No doubt there is a lot of great instructional material on the internet for pool players to view. You can learn a lot about the game and about how top players and instructors view the game.

But will watching videos make you a great player?

I have a lot of people ask me, “Why should I pay for instruction when I can get all this information online for free?”

To me, the answer is obvious. I’m here. I’m right in front of you, watching you shoot, observing your technique and fundamentals. You might be doing all of the things that you see online correctly. You might be trying to stay focused. But is a little man going to jump out of the video and say, “Your hand is flinching on the shot?” Or, “You’re jumping up on the shot?”

If you are flinching your bridge hand as you’re stroking the ball and you don’t notice it because you’re focusing on the outcome of the shot, how are you going to correct the mistake? You won’t even know why you are missing the shot. Is that little man going to tell you?

Even if you videotape yourself, you have to know what to look for and how to correct any errors. You can’t analyze yourself, particularly if you are a beginner or intermediate player.

You need to understand the value of one-on-one coaching and instruction. I have a student who watches videos and reads online all of the time. But in the end, he’s getting lessons from me. That’s where it all comes together.

Also, not everyone is the player in the video. All players have different ways of playing, different strengths and different weaknesses. There are options on shots, and sometimes experimentation is needed to help determine the best way for a player to approach shots. That can only come when someone is observing your game.

Because of all the help available online, beginners and intermediate players think there is a shortcut to being good; that there is a magic pill. There isn’t. You can have all the knowledge in the world, and it still comes down to putting in the work. And you need help knowing how to do that work.

Self help guru Tony Robbins always said, “Knowledge isn’t power. Knowledge is potential power.”

Another key is selecting the right instructor for you. A beginner shouldn’t necessarily pick a top professional as an instructor unless that pro can effectively help build your game from the ground up.

What makes a good instructor? An instructor must make sense, keep things simple and help you improve. You must get information that you can add to your game and apply to different shots. And your instructor must be able to quickly detect flaws in your fundamentals and must be able to help you correct those.

And, you have to put in the work.