Many of you know how to play pool, but do you know enough to win consistently and make
money from it?
Well, the secrets that I'm going to show you in this tape will help you do this.
Now, it will not make you into a professional pool player, but if you follow what I show
you, you will be able to beat the players that come in where you shoot.
Now, I don't play in lavish casinos dressed in a tuxedo.
I shoot in local saloons where they have tavern tables.
This is where you're going to be doing your pool shooting at.
So, I'm making this movie in these surroundings rather than shooting it somewhere else.
Now, I'm going to be playing on what I call a standard 8x4 tavern table.
Some tables are 9x4.5 feet wide.
Some are 7x3.5 feet wide.
Just remember that all pool tables are always twice as long as they are wide.
Now, the cue ball on some of these coin operated tables is slightly larger than the object
ball, so it will return on a different track.
But this also means that it's going to take more draw, more follow, more left and more
right hand English to produce the same effect that you'd get on a standard size table where
the balls are all the same size.
This is called the head of the table where you break from.
This is called the foot of the table where the balls are racked at.
The pockets on these tables are cut fairly wide, so this means it's easier to make balls
without having many of them hang up.
Remember all corner pockets are wider than two balls placed side by side, and these side
pockets are even wider than that.
Now, with targets this size and with this much leeway for your shots, how can you miss?
Let's pick out a cue stick now and get started.
The tip on the cue is more important than the weight or the thickness of the shaft or
how straight it may be.
The tip should have a decent thickness and be fairly well rounded, so you can apply English
to the cue ball with it.
After the tip, look at how straight the cue stick is, concentrating on the last 12 to
18 inches, because that's the part of the stick that's going to affect your shooting
the most.
Now, drop the butt of the cue stick on the floor like this and listen for loose weights
or a cracked stick.
If it has either one, you'll either feel it or hear it.
Now, take the stick by the butt end and feel for the balance point.
If it feels good, chalk up.
Now, remember, chalk up after every shot.
If you don't, you're taking a chance of mis-cuing.
Chalk adds friction between this tip and that cue ball, and without that friction, this
tip may slide off that ball on contact, causing a mis-cue.
Don't take chances like that.
Chalk up after every shot.
The closed-hand bridge is the most stable bridge that you can have.
You make this by forming a fist, extend your index finger and your thumb, put the cue stick
in between, fold your index finger over, put your thumb up against it, and spread your
three remaining fingers.
Always have 6 to 8 inches between your hand and the cue ball so you can stroke very easily.
An open-hand bridge is formed by placing your hand flat on the table.
Raise your knuckles, put your thumb up against your first knuckle, spread your fingers.
The cue stick fits right in that groove, again, 6 to 8 inches between your hand and the cue
ball.
The reason you need an open-hand bridge, sometimes there's going to be an object ball in between
the cue ball and your bridge, so you're going to have to go up in the air, and that means
you can raise up on your fingertips, shoot over the top of that object ball into the
cue ball, and still retain all of your stability.
Now occasionally, cue ball is going to be too close to the rail to put a bridge in here.
This means that you have to bridge off of the rail itself.
Lay the cue stick on the table.
Put your hand over the top of it, cue stick in between your first and second fingers,
tuck your thumb alongside the cue stick.
Now this is going to give you added stability, it'll help to keep your stroke straight.
Sometimes the cue ball will be too close to the rail, even to use a rail bridge.
When this happens, you have to go to an either closed-hand bridge or open-hand bridge to
get some stroking distance between your hand and the cue ball, and in this situation, use
whichever one is the most comfortable for you, the closed-hand bridge or the open-hand
bridge, depending on the shot.
The stroke is all important in shooting the cue ball without putting English on it by
accident.
The exercise to achieve this is place the chalk down the table, take your cue ball,
shoot center ball right to the area of that chalk.
Now if your stroke is on or it has no wobble, that cue ball is going to come back and hit
the tip of the stick just like that.
Now if you'd inadvertently put left-hand English on the cue ball and you still hit
the area of the chalk, cue ball veers drastically to the left.
Now if you'd have hit right of center, it would have veered drastically to the right.
When you're stroking, look down at your cue stick and be sure that there's no detectable
wobble like this.
Straight and smooth stroking is the key to controlling your position shooting and making
more balls.
So that means if you can do this, you're going to make more balls.
When shooting English, look at the cue ball as if it were the face of a clock, starting
with 12 o'clock for follow, 1, 2, 3 o'clock for right-hand English, 4, 5, 6 o'clock for
draw, 7, 8, 9 o'clock for left-hand English, 10, 11, and back to 12 again for follow.
Throughout this tape, I will refer to these numbers when I stroke the cue ball to make
different shots.
The biggest secret that I know about making shots is what do your eyes see last before
you shoot?
You look from pocket to object ball, object ball to cue ball, cue ball to the object
ball, but what do your eyes rest on last?
Should be the object ball.
When you're lining up your shot, you have your line, eyes on the object ball last.
Pocket to object ball, cue ball to object ball, object ball last.
Now you may say those were very easy shots, they were pretty much straight on.
Even when the cuts are more difficult, eyes on the object ball last.
Now this is going to take some practice because until now you never knew where to look last
or probably never even thought about it.
But make it a habit and you're going to make more shots than you ever have before.
Keep your eye on the object ball last.
Stop shots, draw shots, and follow shots.
These are the three basics and you really don't need much more than that to shoot better
than most people do.
A stop shot is where you shoot the cue ball dead center into the object ball making it
skid to it with no English at all, cue ball will stop dead.
Now a draw shot is where you hit the cue ball at 6 o'clock sharply, make it skid to the
object ball, the English will take over after contact and pull the cue ball back underneath
me.
Now a follow shot is exactly the opposite of a draw where you hit the cue ball at 12
o'clock, have it skid to the object ball, after making contact the cue ball will travel
forward.
Now the biggest mistake that most players make is that they do not shoot a follow shot
hard enough.
Just like this, at 12 o'clock and the cue ball runs down table.
You must always maintain control of your cue ball and sometimes that means shooting harder
than others.
A player that shoots every shot softly will rarely run a table because he never shoots
any break shots.
There are two parts to making every shot.
Number one is pocketing that object ball.
Number two is positioning your cue ball for your next shot.
Now shooting natural position is the easiest way to do this.
And looking over this table, there's only two reasons why I couldn't run it.
Reason number one is if I went blind.
Number two is if I lost control of that cue ball, which I will not do.
All I'm going to do here is shoot four stop shots.
Stop the cue ball four times.
Chalk up after every shot, stopping the cue ball, keeping my eye on the object ball last.
Stop shot again, eight ball in the corner of the pocket.
Always chalk up.
You don't have to get fancy.
You don't have to be fancy to be good.
All you have to do is make more balls than anyone else.
And if you make more balls, you're going to win more games.
The more games you win, the more money you'll make.
Break shots are easy if you think ahead and shoot natural position.
The common mistake that most players make is that they do not shoot a break shot firmly
enough to move this cue ball away from those object balls after they make contact.
Now here I'm going to shoot the 13 ball in the corner.
No English on the cue ball at all.
Firmly enough to move the object balls away from it.
Now sometimes shooting a break shot is no more than shooting a dead combination.
But you have to look the table over, 11 ball, corner pocket.
I see shots on a pool table that my opponents don't.
That's the reason that I win more games than they do.
You have to be able to shoot break shots to run tables.
And the balls are not always going to be spread apart completely.
You will have to shoot break shots.
Try to shoot as many natural break shots as you possibly can.
Understand that when you put English on the cue ball, it's going to put opposite English
on the contacted object ball.
Top English will put draw, draw will put follow, left hand English will put right, right hand
English will put left.
Now this is called throw.
Anytime that you put left or right hand English on the cue ball, it's going to affect the
direction that the object ball will go.
Now first of all, the object ball and the cue ball are about 6 inches from the side
rail.
I'm going to shoot straight into it without any English whatsoever.
And watch what happens to the 7 ball, watch where it hits.
It was straight up and straight down.
Now I'm going to put the two balls back in the same spot and I'm going to hit the cue
ball with severe right hand English, hitting the cue ball at 3 o'clock.
That's going to put left hand English on the 7 ball and throw it into this pocket.
I'm still shooting in the same direction, but watch what happens to the 7.
It gets thrown into the pocket.
Now remember that left hand English will throw that ball to the right, right hand English
will throw that object ball to the left.
Allow for this when you're aiming.
This throw that we're talking about will sometimes allow you to make object balls that are frozen
on the cue ball at an off angle from the pocket.
Now as you can see here, the 13 ball and the cue ball are frozen together and if you drew
a line through them, it's going to hit somewhere in between the side and the corner pocket.
Now it looks like you really don't have a shot, but believe me, you do.
If you hit at 3 o'clock on the cue ball and shoot downward to put additional pressure
on it, right hand English on the cue ball is going to throw left hand English on that
13.
That means that the 13 ball will be thrown to the left and into that corner pocket just
like this.
Down into the right on the cue ball, hitting at 3 o'clock, throwing a 13 ball cleanly into
the pocket down there.
Now that shot alone is going to get you out of some tight spots.
It'll help you to make more balls and help you to win more games.
When an object ball is frozen on a rail, to make this shot in the corner pocket, you must
hit ball and rail at the same time.
I've seen many people miss this shot because they'll hit too much of the ball or too much
of the rail.
With no English at all, you hit ball and rail at the same time.
Now sometimes you'll have a more severe angle where to make this 15 ball in the corner pocket,
it's a little more difficult to do.
So what you want to do in this situation is put inside English on the cue ball, or in
other words, hit the cue ball at 9 o'clock.
You hit just behind the 15.
You contact the rail first, but just barely.
Because left hand English on the cue ball will produce right hand spin on the 15 ball
and make the 15 ball hug the rail all the way into the corner pocket.
Just like this, just behind the cue, behind the object ball, makes it hug the rail.
A chrome shot is where you're playing one ball off of another ball into a pocket.
As you can see here, the 12 ball is frozen on the 8, and if you drew a line through the
point of contact, it'll be dead into that pocket.
That means that this 12 ball is going to fall in that corner pocket for sure.
All you have to do is shoot the cue ball full into the 12, full ball, with no English, just
a stop shot, and that 12 ball will chrome off the 8 and fall into the corner pocket
just like this.
Not all chrome shots are frozen.
In this situation, I want to make the 8 ball in this corner pocket, but as you can see,
the 5 ball is in the way.
What I'm going to do is shoot the 8 ball into the 4, have it chrome off the 4 into that
corner pocket.
Now, when this 8 makes contact with that 4 ball, if you were down there and could stop
the action, you'd be able to draw a line right through the contact point into that
corner pocket.
That means that that 8 ball will fall in there for sure.
Just like this, 8 ball in the corner, off the 4, past the 5 ball, scratch shot.
That's what everybody that's watching me shoot right now thinks that I have by shooting this
10 ball into the corner pocket.
They think that this cue ball is going to fall in this side pocket after contact.
Well, that's not correct.
The 10 is too far past the side to cut it into the side, but I can shoot that 10 ball
down in the corner pocket, right past the 8 ball, put a lot of follow English on the
cue ball, have the cue ball spin forward after contact, hit this rail, and come out for position
to make the 8 ball in the corner.
Now, on the other hand, that is a scratch shot.
The cue ball, after hitting the 10 and driving the 10 to the corner pocket, is going to
fall in this side pocket whether you put draw, follow, left or right hand English on it.
Because the angle is too severe now, the cue ball would not have enough opportunity to
roll forward after making contact.
It would fall on the side.
This is not a scratch shot though.
This is makeable.
And the cue ball was only moved an inch or two.
Now, here's the difference, a lot of follow English.
Eyes on the object ball last, a lot of follow, the cue ball comes out for perfect position
to make the 8 ball in the corner.
Now, when your opponent has no balls left on the table, and if you miss or give him
another inning at the table, he's going to beat you, you do not want to allow him back
up here to shoot.
By knowing this last shot that I showed you here, you're going to win more games.
And the more games you win, the more money you're going to make.
Now remember, we're shooting in saloons.
Rarely if ever are you going to find a mechanical bridge in a saloon.
So in a situation like this, you're going to have to learn how to shoot with one hand.
The only available shot that I have, because I'm shooting the stripes, is the 13 ball into
the 2, 2 ball into the 11, 11 ball in the corner pocket.
There are no other shots here on the table.
Now here's the bad part.
I cannot reach to bridge to hit that 13 ball.
There's no way possible for me.
If I shoot it like this, I'm going to miss cue because there's way too much cue stick
extending further than my bridge.
So what you have to do in a situation like this is shoot it one handed.
Hold the cue stick like a pencil.
Bring the cue stick down to the line that you have to hit the 13, to hit the 2, to hit
the 11 and in.
Do not try to hold the cue stick here and then form your line because there's too much
stick out there.
The end of it will start waving as you can see.
Too much allowance for error.
Bring the cue stick down from an elevated position.
Have your line, eyes on the object ball last and fire.
Now knowing how to shoot that shot is going to help you make more balls and it's very
intimidating for everyone standing around watching you to see you shoot with one hand.
But the more that you practice that, the better that you become at it, the more games you're
going to win.
Here's another example of shooting with one hand only in a different fashion.
Now here I've got the solids and the only available shot that I have is the 5 ball in
the corner and it's not a very difficult shot with one exception.
As you can see here, I can't bridge to make this 5.
My body is in the way.
I can't bring the cue stick back far enough.
So therefore what you do is put the cue stick on the rail just as if you had a bridge down
there.
Hold the butt end of it a little more firmly than normal because you're going to have to
do all your guiding from back here.
Shoot this shot just as if you had your hand out there.
Put your hand on the rail to steady yourself, eyes on the object ball last, and shoot through
it.
Again, shooting with one hand is a bit intimidating to the people that are watching you, but in
a situation like that it's necessary.
You're shooting in saloons, there's no mechanical bridges available, you have to make do.
And the more that you make do, the more you're going to win.
My opponent has just broken these balls and didn't make anything, so now it's my ending
at the table.
I'm going to shoot the three ball into the side pocket to start off with and follow it
just a little bit to get into this area.
So I'll have either the six ball in the corner or the one ball in the corner or the five
in the corner for my next shots.
Now that's called area positioning.
The reason that you shoot this in the very beginning is there's a lot of balls on the
table, my opponent's balls and my own.
And until I get more of mine off the table, you could get hung up by these balls.
So therefore, shooting area positioning in the beginning is acceptable.
I'm going to shoot the three ball on the side, just a little bit of follow.
Now naturally when you get down to the last couple of balls or the eight ball, obviously
you have to shoot individual ball position.
Prior to that, area positioning is the best to shoot.
I now have the six ball in the corner or the one ball in the corner.
I'm going to shoot the one in the corner, pull it back just a little bit, and have either
the four or the six ball next.
Eyes on the object ball last, little bit of draw.
I'm now in an area of positioning where I can shoot the six ball off, I can take the
four ball off, or I can still take the five.
Now again, by not getting hung up by the other object balls, you'll keep your inning on the
table and keep your opponent off, and that's the only way you're going to win more games.
Whenever possible, shoot the object balls that are closest to the cue ball.
The distance between this five and the cue ball is very short.
There isn't very much room for error.
The distance between that one ball and this cue ball is much, much longer.
Your opportunity for error is much greater.
Now by taking this five ball down in the corner, because I can't make it in the side past this
nine ball, not only will I decrease the distance that the cue ball will have to travel to make
the one, because I'm going to shoot the cue ball to the rail and bring it out in this
area, but also my percentage for making this shot is very good because the five ball is
real close to the cue ball.
Always chalk up, eyes on the object ball last, hit the cue ball at 12 o'clock, five ball
down to the corner.
We shorten the distance considerably for the one ball.
Shoot the balls that are closest to the cue ball whenever you have the opportunity.
Keep your shots short.
Short shots are much easier to make than the long ones.
You'll win more games that way.
You'll stay on the table more.
You won't allow the table to turn over to your opponent.
Shoot the short ones.
Combination shots.
Some of them are on, some of them are off.
But just because it's off doesn't mean that it's not makeable.
Now here you can see that the 12-4 is on.
The four ball is going to fall into the corner pocket.
The line drawn between them is dead into the corner.
What I'm going to do here is give you the pocket's eye view of the four ball.
I'm going to shoot dead into the 12 and watch the four ball fall.
Now that's on into the corner pocket.
This is off.
You draw a line through the 12-5 and it's going to hit approximately three to four inches
to the right hand side of that corner pocket.
Now what I'm going to do here is shoot the cue ball into the right hand side of the 12
because I want the five ball to go to the left.
Whichever direction you want the object ball to go into the pocket, you hit the first object
ball on the opposite side.
So I'm going to shoot right hand side of the 12 ball, throws the five ball right into
the corner pocket.
Now the more combination shots that you're able to make, these are break shots.
The more cut shots that you're able to make, the more area positioning shooting that you're
able to do, you're going to stay on the table longer.
The more that you do not allow your opponent on the table, the more games you're going
to win.
Knowing all of these things, knowing when to shoot them, they're all advantages to you.
Practice them.
That's everything that I can show you in the time that's been allotted to me here.
I've tried to answer most of the questions that people have asked me about this game.
Now bear one thing in mind, you have to go out and play this game.
You have to shoot other people.
That's the only way you'll be able to tell how good you're getting and how bad that they
are.
And if you live in the southwest side of Chicago in the suburbs, there's a good possibility
you may run into me in a saloon sometime.
And if you do, put your quarters up on the table.
We'll play a couple of games for a few bucks.
I like shooting this game and I'm sure you do also.
So we'll see you in the saloons.
I hit him too hard.
I wound up in your shoe.