Drills & Exercises for Pool & Pocket Billiards - How to Become an Expert Pocket Billiards Player

By Allan P. Sand

Do you seriously want to lose less and win more often?

If so, then you need to understand the importance of practice. Time must be spent (daily or weekly) to learn how to force the balls to obey your intentions. Even 15-20 minutes a week of focused learning will improve your playing skills.

This book is your shortcut opportunity to advance your skills and win more games. These exercises and drills are designed to improve all of your skills – physical and mental. Your practice sessions will be much more interesting and challenging.

There are hundreds of exercises and drills. Every playing skill is included -- cue ball control (reverse spin, top spin), pocketing skills (straight and many different angles), and more – lots more.

+++++++++

These drills and exercises are based on the concept of progressive advancement. Start with an easy setup. When you comfortable, increase the difficulty factor.
Use these problems in two ways. At home, review an exercise. Consider how you must play the shot. Then, imagine the ball positions on the table in your head. Carefully and thoughtfully play the shot.

Consider variations on the problem. Can you do this at different speeds? What are the consequences? Make notes as you think about different ideas - assumptions, possibilities, and variations.

Then, at the practice table, select the problem you want to fix. Put down the paper reinforcement rings. Set up the ball configuration. Practice the configuration until it is easy, then try the exercise with left and right side spin on the ball – and at different speeds. Observe the results, and make adjustments.

++++++++++++

How to become the intelligent shooter!!

 

• You must decide to become a competitive player. Integrate a simple dedication to intentionally improve your skills.  
• Start with 15 minute sessions, no more than 2 or 3 per day. Keep to a regular weekly schedule.
• Concentrate on one single improvement at each session.
• You will quickly observe improved table skills – and enjoy the experience of winning more games.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allan P. Sand
• Release date: Mar 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224853502

Allan P. Sand

Allan P. Sand Santa Clara, CA [e-mail] PBIA (Professional Billiards Instructor Association) and ACS (American Cue Sports) billiards instructor for ten years. My playing and competitive experience goes back over 50 years. I love the give and take of competitive sports and enjoy helping others improve their playing and thinking skills. The books I have published on Smash Words include: • Psychology of Gamesmanship – How to Manage Mind Games & Tricks – Identifies more than 80 sharks and how to prevent your opponent from using them. Also applicable to other team (football, basketball, soccer) and individual (pool, tennis, darts) sports. • The Art of War versus the Art of Pool – The philosophy of pool as defined by Sun Tzu, the Chinese general who wrote about applied warfare, 2500 years ago. • The Art of Politics & Campaigning - an easy road map to success in competition against others for a valued position. • The Art of Team Coaching - how Sun Tzu would coach coaches, including specifics on team and individual training. • The Art of Personal Competition - how Sun Tzu would guide your development as a team player. • Kitchen God's Guide for Single Guys – a humorous cooking book for bachelors BOOKS that are not available on Smashwords (file size too big): • Table Map Library - free on the billiardgods web site. 3,100+ cue ball paths and patterns. For advanced One Pocket and 9 Ball players. • Drills & Exercises for Pool & Pocket Billiards – progressive practices to improve your game, skills, and abilities. • Safety Toolbox – the defensive tools needed to advance your offensive game. Includes drills, tactics, strategies, and precision ball control drills. • Advanced Cue Ball Control Self-Testing Program – Find out if you are an "A" player now and what it takes to get there. • Cue Ball Control Cheat Sheets – the shortcuts that show how to use precise cue ball speed and spin to get position anywhere on the table. VIDEOS Also available are the following videos, which can be rented or purchased on Amazon and on the billiardgods web site: • Secrets of One Rail Kicks - simple calculations about how to figure out short and long rail kicks to another ball on the table. • Secrets of Shooting with Spin - two techniques that describe how to use side spin on the cue ball (with accuracy). • Kicking to a Bib Ball - open...

Book preview

Introduction

Probably the worst experience to live through when holding a cue stick in your hands is practicing. As much as you love the game, there is something about setting up a shot and shooting it over and over (and over) until you just can’t force yourself to continue. You start banging balls around the table with no real focus on accomplishing any kind of improvement.

So, this book could be a waste of time, or it could be an opportunity to take your game from the bar-banger level to the ability to creditably compete in tournaments.

These drills and exercises are based on the concept of progressive advancement. Start with an easy setup, prove that you can make that 4 out of 5 times, and then make it slightly more difficult. Keep on pushing the limits as far as the table edges allow.

Put this book on your eBook reader, smart phone, tablet, or laptop. Bring this to the table along with your paper reinforcement rings (donuts) and you are ready to improve yourself.

This is not a book to be run through a couple of times and then set aside to gather dust in some long unvisited folder on your computing device. Open your online calendar (Google, Yahoo, etc.) and put in reminders every few months to shoot this, that, these, or those pages. In between these scheduled self-testing periods, work with the other Billiard Gods books.

Study this material in two steps. In the comfort of your favorite easy-chair or recliner, review each table layout and thoughtfully consider the ball positions. Could you do the shot at slow, medium and fast CB speeds? Use the notes feature of your reader to add assumptions, possibilities, and considerations.

To continue developing yourself as an Intelligent Shooter – you have to get past the fooling around stage of your playing career and get serious about becoming a competitive player.

The purpose of the book is to provide a single-source that provides drills to improve almost any skill. Yes, drills are boring. For most people, about all they can handle is 10-15 minutes before they start looking for any excuse to stop practicing. This single source of table layouts and setups can chase away boredom for at least another 20-30 minutes.

The secret to effective practicing is to actually concentrate on improving one thing at a time. Generally, you want to practice a missed shot that cost you a game or match. You can set up and shoot that shot 30, 40, even 50 times before your intense learning desire burns out. But the boredom gremlin eventually manages to get your attention.

This book has hundreds of exercises (and when counting variations – a near infinite variety). When your interest on one exercise fades, select another drill, and so on. Start off a practice session with some ball pocketing exercises. Switch over to some drills that concentrate on making the CB dance to your tune. Then, set up some of the self-pacing practice games at the end of the book to self-demonstrate your improved playing skills.

It is very important that you understand that there are many ways for you to stroke the CB. Keeping it fairly basic, there are 39 different CB speed and spin (CB speed/spin) shot variations. If you want to get real good at pocket billiards, you must make a dedicated effort to own these shots. This means that making an object ball (OB) that is 1 diamond