I have a friend that always seems to be content and at peace no matter how many negative things are going on in his life. I ask him the other day "how do you keep from complaining when things are going wrong, I know you have problems like everybody else."
He looked at me and said "I used to be a chronic complainer, I'd complain because I had to do laundry, clean house, fix my car, my job, my wife, etc....then one day I "real eyesed" that I'd never be able to stop complaining, it was just in my nature".
I was really surprised by his response "but you never complain, what do you mean when you say you could never stop - it appears you stopped?"
He smiled, "well, a friend told me how fortunate I was to have a full load of laundry, a house to clean, a car to drive, a job to pay my bills, and a wife to keep me company....... you see, he had none of those things and was living under a bridge in a cardboard box......and he told me he was grateful to have the bridge and the box....from that point on when my mind told me to complain, I told it how lucky we were to have something to complain about!" - 'The Game is the Teacher' www.cjwiley.com​

The body position getting down is described as "begin with the end in mind" (a Steven Covey quote) because you want to start out above the ball with your body parts in the same relative position as they will be in when you get down and shoot. 

Many people especially change their left arm angle too much and don't pre set their arm/wrist/shoulder angles properly, this means you have to create them on the way down or after you get down on the shot. 

This is infinitely more difficult to do in a consistent way....thus, if you start above the ball in the position you will be in while hitting the cue ball (or as close as YOU can get), you will be able to be a "pool playing machine" and that's just a figure of speech for those that want challenge me and say "a man can't become a machine" ... however, it's a good thing to strive for and in the process take out any "moving parts" that you can't repeat.

"Systems underlie every phenomenon, and are everywhere one looks for them. They are limited only by the observer’s capacity to comprehend the complexity of the observed entity, item or phenomenon." 

This is a useful definition of a system because it does exist "everywhere one looks for them". If you're unable to look for anything new I would venture to guess you'll find nothing new. 

After playing a lot of my best matches subconsciously (in The Zone) it is challenging to explain some of the shots I was able to pull off. I can't even try to explain some of the phenomenal things I've seen (from many players) in the midst of a 20 hour session, they seem "supernatural".

If someone's really struggling to improve and they don't believe in developing a better system, then they may unconsciously not want to improve.  The mind can pretty much achieve what you can conceive so make sure you at least "think" you're improving every day. Sometimes we just have to "fake it, til we make it," and see ourselves as a better player, in a better job, or in a better relationship before it actually happens. 

I recommend the book 'Zen in the Art of Archery' to anyone wanting to learn more about learning to "play in the zone," (it's the first book I read on the subject and it's superb). imo 

For many pool players it's a natural tendency to want to spin shots in with outside "helping" English. This technique is very useful, especially if you're trying to change the natural angle of the cue ball after contact. There's another way to do this if you want to "master a shot" so you can hit the three parts of the pocket. To do this you must become more accurate and develop a "FEEL" for the pocket. This isn't any more difficult, it just requires you to simplify your Game and reduce calculations.

There are three {main} calculations you make to be accurate using "outside English," 1st) - you must judge the immediate deflection and 2nd) - you must judge how much the spin brings the cue ball "back" to it's original "shot line". 3rd) - you must decide where to hit the cue ball to accomplish the intended shot. (these calculations are related, but not necessarily connected like they are with the TOI Technique) 

You will find it's necessary to hit these shots at a variety of speeds and a variety of spins to do what you need with the cue ball. This takes a LOT of different calculations because speed effects deflection AND spin. Where you hit the cue ball and how far over to get your "outside English" also effects deflection AND spin. 

Over the course of hours, you will have to make numerous calculations and instinctive judgments to make every shot as planned. With the 'Touch Of Inside' system of play I am showing you how to reduce the amount of calculations and instinctive judgments considerably. 

The TOI Technique shows you how to hit one "theme" of speeds, one "theme" of spins, and one "theme" of deflection. I have played many players in my life and the only concern I had was if they would play long enough. Because, even though this edge against other accomplished players may be only 1-2%, it will show up over time. 

If you're cutting a ball at a "half ball" angle down the rail to the left and using "outside" (right English") you cue ball is immediately going to deflect into the object ball slightly. To overcome undercutting it you will need to spin the cue ball to make it curve back and the spin will help cut it in. This may "FEEL" like it's helping the cut, but IS IT REALLY? 

You are having to hit the speed correctly, the spin correctly, the contact point (shot line) correctly and hit the cue ball precisely to do this. I'm sure you do this very well, but how about under pressure? How do you make all these calculations playing a champion player? This is where your unconscious will start to falter and break down. 

You are simply over whelming yourself with these calculations and when you add pressure? I don't know, how does it effect you, do you play better or worse? How about over the course of a 5-10 hour set, do you rely on your game to get better and better or do you have "ups and downs?" With the TOI Technique I teach players how to use (as much as possible, of course there's exceptions, and less that you may think) ONE SPEED - ONE SHOT ANGLE REFERENCE (center or edge) - ONE TIP TARGET (the "Touch" of Inside). 

The one thing you guard against {using TOI} is overcutting the ball, however, if you're going to miss a shot would you rather over cut it or under cut it? I don't know about you, but when I under cut a shot I feel like a "dogged it," however, when I over cut a shot I feel like I know what I need to do to correct what I did wrong. 

TOI increases consistency, which strengthens confidence and makes your Game strong, reliable, and very intimidating. 'The Game is the Teacher'

I recall at the age of 19, "Omaha John" and I were touring around on a road trip and ended up in a small bar in South Carolina. The owner of the bar was a BIG gambler and would take the 5 and the break from anyone playing on the bar table with the Big Cue Ball. 

We had been going through a tough time and I was "breaking even" with everyone. Usually I would get ahead, then start "letting up," they would come back, "get even" and quit. This was getting annoying and I was beginning to question if I had enough "heart," to be a champion player. 

This was a big thing in the gambling days, if you have the heart to close someone out. To put them away. And it was happening again, I had got up over 2k for $200 a game and now we raised it to $300. a game and the guy beat me 7 IN A ROW and we were just $100. winner.

Omaha John came up to me and said "if you're ever going to be a great road player you better do it now. I'm not out here "for my health," I have a wife and kid at home and I have to win, breaking even is for "suckers!"

He was serious, so, standing my cue against a near by stool, I stopped playing and went to the bathroom - it was "now or never," I thought, looking in the mirror, starring straight into my own eyes - "do you really want to be a pool player, do you really have what it takes?" I hesitated slightly, waiting for the answer to come from my "Inner Self"..... not the answer I wanted to hear, I HAD to know the truth....I needed to know and my life would change from that moment. 

Finally the answer had come - I knew in my "heart of hearts" that the moment had arrived. "The Moment of Truth," I couldn't be a sucker, "stuck" at my current level, struggling to break even and making up excuses. 

There was only one choice - to become a winner and break out of that "victim level" and do whatever it would take to learn the Truth about pool and what it takes to be the best. 

I made that decision right then because I had to. And it's a decision that continues because life's much more about the "journey," than the "destination." Life is the best teacher, and at that moment my life was the game and for an instant they melded into One...The Game is the Teacher!

Often times we are held back because we don't need to win, we don't have to get better. I didn't have the luxury that day and I thank Omaha John for putting me in a situation where I had to be honest with myself. No one else matters when you're trying to get to the "next level,"{in life} it's all about ourselves.... it's about looking ourselves in the mirror and "real eyesing" that the answer we've been searching for is not outside, it's inside ourselves.

I went back out there and was like an entirely different person. John had been telling me to stop spinning my ball and playing low percentage shots....so I did. Others had made comments about my game that I had ignored because of my ego, so I incorporated those suggestions too - my perception had changed, the Game had given me a vital spiritual experience. 

From that point I beat the guy out of over 8K and he looked like he had been drained of all his energy. I didn't care what it took I made myself shoot the correct shot, in the right way and forgot forever my childish reasons for not playing the Game correctly. To be a Champion at anything we must keep doing "the next right thing," whether we like it or not. 

Looking back I can't help but think the chains of mediocrity had been broken, and I had started to become a player. From that moment on I had a "6th Sense" about pool and knew what I HAD to practice to improve - and what I needed to ignore. "The chain breaks at it's weakest link" and that became the motto of my practice routines. 


I'll always remember that lesson Omaha John Shuput and the Game taught me in that bar in South Carolina.... and the mirror that reflected what I needed to have "eyes that could see my self". 'The Game is the Inner Teacher' www.cjwiley.com

After completing the Million Dollar Challenge documentary I've been doing a great deal of thinking about what we could have done differently and why it wasn't the "right time" for Professional Billiards to make that epic leap into the spotlight of American Sports.

The one thing we didn't plan for was the 7.8 Million to 1 odds of Earl running those racks. In our interview Earl himself says "we could have made millions if I hadn't run those racks the first day"......I believe he was right, we had everything in place to achieve our Mission Statement with the PCA.

We had most of the key components that are necessary, such as:

1) A Professional Marketing and Advertising Team with several major clients that were already poised to invest in commercials, event presence and title sponsorship of the PCA....this, of course was contingent on the success of the first event in Dallas. 

2) A Schedule of 12 Pro Events that made up the "Million Dollar Challenge Tour"

3) All Events were going to be televised (after Earl ran the racks we were only able to film the one in Olathe Kansas, and the one at the Hollywood Park Casino.

4) A Strategic Alliance with a National Grass Roots Tour (The McDermott Tour) that would feed the PCA (Our Professional CueSports Association) with winners from their tournaments that would be qualified to "Play WIth the Pros".

5) PCA Endorsed and Sanctioned the ESPN World Open Championships, and the Ultimate 9 Ball Championships. These ESPN Tournament matches were averaging over 1,000,000 Viewers per show, with 16 matches a tournament coming from the WPBA and PCA......we even did the "Battle of the Sexes" with price money of $100,000, the World Mixed Doubles and the Celebrity Billiards (with cheerleaders from the NFL).

6) PCA had an agreement to supply players to the Mosconi Cup and took the PCA Team to London in 96 and brought back the cup.

7) PCA had the BCA granting us $25,000 a year to run our PCA OFFICE.

8) PCA was made up of eager, young, athletic players that were working together for a common goal - to propel pocket billiards into the limelight 'THE NEW AGE OF POOL'

9) PCA had two of the best commentators in history, Joe Rogan and Jimmy Mataya and was also raising money for charities (Tony Hill of the Dallas Cowboys hosted the first charity event prior to the Million Dollar Challenge in Dallas).

10) Our Marketing Group had several clients that would have been the ideal match for the PCA and the entire plan revolved around creating a marketing vehicle to promote their products (through the PCA Players) ON TV.......except for one thing that no one ever thought could happen.......Earl Strickland running 11 Racks in a row to win the Million Dollar Annuity THE FIRST TOURNAMENT:

With one million dollars on the line, on April 10, 1996 Earl "the Pearl" Strickland did the unimaginable. He ran 11 racks of 9-ball at the inaugural event of the PCA Pro Pocket Billiards Tour. While it was a miraculous feat, it simultaneously dealt a fatal blow to the new Pro Pocket Billiards Tour and gave a death strike to what might have been the rise of televised table pool as a mainstream sport. CJ Wiley had spent years preparing a new tour to showcase the sport, using a million dollar prize as the main draw. His goal was to breakout pool as a mainstream sport. 

Through an in depth interview you will hear how Earl trained to achieve this incredible level of performance, the legal battles that eventually vindicated CJ Wiley, and accounts of the following two-plus years to honor the prize through the accounts of CJ Wiley, Tournament Director Jay Helfert and many more. It is a tale of struggle for the game and a telling of the greatest achievement in the history of pool.

Directed by Mary Avina — The Million Dollar Challenge Documentary 'Billiard's Perfect Miss' is available now at www.cjwiley.com