# (Help thread) learning 3BLD in limited time



## Cuban_Cuber (Apr 10, 2022)

I have a competition in a little less than 2 months in which I am registered for 3BLD. I know the Old Pochmann method but can't execute it very well. However I have ample time to practice every day. Is it realistic to become proficient in 3BLD in 2 months or should I drop out if it?


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## turtwig (Apr 10, 2022)

If you just want to be able to use Old Pochmann, 2 months is more than enough. You could probably do it within 2 weeks and definitely within a month if you practice once every couple of days. "Proficient" is a vague term but I think that getting >50% success rate wouldn't be difficult so at least you'll get a result in comp.


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## WilsonFang (Apr 10, 2022)

Learning 3 blind could be way easier than you think. I started a month ago and after 40-50 hours of practice I now average 2-3 min (m2/op)


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## Swamp347 (Apr 10, 2022)

Blind really isn’t hard. Just commit, and keep practicing. In 2 months you could easily get some great results!


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## abunickabhi (Apr 11, 2022)

Cuban_Cuber said:


> I have a competition in a little less than 2 months in which I am registered for 3BLD. I know the Old Pochmann method but can't execute it very well. However I have ample time to practice every day. Is it realistic to become proficient in 3BLD in 2 months or should I drop out if it?


2 months is a long time. Plan out well!

Good luck yo, R' U M2 U' R U M' S' U S U2 M'.


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## AnthonyRochester (Apr 11, 2022)

If you put enough time into practicing, 2 months is enough. Make sure you know the basics well I.e. your letter scheme and all the setup moves, then do a lot of sighted solves and a lot of blind solves.


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## mookiemu (Apr 11, 2022)

Why does everyone learn old Pochman first? For beginners R2M2 is easier and 3BLD is only a bit harder. (Disclaimer, I learned old Pochman first as well, but when I was exposed to R2M2, I thought, why the hell did I learn Pochman? It's slow and the move count is so high that it's easy to get DNFs and nearly impossible to have a solving time under 45 seconds.) The only good thing I can say about learning Pochman is that it gave me an approach to solving parity. R2M2 leads to M and R variations and it gets you ready for 3-style and BH approaches.
Anyway, now that you know Old Pochman, and since you only have two months, the best thing to do is to spend time developing you memo.


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## Garf (Apr 11, 2022)

mookiemu said:


> Why does everyone learn old Pochman first? For beginners R2M2 is easier and 3BLD is only a bit harder. (Disclaimer, I learned old Pochman first as well, but when I was exposed to R2M2, I thought, why the hell did I learn Pochman? It's slow and the move count is so high that it's easy to get DNFs and nearly impossible to have a solving time under 45 seconds.) The only good thing I can say about learning Pochman is that it gave me an approach to solving parity. R2M2 leads to M and R variations and it gets you ready for 3-style and BH approaches.
> Anyway, now that you know Old Pochman, and since you only have two months, the best thing to do is to spend time developing you memo.


NO. Do not learn R2. Learn old Pochman for Corners. While it is slow, it is a lot better than screwing up the set-ups in R2. After you get good at OP for Corners, progress to Orozco/3-Style for corners. Then 3-style for edges.


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## mookiemu (Apr 11, 2022)

TheEpicCuber said:


> NO. Do not learn R2. Learn old Pochman for Corners. While it is slow, it is a lot better than screwing up the set-ups in R2. After you get good at OP for Corners, progress to Orozco/3-Style for corners. Then 3-style for edges.


Old pochman for corners is slow as hell and has too many moves. It's useless except as one way to solve parity. R2 is easy to learn and solves two faces at once. But eventually the idea is to use R, or R' or R2 with simple setups that remain in place for a cycle when convenient, then to use commutators, conjugates, and setups when convenient, and even BH when convenient. The beautiful thing is that all these methods are interchangeable if you solve in cycles, not piece by piece the way many do with R2 or Pochman, very often and unlucky cycle for one method becomes a lucky cycle for another method. Pochman is also interchangeable with these other methods to but it adds about 14 half turns plus set up turns to solve one face, (or half a cycle)! Solving two faces can take up to 30 or more half turns! There are positions where R2, R, or R' moves will solve two faces in 8 half turns. There are no such positions in Pochman. 
Furthermore, 14 second solve times (that's not counting memo), are possible with R2, (especially if your setups carry over for a whole cycle). Those times are not possible with pochman. 
Orozco is a good method for corners, so is BH, and just general commutators/conjugates knowledge is as well. The great thing is that you can take a freestyle approach and use these interchangeably between cycles. depending on what you use for a buffer and if you have a floating buffer.
3 style edges are fast no doubt. But there are bad cases that can be made into good cases with slicesmoves using M, M', or M2 cycles. For instance, DF-BU-BD is a nightmare for strict M2 and a nightmare for 3-style. But if you do U' (DL2 D'M) (DL2D'M') U it's an easy solve. It's a single U turn setup that is replaced after the whole cycle. There are many such cases where one way is considerably less moves than another. For instance DF-UF-RD can be tricky, but can easily be solved with M'(U'R2U) M(U'R2U).
DFR-UFR-UBR can also be a nightmare in R2. But if you modify and use R/R' instead it can be easily solved with U ((LUL'U") R (ULU'L') R') U. That same combo is something like 30 half turns with pochman and at least 20 with regular R2.


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## hyn (Apr 16, 2022)

Cuban_Cuber said:


> I have a competition in a little less than 2 months in which I am registered for 3BLD. I know the Old Pochmann method but can't execute it very well. However I have ample time to practice every day. Is it realistic to become proficient in 3BLD in 2 months or should I drop out if it?


I'm in basically the same position but with one (untimed) success so far


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