Now, let's get ready to learn and enjoy this great game.

Common 8 ball rack, but wrong! When racked like this; The solid balls, more often than not will be the ball(s) made on the break and usually be spread out better...

Correct: Put a matching ball behind the 1 ball on one side, then solid / stripe, solid / stripe, etc. etc.. The ball spread should be more equal when racked in this order...

Step 1: Rough up your tip, this should be done every few games or so, humidity is a factor. Just pay attention to how readily the tip is holding chalk...

Wrong! Suckers way of chalking up. Or a good player acting like a sucker, mmmm, sounds like a road story...

Correct, look at the tip, make sure there are no bare spots...

First, find the balance point. Your grip hand should be 8" to 12" behind this point, this distance varies from shot to shot depending on the length of bridge required to execute the shot correctly...

Grip the cue snugly with the thumb and first two fingers, both fourth and little finger open on the backstroke and close on the forward followthrough...

Here is a perfect example, the distance from bridgehand to the cueball directly corresponds to the distance of the griphand behind the balance point. This allows the grip to remain directly below the elbow in the full aim position for all shots...

The grip should be neither open, nor closed, when under the elbow in full aim position. It is, for lack of a better term, neutral. It is at the 50 yard line, it will be in this position at the beginning of the backstroke, and again, in the middle of the followthrough...

In full aim, the grip should be under the elbow...