Dragon Billiards Instruction

09/07/2026

Humbled and honored that so many players on this list have chosen us to be a part of their journeys.

09/07/2026

Please use our tournament locator to find pool tournaments in your area. You may also submit additional tournaments to our database, by using the form below. 

09/07/2026

Good stuff 👏

The Biggest Mistakes Players Make Before Competition

A lot of matches are lost before the first ball is ever broken.

Players spend hours worrying about their stroke, aiming, patterns, and cue ball control—but what you do in the 24 hours before competition can have a huge impact on how you perform.

Here are some of the biggest mistakes I see players make:

1. Practicing too hard the night before.
The night before a tournament isn’t the time for a 5-hour grind session. You’re not going to rebuild your game overnight. Get some quality reps, build confidence, and get off the table while you still feel good.
2. Trying to fix their stroke right before playing.
This is a big one. Competition day is not experimentation day. If you start changing your grip, stance, bridge, backswing, or aiming system right before a match, you’re putting yourself into mechanical-thinking mode. Trust the stroke you brought with you.
3. Not getting enough sleep.
Pool requires concentration, patience, decision-making, and emotional control. Being exhausted affects every one of those. Treat sleep like part of your preparation.
4. Showing up at the last minute.
Walking through the door stressed, rushing to unpack your cue, and immediately jumping into a match is a terrible way to start. Arrive early enough to settle in mentally and physically.
5. Warming up by trying to impress people.
Your warm-up isn’t a performance. You don’t need to fire in difficult shots or show everyone how good you’re playing. Start with simple shots. Find center ball. Find your speed. Find your rhythm.
6. Judging themselves during warm-up.
You miss three balls and immediately think, “Oh man, I don’t have it today.” Stop. Warm-up is about getting comfortable—not determining how you’re going to play for the next eight hours.
7. Watching the competition too much.
You see somebody running racks on the table next to you and suddenly you’re worried about drawing them. Who cares? You can’t control the bracket. Prepare for the table, not the player.
8. Putting too much pressure on themselves.
“I have to win this tournament.”
“I can’t lose to this guy.”
“Everybody expects me to play well.”

You’re creating pressure that doesn’t need to exist. Your job isn’t to win the entire tournament before it starts. Your job is to play the shot in front of you.

9. Going into competition without a mental plan.
Everybody has a plan when they’re playing well. What happens after you miss an easy ball? Get a bad roll? Fall behind? Lose a set you should’ve won? That’s when you need your routine the most.
10. Forgetting why they prepared in the first place.
You practiced. You put in the hours. You worked on your game. At some point, preparation has to turn into trust.

When competition starts, stop trying to find your game.

Bring the game you have.

Prepare before the tournament.
Trust yourself during the tournament.
Compete one shot at a time.

The players who perform their best aren’t always the players who prepared the hardest the night before.

They’re usually the players who show up rested, prepared, confident, and ready to trust what they’ve already built.

Have you made any of these mistakes? Let us know in the comments or if I missed anything please let me know down below.

09/06/2026

Please join us in congratulating our Student of the Month, Kenneth Furtaw of Elkton, FL!

Each month, we will highlight one extra-deserving in-person or live online student (tough decision, there are so many deserving candidates)!

With their permission (some like to keep pool lessons a secret), that student will be recognized and will receive one hour of in person or live online coaching with The Dragon, for free.

🐉 Train Better. Do Better. Shop Better.🐉
🐉 DragonBilliardsInstruction.com 🐉

Thank you to our sponsors
McDermott Pool Cue Official Fan Page
Cue Sports Media

09/06/2026

YOU can beat ANYONE in the world. SVB, Reyes, Gorst, Filler...ANYONE. Everyone has the same playing ability when they're handcuffed to the chair.

The problem is, you probably won't beat them by trying to outshoot them. Yet, that's most likely how you'll try, until you get real with yourself and stop trying to outshoot everyone. You need to OUTSMART them. Have enough self discipline to say "I am in control of the table, including my exit". And then make it happen. Making more balls sometimes leads to a win, but making LESS UNFORCED ERRORS always does.

If you want to stay on the table, especially against rack runners, YOU need to decide when your turn at the table is over, and HOW your turn ends. If you miss a shot that you would have had a higher chance of making a successful safety, then you deserve to lose that rack and the next. Create your own opportunities. Make your table better and theirs worse...EVERY time you let them get up from their seat.

Lower level players put higher level players on unnecessary pedestals. Sure, if the ball they're kicking at is IN the pocket, yeah, they're probably going to make it. But if it's not...stop thinking they can't miss! They'll hit it, but chances are high that you'll see the table again. And then play another safety if you're not 90% certain you can make that next shot AND be able to see on the one after that.

You see that SL9 and remember the time they kicked 23 rails to kick-bank-carom-combo 3 balls in, so you get scared. Worse, is you've made yourself believe they can do that 90% of the time. What you don't remember is the time they played that lock up defense that made their opponent call their mommy.

So next time you play that SL9, remember they were once an a SL2. They've missed more shots than you as an SL2 has ever taken. And that's why they know enough to duck and hide, even against a SL2.

This new exercise "Damage Control" is all about YOU controlling YOU...you control your exits; you control what your opponent sees when they get to the table. You reduce your unforced errors and capitalize when your opponent makes theirs. I've seen magic happen with the students who have trained with it...I've also seen zero improvement from those who watched the video and did nothing with it...which will you be? 🐉

https://youtu.be/9QEBFwAhn54?si=wz9pvTmAk5ROxxW6

Thank you to our sponsors
Cue Sports Media
McDermott Pool Cue Official Fan Page

🐉 Train Better. Do Better. Shop Better. 🐉
🐉 www.DragonBilliardsInstruction.com 🐉

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09/02/2026

👀

This one takes 30 seconds and might explain years of missed shots 👀
Kim Young "The Dragon" (ep 4) uses this stance check with his students: if your tip lands off the cue ball, he says it's like driving with half the air out of the tires on one side. You CAN get where you're going, but you're steering the whole way.

Try it and comment LEFT, RIGHT, or ON IT 👇

09/02/2026

🥰humbled🥰