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Archive for the ‘Billiards & Pool Tips’ Category

Whatever kind of game you are playing in pool, the break shot is considered one of the most important shots to learn. Just like in 9-ball, the more racks you can perform after a successful break shot can lead to more chance of you winning as well.

Remember that to be able to make the successful break shot, you must be aware of your goals of why you are doing it. It is for you to at least pocket one to two balls, spread the rest of the balls around the table and have the cue ball situated near the center.

Most pool players commit the mistake of having the perception that in doing the break shot, it is an out of control break, but rather a controlled break. Just take it easy on the hit and never aim at hitting it too hard. Always bear in mind this note: it is more essential to achieve a full hit than just simply hit the ball tough.

Photo via deviantart.com

You may think that hitting a ball with the cue and shooting it in the pocket, is what all it takes to play the game of pool, but there’s a lot to it once you dominate the table. Making that shot in pool is a common urge, and predicting where the cue ball will stop is a challenge, however knowing how to strike the object ball with your cue ball is the secret to winning.

Many amateurs would think that every ball is all set to make the shot as long as its proximity to the pockets is high. Beginners eagerly take the attempt if they immediately see the line of fire to the hole, not knowing the complications it will make. The next thing you’ll know is you’re into a situation when you can’t find a good way to hit the cue ball into the object ball and make that shot even worst.

Professional pool players will find first their correct cue before they make the attempt, they take a few moments walking around the table, checking the cue ball in various angles in relation to object balls to be hit, and this is what they call a preshot routine.

Here are a few reminders that can help amateurs improve their pool playing routine. First, learn to control the cue ball, keep in mind where you want it to stop on the table after your shot, and then look for the aiming point as well as the collision point. Set your hit on how fast you want your cue ball to move then focus before making the strike.

Just think twice before you make the hit and don’t hesitate to make your own playing strategy.

Often we heard from our best professional pool players the name Willie Mosconi, who dominated pool for decades, and publicly on television, and known by many Americans as the greatest, but there was once a mentor and superior of Mosconi that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Known for his alias as “The Aristocrat”, Ralph Greenleaf was widely considered the greatest pool player ever, and handsome to boot. Ralph Greenleaf was pool’s brightest star from the turn of the century through the Depression. Greenleaf and Willie Mosconi stand as the two greatest pool shooters in history. Like Rachmaninoff at the piano, Greenleaf used his massive hands with their long, tapering fingers to perform his calling marvelously.

When Mosconi was a boy, he toured with Greenleaf, who taught him exquisite positioning with the cue ball and built in him the competitive edge to win.

Some old-timers state that Ralph’s frequent bouts with liquor crippled the potential of his brilliant career and have believed to bring this pool giant to an early death in 1950 at the age of 50.

Billiards and Pool are generally grouped as one and referred to as cue sports, although, technically, there are vast differences between the two games.

Cue Players consider “billiards” to be “carom’ games only, it is hitting two balls with one stroke of a pool cue, and three balls are used; white, yellow and red. Both the white and the yellow ball can act as the strikers. Billiards is basically pool without pockets; while on the other hand, Pool is hitting the ball into a pocket. It all depends on what style of the game you would like to play.

Pocket billiards takes on many forms, each differentiated largely by the number and size of balls used in play. Most traditional pool games are “8-ball pool” played with 16 balls: 15 colored and one white “cue ball.” And the “9-ball pool” using 9 colored balls and one white cue ball.

Today, Billiards and Pool can be exchanged and mean the same thing. When people refer to one, it is assumed the other is also being included.

After competing for the series of billiard championships last year, all the cue players have not bring to an end their passion for the craft and even prepare for the upcoming pool competitions ahead of time, it’s just at the top of their list. And now what awaits them has been set forth. The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) is pleased to announce that the next World 9-Ball Championship will happen in Doha, Qatar starting June 25 until July 5, 2010. Invitations will be done according to WPA rankings and via the WPA members and should commence during the spring of 2010. Expect in the entourage the names of the top professional players like Efren Bata Reyes, Ralf Souquet, Mika Immonen, Django Bustamante, and the rest of the high profiled pool players. Qualifiers for this contest will compete from the 25^th to 27^th of June in Doha. All successful cue players will battle from June 28 for eliminations all the way to July 05 for the championship.  The prize fund for this initial appearance and in 2011 in Qatar is $250,000 and will increase to $300,000 for both 2012 and 2013.

Meet Ronato Alcano, recently nicknamed “The Volcano”, a native of Calamba, Laguna, who won the 2006 WPA Men’s World Nine-ball Championship at age 34. He defeated Ralf Souquet of Germany. He is also the 3rd Filipino to win the championship – Efren Reyes in 1999 and Alex Pagulayan in 2004. In 2007, Alcano bagged the WPA World Eight-ball Championship by defeating his compatriot Dennis Orcollo in the final match 11-8. Also on the 11^th of December 2007 Ronato Alcano won the Philippines’ 31st gold medal in the 24th Southeast Asian Games Men’s 8-Ball Pool Singles at the Sima Thani Hotel Grand Ballroom. These are just few of his achievements in the billiard sports. Who would have thought, that the poor guy from Laguna, and just an elementary graduate will be given so much recognition for his contribution as a champion pool icon. Alcano is now in the peek of his career and still continues to exhibit his mastery of the sports.

Playing the games of professional pool, snooker and billiards is not for an average joe, it takes talent, skills, knowledge and a good cue stick.

Most pool players believed that if they have the right cue stick, they would shoot better and that gives them an ace up in their sleeve. Every cue artist is in search of a perfect cue and they can tell whether it feels right by weight, balance, leather and shaft characteristics. An experienced billiard player can determine by the stick’s vibration if the stick flexes too much or not. The way the stick feels is important and the sound of the hit is likewise essential. Some players play for keeps that will pay more just to find the cue that feels superior, it’s an investment of high yield for a competition. For them it’s like a wand that gives magic to every game. And if this is the case, Efren “BATA” Reyes one of the world’s best pool players must have found the right wand for it makes him the magician.  But every player should know that it’s always the skill and mastery of the sport that means a lot and the cue stick will be as much use as a chocolate teapot.

By raising the butt of the cue, the shooter, especially a beginner or intermediate player, invites serious problems. It will be very difficult for a student to learn how to aim if the ball does not follow a straight line. Advanced players use curve and massé shots to their advantage, but they know how, and it is not an accident. Beginners should never curve the cueball, and raising the butt of the stick invites just such a mistake.
Don’t start off with bad habits. Keep the butt of the cue stick as level as possible for all shots. When you become advanced, you will learn when and how much to raise the butt for specialty shots, such as curves, massés and jump shots. One side benefit of keeping the stick level: you are less likely to be charged with the cost of replacing the cloth. Driving the stick downward can force the tip into the cloth. The cloth, on most tables, is not glued to the top, but stretched across it. It can easily be torn.

Many top players suggest that the use of side spin (right or left english) is not critical to shooting good pool. I agree. Most of what can be achieved with side spin can be accomplished with top or bottom, if there is a clear path to the position point. However, knowledge of side spin can offer alternative “paths” to the position desired if the preferred path is blocked.

It is not the spin alone that makes it possible to alter tangents and rebound angles. It is the combination of spin and speed that makes the possibilities infinite. Consider the following:

1) Using top spin will bend a tangent path forward.

2) Bottom will bend the tangent path backward.

3) Shooting hard will close the rebound angle off the rail.

4) Shooting easy will widen the rebound angle off the rail.

By combining the appropriate top or bottom spin with the right speed, the shooter can send the cue ball off the object ball to about any place on the table, assuming interfering balls can be avoided.

Speed relates to distance. With a 3/4 hit, not only will the cue ball deflect at 25%, and the object ball at 75% of the contact speed, the object ball will travel 3 feet for every 1 foot traveled by the cue ball.

In the diagram above the cue ball was stroked with a speed that would send it 4 feet. When it hits the object ball (a 3/4 hit) the object ball is sent 3 feet, and the cue ball 1 foot. The distance is equal to the percentage ratio (3 /1 ft. = 75/25%.)

You can test this for yourself. Put an object ball on the head spot. Place the cue ball between the object ball and the head rail so that the inside edge of the cue ball is lined up as shown below. The inside edge of the cue ball is lined up to intersect a point 3/4 the distance from the outside edge of the object ball (25% from the inside edge.) If this is confusing, just set up as shown below.
Stroke the cue softly with a center ball hit. Drive the object ball 3 feet, and then measure the distance the cue ball traveled after the hit. It should be 1 foot.

If you drive the object ball 6 feet with this same set-up, the cue ball should travel 2 feet (6/2=3/1 ratio, or 75/25).