Billiards, Beginner/Novice Player looking for insite Options

[devilsden97]

Before the summer began, I decided I wanted to pick up a "hobby," when I mean hobby, I was refering to something I could do, on my own as entertainment. (i kinda guess thats the definition of a hobby lol) Randomly one night I went with some buddies to shoot pool, and Ive been going regularly ever since.

Im begining to think its time to get a little more serious about it. After about 3 months of shooting, I can see improvment. Im using the house's cue sticks, but I always use a 19oz stick, and check to see how "warped" it is. Now I am thinking its time to get my own. I saw this thread:

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showto...amp;hl=POOL+CUE

After checking out the links and such, I believe I will purchase the cue that jdog1365 suggested.

My question now is, what else? Is there anything else anyone would suggest to purchase? (scuffer etc) Keep in mind I'm a novice and I am not looking to go to any type of pro tour.

Any suggestions on practice techniques? or literature? (ie things to read or do to improve) EDIT: Lessons? anyone know where/how ud go about finding where or if there offerd. Idk if i really want to spend money on them, but id still like to know about them.

Thanks

This post has been edited by devilsden97: Aug 12, 2008 - 9:12 AM

[brthrurik]

go to a local pool hall and ask about private instruction or classes. Most places can lead you in the right direction...

[Batman722]

it's all about where you hit the cue and the english...

[D-Man]

On a helpful note, Study your geometry & physics and you'll be a pool shark in no time

An exgirlfriend of mine could clean the table first turn after i broke. Used to piss me off.

This post has been edited by D-Man: Aug 12, 2008 - 11:52 AM

[lubu]

Most people will try to do spin, reverse shoot...etc.. within the first few weeks and often that will get them nowhere..... Geo and physics are importatnt but you'll need to know how to hit cueball properbly. By that I mean first you need to be able to shoot the cue ball straight. Heres a simple test.

Place the cueball somwhere below the line and try to do a straight shoot, if the ball bounces off the cushion and comes back to its original position (meaning it makes a straight line forth and back) then you are good to move forward. If it doesnt return to the origianl position when you will have to work at it still it does coz there is really no point doing spin or jump shots if you cant master the fundamental step.

Hope that helps
GL

[D-Man]

And the power in witch you shoot is important too.

After you get LUBU's tip down, put the ball back in position, and shoot it twards a bumper, with intentions of it stoping a hair from the bumper w/o touching. Alot of people will just bang the ball around, when that's not really going to help at all.

GL

[devilsden97]

ive been shooting for 3 months guys... i can shoot straight, put backspin and topspin on the cue. I understand its a game of angles and power.

the techniques/practice tools im looking for are more along the lines of, "safes" (I have a poor shot, so I shot the cue to a location to stop my opponent from making an "easy" shot), english, more advanced/pratical use of bumpers, etc.

[lubu]

This is how I work with the cueball. I dont actually do safe shoots, but rather a presetup for my next shoot, so if I hit this ball Ill want to place my cue ball somewhere so that the next shoot will be easy. Lets imagine the face of the cue ball and place a compass direction on it so you have N,S,W and E.

Lets say you are hitting a ball straight into the pocket and you want the cueball to:

a. to roll forward, you would place a topspin on it.
b. to come back, a backspin
c. to rollback but to the left, a backspin in the direction of SW, viceverse for the other side
d. to roll forward but to the right, topspin in the direction of NE
e. to stop completely, you will want to shoot between the backspin position and the middle position, rise the cue slightly and hit it fast.

It will be a bit differerent with angle shoots, you will get the idea.
Thing to remember is dont think of making a safe shoot, just think of placing the ball where its easier for you for the next shoot. The only time you will be thinking of making a safe shoot is when you cant pocket anyball on the table.

[devilsden97]

Thing to remember is dont think of making a safe shoot, just think of placing the ball where its easier for you for the next shoot. The only time you will be thinking of making a safe shoot is when you cant pocket anyball on the table.

this is specificly what i am talking about. when i have "no shot". how to manufacture one, or how to play a shot so my opponent ends up in a worse position then i was in.

I also try and shoot, so i can "set up" my next shot.

I do have trouble putting horizontal spin on the ball... (right/left curve) any tips? or things to practice?

This post has been edited by devilsden97: Aug 12, 2008 - 1:07 PM

[manphibian]

oh god no. lol

9ball and regular 8ball pool. billiards is just used as a term for pool over here.

lol, yeah, i read a bit more and realized

Billiards here is lame.


I've managed to master jumping the ball by keeping the Q almost flat to the table and hitting the dead center bottom of the ball really hard, so you basically go under the ball and jump it. not sure if it's actually legal? I think you're supposed to hit down on the ball to jump it.
Impresses the hell outta people though

[lubu]

Thing to remember is dont think of making a safe shoot, just think of placing the ball where its easier for you for the next shoot. The only time you will be thinking of making a safe shoot is when you cant pocket anyball on the table.

this is specificly what i am talking about. when i have "no shot". how to manufacture one, or how to play a shot so my opponent ends up in a worse position then i was in.

I also try and shoot, so i can "set up" my next shot.

I do have trouble putting horizontal spin on the ball... (right/left curve) any tips? or things to practice?

Well I cant tell you that. Coz it would be different everytime as the layout of the balls are different. IF you give me a particular layout I can tell you how I would hit it.

It is really hard to pull the ball to left or right when you are shooting straight coz when you are shooting straight you are not putting any horizontal force component to start with. To make it spins left you will need to provide some horizontal force comp and you can do this by adjusting the angle of shooting. To make the ball spins left instead of doing a perpendicular shoot make a slight adjustment to the cue and tilt it right a bit, this will create an angle thus you will have ur horizontal component. Now the amount of spins depends on the power of the shot and the angle that you make, making the angle too big and you will not pocket the ball you're hitting so you will need to adjust accordingly.

With angle shots it is easier since you have the horizontal force component already, just adjust and hit with precision, this means that alot of people take huge amount of time to aim and then when they shoot they shoot somewhere else on the cueball and not to the spot where they intended to. Keep this in mind this is very important, have steady hand, eyes straight, concentrate and you will get it right.

This post has been edited by lubu: Aug 12, 2008 - 1:26 PM

[aflacattack]

I've managed to master jumping the ball by keeping the Q almost flat to the table and hitting the dead center bottom of the ball really hard, so you basically go under the ball and jump it. not sure if it's actually legal? I think you're supposed to hit down on the ball to jump it.
Impresses the hell outta people though

lol no thats not legal, i forgot what its called though >.<
u have to hit down on the top of the ball to keep it legal.
i used to skip classes all the time in college to play pool on our table down stairs, bout the only thing i can suggest is to keep playing! and keep shooting! try different things ect ect.
we had a shark that went to the school, so he would almost always be there, i beat the guy once, out of a good 1000 games >.<! he was dam good!
but my suggestion is to just keep playing and playing and playing..! and try to befriend one of the better players in the hall lol

as for ques i used a weighted wal mart que with tips from the pool hall to break(actually brakes really nice)
and as for the rest of my shots its a cuetec "sneaky pete" or an older viking que that i call chicka(broke the shaft though)

This post has been edited by aflacattack: Aug 12, 2008 - 5:07 PM