I had been competing on the Thailand professional snooker circuit for a couple of years, but was having difficulty winning matches against the top players – typically players who were also earning their livings playing on the world professional tour. I realized that in order to compete effectively at a higher level, I would have to improve the quality of my break-building, because I wasn’t scoring heavily enough from my opportunities to win frames in one visit to the table, which is essential when the standard is higher and the chances fewer. I sought help from a friend who was ranked in the world’s top 30, with the aim of developing my ability to construct frame-winning breaks. Ultimately, I would consider the outcome to be a success, but the process was rather more difficult than expected and caused unanticipated problems.
My friend began by diagnosing the problem, as he saw it. He felt that although I was capable of playing the same shots that the top professionals would play, I was often too conservative in my shot selection in terms of positional play. Quite simply, I was reluctant to increase the difficulty of a shot in order to get the white ball into the best position for the next shot. As a result I was leaving myself more difficult pots, which in turn lowered the probability of controlling the white. All too often, I knew what shot to play, but would choose a more comfortable option which created problems for me over the following shots.