“Point The Way” Review

By Ernie Reynolds

I love the game of pool and have played for most of my life. I learned early on that pool is, in large part, a mental game. What I mean is, after you have played for a year or two and can put the balls where you want them, progressing to a higher level is largely a matter of getting your head together.

We can all make some nice shots once in a while. However, the great players can make these shots regularly and with consistency. They have trained their mind to concentrate only on the game at hand and block out all the extraneous distractions.

I read a good book recently that really puts these ideas into perspective in a big way.

“Point The Way”, by Tim “The Monk” Miller delves deeply into the mental aspects of the game of pool and billiards. He has taken a spiritual view of the game and its impact on a person’s life and attitudes. This is no “how to make a bank shot” fluff, this is a heavy-duty “why can’t I shoot consistently” mental tune-up.

The Monk has taken the game of pool apart and investigated why we sometimes miss easy shots, choke up when we play certain types of people, get nervous when we get to the 8-ball, and many of the myriad of trials and tribulations that can happen to us at the pool table. He explains that there are three main elements to playing pool - performance, learning, and social fellowship. To get the most out of the game, we naturally want to experience all three.

In addition to advice on improving our mental control and attitude, the book of course contains chapters on the fundamentals of the game, the variety of shots that are necessary for an all-around competent shooter, strategies for maximizing your practice and training, and even advice on preparing for local pool tournaments. There are many anecdotes to illustrate the various concepts.

One concept that I especially enjoyed was the section on the “Id” - that little voice in your head that sometimes talks you out of playing to your best potential. Another was the mental games you can play on your opponents to gain an advantage on the table and walk out with money in your pockets instead of going home broke. The Monk relates some of his many interesting experiences along these lines.

I had seen The Monk mentioned on the web before and wondered about the origin of his nickname. It seems he led a spiritual life for some years before getting into pool and was actually some type of religious monk. He has taken this inner spirituality and made deep studies of the “how’s” and “why’s” of our performance or lack of performance on the pool table. It makes for some very interesting reading.

If you find yourself struggling with the ability to play consistently solid pool like I did for years, the problem may lie with your mental game. Once you get into your head and straighten out all the attitude and emotional issues, you may find that you have stepped up your pool game to a much higher level. I have experienced this in recent years, and this book will certainly help me to achieve even greater consistency to my game in the future.

“Point The Way” is not your average, run-of-the-mill pool book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to improve that aspect of pool playing that many of us overlook - “the game within”.