Phil Capelle, lovable as he is, is like a guy with adult ADD running around the table trying to teach us to play a very refined, elegant, small-motor-skills game based largely on the laws of physics. On any given page there is a box with several quotes (never just one) from Goethe to Yogi Berra to inspire us. Then there is the bold title of the topic and a paragraph or two about maintaining a consistent stroke, for example, alongside of which are several annoying cartoon contrivances of canon balls and light bulbs flashing to make us even more aware of the importance of this particular paragraph; and then another obtrusive gray box with "Capelle's Laws for Pool" and finally a chart to graphically illustrate the progress of consistency. Imagine trying to listen to Goethe, Yogi AND Phil with all those light bulbs and canons going off all the time. It's too much! I'm surprised he doesn't recommend Bach, Stravinski, Scott Joplin, Frank Sinatra, Mozart and Montovani for background music.
By the time I got to chapter eleven I was too exhausted from digesting the wisdom of Confucius, Aristotle, Goethe and Yogi to notice that Mr. Capelle was finally indulging in some very insightful observations about the "mental game." The thing is, Phil Capelle has developed redundancy to a high art, even repeating some sentences verbatim (P135 and P139). Experienced player that he is Phil comes back again and again to the basic fact that the "mental game" is inextricably tied to the physical game; thorough practice, good health, love of small motions and an unshakeable shooting routine will just about take care of the mental game. Neither Phil Capelle nor Bob Fancher attempt to go into the Cimmerian recesses of our minds to try to analyze "mental game" problems stemming from childhood abuse, divorce, intellectual insecurity, failed relationships, job loss, Viet Nam, the stock market and so forth; all of which have deleterious effects on our game. I think Phil Capelle and Bob Fancher should collaborate on just such a book.
As an insatiable information-gatherer and drill-meister I would say keep practicing the "circle drill" and the "L" drill and every other drill you can think of…then study Dr. Fancher's book. Try to get a copy of Phil's book for half price. I wouldn't recommend paying any more than five bucks for Max Eberle's little pamphlet even though it does have a few good basic tips for the technical game.
The ineluctable fact remains; good pool comes ONLY from practice. Remember the old story about the guy who asks Arthur Rubenstein how to get to Carnegie Hall and Rubenstein says, "Practice, practice, practice". You can be Buddha himself but if you aren't practicing six or eight hours a day you are never going to shoot great pool, much less experience Nirvana, AKA "dead stroke. There are no shortcuts to pool just as there are no shortcuts to learning to play a Mozart sonata. It is human nature to want to think there are magic formulae, secrets and shortcuts but there ain't. I tried that with chess years ago and it doesn't work.
If you are an intermediate player anxious to improve and you want to buy a couple more pool books, I suggest the following as invaluable sources of cueist knowledge: Capelle, Play Your Best Pool, Kanov and Stauch, Precision Pool and Pool Players Edge. As a break from the technical aspects of pool I strongly recommend David Mccumber's Off The Rail. Another book from which I have learned a great deal is Ron Schneider's The Best Damn Pool Instruction Book, Period. I still go back through Ray Martin's famous 99 Critical Shots once a year. A book I keep in the bathroom is George Fels's How Would You Play This? Finally, I think Robert Byrne has a great deal to teach us about this game and his Complete Book of Pool Shots is a daunting compilation of about two hundred more key shots Ray Martin forgot to mention in his seminal treatise. I mean, if you can master all the drills and all the shots and all the strategies in these half a dozen books you won't ever have to worry about your "mental game"… guaranteed. I'm gonna go back to the 5x10 Gold Crown and put the nine on the spot and whitey on the far end rail. Hasta la vista.
Thanks, Arthur, for a superlative contribution to this About.com GuideSite. Readers, keep those thoughts, questions and reviews coming in!
