If you’ve ever set foot into the University Village Centre or Town Hall on any given night—which I recommend you do; it’s a great hang out spot—you know that the pool tables are the main attraction. But maybe you’ve felt discouraged; you want to play, but you’re not very good, and you don’t want to embarrass yourself. Well, I’m here to tell you that you CAN play pool.
*Hint: See footnotes at the bottom for further explanations.
Starting off
First off, you can’t expect to have never played pool—except for maybe at your grandparents’ house when you were like 5—and automatically be the best. Like anything else, pool takes practice. I’ll give you the basics: 1. Choose a pool cue* that you like; there are different weights, and each weight plays a little differently. 2. Make your bridge* comfortable—it doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to work. Fool with different bridges and over time you’ll find one you like, and it will start to look better on its own; however use a bridge that supports the cue from below.
3. Stand to the side of your cue and pull it STRAIGHT back before you shoot. You may not realize it, but you may be pulling the cue back at an angle. Focus on the center of the cue ball*.
You don’t have to be HULK!
I’m not sure why, but any time I’ve seen someone play pool for the first time, they believe that the harder they hit the cue ball, the better the shot will be. FALSE. You almost never have to hit the target ball* full strength. In fact, if you hit softly, you’ll usually end up with more options for your next shot, and—if you’re aim is on target—have a better chance of putting the ball in the pocket without scratching.*
Get low!
This one is simple—get face level with the pool table so you can REALLY see where your shots are going to go. Looking from above will sometimes give you a sort of optical illusion, and you could easily miss an otherwise simple shot.
“Draw” your angles
If you’re having a hard time seeing where you need to hit your target ball in order to make a shot, draw your angles using your cue. The way you do this is by taking the cue and laying it across the table starting at the pocket you want your target ball(s) to go in and finishing at the target ball. If you can continue imagining the line you’ve just made, you’ll know exactly where to hit your target ball.
Slow and Steady
Even if you’ve done everything to prepare for a shot of any difficulty, you still need to take your time! Rushing a shot will end up in a miss nine times out of ten. Get low to your shot, really look at it, take a couple deep breaths, look at the shot again, then take it. If you still miss, shake it off—at least you took your time.
If you don’t have a shot, don’t try to make one up!
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as defense in pool. If you don’t see any realistic shots that wouldn’t end up in a scratch, play defense. The way that you play defense is by striking a target ball that will send your cue ball to an undesirable position for your opponent. If you don’t know how to angle the cue ball off confidently, draw your angles from where you want the cue ball to land back to the cue ball.
HAVE FUN!
This is priority number one. Why would you continue doing something that made you angry? Don’t worry about how you’re playing, just have fun playing. Don’t get discouraged when you miss a shot, and don’t get discouraged if someone is better than you—instead, learn from them, and remember, practice makes perfect.
FOOTNOTES***
Cue- Your pool stick.
Bridge- How you support the pool stick with the hand on the table.
Cue Ball- No, it’s not an insult aimed at a bald guy—well maybe—but it’s also the white ball that you use to hit your target ball.
Target Ball- The ball that your cue ball is aimed to strike first.
Scratch- Depending on the particular rules you are playing a scratch can include hitting another player’s ball first, hitting the 8 ball first, or dropping the cue ball into a pocket.
-RA Thomas