It just takes time.
It just takes time.
I also had this problem when I first started playing one-pocket. I just couldn't stay in stroke or make the tough shots when I finally was left something to shoot at, however, the last six months or so I have noticed a change in that. I don't really see any difference in my ability to switch back and forth between games. The speed control, or more importantly, the attention payed to the cue ball on almost every shot in one-pocket has seemed to help me always focus as much on the cue ball on every shot even when I play nine-ball. I know that many people will often cinch shots that seem difficult and just concentrate on making it, but I have found that even on the absolutely hardest shots, I make them much more often if I try to visualize where the cue ball stops. Even on thin cuts where I turn the cue ball loose I have learned to think about where I want it to stop. On the game ball, I read something that Buddy Hall uses that has also really helped. He said that many people get to the last ball of any game and because they don't have another ball to get to they don't visualize where the cue ball is going. If you visualize another ball to get position on, you will make the shot more often because your brain/body is trained to think about position on every shot. Anyway, I digress but I think that if you keep playing one-pocket long enough, you will break through this barrier.
Note to Jalapus (previous poster and friend)- I played banks on a 4 by 8 today after getting a new tip on my cue and banked 9 out of 10! Generous pockets compared to my Diamond, I admit, but still my best ever. I guess Freddie's books have really helped. Of course it could be the hundreds of hours I have spent banking them around the last year.
Freddie, you can send me the money for advertising any time you like, or perhaps just release some of that mythical one-pocket strategy that I keep hearing about over at AZbilliards through pm's
I am just a school teacher that likes to play for the love of the game. Of course, I just teach to fill up the time between one-pocket games.