Cueist is an app for iPhone and Android that claims to give you pool drills tailored to your current skill level, focusing on weaknesses in your game. That’s oversimplified. The app leverages several well-known learning techniques like spaced repetition, focused practice and automated matching of drills to skill level to help you improve.
Does it work? I intend to find out. I'm currently two weeks into a three-month effort. I am committed to doing the following:
Using the app as my primary means of practice for the entire 3 months
Practicing in 20 minute intervals, 2 or 3 times daily
Training every day—not always feasible because of life commitments, but I’ll do my best. (Normally I will get at minimum 40 minutes daily. I will take a 20 minute break if I have to do back to back sessions.)
Posting my results and a verdict.
About the App
When you first install Cueist, it gives you a "test" that lasts about 30 minutes. This is a calibration point, estimating how you compare to other users. When I saw my starting score, it was humbling, but fair if I’m honest. I’ll just say I was below the 50th percentile.
You get three ratings in the app:
Cueist (an overall score, but not a simple average)
Aiming
Position
As you train, you are presented with different types of drills. The ones that affect your scores are mostly simple "ghost" drills—races to 3. Sometimes it’s just a shot. Other times, you have to pocket a ball and leave the cue ball in a target zone (a box or circle). Everything is straightforward to set up. (Nearly all drills are 2 balls, but it’s still early.)
There are a many other drill formats, but much of it is based on the concept of spaced repetition, a proven method used in areas like language learning. It’s not new. It’s been a concept since the late 1800s. There is a lot of research showing it works for learning. The assumption here is that it also works for skill development in more physical, less language-driven tasks like pool. My expectation is that it does, for a few reasons I’ll discuss.
Why is it a good idea?
There is a continuum of pool players when it comes to practice and drills:
Never play or practice outside of league night (most players at league night)
Play at home or with friends and call it practice (2nd most players)
Practice with drills, picked based on some criteria (These are the ones moving up in skill level.)
Regularly pay for lessons or work with a coach that suggests drills based on observations (1 out of 15 or 20 people in the pool, based on my experience.)
Unless you’re just starting out, you probably won’t improve much until you’re in the top 2 tiers.
I think Cueist is Tier 3. It’s not better than a professional coach watching and guiding you, but it’s probably better than almost anything else. I think that’s still true if you regularly drill now. Yes, your drills are helping, but if you’re picking suboptimal ones, you’re not maximizing the time you’re willing to invest.
You learn fastest when you’re working at the edge of your ability. You want to spend maximum time in the 50/50 zone. It’s uncomfortable and most people won’t choose to stay there. Cueist chooses it for you.
Actual practice is hard work. You have to be purposeful, think about what you’re going to do, how to do it, execute to to the best of your ability and then critically evaluate what happened versus what you intended and then adjust. Most people aren’t going to pick drills that just keep them uncomfortable.
After about the first week, Cueist has done a decent job of picking drills that are novel, engaging and appropriately difficult. It’s a reason I only do 20 minutes at a time. After that it gets mentally tougher to keep pushing the “Next Drill” button.
Cueist is picking drills that meet me where I am, even if I don’t love being there. The drills I’m seeing are challenging, but normally I’m optimistic when I see them. Sometimes I still fail. I learn from that. I have even found myself practicing some of those shots outside the app because I got an unexpected result and want to work on it. My position play is better, even after only 2 weeks.
Best Points
The Training Log: We all need motivation. There is a reason so many apps use “streaks”. Cueist isn’t doing streaks (mercifully), but keeping as many days circled as possible is a motivator for some types of people.
Stats: There are plenty to reflect on while you’re away from the table.I’d love to see this expanded. For example, the app could highlight areas it has identified as weaknesses. I’m basically doing this on my own and working on shots outside the app, but some type of “Here are some things you could work on outside of Cueist” recommendations would be nice.
Variety: For the ghost challenges, I never know what to expect. Cueist does give some tips and even has an animated video showing you what each shot should look like.
Automation: I’m not 100% sure I trust myself to pick drills that are the appropriate difficulty for me. Sometimes I get a Ghost challenge, see it and think “Easy 3-0 coming” and then I struggle. That’s my chance to actually make an improvement in my game. I have to accept where I am and work on it.
Opportunities
There will be people who complain about the lack of multi-ball patterns. (If the app has multi-ball patterns, I haven’t seen them yet.) I’ll defend Cueist here:
This isn’t an app for developing your strategic play. That’s a big job since there are so many different games we play and strategy is different for all. One thing that is the same for all games is you must be able to make your shot and move the CB into a favorable position for the next. Cueist focuses on just that.
Most multi-ball drills (outside of Cueist) include a mix of easy and hard shots. This is especially true if you continue to press for the runout after you miss position on part of the run. If you made a hero shot because you had to, did you really improve? You missed position and recovered. What should you be working on, the hero shot or position? Cueist simplifies this: “Make this shot and land the cue ball in this zone.” This is required for multi-ball runs. I’m okay with this.
While I’m thrilled there is no overt social component to the app, it would be nice if there were a “share with my coach” option so I could share my volume and progress with say a team captain or a coach. Right now, the only way to share is with screenshots. There’s no incentive to cheat since the data is private. A “share with X” feature would be helpful though. (Also, since the drills are rated based on performance, adding an incentive to lie about performance would be fatal to the app.)
That’s it for now. At the end of my three months I’ll post an update. Give Cueist a try. There is a free version with ads if you aren’t willing to pay for a trial. Let me know your Cueist number.