AN
AID TO CUE POWER: [Submitted
by mark163] For people who may lack a little cue power, e.g..
Stopping the cue ball from long distance, try bridging 2 inches
further back from the cue ball, makes it easier to stop it
and work it from distance and less power is needed. There
is obviously a limit to how far you can bridge from the cue
ball but some people cue very close and have a problem with
power , this should help.
BEYOND
THE BASICS, THROW, CURVE AND SQUIRT: [Submitted
by Bob Moss] I'm not what you would consider an instructor
but am advanced enough to get annoyed when looking for info
on using advanced techniques for position play and shot making.
It seems that most instructions and books are so directed
to basic shot making.
The
most valuable shots I have in my arsenal at this point beyond
the basic shot making are being able to consistently judge
and make throw shots, squirt and curve shots. They have
gotten me out of more snookers than I care to count. Practice
your throw and curves and you will leave your opponent wondering
how you made that shot when he knew he had you snookered.
It is something that is not commonly taught and many players
unless very advanced ever even know. Learn these shots and
you will add a whole new dimension to your game and skill
level from getting out of tight spots to position play and
leaves. I'll leave it to the instructors to tell how but
Robert Byrne's goes into some detail in his book Advanced
Techniques in Pool and Billiards.
[Top]
POOL
PLAYERS ACADEMY: [Submitted
by Lester Raymond Dulawan]
HOW
SERIOUS IS YOUR GAME?
Would you like to take it to the next level? Pool Players
Academy utilizes a scientific training system and training
regimen designed to target all aspects of pool play far
better than any textbook or video can offer.
HOW
STRONG IS YOUR GAME?
Would you like to balance and eliminate any weak points?
Students trained under the program learn how to gauge and
exploit the weak points of their opponents thus winning
percentage increases dramatically after each training level.
HOW
FOCUSED IS YOUR MENTAL GAME?
Would you like to know how a pro thinks through his game?
Choke syndrome, heavy tensions during the match, you are
trained to automatically respond to this situations and
turn this negative thoughts into beneficial ones. Scientific
data and comprehensive skills training work in tandem to
boost your confidence level and reduce panic and pressure
built up during matches.
HOW
EFFECTIVE ARE YOUR STRATEGIES DURING MATCHES?
Would you like to know what works best? Skill Level and
strategic play compliments each other. Winning matches and
dominating your opponent will come easy when the balance
between skill and strategy is achieved.
WOULD
YOU LIKE TO LEARN MORE?
After years of careful planning, the Pool Player's Academy
would soon be open to poolplayers who wants to achieve the
above. Ever wondered why world class players from other
parts of the world come here to hone their skills before
that all important match? Lessons carefully compiled and
constructed into different levels that could be easily learned
and absorbed by the students to exponentially improve their
potential in pool in a shorter span of time. In line with
Easypooltutor.com vision, the Pool Player's Academy would
be providing lessons online to help poolplayers elevate
their game to the next level.
[Top]
EIGHT-BALL
TIPS; IT'S CHOICE NOT CHANCE THAT WINS:
[Submitted
by themonk] In the game of eight ball you will be exposed
to many pitfalls. This is not an easy game. It is tough. You
are required to make decisions while in the heat of battle.
Unlike nine ball, where you go from one ball to the next,
in the game of eight ball you have choices. To be successful,
you must develop the ability to make your choice, and feel
one hundred per cent certain. Here is the problem for most
league players. They decide to play the twelve ball, and think
about the fifteen ball. They make their decision, but still
have reservations. This is not the way to stroke a shot. Remember,
The stroke, minus the interference, equals the shot. Be sure
you are fully committed to what you intend to do.
You'll
face uncertainty
You
will be faced with shots where you are not sure what is
going to happen to the cue ball. The cue ball is going for
a ride and you cannot control it. In this situation, you
are “playing for a roll”. Make that commitment.
I will pocket this ball. “I am playing for a roll”.
I have “I am playing for a roll” T Shirts.
I
have another saying about this type of shot. I am going
to pocket this ball and “take my medicine”. How
many times have you missed a shot because you were attempting
difficult position on the next shot? Sometimes you need
to put the ball in the pocket, and take the tough shot in
front of you. This is “taking your medicine”.
I have won many game by “taking my medicine”.
I’m straight in. I can’t get down table. I can
only stop the cue ball and take a chance on the bank shot.
This is all I have. To pretend otherwise, is to fool myself.
So I “Take my medicine” and go for the bank. With
Dr. Cue’s banking system, The Monk 202 series, I am
very good at banking balls. As a result of the “taking
my medicine” mode, I win more games. Give yourself
a chance for a win. Don’t take yourself out of the
match by missing the shot in front of you. After every game
of eight ball, ask yourself if; “I came to win”
or “I play for a roll” and “I take my medicine.”
[Top]
GAME
PLAN FOR SAFETY PLAYS: [Submitted by Buddy Lory]
After deciding to play a safe, a lot of players have no idea
of what to do next. Listed below are some of the criteria
I use for executing a safety and hints for good safety play.
Criteria:
1.
Snooker or hide opponent so he cannot shoot directly at
the object ball.
2. Do not put the object ball near a pocket.
3. If the situation dictates that you cannot hide or snooker
the opponent. Leave him a bank; preferably long one or a
short bank with a bad angle.
4. On certain safeties leaving a long straight in shot will
work.
5. Leave the cue ball on the rail or cushion, this will
cut down the area on the cue ball he can hit.
6. Another good safety is to leave your opponent over a
ball (jacked up), where he is forced to elevate the butt
of the cue.
Hints:
1.
Travel of the cue ball or the object ball should be kept
to a minimum. If both balls are traveling long distances
they are harder to control. I usually pick one or the other,
if I choose a cue ball safety I will hit object ball thin
(little movement) then try to place the cue ball in a safe
position. If I choose an object ball safe I will stop or
stun the cue ball (little movement) shooting the object
ball to a safe position.
2.
When shooting a soft safety where both balls are close together
and will not travel far, use a very short stroke. Using
a long stroke will make it difficult to stop the cue stick.
Try this, using a long stroke hit the cue ball and make
it travel around 1 or 2 inches, very hard if not impossible
to do. Now try the same shot with a very short stroke.
I
cannot count the number of times I witnessed games being
won with a good safety. Defense is just as much a part of
playing high level pool as is running out. Armed with these
criteria and hints I hope your safety play will improve.
[Top]
PREDATOR
BLUES: [Submitted
by Joe D'Aguanno] So a few months ago after reading all
the hype about radial consistency and 29% less deflection
you sold your old favorite cue that you've used for a
long time and bought a new Predator. At first everything
was great but ever so slowly you game has gone downhill.
You've lost that confidence that you once had in your
hard earned abilities and sometimes you're frustrated
enough that you even think about giving up the game. You
still make most of the shots that you used to but not
the more difficult shots or the ones that require finesse
especially when using english. Worse yet you have to struggle
to beat players that used to be no problem.
The
good news is that you can get your game back and bring
it to new heights if you understand the differences between
your old stick and your new Predator.
First
let us review some principals on deflection. Anytime the
cue ball is struck to the left or right of its vertical
center both the cue ball and cue stick veer away from
each other away from the original point of aim. That is
to say if you strike the cue ball to the right of center
the tip end of the cue stick will veer to the right after
contact and the cue ball will veer to the left. This of
course will cause the cue ball to impact the object ball
to the left of the point of aim requiring you to adjust
you aim to the right. The harder you shoot the greater
the deflection of both the stick and cue ball requiring
you to aim further in the direction of the english that
you are using. If you shoot hard enough you will have
to aim well outside the object ball into thin air to make
up for the deflection. To make matters worse when shooting
soft or very soft the deflection is negligible on both
the stick and the cue ball and you will need to compensate
heavily for object ball throw. This requires you to compensate
in the opposite direction than you would for deflection.
If you are using right english and are shooting softly
it will throw the object ball to the left and you will
need to adjust your aim to the left.
At
this point you should begin to see a pattern. When shooting
softly with english compensate your point of aim on the
object ball in the opposite direction of the applied english.
As your speed increases to just above soft don't compensate
at all (as deflection and throw cancel each other out)
and as your stroke speed increases beyond that adjust
your aim in the same direction of applied english.
Now
that you understand how deflection works you can begin
to make the right adjustments when using your Predator.
Since the Predator deflects less you simply compensate
less than with you did with your old stick when your cue
ball speed is above a soft speed. If you have to compensate
1/2" to right of the object ball contact point with
your old stick you would aim something close to 1/4"
with the Predator. The Predator puts more spin on the
cue ball when using english as the tip stays on the cue
ball longer because of less deflection even when the deflection
is negligible. Because of this when shooting at a soft
or very soft speed you would compensate your aim more
in the same direction that you did with your old stick
as it will throw the object ball more. One last point
is that the stroke speed where the throw and deflection
cancel each other out is going to be a little higher with
the Predator.
These
same principals apply to any changes in your stick selection.
There is a wide variety in stick deflection between the
various makes and types of cues. You may use a stick that
is much closer to the Predator in the amount of deflection
that it has. In this case the compensation for the point
of aim would be much smaller but would still apply. It
should also be obvious that any change you make to your
cue whether switching to a new cue, new shaft, vibration
damper, new bolt or other changes will affect the amount
of deflection that your brain has learned to compensate
for. Understanding how these principles work will allow
you to adjust to the changes you have made. My advice
is that if you find a cue that you shoot well with don't
ever change it. The longer you shoot with the same cue
the more your brain will adjust to it and make changes
down the road more difficult to adjust to. In a stressful
moment your brain will revert to the muscle memory for
the old stick and cause you to blow your shot.
[Top]
TIPS
ON SAFETY PLAY:
[Submitted
by Joe D'Aguanno] Good safety play will win you more pool
games than any other technique that you will learn. I make
this statement with the assumption that you are capable of
running at least 3 or 4 balls when you have ball in hand or
an open shot. Good safeties frustrate your opponent and often
results in ball in hand for you. Probably the most important
tip I can give you on playing a good safety is to try to precisely
control where either the cue ball or the object ball ends
up but not both. You do need to be aware of general direction
where the ball that you are not trying to control is going.
It doesn't do any good to hide the cue ball and have the object
ball roll around the table and end up where your opponent
can easily hit it and play a better safety on you. About 90%
of the safeties I play involve controlling where the cue ball
ends up rather than the object ball.
When
the object ball is on or close to the rail mostly centered
between pockets with the cue ball at a steep acute angle
(90 to 60 degrees) to the shot a thin soft cut with english
usually works best. Inside english on the cue ball will
keep the object ball from moving very far after it strikes
the rail. Outside english will make the object ball roll
farther. As the object ball is stationary in this type of
shot it will not move very far as there is very little transfer
of energy from the cue ball to the object ball. The cue
ball on the other hand will travel quite a distance because
it retains most of the energy gained from the impact of
the cue. As you are shooting the shot soft you will have
much greater control of the cue ball and where it ends up.
Thin
cuts often work when the object ball is not close to the
rail. Just shoot softly and use english if necessary to
change the direction of the cue ball to bury it behind a
cluster of balls or leave it on the other end of the table.
If
you have a straight on shot where the object ball is close
to another ball shoot a stop shot to keep the cue ball behind
the second ball. Of course you don't want to shoot the stop
shot hard because the object ball will probably roll around
the table and make itself visible to the cue ball. In this
case shoot soft draw just hard enough where the cue ball
will quit spinning backwards when it strikes the object
ball. The end result is the same as a stop shot using center
ball with no english.
If
you are playing a weaker player in a handicap match that
where they are under rated and you have to give them a game
or 2 on the wire there are 2 methods that will help you
win. In this case we are talking about a 5 or 6 rated player
that actually shoots 6 or 7 speed (Arizona ratings that
goes from 4 to 10) and you are either a 7, 8 or 9. The first
method is very simple. Play as many safeties as you have
to until you get to a point where you can comfortably run
out the table. The other method is to simply give this player
a shot they can make early in the game. The huge majority
of underrated 6 or even 7 rated players can't run out the
table with either ball in hand or an open shot. After they
make 3 or 4 balls you should have no problem finishing the
rack.
Of
course the best safety of all is to break and run the rack.
[Top]
TOURNAMENT
PREPARATION; THE FIRST STEP TO WINNING: [Submitted
by Tim Miller] Tournament preparation means being focused
and ready to play and you will advance to the next level
in tournament play. Winners are not accidents. They have
a plan and stick to it with good results. Tournament preparation
is just as important as tournament practice.
You
must be ready to play when the director calls your name.
Here are ten steps to moving to the next level.
Step
1. Visualize the break. See yourself smashing the rack with
a strong accurate powerful break. The balls explode. You
can hear the ball that drops in the pocket. You are left
with a wide open table. When you visualize the break, you
are building aggressive qualities that will win more games
for you. . You cannot win a tournament if you are tentative.
A powerful break will get you in the attack mode. Do this
many times before a tournament and you will establish the
style of play that will help you win.
Step
2. Expect good rolls. Almost all tournament winners come
through the brackets with a good roll. It is part of the
game. Say to yourself “I get good rolls” over
and over. Burn this affirmation in your mind. Let it become
“you”.
Step
3. Take advantage of your good rolls. Getting good rolls
is one thing. You must be able to take advantage of them.
Burn this affirmation in your mind. Let it become “you”.
Step
4. Take charge of each match. By following step one you
set up this affirmation in your mind. Remember, “what
the mind can conceive, it can achieve”. You will not
win tournaments without this “take charge attitude”.
Take charge.
Step
5. Play one match at a time. You are not here to win the
tournament. Get those thoughts out of your mind. You can
only play one match at a time. You need the freedom to perform.
Thinking about winning can clutter your mind. If you focus
on one match, you will find yourself in the final four more
often. Do not project beyond this one match at a time plan.
