replace the negative habits with positive ones, and
become trapped into doing the right thing, all of the time!
Bad Habit #1: A display of power on the break.
This is the downfall of many a player. Throughout this book you will here me
say time and time again, "Never sacrifice ACCURACY for POWER." All of us want to
make a few balls on the break, but the reality is that as long as you make "a"
ball, you get to keep shooting. There's no rule out there that says you need to
make two or three balls on the break, just one will suffice. The other reality
is, that to accomplish this, you don't have to blast the rack to smithereens.
Why?
Bad things happen when you break the balls too hard. More times than not, the
cue ball either flies off of the table, or the cue ball flies into a pocket.
This does nothing to help you, as your opponent will more than likely have a
wide open table and ball in hand. Not a good thing from where you're sitting.
