Being the huge billiards fan that I am, I just had to make a post about this, rest in piece to Paul Newman. Paul Newman had one of hos best performances in the old black and white movie “The Hustler”. He played as Fast Eddie as a pool hall hustler traveling from billiards room to billiards room, hustling everyone in his path that he could in a good game of pool. So he seeked out to take on the best in the world, Minnesota Fats, once they had met up the two were playing for some big time money. They wind up playing for over 24 hours straight, if you haven’t seen the movie and you are a billiards fan then you have to see “The Hustler”.

Another good billiards flick that Paul Newman played in was “The Color Of Money”. Which had starred Tom Cruise, and Paul Newman played the roll of his backer, they traveled across the country to many pool halls trying to get some good money, and ultimitly getting ready for the big billiards tournement in Vegas. Although I don’t think his performance was as good as it was in “the hustler”, these are two of the best billiards movies ever made, RIP Paul Newmon.

Learn to Shoot Pool Like a Pro - Part 1

Everyone who can enjoy a good game of billiards, or a game of pool is always wondering how they can increase their efficiency of moving the cu ball into the targeted ball to sink into the pocket. Now there are thousands of drills and practice shots that you can conduct over and over. But what is the right way to approach this?

Me myself I have always had a natural neck for playing pool, I started out shooting pool when I was about 6 years old and I learned on a 6 foot table at the arcade center. The way that I held the cue was very comfortable, I would grip the cue with a loose fist and at no time would my pinky touch the butt of the cue stick. I started off with the beginners bridge when aiming the cue stick to the cue ball, which would be four fingers laid flat against the pool table felt with the thumb pointed upward, this worked great and I used this particular bridge until I was 20.

The main key when it comes to shooting pool is that you have a comfortable bridge, some work better than others for certain players, the thing is that you have to find out what works best for you. You cant take the advice of every pool shark out there that has an opinion on how you are shooting and if you were to hold the cue stick a certain way your game would automatically increase and you would make all of your shots. Now this would be really nice but things do not work out like this, if you are a good billiards/pool shooter you are going to make your shots no matter how it is that you hold or grip the cue stick.

In my years of playing pool I have realized a couple of things, and this you really need to take in top consideration if you want to be a better pool player whether that you play for fun, trying to win some local tournaments that the local bars are throwing, or just straight up have watched “pool hall junkies” or “the hustler” too many times and want to just humiliate your opponent no matter what their skill level might be.

To be successful in playing pool you must practice. And when I say practice you have to find your weakness’s and strong points and work on your weakness’s until they become your strong points in playing this game of billiards pool. If you know your angles and are good at banking shots than stick with that scheme, if you have a great jump shot than you might not necessarily have to take that bank shot, me, I am way better at banking the ball than jumping the ball therefore you will rarely see me do a jump shot trying to flash some skills that I know that I don’t have.

Let me discuss a little bit about shot making, and being consistent when making your shots. First thing that you have to get down is the aim,when you are aiming at the cue ball, and after you follow through with the shot you want your eyes to be on the ball that you are trying to pocket, NOT the cue ball. This is very critical to be a consistent shot maker, especially for the beginner. The more you practice this the better you will get at finding the points on the cue ball, thus creating backspin and forward motion more efficiently.