Ralph Eckert - The Sport of Pool Billiards 1

1.5 Hand Bridge ............................................................16 16 before the first shot Hand Bridge Before I start bombarding you with details here are a few photos and brief explanations on the subject of hand bridges: Low The middle finger is pushed down onto the table slightly. Middle This is the standard bridge where the middle, ring and little finer are well spread out to maximize sta-bility. High The fingers are brought more closely together to raise the height of the bridge.

1.6 The Mechanical Bridge ..........................................20 20 before the first shot The Mechanical Bridge The mechanical bridge, sometimes called a „rest“ or simply „bridge“, is used to extend a player‘s reach on a shot where the cue ball is too far away for normal hand bridging. It comes in a number of different forms. When using a rest you should still remember to aim with both eyes. The cue should still be centered, but is now in front of and not below the head. The cue is guided loosely between the thumb and fingers. It is important to make sure that the bridge arm is horizontal and the mechanical bridge itself rests firmly on the table in such a way that you can quickly remove it if necessary. If you look at the photos you can see how to use a rest correctly. Standard rest for shots that are so far away that you would have to practically lie on the table ´to reach them. The old rule that one foot has to touch the floor still applies – and rightly so!

2. Training Program ................................................22 22 Training program Training Program (based on PAT 1, officially recommended by the WPA!) The Playing Ability Test (PAT 1-3) was developed in spring 2003 and since fall 2004, following its recognition by official billiard sport associations all over the world, has been officially recommended by the World Pool Billiards Association (WPA)! The PAT 1 program and test serves as a sound basic guideline for learning to play a good game of pool billiards. If you like, you can now skip the next few sentences and go straight on to the first topic or exercise. Or you can read on and learn something about the PAT System. The WPA awards official colored emblems on the basis of points individually attained in these 3 tests so that, like in the martial arts judo and karate, you can see what level a player is at! In billiards, though small emblems were considered more appropriate. The emblems bear the inscription Sport & WPA in the color for your level.

2.1 Speed .....................................................................27 27 Chapter 2 Speed The correct speed is of crucial importance when playing for position! Good players need a great deal of feeling for this and these exercises are designed to help you develop this feeling! Often during training, you will be told to “play very softly”, use “average power”, “hard”, “soft”, “lightly” and so forth. Andreas Huber, German national coach: The words „hard“ or „power“ are fatal. You can only achieve the right effect (!!!) through the speed of the stroke – power cannot be transferred in billiards! To clarify these instructions once and for all and, at the same time, to give you an increased feeling for the right speed, here is a short series of exercises for training speed. Try them out and see if you manage to follow the cue through as I describe. Even experienced sportsmen have problems playing Speed 1 correctly. Recommended training target: Play the four balls at Speed 1 and 2 again and again until you can play the four balls in sequence at the right speed. With Speed 3 and 4 just play one ball after the other until they all (but not necessarily in order) come to rest in the right speed field.

2.2 Straightness ............................................................42 42 Training program Straightness

2.3 Stroke Efficiency, Follow Shots ..............................60

2.4 Draw Shot ..............................................................68

2.5 Small Area Positions ..............................................77

2.6 Large Area Positions ..............................................92

2.7 Frozen Rail Situations ...........................................102

2.8 Endless Drill .........................................................112

2.9 Movement Cycle (as the basis for your personal playing rhythm) ..................................................120

2.10 Freestyle .............................................................133

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table of contents

3. Rules and Types of Game ................................140

3.1 8-Ball ....................................................................141

3.2 9-Ball ....................................................................145

3.3 Straight Pool ........................................................148

4. The Material ......................................................151

4.1 The Table .............................................................151

4.2 Cues .....................................................................154

4.3 Balls .....................................................................159

5. Practice Games ................................................163

5.1 Equal Offense ......................................................163

5.2 Bowlliards .............................................................166

5.3 Progressive X-Ball ...............................................171

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Introduction

Introduction

Here‘s an idea of how a perfect 8-ball game could go:

Start with a draw shot from the 1 on the 4, then a natural roll from the 4 on the 2, then another draw shot on the 2, which is frozen to the rail, to get into a good position for the 7.

Use a follow stroke on the 7 with a little left spin and from there a little draw stun shot on the 3 with a bit of right spin to get into position for the 5. From there a stun shot on the 5 just above center, then a natural roll to the 6 via two cushions, giving it a little right spin and using about Speed 2.5. This puts us in a perfect position for the 8! Then it‘s just a stop shot to secure victory!

What use is all this information to beginners? They‘ll never be able to put it into practice at the start. You‘ll have to play for a long, long time, maybe even years, before you can hope to play such shots with any ease. In this training program I want to show you how you can acquire the necessary skills

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Introduction

as effectively as possible. And at the same time demonstrate that pool billiards is not just a game, but a sport that you can actually train with the help of the PAT system! Not simply so that you can get the better of people that consider pool billiards to be „just a game“, but so that you have more fun and, more importantly, enjoy playing at a higher level thanks to the skills acquired in this program.