Basic Defense and Safety Fundamentals for Pool and Pocket Billiards
About this ebook
The serious shooter is dedicated to finding ways to gain better control how the
cue ball rolls around the table. Most players enjoy pool because, well – it’s
fun! This book is written for you guys.
This is an introduction to the idea that defensive
shooting is just as important as offensive shooting. Here is something to
remember: there are no rules that require you to play stupid shots. When you
have a table layout with a shot that is too tough, you really do not have to
figure out some crazy way that the object ball MIGHT (maybe) get to a
designated pocket.
How about this as a simple solution? DON’T try to make
the shot. Instead, shoot something that prevents your opponent from winning the
game.
If you do this, your opponent has a difficult
situation. You can let him invent silly reasons to miss. You come back to the
table with a good chance to win (or get closer to a win). Let him play all
offense all the time. You play a few safeties and let him give you the
opportunity to win.
When this book falls into your hands, there is stuff
you can use immediately. Besides the tips, there are techniques, exercises, and
a few tricks that help you win more games. Yes, you can even use these to beat
better shooters.
Consider this book to be the digest version of the
Safety Toolbox. A couple of hours of study, combined with some practice table
time, and you are suddenly a tougher shooter.
Let your opponents use the bar-banger style of calling
fantastic hero shots, such as, “5 ball, four rails, off the 7 and into the side
pocket.” This book will add some competitive maturity to your playing style.
I don’t need to
wish you good luck. This book and some of your time is all you need to begin
winning more games. And here’s a useful benefit from the book – you don’t have
to outshoot your opponent. Simply prevent him from winning.
Ratings and reviews
- Flag inappropriate
About the author
I have been a billiards instructor for a long time. My playing and competitive experience goes back over 50 years and across the continents of the world.
In my years (decades actually) of playing pool, about my only guide to playing better was Mosconi's "Winning Pocket Billiards". It helped - a lot. When that was learned and applied, I was still losing lots of games. I must have been a slow learner, because I allowed myself to stay at a solid intermediate level for a long time.
Then, a particularly irritating friend of mine started playing. Off-table he was a very good friend. But on-table he treated me badly - not only outshooting me, but taunting and twisting (and twisting) the knife of defeat.
I could handle the verbal abuse - since I always gave as good as I got.
But I got REAL tired of being beaten. That's when I decided to start figuring out WHY he was walking all over my bruised body. I started paying more attention to what he did and how he did it.
That was the turning point of my pool playing competency. I started understanding just how complex and even more enjoyable was this Green Game. Being a helpful kind of guy, I started giving beginning players little tips and ideas to help them shoot better. It's no fun beating up a weak player, so I coached them along with my new discoveries.
And, that leads to my career as an author and commercial writer. The books I write include every little trick and shortcut that I have discovered over my decades of playing shooters of all skills. Buried within each book are dozens of little tricks that have double benefits. For example, in "Cue Ball Control Cheat Sheets", when you learn the shot, you are forced to pay VERY close attention to the cue tip/ball connection. Which, FYI, is the true secret to getting real good at pool.
If you REALLY want to own the information in each book, there must be evidence. A printed book should be dog-eared, dirty with chalk, with notes and observations on each page. An ebook should have worn out at least two or three batteries on your device.
FYI, I have a blog on my billiardgods.com web site.
- "Good to Know" Pool Stuff
- Drills & Exercises
- Challenge Shootouts
- (and more!!)
Read, enjoy, and share the posts. Tell your shooting buddies, playing relatives, and table enemies about the stuff. Have fun, enjoy, and shoot straight.
