The concept of playing pool is broken down into a handful set of skills. The very first thing that you need to acknowledge is the mental aspect of playing. When you come to the table you should either check your ego at the door or trust that you will do good and just have fun.
Next, you should pay attention watch for patterns and shots in previous sessions. This way you can learn angles and shots that work and don’t work.
Another useful skill is to know what shots you are / aren’t comfortable with. By practicing you can sharpen your skill, gain confidence and learn to apply speed and spin to your shots. Practice is very crucial, you can set up the same shot a couple of times and try different speeds and spins in order to observe. Overtime you’ll build up your muscle memory, shot library and experience in order to win games!
Why its important to know yours and your opponents comfort zones. The purpose of this is for you to be able to place shots which your opponent cant take. For example placing a shot that is right next to the cushion or maybe you notice they can’t hit far away shoots. This applies to pattern and shot recognition be sure to watch what shots you struggle with and work on those because it’s likely that you’re opponent might see your weakness and pray off them.
Converting your mistakes into a learning experience. Rather than trying to erase the memory and embarrassment of a bad shot, why not learn and try to make the next shot better?
It seems that sometimes people give up before the game is over, instead figure out what went wrong and don’t do it again. Pay attention to your set up, evaluate your shot, acknowledge your mental aspect and try something new.
Improvement comes with hours and hours of practice so be sure to understand your personal billiard goals and go from there starting with why do you play pool?