Comments on: Billiards Basics: Play Pool Like Minnesota Fats

By: Teri

Teri — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 22:10:58 +0000

Ok. So I’m a woman and I visited and read about manliness, does this make me part man? LOL! Sorry, couldn’t help it. Was Googling on where to find a sewing pattern (a little more womanly there) for a pool cue carrying case and came across this. More and more women are playing billiards, I, myself, have been playing since my teens (now nearing the dreaded 50). Great tips in this article, but have found that a truly good player can play well and win most, if not all, games on any table with any stick (minus the sticks without tips of course). I have won against countless men who have come in with their own custom sticks using only the barroom (or pool hall) sticks.

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 04:25:38 +0000

Good tips in the article. But a couple of points need more emphasis. First, there’s no such thing as ‘too much chalk’. Chalk up before every shot. Use the time you spend chalking up to get your thoughts together and analyze the shot. It’s a very casual way to take the necessary time to figure out what you’re going to do with your shot.

Second, make sure that you always carry either a tip shaper with you, or carry a piece of sandpaper in your wallet. If you’re playing ‘off the wall’ you’ll find that the tips are generally crap. If you don’t shape the tip, you’re putting yourself at a big disadvantage. Because your opponent, if he’s a serious player, will definitely be putting the optimum shape on his tip. If you’re really serious about your game, buy a good stick and forget about playing off the wall.

By: Gary T

Gary T — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:18:18 +0000

These pointers are fairly boilerplate, and mostly come with simple common sense; sure they are some the first things you need to know, but mostly useless for someone who has been at it for a while.
What is the true core of being a good pool player is the intuitive eye that tells the player what angle a target ball will take off at given a glancing strike from the cue ball.
This is something that cannot be learned from a book or words alone, much like being a good bowler, it has to be rehearsed and practiced until one’s spatio-visual map of what type of cueball strike results in what type of angled rebound.
Once you have that down, you have 90% of the game mastered. Some never get it down, because it is something that on the level of athletic talent, which some people simply don’t have.

By: Viktor T

Viktor T — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 08:17:04 +0000

I just wanted to say that I tried out two of your suggestions tonight, which has been a few weeks since I have played a game of pool. The two suggestions I tried were holding the stick close to the end, about an inch or two away, with the thumb and index finger, and keeping my eye about on level with the cue ball. I could get quite as low as level with the ball and the table, but I got a lot lower than I usually. These two improved my game immensely. I was usually fairly average at pool; I could make some tricky shots to impress, but I was so wildly inconsistent that I was never a good player, but man just those two suggestions at once improved my game so much. I still have trouble in places, so I cannot say I am all that good or done practicing, but at least now I have an idea for what I want in terms of consistency and how it can be achievable.

Great article!

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 04:01:35 +0000

Angles are pretty simple once you learn one aiming trick: Imagine where the cueball needs to end up just as it strikes the object ball in order to put it in the pocket. It will need to be in a straight line between itself and the pocket running straight through the object ball. If you’re just practicing, its very helpful just to take another ball and place it next to the one you’re aiming at with both balls lined up straight towards the pocket your shooting for. This exercise will make it a lot easier to visualize where you need to aim.

As for bank shots, even on a good table the angles aren’t always the same. It depends on how hard you shoot. The harder the ball hits the rail, the less of an angle it will come back off of it. This can be especially helpful to know and use when you have a bank shot that would otherwise end up double kissing the cue ball if shot at normal speed. Just try hitting some bank shots at varying speeds and you’ll see what I mean.

Robert Byrne’s book on learning the game is great for all kinds of tips and techniques if you want to take your game to the next level.

Hope this helps.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:26:58 +0000

From my experience, shooting at angles just takes practice. Lots. As for “bank shots” off the edge, it depends a bit on where you are playing. In a real pool hall with good tables, you can get a reliable bank shot. If you’re playing in a bar, I would normally do what I can to avoid making a bank shot because the edges can be old or damaged, and what you get for a rebound is unreliable.

Using spin to adjust your bank shots is another thing that takes practice, but it also is tricky to rely on unless you know the table is decent quality.

By: Karl

Karl — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 23:46:40 +0000

Any tips on how to line up those angled shots? The straight ones seem simple enough, but when I find it a lot harder when I need to bounce the cue ball off the edge or shoot shots at angels. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

By: Edge of David

Edge of David — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 19:33:35 +0000

So many nuances to picking a cue I never considered. I still to this day can not beat my 60 yr old dad at pool.

By: Campy

Campy — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:57:54 +0000

I would have thought, unless I missed it, you would have discussed a proper rack.

By: Byron Cobb

Byron Cobb — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:39:19 +0000

I routinely train and evaluate pilots for a major cargo airline and this notebook will enhance my note taking… And further an awesome interface with professional pilots.