A Rookie's Guide to Playing Winning Pool: From Beginning to Advanced Players

by Mose Duane

Overview

No matter what your level of pool playing ability is, this book will intice you into thinking in different terms, or reinforce some of your own thoughts, that will make you a better player. It's well illustrated, with practice shot suggestions and game strategies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781482066173
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	03/01/2013
Series:	Rookie's Guide to
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	228
Sales rank:	546,284
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

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A Rookie's Guide To PLAYING WINNING POOL

FROM BEGINNING TO ADVANCED PLAYERS

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By Mose Duane

Phoenix Billiards

Copyright © 2005 Mose Duane
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-9678089-9-5

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Chapter One

TEN WINNING GAME FUNDAMENTALS

Building a solid game of pool is like building a brick wall. The foundation must be laid first, then, row by row, the structure assembled.

The foundation, then, is your stance and after that, row by row; your balance, grip, bridge, stroke, english, and aim are assembled, with shot making being the mortar that holds them together. The break, lay of the table, patterns, clusters, and shot selections are added for strength, and, to top off the structure, include your mental and physical conditioning.

The fundamentals of the game should ultimately become second nature. The only way that will happen, though, is initially and periodically to think about what they are and how they relate to you. Thoroughly talk yourself through the following ten fundamentals during each practice session. But during the game, unless you're dogging your shots, let your subconscious deal with the fundamentals.

Your fundamentals-or your favorite pro's fundamentals-may differ somewhat from those shown here, but if you're a rookie (welcome to the game), or if you've been around awhile and are reviewing or having trouble with some aspect of your game, follow these guidelines first; then, once your game picks up, you can mimic your favorite pro or make up your own fundamentals using whatever is comfortable or whatever works for you.

If, however, you think you already know the fundamentals or have your own down pat and purchased this book to find an easy way to win, then go ahead, skip this section and go directly to the winning practice shots or even on to the winning game elements and strategies. But if you really want to consistently win, you'll be back.

1. STANCE

The foundation of a winning pool game is stance, and, like any foundation, its most important feature is stability. Without stability few good shots, if any, can be made consistently. On the other hand, because stance is not really a solid foundation, it must be tempered with comfort. If your stance is concrete solid, with every muscle straining for attention, not many good shots will be made either. You must strive for stability and comfort at the same time. And you can only achieve this by being relaxed and confident, confident not only in your ability, but also in your appearance as a pool player. You must look like a pool player; you must know you look like a pool player, and looking like a pool player starts with stance.

A few years ago, Will, John, and "Strawberry" were regular customers at The Velvet Rail. They were good players and might have been excellent had it not been for stance. They could never achieve a proper stance because John and Strawberry were amputees and Will was a double amputee.

I spent a lot of time with these guys and always felt blessed having known them. Despite their physical disabilities, they never gave up on the game they loved so much. (John was even an excellent ping-pong player.)

Whether hopping around the pool table on artificial limbs, one leg, crutches, or in a wheelchair, their stance was never taken for granted; they had to constantly adjust and readjust. Although they would moan, groan, and cuss like everyone else did when they missed a shot, they never blamed their disabilities. These guys won their share of games, but of course, they could never be consistent winners because of their inability to develop a good stance. Most of us have the good fortune to have the use of both of our legs. Why not use them properly?

Unlike theirs, your stance, especially the distance from the table, will change depending on your shot. Some shots require that you be close to the table, often stretching across it; some shots require you to lean on the table; while other shots require you to step back and support your own weight. That was Will's, John's, and Strawberry's downfall. They couldn't adjust that easily. But we can. Stance is the foundation of the rest of your game, don't take it for granted

In essence, the distance you stand from the table is determined by the position of the cue ball. To establish this distance, place your bridge hand behind the cue ball at the point where the bridge will be made (see section 4 of this chapter), then let your body find its own comfortable position from that point. Don't take up a stance at some arbitrary distance from the table, then try to stretch to the cue ball.

Although no two players will, or can, have the same stance, and each will eventually find his or her own best position, there are a few common factors all will share. Generally, to establish a sound stance, you should point your inside hip toward the table, and your outside hip between forty and fifty degrees away from the table. For stability, your feet should be positioned approximately shoulder width apart with your toes pointing slightly away from each other. Your outside foot should be set in front of your inside foot so that your outside foot's heel is approximately in line with your inside foot's arch (Figure 1-1).

Your inside knee and hip should be somewhat bent so that your body is comfortably leaning over the table.

Your outside forearm (the one stroking the cue), should be almost vertical from your elbow down so it can smoothly and freely swing in a pendular motion without interference from any other part of your body (Figure 1-2). Your head should be erect with your chin five to ten inches above the cue. Your eyes must aim along the cue shaft, and remain horizontal to take full advantage of your depth perception along the horizontal plane of the pool table. Never close one eye. A master rifleman uses both eyes; you should too.

The overriding factor for a good stance, then, is stability and comfort working together, with both eyes open and horizontal.

Your bridge hand is also part of your stance in that you lean some of your weight onto it, but that will be covered in more detail, in section 4 of this chapter.

2. CUES

Rookie or not, the first row of bricks of the structure of winning pool is your cue and the way you use it.

Once you have all the fundamentals of this book down pat, although not ideal, you should be able to win using just about any cue, even one that is slightly warped. It you're ever forced to use a warped cue, make sure the warp or bow is hanging at the bottom of cue when you're stroking. This will prevent it form rolling or turning in your hand. However, having said that, a good, straight, well-balanced cue will add ten to twenty percent to your game. So, if you can teach yourself to run ten balls with any stick you pick up, you should be able to run twelve or more with a good cue. This is why I consider a good cue one of the ten winning fundamentals. And here is the sweet part: When you can consistently run twelve or more balls, you can win any pool game, any time, against almost any player (excluding one or two of the top pros, of course).

Cues generally weigh between 15 and 22 ounces, are usually 57 inches long, and have a tip diameter of between 11 and 14 millimeters. Although there's no right or wrong cue weight or size, as long as you're comfortable using the cue, most players use between 18 and 20 ounces.

One-Piece Cues

High quality one-piece (house) cues are actually made from two pieces of wood. Maple is used for the shaft and rosewood, mahogany, maple, or some other hardwood for the butt. The two pieces are bonded together, normally using a four-prong splice but could have a flat face seam with the two halves pinned together (Figure 1-3).

The use of two pieces of wood is for more than decoration. Maple is used on the shaft for its hardness and trueness, while heavier woods are used for the butt to control the cue's weight distribution. Often, though, metal plugs or screws are inserted into the butt for added weight. High quality one-piece cues are excellent, inexpensive cues. They are well balanced, sized, and properly weighted. You should be able to play winning pool with any good quality one-piece cue. I've seen many excellent players simply pull a cue off the rack and go to work. Thinking you need a two hundred dollar cue with five hundred dollars worth of junk inlays to play winning pool is a crutch; an excuse for not playing your best with what's available.

Don't get high quality, inexpensive one-piece cues confused with cheap department store cues made of soft, porous, woods that have no weight control or balance and painted on prongs to make them appear higher quality.

Two-Piece Cues

Two-piece cues are made from a variety of materials-fiberglass, aluminum, graphite, plastic sheathed wood, impregnated wood, layered wood, and on and on.

Non-wood and composite wood materials have come a long way in their ability to impart english on a cue ball, and the simple fact that they will not warp is a major advancement over wood. Still, the feel, consistent control, and beauty of wood cannot be duplicated.

The nomenclature used to describe a pool cue may differ somewhat depending on the area, manufacturer, and cost, but those depicted in Figure 1-4 are adequate to allow a thorough understanding of most cues.

Tips

Soft tips take and hold chalk better than hard tips, but aren't as durable. Cuing the ball causes soft tips to compress and conform to the ball's shape, allowing for maximum contact. This makes them more forgiving and less prone to miscuing.

Hard tips, on the other hand, will not give or contort much when they strike the cue ball. So, they must be chalked often, stroked with precision, and the cue ball must be hit closer to center to prevent miscuing. They will, however, add some speed to the cue ball.

Ferrules

Ferrules are sleeves or points installed on the end of the cue shaft to prevent the wood from splitting or splintering. Ferrules are made of plastic, fiber, Lucite, or phenolic. Plastic ferrules are used on cheap department store cues, and Lucite or phenolic on higher priced custom cues. Fiber ferrules are generally used on one-piece house cues, but can be found on some inexpensive custom cues.

The outside diameter of the ferrule will be the same as the cue shaft and tip, and the length can vary from 1/2 inch to a little over 1 inch. Ferrules are usually installed onto a tenon cut into the end of the shaft, or onto metal screws that are implanted into the shaft end (Figure 1-5).

Shafts

Although other materials and other woods are used to manufacture cue shafts, maple is by far the most frequently used, and sugar maple is considered excellent for cue shafts because of its extremely dense, tight, and straight grain. Rock maple, hard maple, and Canadian maple, are different names given to the same sugar maple wood.

Top quality shafts are always pro-tapered to give them the same diameter from the cue tip back ten to twelve inches toward the joint (Figure 1-6). This helps you to create a solid, level stroke as the cue slides through your bridge, and one of the reasons a custom cue can add a few percentage points to you game.

The diameter of shafts at their tips, and along their pro-tapers, range from 11 to 14 millimeters. The ideal cue shaft size is said to be between 12 and 13 millimeters (1/2 inch), and, oddly enough, 12 1/2 mm is what I prefer. The real size criterion, though, is that a shaft should fit comfortably within your closed bridge.

Joints

A two-piece cue shaft is mechanically attached to the butt by a joint. There are four basic kinds of cue joints: double screw, single screw, implex, and quick release.

1. A double screw joint is a double metal screw that turns into a double metal lug. Both halves of the joint are metal, usually stainless steel, so that the joining faces are metal to metal. The double screws, arranged one inside the other, makes an extremely stiff joint (joint 1 in Figure 1-7).

2. A single screw joint is a metal screw that turns into a metal lug. The two halves of the joint are metal and metal, plastic and metal, or plastic and plastic, with the metal screw in the center. This joint is stiff to medium stiff (joint 2 in Figure 1-7).

3. An implex joint is a metal screw that screws into a tapped hole in the end of the shaft, either directly into the wood or into a plastic or Lucite insert. The joining faces of an implex joint can be plastic to wood, but is usually wood to wood, making this joint the most flexible (joint 3 in Figure 1-7).

4. The quick release is a stainless steel or titanium pin that slips into a retaining insert in the shaft. Two or three quick turns lock the shaft into place. The joining faces are metal to plastic or fiber, or wood to wood, making this joint medium to flexible in stiffness (joint 4 in Figure 1-7).

Which joint you choose to use is, of course, up to you and your game. Usually it makes little difference what you use, from a playability standpoint once you get used to a particular cue and joint, but generally a hard hitting player will use a solid metal to metal joint and a soft hitting, finesse player will want an implex, wood to wood joint.

Butts

Cue butts are also made of hardwood, or a combination of hardwoods, like ash, maple, and rosewood. Weight is controlled by using woods of different density, or metal plugs or screws inserted into the ends of the butts.

The diameter of a butt, in the griping area, ranges from 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Ultimately, though, butt size is determined by how comfortably it fits your hand.

To protect the end of the butt, it is fitted with a high impact plastic butt cap. A rubber bumper is inserted into the butt cap to save furniture and floors.

Depending on what you are willing to spend, the forearm and sleeve can be inlaid with an assortment of materials ranging from plastic to diamonds, including ebony, bone, mother-of-pearl, and dyed hardwoods.

However, inlays are usually not customized individually. Typically, custom cues are ordered by choosing the diameter of the shaft and butt, the weight of the cue, and the color or type of wrap.

The butt will be one of several pre-designed, pre-made, and mass-produced butts, with the inlays already embedded, and the most common of these inlays is mother-of-pearl and colorful hardwoods.

The entire cue butt can be left with exposed wood, but for better grasping, the griping area is usually wrapped in nylon, leather, or Irish linen. Ignoring preference and feel, the only advantage of one wrap over the other is either aesthetic or cost, with nylon being the cheapest (sometimes even cheaper than finished wood), and linen being the most expensive and having the greatest visual appeal.

Continues...

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Excerpted from A Rookie's Guide To PLAYING WINNING POOL by Mose Duane Copyright © 2005 by Mose Duane. Excerpted by permission.
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