How to Play Pool! - Pocket Balls Like a Professional! 4 Million Views!

have you ever seen some guy on TV or YouTube when they're playing ten ball they're making the game look really easy to them it's not really much of an effort they just fire the ball in and the key ball pretty much goes where they want it to go and even when they're playing eight ball they just run around the table and to them everything is easy and it really doesn't matter through jumping the balls or cutting balls in or even kicking up balls to them the game has become easy now do these guys know something you don't know well the truth is they do they probably know a lot you don't know and that's what this video is all about so what separates this video from all the other videos out there is that this video has one goal in mind and that's to make the game easy for you and I'm going to show you a lot of secrets that are really going to supercharge your game this video is all about cueball control teaching you an easier way to put dekhti ball anywhere you want we're first going to go through the fundamentals of the game and not just stroke fundamentals but the fundamentals of position play these are the building blocks to building a powerful game when most players learn the game of pool this is information they were never given and without a thorough understanding of position fundamentals you'll never reach a high level and pull I'm not only going to show you an easier way to move the cue ball around the table but we're going to be doing it without left or right spin by the time you're done with this section you're going to have greater control of the cue ball with a lot less effort the game will start to become easier for you we're then going to get into half table pattern plate running balls in order using only half a table and no left or right spin these drills are all about using the angles to move the cue ball around the table with minimal effort you first start with three balls and we're going to progress the fly ball patterns then we're going to move on to full table pattern play and by this time your ability to see angles plan your patterns and control the cue ball is going to skyrocket next we're going to recreate run outs by the top players in the world we're going to break down each shot one by one and explain why they chose the pattern they did I'll show you what English they use and even demonstrate scenarios if they had gotten out of line this is a great section to study if you've ever wondered why a top player chose the pattern they did and throughout the video we're going to have a lot of exciting shots that you're just going to love for instance I'm going to show you a technique for cutting balls in backwards and these are cut shots you would never even think about cutting I'll show you an easier way to pocket an object ball when it's right next to the cue ball I'll show you a trick for banking a ball into a pocket that's blocked by other balls and believe it or not the trick is to shoot easy I'm going to show you mistake that almost everyone makes when they jump balls I'm also going to show you an easier way to aim your jumps this video is jam-packed full of great shots tips and lessons all designed to get you to that next level one of the main reasons people struggle and pull is because when they were first learning the game they didn't spend much time working on their stance or their stroke instead they got right into pocketing balls and that became their main focus and it's in this early stage where bad habits are formed and become a permanent part of the players game and then the player goes from pocketing balls the playing position using left and right spin the problem with is is that they never learned the fundamentals of position play how the cue ball moves off object balls and rails without spin and because of this they were never able to consistently control the cue ball this combined with any issues that may be in their stroke fundamentals have limited their game making it very difficult if not impossible to reach a higher level and pull without a thorough understanding of how the cue ball moves off object balls and rails the players cue ball control will always be inconsistent and if you can't control the cue ball without spin you're never going to be able to control the cue ball with spin and that's what much of this video is all about learning how to run the table in 8-ball 9-ball without using left and right spin and once you start developing a feel for controlling the cue ball without spin when you do start using spin again you're going to have a better idea of exactly how much spin you need if any you're going to start putting that cue ball wherever you want since you now have a deeper understanding of position fundamentals and when I travel the country training students for my 14 days episodes I can usually spot their problems within the first rack they usually have a couple stroke issues that need to be fixed but the main issue is their lack of understanding of position play playing improper angles along with over spinning the cue ball or issues that almost all of my students share so the first thing I do is I take these players back to the fundamentals the same fundamentals they probably skipped when they were first learning the game so I have them do strode drills ball pocketing drills and center ball positioning and in order for these players to ever reach a high level and pull they have to develop a strong foundation for their game and for many of my students who have struggled for years the transformation to become a stronger player happens very quickly sometimes within a few days these are players who have the capability and knowledge to play at a much higher level but they had several limitations in their game once we remove these limitations they can now reach a much higher level and pull so in this video we're going to cover the same training that my students go through first we'll cover stroke fundamentals then position fundamentals then finally we're going to go through full table pattern play using left and right spin as I explained in secrets to the stance is created around the shooting line and the shooting line is created using the ghost ball and the cue ball and when we talk about the ghost ball we're referring to an imaginary ball location that represents where the cue ball needs to be to pack with the object ball for instance let's say I want to pocket the 1 ball on the side imagine a line going through the center of the pocket opening through the center of the 1 ball so for me to pocket the one ball the cue ball needs to end up here when it contacts the object ball so if I can visualize this ghost ball on each shot I can then imagine a line going through the center of the ghost ball through the center of the cue ball this is a line that I use to build my stance on every shot for instance in this shot if I wanted the pack of the nine in the corner I would have to strike the nine here with the cue ball so this now becomes our ghost ball the shooting line runs through the center of this ghost ball through the center of the cue ball in this shot to keep all what's right the object ball here to pocket it in the corner so the center of the ghost ball to the center of the cue ball is the shooting line in another example the cue ball will strike the object ball here to pocket it in the side so the center of this ghost ball through the center of the cue ball is our shooting line now let's create the stance around the shooting line in this example the object-ball and cue-ball are straight into the corner pocket and when both balls are straight in like this you don't need to visualize the ghost ball you can now just create the shooting line from the center of the object ball through the center of the cue ball we then visualized this line as it extends past the table and for the purposes of this video I'm going to place the shooting line on the floor so you can see how I step into the shot and we begin by placing our back foot on this shooting line either at a slight angle or at an angle closer to 90 degrees turning our foot like this helps provide a bit more stability next we step into the shot with our other foot the foot will be parallel with a shooting line or slightly turned in our hips move out of the way to create more clearance for our stroke and some players prefer locking their back leg is slightly bending their front leg while other players like to slightly bend both legs players who are taller or who tend to play at a faster pace prefer bending both knees slightly so here are a few issues to watch out for when creating your stance here I see the shooting line and I begin creating my stance but you can see that when I place my back foot on the shooting line it's too far our back and the reason this happened is because I started creating my stance too far away from the table so if I move in a little bit closer and recreate my stance everything now is more balanced another issue that people have is that they face away from the shot here my right foot is the proper placement but my left foot is facing away from the shine I'm actually facing about 90 degrees away from the shot which may cause a bit of instability so this time instead of my front foot facing away from the shot I step into the shot with my left foot more parallel to the shooting line in this example my right foot is crossed the shooting line by about a foot now when I get down into the shooting stance my stroke is extremely close to my body which may interfere with the stroking motion so this time I reposition my back foot more on the shooting line and as I get into my shooting stance you can now see that I have plenty of clearance and as they get into shooting position the top part of my stroke arm should be on the shooting line here you can see the top part of my arm isn't quite on the shooting line so I'll reposition myself and this time when I get down I try to make sure my arm is on the shooting line so now you can see how important it is to visualize the shooting line your stance will always be built around this line for every shot the better you get at this the more accurate you're going to be in pocketing balls much of the aiming process is done before the player even gets down on the table in this example the player isn't aware of the shooting line when he builds the stance so now he has a twist his body to place the cue stick on the line which may cause his stance to become unstable now this time when he approaches the table he sees the shooting line and build the stance around the line now when he bends over is cue stick naturally drops into place now as a player gets into shooting position their forearm should be relaxed and hanging naturally below their elbow as demonstrated here once the forearm starts moving away from this line either to the inside or outside it becomes more challenging to keep the stick on a straight path it's important that when building the stance you let your body do what it naturally wants to do this applies not only to the forearm but also to the grip here you can see that my grip is also relaxed the cue sits on the fingers and the thumb sits to the side of the grip holding the cue in place you never want to put the thumb on top of the cue you always and off to the side to hold the queue in place here the grip is turned inward and here the grip is turned outward if you just hang your hand naturally blow your forearm without the pole Q you'll see that your hand would naturally hang correctly like this now try to keep the same relaxed position as you hold the pole Q the thumb should point downward through the stroking motion if you finish your stroke and your thumb is pointing toward your body that means that you turned your wrist try to keep your thumb in the same position throughout the stroke the goal for the grip is to remove any unnecessary tension you really just want to feel the weight of the stick as you hold it and the biggest mistake most players make is holding the Q way too tightly the grip pressure should come from the front part of the grip hand the back fingers apply very little if any pressure on the cue stick and some players will remove their back one or two fingers completely off the pool cue the grip pressure should remain the same throughout the stroking motion and remember not everyone is going to have perfect fundamentals but the closer you can get to proper fundamentals the faster you're going to improve if you are one of those players whose forearm is turned or your arm isn't lined up properly you can still get to a high level you're just going to need to put in more time on the table than someone whose fundamentals don't have these issues next we're going to focus in on the actual stroking motion and some issues players may run into now as the player is down on the shot and put this tip up to the cue ball they should relax their grip hand and slide it below their elbow here the tip is at the cue ball but my grip hand is too far back in the cue stick which may restrict my backstroke in this example my grip pan is too far forward by keeping the grip hand relaxed we can let it slide naturally below my elbow the back stroke should be straight back with a nice easy temple and whether you're shooting a shot easy medium or hard your back stroke should always be the same slow tempo here my back stroke is too quick which usually results in a abbreviated back stroke some top players will have a noticeable at the end of the backstroke before beginning the forward stroke this pause at the end of the back stroke requires practice to perfect the timing you want to pause to become second nature before playing in competition you never want to have to think about the mechanics of the stroke when playing tournaments or leagues and the more common type of pause is the natural pause and this pause occurs naturally as a backstroke slowly finishes and then begins the forward stroke similar to someone throwing a softball or horseshoe your backswing slows down and transitions to the forward swing it should happen naturally without having to think about it and as the player begins the forward motion the grip pressure should remain consistent the speed of the forward stroke should gradually ramp up to prevent any tightening of the grip and the cue stick should be accelerating on the forward stroke reaching an optimum speed at impact with the cue ball and even though the cue stick will slightly slow down when contacting the cue ball you still need to keep the stick moving forward through the cue ball staying as level as possible through the impact area and here's why it's important to have good follow-through one issue that many players have is that they lock up their grip at impact and here's an example of what I mean I'll put a ball on the spot and shoot it into the corner pocket as the tip strikes the cue ball instead of the stick driving through the cue ball and gradually coming to a stop it immediately stops at impact with the cue ball so in order for the sticks momentum to come to an immediate stop after impact with the cue ball the grip hand needs to begin tightening up just prior to contact with the cue ball and here you can see my grip hand tightening up on the forward stroke anticipating stopping the tip at impact this change in grip pressure just prior to striking the cue ball may cause the stick to go off the shooting line causing a miss head some players who had this issue will sometimes begin stopping the cue sticks momentum just prior to impact with the cue ball and being able to follow through correctly will remove this hesitation in your stroke also you'll notice that some players have a significant Oh drop while others have very little elbow movement during their stroke an ideally you want as few moving parts as possible when stroking the more moving parts means the more things that can go wrong all the parts have to be in sync with each other when performing the stroke players who have a significant elbow drop usually develop this stroke when they were first learning the game so it's become part of their muscle memory to drop the elbow and even players who have a compact stroke may drop their elbow a little bit on certain shots like stretch shots or on certain power shots having a significant elbow drop in shots however requires many hours of practice to perfect the timing some players who try to manufacture an elbow drop on shots will sometimes drop their elbow slightly before impact with the cue ball which results in a miss hit if you wish to employ an elbow drop into your game be prepared to spend extra time on the table perfecting the timing and when you show you're going to have to watch out for if you have minimal elbow drop is not putting the tip close enough to the cue ball when aiming here we can see that the tip the cue isn't very close to the cue ball the problem with this is that when we perform the stroke or optimum speed is reached right here so this speed is to be maintained until the tip can reach the cue ball but if the tip is too far away from the cue ball the stick may be slowing down by the time it reaches the cue ball practice trying to get the tip pretty close to the cue ball usually less than one cube of chalk away also by putting the tip closer to the cue ball you're going to have a much better chance of hitting the cue ball where you're aiming and when you're aiming your eyes will be going back and forth from the object ball to the cue ball and when everything looks like it's lined up you can go ahead and stroke the shot now some people look at the cue ball last their focus is making sure they strike the cue ball where they are aiming but the majority of players look at the object ball last they feel more comfortable being able to see the shot while stroking and other players will look at the cue ball during the back stroke then their eyes shift to the object ball as the forward stroke begins this usually results in a more noticeable pause as if backstroke transitions to the forward stroke find the way that's comfortable for you if you're not comfortable looking at the cue ball last then focus on the object ball there is no wrong way to do it you just have to find the way that's comfortable for you so if we put it all together here are the steps and we begin by placing our back foot on this shooting line either at a slight angle or at an angle closer to 90 degrees next we step into the shot with our other foot the foot will be parallel with a shooting line or slightly turned in also create your bridge before you get down on the table the fewer things you have to do once you're on the table the better as we then bend forward onto the table we move our hips back to provide clearance for our stroking arm as you place our bridge on the table it becomes the third part of our tripod along with both legs when done correctly we should have clearance for the stroking motion we apply slight pressure to the cue stick as we perform the back stroke the key stick should drive forward through the cue ball and slowly come to a stop on or near the table fell and here's a great drill to help you fine-tune your stroke in stance place a ball on the spot and imagine the shooting line from the center of the ball to the center of the pocket opening we're now going to create our stance using this line create your bridge while standing then slowly bend down onto the shot keeping your head on the line when you're down on the table your forearm and grip hands should be hanging naturally below your elbow on your back stroke pull the cue all the way back and concentrate on a smooth transition between the back stroke and forward stroke allow the cue to slowly accelerate reaching proper speed at impact keep your head still until the ball reaches the pocket to prevent any unnecessary movement although moving your head has no effect on the shot after you strike the cue ball if it becomes a habit your body will then begin to tighten up in anticipation of the head movement prior to striking the cue ball and on some shots your head movement may begin during the early part of the forward stroke which will affect where your tip strikes the cue ball so it's a good idea to exaggerate how long you keep your head while you are practicing and when you do the straw drills since you don't have to worry about pocketing a ball or playing position all of your focus can be on your stroke and your stance you can now monitor your mechanics for any problems such as is your forearm turned inward or outward is your wrist turned is your backstroke too fast does your thumbs turn on the forward stroke and do you follow through on a straight line the first step in improving your pull game is understanding your game and not just how you play the game but the actual mechanics of your stroke and when some of my students first start doing the stroke drill their follow-through is either too short or it's off the line on one side or the other when you do this drill you want to follow through keeping the stick above the shooting line your tip will either land on the felt or slightly above it and for some of my students it takes a few hundred shots before their stroke begins to follow through correctly both your backstroke and your forward stroke should stay on the shooting line it may be a good idea to stand up every four or five balls and recreate your stance now if you're one of the players who tends to tighten up at impact with the cue ball it's going to take a few shots before you're able to follow-through naturally a good idea is to mark a spot on the field about six inches beyond the spot on the shooting line now when you shoot the ball try to force the tip to stop on this mark or stop right above it in the beginning you may have to manually force the tip to this mark but after a few hundred shots your tip should start to land on this mark automatically your focus should be on a consistent grip pressure throughout the stroke and avoiding the tightening of the grip and impact once the stroke can stand start to feel more natural you can try a variation on this drill by throwing balls out on the table and just shooting them one by one this allows you to practice your stance with various types of shots and if you're new to the game of pool you may want to shoot just one ball until you get your fundamentals down the problem many new players to the game have is that they begin trying to pocket balls right away and their focus goes away from proper Minho's so they may begin to develop bad habits remember to become a strong pull player you have to learn the game in steps first fundamentals then ball pocketing and then position play here's the first do-or-die shot these are shots to try when you don't have any other options okay we're playing a game of eight ball and we're shooting the eight but we don't have a good offensive shot see if you can figure out a way to pocket a ball and win the game and here's a hint we're going to pocket the eight ball without touching any of the stripes okay this is a shot that's pretty difficult but at least it gives you a chance to win the game so I'm going to call the lower left corner pocket I'm going to shoot a bow and hold my cue ball where it is so the eight ball can carom off it and the great thing about this shot is that even if you miss the shot you may still block the pocket for your opponent here's another version of this shot in this version they pawn cube are farther away from the corner so in this situation I have to draw the cue ball back and off the side rails to the eight ball can carom off it in this last example the cube on a par are pretty far away from the corner pocket see if you can figure out another way to pocket eight ball in one of the two corner pockets okay so in this case I need to follow the cue ball and time it out so the eight ball can carom off the cue ball and go in the lower right corner pocket in this situation I'm no longer straight in on the eight ball but if I can bank the aid into the nine ball it may carom into the corner pocket this shot comes up every once in a while so it's a good shot to know just in case here I'm play an eight ball and I'm on the eight but I left myself in the jaws of the pocket so I can't see the eight ball in this situation I would aim toward the point of the pocket with center high and this will send the cue ball toward the other corner pocket this is a worthwhile shot to practice because this situation does come up every once in a while and it at least gives you a chance to hit the ball and sometimes pocket it and it even works along the length of the table although this is much more difficult in this situation I'm playing a game of nine ball and I'm on the two ball the problem is that when I shoot the two ball the cue ball will run into the seven ball leaving me tough on the three ball which is at the other end of the table but since my cue ball will be striking the seven ball immediately after hitting the two I can use the seven ball to carom the cue ball to the side rail and down to the other end of the table and I was shooting the two ball with low right so when the cue ball strikes the side rail the right-hand spin will help bring the cue ball back to this end rail here's another example playing position off the ball I'm playing eight ball and I'm on my last ball the problem is that date ball is next to the top end rail so position on it will be difficult but next to the one ball is the thirteen ball and since the cue ball will be running into the thirteen ball after pocketing the one I can use that to my advantage if I can strike the one ball with low right the spin and draw will bring the cue ball back for shape an eight ball after striking the thirteen and if you ever confused about what's been to use later in this video I'm going to show you an easy way to figure out if you need to use left or right spin the final example I'm playing eight ball and I'm on the one ball but I have to bring the cue ball all the way back to this end rail for position on the eight and when I pocket the one ball looks like I'd be running into the nine ball which means I can use a nine ball like a rail so when I shoot the one ball I'll use a power draw stroke to bring the cue ball off the side rail for shape on the eight ball here's another do-or-die shot I left myself here on the eight ball and it doesn't look like I have a pocket for it see if you can figure out which pocket I've made eight ball in this shot actually comes up every once in a while and it's a great shot to know when there are no other options if we look at the one ball it's at a pretty good spot along the side rail for me to Karen the eight often if I could shoot the eight ball into the rail right next to the one ball it should carom off it ahead to the corner pocket and here's the shot again in slow motion and we can see the eight ball striking the rail just prior to hit the one ball and that sends it toward the corner pocket here's another situation where I'm going to shoot the eight into the rail and off an object ball to try and pocket it in the side pocket so in this case the eight ball path would go in this direction off the four ball towards the side pocket and with a little practice you should begin to develop a feel for this shot it's all about recognizing where you need to strike the rail ad to get the correct carom off the object ball next we're going to go through various stances and bridges that you will need to learn in this example the player is shooting the two ball and he has three choices he can perform a stretch shot a bridge shot or a side shot and how you shoot this shot depends on what you plan on doing with the cue ball if you simply need to stop the cue ball or just roll forward a few inches then using a bridge will work fine if you need to apply a good stroke to the cue ball you may want to try a side shot and here is how you do it first press both legs against a table and bend over raising the back leg this shot requires some flexibility and balance one mistake that players make is shooting the shot too quickly when their stance isn't that comfortable if you are stretching or balancing on one leg that is all the more reason to take more time on your shot in this stretch shot you're going to face the table and as you bend over your back leg stretches while your other leg comes off the floor and the same type of stance can be performed off the in realm here the cue ball is in the middle of the table requiring a very long reach so if I press both legs against the table and lean over keeping my right foot on the floor I can reach the shot in this example we not only have to perform a stretch up but we also have to shoot over a ball and when many players attempt to shoot chance like this they create an unstable stance and end up shooting too quickly a better ways to sit on the end rail keeping your back foot on the floor now you can get closer to the cue ball making for a more stable bridge next the object ball is close to the corner pocket and the cue ball is close to the rail in this scenario we can't get properly lined up with a shot but if we sit on the table keeping our back foot on the floor this allows us to get closer to the cue ball in this example I'm on the eight ball but I can't reach it from the other end rail so I create my stance on the side of the table and as I bend forward onto the table my left leg is pushed upward I now move my grip hand under my chest until the stick is on the shooting line this is the stance that takes a little bit of practice to get comfortable with in this example we have to shoot over a ball and you'll sometimes see players making this type of stance where they balance themselves on one foot a more stable way to shoot this shot would be to sit on the table keeping your back foot on the floor this allows you to be a bit more stable when you perform the shot in this example I'm shooting a ball but I can't reach the cue ball so in this situation I would put my right knee on the table which allows me to get closer to the cue ball and next we're going to discuss various types of bridges and some issues that many players run into the most common types of bridges are the closed bridge in the open bridge the open bridge is a great bridge for players of all skill levels even including players new to the game it's fairly easy to make provides good support for the cue stick here I split my fingers to make sure the base of my palm is on the table I press my thumb against the side of my finger creating a groove that the stick glides on I can then lower or raise my bridge hand by dragging my fingers toward my palm and when you make this bridge always remember to keep your thumb pressed firmly against your hand you never want to thumb off to the side away from the hand and raising the bridge just requires you to pull your fingers in toward your hand like this one important benefit of the open bridge is that it allows you to see more of the cue ball then with the closed bridge next I'm going to show you two variations of the closed bridge in the first variation your forefinger and thumb create a loop that is pressed against the side of the hand this type of bridge is very snug so you would need to make sure that the shaft of your cue is very smooth the benefits of a bridge this snug is that it helps keep the Q on the shooting line the second variation in the closed bridge has the thumb pressed against the middle finger with the forefinger looping over and touching the top of the thumb this bridge in the previous closed bridge use the thumb as a track for the Q so when you make these bridges the Q should be aligned with the thumb so this would be incorrect now the Q is properly aligned with the thumb next we're going to look at the tripod bridge this bridge is sometimes used instead of the standard open or closed bridge it's also used when shooting over balls the closed tripod bridge is raised with one finger kept in the back for support and here is the open tripod bridge this time two fingers are kept back for support one issue that many players have is that when they're shooting over ball they fail to keep a finger back for support and instead they try to balance the bridge keeping all their fingers together making the bridge very unstable now watch how much more stable the bridge is with one or two fingers bag for support and here's an issue that players run into when they attempt to shoot over a ball with a tripod bridge they create their tripod bridge too far away from the obstructing ball this increases the chance of accidentally striking the obstructing ball when you make the tripod bridge you need to get the bridge fairly close to the obstructing ball try aiming above the cue ball first to get the line down then slowly lower the cue stick at an angle to perform the shot and when shooting over a ball it's a good idea to place your feet closer together this allows you to stand a bit higher than normal and here's another issue that players have when they're shooting over a ball they'll create the angles accoustic before getting down on the shot and they usually end up creating more angle than what they need when shooting over a ball level out your cue as you come down then get your aim down and slowly create your angle this ensures that you give yourself only the monotheistic angle that you need another issue players have is when the cue ball is near the rail I'm going to shout the cue ball is frozen to the rail many players will sometimes miscue on shots like this and the reason they tend to miscue is because their stick is either level or at an upward angle and this is one of those situations where you need to angle your cue downward toward the cue ball you don't need a big angle you just need to make sure your cue is angled downward this will ensure a solid hit on the cue ball here's a common rail bridge when the cue ball is on or near the rail similar to an open bridge the cue glides on the groove formed between the thumb and forefinger a finger is kept back and pressed against the table for support you can then raise this bridge as needed to create an angle another bridge on the rail is the open bridge the open bridge is preferred to the closed bridge when on the rail since it keeps the stick more level and it also allows you to see more of the cue ball the most common rail bridges is this type of bridge you tuck your thumb into your hand and you place the cue alongside the thumb and the top of your middle finger you then loop your forefinger around the cue stick creating a secure bridge when many players attempt this bridge they end up moving their thumb away which removes the sticks support keep your thumb locked in place as you create the bridge on the rail another issue that players have is limiting their backstroke when they have to strike the cue ball firm here the players made his bridge too close to the cue ball thereby limiting their backstroke so they end up pulling the stick back only about half an inch or so and then they have to try muscle the cue stick creating power this will usually result in a miss hit but if the player switches to this type of rail bridge he can now pull the stick back even farther allowing for a much smoother straw in this example the cueball is farther away from the rail and many players attempt a long bridge using the rail support if your bridge length starts to get too long you may want to think about a tripod bridge or a standard bridge in this shot the key ball is near the rail and the player needs to strike the cue ball low most players tend to create too much angle for shots like this which makes the shot much harder than it needs to be to hit the shot correctly start off with a level cue then slowly lower the tip now you'll have a much better chance at pocketing the ball and sometimes you'll come across a shot where it's difficult to create your bridge here the cue ball is near the side pocket so there isn't much room to create a normal bridge and a lot of players will create an unstable bridge and shoot too quickly sometimes you have to be creative in creating your bridges here I placed on palm on the side of the rail and place my fingers just outside the opening now I have a stable bridge which will allow me to perform my stroke and many players struggle with creating a stable bridge when the cue ball is close to the rail when the key ball is this close to the rail you need to create a bridge that uses the rail and the table bed here is the open bridge version and when using the open bridge version make sure you keep your thumb pointing upward to help secure the cue stick here's the closed bridge version our pressure points are these three fingers and a good rule to remember is don't shoot any shot until your bridge is rock solid and we're practicing it's a good idea to place the cue ball around the table and as many awkward positions as possible this allows you to get comfortable with all types of situations especially since these situations will probably come up in tournaments or leagues one issue that makes pocketing balls tougher for players is the way they aim for instance if you watch a top player aim they may do one or two big practice strokes but then they do a series of very short strokes this is how they fine-tune their aim and when they are done fine-tuning their aim they stop the tip of the cue ball and this is the last step in their aiming process if the shot isn't absolutely lined up then they will continue with their short strokes or stand back up and start all over again when money players aim they tend to take large practice strokes maybe three or four before shooting a shot but they never really fine-tune their aim and many of them never stop their tip at the cue ball and this lack of fine tuning their aim usually leads to an inconsistency in pocketing balls and cue ball control this is especially true when the player has an easy shot like this shot where the ball is near the pocket but their next ball is at the other end of the tables so this shower choirs a very precise hit in the object ball to send it to the other end of the table for position and usually weaker players won't take much time Aemon and that usually results in an inconsistency in their cue ball control a strong player realizes that he has to be very precise and now he strikes this object ball so he takes his time and goes through the entire aiming process finishing with his tip of the cue ball to double-check his aim if everything looks good he'll go ahead and shoot the shot you need to develop a rhythm to your aim and go through the same aiming process on every shot regardless of how easy or difficult to shot is being able to fine-tune your aim along with stopping your tip of the cue ball is going to help you later as you start putting that cue ball into very specific areas for position for instance in this shot I need to put the cue ball here for shaping a ball but as you can see depending on where I strike the object ball the cue ball can travel in many different directions which is why it's important to take your time and make sure everything is lined up before shooting the shot okay so now I'm going to show you a technique that should really help you when it comes to combination shots in this example we're playing 9-ball we have a combination on the nine and if you ever watch top players whenever they have a combination shot they line it up like this and here's what they're doing they're pretending the first object ball is the cue ball so when they aim this shot they're picking a target along the side rail that they'll be aiming the first ball at so when we shoot the combination we're pretending the nine ball isn't even there our whole focus is shooting the four ball toward our aiming spot on the rail if we can do that we should pocket the nine ball and even if you're on this side of the combination you can still shoot the four ball toward this spot on the rail and pocket the nine and here are three examples of combination shots using this technique in the first shot I'm going to shoot the five into the eight and make it in the side pocket so with the five ball was the cue ball I can shoot the five toward this spot on the rail and pocket the eight ball on the side now this spot on the rail becomes my target I now forget about the eight ball my whole focus is shooting the five toward this spot on the rail next we shoot the four six combination and once again I'm going to line up the shot and now I know if the four ball heads toward this spot on the rail I can pocket the six ball so now we pretend the six ball isn't even there and we just aim the four ball toward this target and in our third example we line up the shot the same way by pretending the seven ball is the cue ball so our spot on the rail is right here and that becomes my main focus trying to aim this seven ball toward this spot on the rail next we'll discuss a common mistake that many players make when playing combinations and that's playing on the wrong side of the combination line and I'll show you what I mean in this example I'm playing nine bow and I left myself here on the three ball before I shoot the three however I'm going to line up my combination so if I shut the forward towards this spot on the rail I'll be able to pocket the Bible so this now becomes my combination line now when I shoot the three ball I end up just short of the line so when I pocket the combination we can see that the cue ball heads toward the side rail while the poor ball heads to the inn rail leaving me without a shot since by looking at the combination line we can tell which way the four will go nets toward the in rail so if we want our keyboard ahead the same way we need to be on the other side of the combination line now when I shoot the combination if you ball is headed in the right direction leaving me a nice shot on the four ball here's another example of plain shape on the wrong side of a combination I'm playing 9-ball and I'll be playing the 2:3 combination next but I have to be really aware of where the two ball will travel after it strikes the three ball so if I had to shut the two into the three we can see that the two ball heads in this direction which means if I ended up below the two three combo line the cue ball will travel in this direction which means I'll be left with a tough shot on the two ball now if I can have the cue ball head in the same direction as a two ball I can play the two in the top right hand corner pocket so that means I need to be above the two three combo line now when I shoot the combination both balls head in the same direction giving me a shot on the two ball and in our final example we'll be shipping the one ball and playing the two three combination see if you can figure out what side of this combination I need to be on in this first shot I end up short of the two three combo line and we can see that the cue ball is going to head away from the two ball but if we're above the combination line both the cue ball and tube are going to be heading in the same direction so before you play a position on a combination try to predict the direction the first ball will travel to adroit strikes the object-ball when the cue ball is close to the object ball and the player has to draw the cue ball straight back some players tend to jump up when they shoot this type of shot to avoid the cue ball striking their cue as it draws back so they usually end miss hitting the shot one trick to avoid this is to stay down but just move the bridge hand out of the way this ensures you complete your bank stroke and stay down and when you hear people talk about being on the wrong or right side of the line they're talking about playing position on the side of the pocket line that will allow the cue ball to move naturally to their next ball for instance in this shot I'm playing eight ball and I ended up here on the five ball if I'm going to shoot it in the side we can now see the pocket line so this would be the good side of the line since all I had to do is pack the five in my cue ball naturally heads toward my next ball if I ended up here in the five ball now I'm on the wrong side of the pocket line since when I pocket the five ball the cue ball naturally heads away from my next ball so when you play position on a ball always visualize the pocket line that runs through your next ball then decide which side of that line will work better for moving the cue ball to the next ball in this example I see the five ball pocket line and I know I need to end up here for the eight ball so if I play position for this side of the line all I have to do is pocket the five ball and the cue ball naturally heads to my position area in this situation I'm playing eight ball and I have to play the eight ball in this pocket so it's important that I end up on the right side of the ten ball pocket line if I shoot too quickly and end up here now I'm on the wrong side of the line and it's going to be difficult to get positioned for the eight ball this time I'm more careful about placing the cue ball on the right side of the pocket line now it's just a matter pocketing the ten ball my cue ball heads to my position area understanding what side of pocket lines you need to be on to move the cue ball around the table is one of the key components to building a strong run-out game now before we get into position fundamentals it's important that you understand what happens to the cue ball after you strike in so I'm going to set up a few shots shooting them with Center then with left and right English I'm also going to be using different cue stick angles in this first shot I'm shooting the cue ball with no spin and a fairly level cue stick and since I'm not using spin the cue ball should travel straight down the line now I'm going to elevate my cue and shoot below center with no spin and we see the cue ball stays on the shooting line so let's say you're playing a game of 8-ball and you have a tough shot on your last ball as long as you shoot Center Center lower center high your cue ball will stay on the shooting line regardless of how level your acoustic is this is important to remember as we move on to show how using spin moves the cue ball off the shooting line now I'm going to show you the difference when shooting with spin here I'll be striking the cue ball with left-hand spin keeping my cue stick as level as possible and as you can see as soon as I strike the cue ball it bears off the shooting line by striking the cue ball on the left side to push the cue ball to the right of the line this is referred to as deflection now I'm going to elevate my cue which causes the cue ball to really beer off the shooting line now with the same cue elevation I'm going to strike the cue ball on the right side and this will cause the keyboard of beer off the shooting line to the left let's say our opponent leaves us tough on the eight ball if we strike the cue ball without spin the cue ball will stay on the shooting mine and it doesn't matter for a cue is elevated or level the cue ball will always stay on the path it starts out on me but if we use the same aiming line and strike to keep all using left spin we now know the cue ball will veer off this line to the right causing a Miss so since I'm using left I'm going to have to adjust my aiming line for my cue ball to end up here if I move my ami line to here when the cue ball biers to the right it should contact the correct part of the object ball so when you're shooting with center center low or center high your cue ball will always travel in a straight path even at a long distance or with an elevated cue stick your cue ball will still travel in a straight line but once you start using spin the cue ball will beer off the aiming line for instance here I'm and left-hand spin which causes the key ball to beer to the right and here I'm using right-hand spin which causes the cue ball to beer to the left so let's say I need to pocket this ball on the side the keyboard needs to contact the object ball here so this now becomes our shooting mind and if we were to shoot this shot with center we can shoot straight down this line and pocket the ball but if we use right-hand spin this is going to cause the keyboard of beer to the left off the shooting line and this is going to cause a mess so if we're going to use right hand spin we need to adjust the shooting line since the cue ball is going to be here to the left we need to move our shooting line to the right now when the cue ball appears to the left it will strike the object ball in the correct spot and later on in the video I'll explain more about how spin changes the cue ball path and I also show you some drills that you can do which will really fine-tune your aiming when it comes to using spin but first I'm going to show you something else that happens when using spin as I mentioned when you use spin say left-hand spin it causes the key bought of beer to the right and right hand spin causes the cue ball to beer to the left as long as your cue stick is level it doesn't matter what speed you strike the cue ball at the cue ball will not return to the aiming line but now I'm going to use an elevated cue and not strike the cue ball to firmly and we can see the cue ball very naughty aiming line but unlike before the cue ball is actually curving back to the line and as I increase the elevation of my cue stick the cue ball curves even more and actually this time crosses the aiming line let's say in plan eight ball and this is the shot I have in the eight I know the cue ball needs a straight eight ball here to pocket it in the corner if I were to shoot center senator low or center high I can shoot straight down the same in line and pocket the ball but now if I shoot this with right hand spin and shoot down the same in line with a level cue the cue ball will veer off the aiming line and miss the shot but if I should easier and the cue stick is elevated then the cue ball will beer off the aiming line and begin to curve back to it as demonstrated here and with more acoustic elevation we can see that the key ball curves even more causing it to cross the line so when shooting was spent there are several variables you have to keep in mind the first one is the distance between the cue ball and object ball second is the speed in which you strike the cue ball third is the elevation of your acoustic fourth is the amount of spin you use and fifth is the type of shaft you are using and this is why Amy's systems as a rule do not work when using spin there are way too many variables involved for a naming system to be effective and when you are pocketing balls using spin these are shads you have to develop a feel for later on this video I'm going to show you some great drills that will really sharpen your ball pocketing when it comes to using spin and there's a misconception out there that strong players use aiming systems to pocket balls as we just learned there are way too many variables involved when shooting a ball with spin for an aiming system to be effective and many times when working with students they spend too much time trying to make the immune systems work and lose valuable practice time and as demonstrated in secrets to pocketing balls for strong players is automatic for instance here I'm going to run these balls in order without using my cue stick to line up the shot I'll keep my stick within my bridge hand but I can still pocket the ball and play position and this is called automatic gaming it comes from hitting the shot enough times to know exactly where you need to strike the ball to not only pocket it but also to play position for the next shot and anyone can achieve automatic aiming through practice and ball pocketing drills and the truth is players who have played pool long enough already have the ability to use automatic aiming for many shots remember your brain is like a computer if you've hit a shot enough times your brain knows exactly where to hit the object ball to make it in the pocket and usually the reason these players miss is the either overthinks a shot or they're not confident about positioned for their next ball once these players understand the fundamentals of position play and have greater confidence that the cue ball is going to go where they wanted to they'll start pocketing balls at a higher percentage rate and later I'll be showing you some ball pocketing drills we'll help you get closer to automatic gaming and you have to be careful about trying to copy a top player stroke many top players have a stroke that's evolved over time and it's not the same stroke they started with for instance you'll see many strong players steer the cue ball when they use left or right spin and this is what I call a controlled steer when an amateur steers the cue ball is usually due to a flaw in their stroking motion when a strong player steers the cue ball it's a controlled steer it's part of their stroking motion and this happens because they're striking a different part of the cue ball than where they were aiming for instance here I may be just above Center on the cue ball but when I strike the cue ball I'm actually hitting the cue ball with low right and I'm not telling myself to strike low right I'm just telling myself where I need to end up for a position these players have shot enough balls that they no longer have to tell themselves where to hit on the cue ball to get position it's something that happens automatically and if you do want to emulate a top players stroke try to pick out a top player that has a more orthodox type of stroke when working with students even students who play for a living one common issue that some of them share is not being able to find Center on the cue ball when I tell them to place their tip at the center of the cue ball it's either to the right or left of center here my student thinks his tip is at the center of the cue ball from above we can see that his tip is actually Center left which means when he is shooting Center he is actually applying a little spin to the cue ball and just add little amount of spin is enough to throw the shot off and as seen here by the time the cue ball gets to the object ball it has slightly drifted off the line causing a miss this is the reason why many players miss long straight in shots without realizing it they're striking the cue ball off center with left or right spin and this is going to alter their cue ball path more than the most important building blocks have becoming a strong player is being able to find Center on the cue ball so in the next section we'll go through some drills that will really help you get consistent as striking Center on the cue ball in this drill place the object ball bought a diamond away from the core pocket then place the 9-ball about a quarter of diamond away from the object ball on the same pocket line the goal of this drill is to shoot Center on the nine ball so the nine ball stops when it strikes the object ball and as explained the secrets to when we strike the key ball using Center with a firm stroke the cue ball was slide before it begins rolling if the cue ball strikes an object ball full when sliding the cue ball loses all its energy and stops the reason we're using the nine ball is to see if we are miss hitting the center of the cue ball for instance if I accidentally strike the cue ball with center right or center left we can see the nine ball spinning after contacting the object ball we also want the number nine on top of the ball when the nine ball stops the number nine should still be the top in this area you may get a little bit of movement which is normal but any large movements of the number nine means the cue ball was struck incorrectly and keep shooting the shot until you can consistently strike the nine ball in the center another great drill to help you find Center is to place the cue ball directly across from the second diamond on the side rail shoot the cue board the second diamond hitting Center is struck correctly the cue ball should return back to your tip area if you have any spin at all on the cue ball it will leave the rail at an angle once you get consistent at this move on to the full table version put the cue ball on the spot and name it the second diamond on the in rail the keyboard should return to your tip area keep practicing these drills until you can consistently strike the cue ball center with no spin I'm playing nine ball my opponent has left me safe on the one I don't have a really good kick in the one ball and if I miss the one and give them ball on hand he just needs to pocket the one and two ball and play the three-nine combination to win the game so in this situation I'm going to pocket the nine ball but at the same time I'm going to try and tie up a ball now my opponent will have a lot more work to do to win the game in this next do-or-die shot see if you can figure out how to pocket the eight ball our opponent has left us here surrounded by the solids and it looks like a pretty dire situation okay in this layout since the cue ball is close to the side rail it's not that difficult to jump over the obstructing balls try to gauge what angle you'll need to get to the eight ball you'll be striking this shot a little above center and when the cue ball is close to the rail with a little practice it's not that difficult to hop over balls the Shattuck wires a little resection with an angled cue shoot a little above Center and try not to over hit the shot if you do over hit the shot the cue ball will head straight down table is shown here which makes for another interesting shot in this example I'm on the nine ball and eight ball is at the other end of the table if I cut the nine ball in the cue ball will run into the solids leaving me tough on the eight ball but since the nine ball is close to the rail I just need to angle my cue and strike above Center I concentrate on a short backstroke and accelerating through the cue ball and shots like this try not to over hit the shot and remember this type of shot takes a little bit of practice to get the feel for this is definitely a type of shot that you had to practice before trying it in a game it doesn't require much power just a nice short stroke and good acceleration through the cue ball we're now going to discuss high and low action and this is all about striking the cue ball easier but getting more action out of it for instance in this example we're playing a game of eight ball we need to play a position for the eight ball in this area the problem is that the cue ball is only about one pull ball away from our last ball now since both balls are extremely close to each other when most players attempt to pocket the ball on the side and follow the cue ball their key ball doesn't go anywhere or it only travels a few inches and here is why this shot is so difficult for most players as we get down in the shot from our perspective it looks like we're hitting way above Center but if we zoom in on the side of the cue ball we can now see the problem when you are a man above sinner the only part of the tip that is making contact with the key ball is the bottom of the tip so although from the players vantage point looks like the tip is well above center the tip is actually striking the cue ball near the center which is why they're not getting very much forward roll now if I have them aim a lot higher in the cue ball we now see that the tip is going to make contact with the cue ball way up here and this is going to generate high action so watch what happens when I strike the cue ball this high right away you can see that the cue ball has extra energy and it now travels to the position area so when you strive to keep all this high with a nice stroke you're creating more revolutions on the cue ball and this is going to give it extra energy this extra energy makes it easier to move the cue ball around the table for instance here I'm only striking the cue ball a little above Center we can see that the cue ball in urging a fter impact but now be striking the cue ball much higher creating high action and you can see that the key ball has plenty of energy and you can even use high action on shots where the cue ball only needs to travel a few inches it shouts I require high action come up almost every game for instance I'll be using high action when I shoot this one ball to play position on the two ball and once you get used to using high action your speed and accuracy will improve dramatically now I'll use high action to shoot the three ball and come off the rail for the four ball and later on in the video we'll be discussing positional play with high action along with how to roll the cue ball into position which I'm doing with these shots and as we get more into position play you'll start to learn how angles move the cue ball around the table and once you start playing correct angle is it takes a lot less effort to put that cue ball where you want it for instance in these shots I'm just shooting hard enough to pocket the ball and my cue ball rolls into position for my next shot now on the seven ball I'll be using high action to force the cue ball toward the side rail and down to the in rail for shape on the eight and here's a drill that's really going to help you get comfortable using the high action place an object ball near the corner pocket then place the cue ball about a half diamond away from the object ball on the same pocket line now you not only have to pocket the ball but you have to follow it into the pocket with the cue ball and you should be able to perform this shot with a nice soft stroke using high action it also requires a very precise hit otherwise the cue ball is not going to follow the object ball into the pocket so keep practicing until you're comfortable using a high action once you get consistent at this distance gradually start moving your cue ball back also practice putting the cue ball about one ball away from the object ball and still try to follow it into the pocket remember to perform this shot correctly it's stroke not power and there are a lot of shots that come up that you can only do with high action for instance let's say you want to slow roll the three-ball in the corner so you can get shaped for the eight ball but the table you're playing on is in very level so your cue ball may roll off the shooting line if you shoot too easy in this case you can try shooting with high action and a firm stroke the high action kills the cue ball once it hits the rail in the shadow I'm on the ten ball but playing position on the eight ball will be difficult since I need to shoot it in the same pocket as the ten ball but using high action I can shoot the ten in and have a cue ball return to where it is now for position on me in this game of 8-ball I'm on my last ball but I'm on the wrong side of the pocket line but just using high action I can force the cue ball to this area for shape on the eighth and watch the cue balls reaction after striking the rail another benefit of high action is it enables the keyboard to move through obstacle balls for position for instance in this shot I'm on the 14 and I need to end up here for the 8 but once I strike the 40 ball the cue ball will run into the 7 if the cue ball has high action it's going to drive through the 7 ball for my position on the 8 and here's another example of driving through an obstacle ball with high action I need to end up here for the 8 ball after pocketing the 14 so I'll need high action on the cue ball to drive through the 2 ball and get my position on the 8 ball now we're going to be discussing low action and a lot of players have issues when it comes to drawing the cue ball in the latest installment of pulls biggest secrets we recreate 8 ball run out from the top players in the world we break down each run-out shot by shot so you can get a better understanding of why they chose stripes or solids we then go through several offensive and defensive strategies that strong players use when playing 8 ball next we discuss mistakes almost everyone makes when jumping balls and I'll show you an easier way to aim your jumps we're also going to discuss how to perform masse shots which is essential to becoming a strong player I'm also going to show you mistakes that almost everyone makes one break in the balls next we're going to go through 9 ball run outs by the top players in the world we'll analyze each run-out shot by shot so you can get a better idea of why they chose the pattern they did this is an in-depth analysis of how top players move the cue ball around the table this video covers not just stroke fundamentals but also the fundamentals of position play to reach a high level this is information you need to know and by the time you're done with this video you'll be moving that cue ball around the table easier than you ever have before we're also going to go through 8-ball 9-ball safeties as well as the 35 top safeties played by the best players in the world this 5 hour video is jam-packed and it's all designed to get you to that next level quicker than you ever thought possible available now on DVD or downloads at WWE exit billiards calm you

Channel: Tor Lowry

Views: 4,500,578

Keywords: tor lowry, pool tips, billiard tips, how to draw, pool instruction, free pool lessons, pool lesson, cue ball control, 8 ball, 8-ball, run more balls in 8 ball, pool stance, pool aiming, billiard lessons, pool stroke, stroke drill, how to draw the cue ball, center ball, centerball, tangent line, pool tangent, pool stop shot, stop shot, how to perform the stop shot, secrets of pool, pool billiard secrets, how to play pool, pool game, pool game pool

Id: qzjousgGLjU

Length: 65min 13sec (3913 seconds)

Published: Mon May 04 2015