H O T S H O T S SERIES

BASICS PLUS SIGHTING

BOOK ONE OF TOTAL SIX PACK BILLIARDS LIBRARY

D.W. Diamond Dave Thayer

HOT SHOTS PLUS Total Six Pack

BOOK ONE BOOK TWO BOOK THREE BASICS PLUS SIGHTING KICK SHOTS PLUS DIAMOND NUMBERING SYSTEM ENGLISH PLUS STOP, DRAW, FOLLOW CAROM, BILLIARD, CURVE, JUMP & MASSE SHOTS BANK SHOTS, ONE & MULTIPLE RAILS, PLUS TRACK SYSTEMS FROZEN RAIL SHOTS, DEAD SHOTS, LITTLE KNOWN EXCEPTIONAL SHOTS & POSITION PLAY BREAK SHOTS, COMBINATIONS, 8 BALL, STRATEGICS, PRACTICE DRILLS, DIFFERENT SIZE TABLES, TRICK SHOTS, RULES OF PLAY & GLOSSARY

BOOK FOUR

BOOK 5

BOOK 6

HOT SHOTS PLUS

COPYRIGHT 2002 by David W. Thayer Library of Congress
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means.

DISCLAIMER: All text and graphics in this book are based solely on the authors almost sixty (60) years of experience playing, learning and teaching billiards and pocket billiards.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Editing and computer instruction to the author. Mark Sherman of St. Petersburg, Fla. and Shane Downs Gulfport, Fla. To the Gulfport Florida Senior Center for the use of their pool tables while putting this book together. and to all my pool playing friends at the Gulfport Senior Center for putting up with me and tolerating, to an extent, my desire for improvement for all and legitimacy of play..

Published by Diamond Sports Publications,Inc. 4715 26th. Ave. So. Gulfport, Fl. 33711

Table of Contents
Total Six Pack ......................................................................................................... 2 HOT SHOTS PLUS................................................................................................ 3 Table of Contents.................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 TABLES AND EQUIPMENT............................................................................ 5 SHOT PREPARATION........................................................................................ 14 BRIDGE............................................................................................................ 17 GRIP ................................................................................................................. 18 STROKE ........................................................................................................... 19 PREFACE ............................................................................................................. 23 SIGHTING METHODS ....................................................................................... 24 DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING .............................................................. 34 MEMORIZE ..................................................................................................... 35 SUMMATION...................................................................................................... 72

INTRODUCTION
Please, please, do not jump ahead to the various diagrams, shouting hallelujah! to try your newly discovered approach to a particular shot or shots. A premise of this book is the old axiom one picture is worth a thousand words with the pictures being the following detailed diagrams. The author must impress upon you the importance of not skipping over any of the printed material. The reason being that the ensuing diagrams are presented for the popular and widely used eight foot tavern size pool tables. This is important to know, especially as regards diamond systems play. Later in book six we will cover the slight adjustments in diamond arithmetic relating to play on the larger nine foot table and on the small seven foot table. Also, the adjustments necessary when using the larger, heavier, cue ball in use on many of the coin operated tables. I have always believed that almost everything one needs to know can be obtained from a book, correlated with good practice habits. I have taken my best shot at making these booklets meaningful, educational reveal all books that will give the reader a vast advantage against any and all competition, whether recreational or serious competitive playing. Today, more people in America play pocket billiards than play golf and tennis combined. It is estimated that in excess of thirty million Americans indulge in this wonderful activity. This would include playing on home recreation room tables, tavern and cocktail lounge tables and, of course, billiard parlor tables.

INTRODUCTION

Michael Phelan is the man credited with bringing the game to America from Ireland around the year 1850. Not only did he manufacture pool tables as the original partner with Brunswick, he also wrote the first book pertaining to the game of pocket billiards, including rules of play and rules of etiquette. Being a mathematics whiz and very knowledgeable in the field of physics, it was Mr. Phelan who first set diamonds into the table rails to be used as aiming points for bank shot and kick shot alignments. During that era, billiard tables were first placed in horse race betting parlors. This was done to allow bettors to occupy the time between races. Obviously, much betting was done over the outcome of the pool games as well as the races. Due to one definition of the word pool in Websters Dictionary, an aggregate stake or ante with the winner taking all, the betting parlors soon took on the name pool room and the pocketed billiard tables acquired the name pool table. Players of that era appreciated the application of diamond inlays on all newly manufactured pocket pool tables and their addition to tables already in use for their cosmetic appearance. Only after witnessing Mr. Phelans pool shooting abilities skyrocket him to the reputation of the best pool player in America, did some players realize that the in-laid diamonds meant much more to him than simply their cosmetic enhancement. After much thought and practice, I discovered that simple arithmetic not only applied to object and cue balls caroming off the rail and diamond points, but could also be instrumental in determining exact contact and aim points from the cue ball to the target object ball to drive target object ball into a specific pocket or any rail point.

INTRODUCTION

As you study the following diagrams, you will realize how much your imagination and visualization must come into play. You will quite easily visualize the positions of the diamonds that are physically located on the rails plus visualize diamond locations that do not exist except in your soon to be trained eye and imagination. You will clearly visualize increments of one-eighth of a diamond, one-quarter, one-half and so on. You will approximate, in your minds eye, one inch or one tenth of a point between diamonds and between rail points. You will see the invisible track locations and will soon know their numbers by instinct. You will soon know the Track Visualization System so well that others will marvel at your abilities. Upon your completion of all the books in this Six Pack Encyclopedia of billiards knowledge, it is the authors goal that you become very proficient with the following; Be able to draw the cue ball the full length of the table and have the ability to draw it with control to a desired position location. Ninety eight percent of all pool players can not draw the cue ball and only one in one hundred can shoot a controlled draw. Shoot cue ball at extreme, full speed into object ball and have it stop dead at the point of contact. Know when a shot is a dead scratch shot and how to shoot the shot to avoid a scratch. Control final resting place of the cue ball after most shots, i.e. position play and position plus. See precise contact points that the majority of players cannot see and thus deliver cue ball and/or object ball to those distinct points. Know all track lines hidden in the cloth of table and how to send the target object ball or cue ball on the track to a pocket or a good hit.

INTRODUCTION

Knowledge of additional shot possibilities that until now, only the very top pros are able to see and shoot successfully. All variations of English (side spin), running, enhanced, extreme, maximum spin and reverse. Develop touch that, until now, has been regarded as something that can not be taught and that a player must be born with. Perform trick shots that will be an aid to the understanding of angles, inter-ball action and re-actions. Shoot with confidence the shots that in the past have been dreaded shots for you, such as long shots, frozen rail shots, frozen rail bank shots, etc., etc. Proper method for shooting frozen rail shots from varying angles and distances. When to look at object ball last, just before pulling the trigger on your shot, (Over ninety percent of shots require eyes on the target object ball as you shoot the shot) along with the two shots that you must keep eyes on the cue ball as you shoot. Know the rules pertaining to accurate, legitimate play that are the basics of all pool play. Every pool playing facility has their own in house rules and they can vary immensely. The author does not intend to interfere with these rules in any way, but only to set forth the few necessary basics that apply to common sense play and thus resolve many questions and possible arguments as to various points of standard rule. Over all, the authors number one goal is for the reader to learn as much as possible regarding pocket billiards so that with the increase of your knowledge and skills, more pleasure and enjoyment will be added to your game.

TABLES AND EQUIPMENT

TABLES AND EQUIPMENT

OR Know your playing field and ammunition

This section will elaborate on the various sized pool tables now in existence, showing formats used on various types of shots. Due to the majority of billiard play today taking place on Tavern size tables with playing areas 46 wide by 92 long and a Diamond rail spacing of 11 inches or on a 44 by 88, table with a diamond spacing of 11 (center diamond to center diamond), the majority of formulas will pertain to these two tables. The slightly larger playing area eight foot table is known as the Grand or Super Eight table while the smaller playing area eight foot table is called the Standard Eight. There will be additional sections devoted to the minor adjustments required for accuracy on the standard billiard parlor nine foot table with play area of 50 by 100with 12 inches between diamonds. Also the small recreation room seven foot table, 40 by 80 with only 10 between diamonds.

TABLES AND EQUIPMENT

46"

Eight foot table Playing area= 46" x 92" A. Corner pocket = 4 7/8 to 5 1/8 inches. B. Side pocket size = 5 3/8 to 5 5/8 inches. C. Distance from diamond to diamond is 11.5"

TABLES AND EQUIPMENT

FOOT RAIL

A. IMAGINARY BOUNDARY FOR TABLE HEAD TABLE AREA. B. IMAGINARY BOUNDARY FOR SHORT TABLE SHOTS, FOOT TABLE AREA. C. NOTE; KITCHEN AREA INCLUDES HEAD STRING.

TABLE AND EQUIPMENT

1/8

1/8 1/8

1/8

1/8

1/8

1/8

1/8

Length of table divided into eighths. Width of table divided into quarters. This understanding will be necessary when You arrive at section on track systems.

TABLES AND EQUIPMENT

RAIL RAIL
BUMPER ACTUAL INLAID DIAMONDS VISUALIZED ONE EIGHTHS PORTIONS BETWEEN DIAMONDS

DIVISION OF RAIL POINTS INTO TENTHS.

. . . . . . . . . . .
DIVISION OF DIAMONDS INTO TENTHS.

TABLES AND EQUIPMENT

When shooting into a diamond or image diamond, you must visualize the diamond standing alone with nothing between it and the ball youre shooting.

TABLE TRUENESS TEST

Let us now test the table that you are about to play on for alignment and trueness of the rails (see diagram, page 11). Place the cue ball behind the head string and lined up with the two cross corner pockets, i.e. ,cue ball origin corner pocket and corner pocket A.Use running English at 1 oclock on the cue ball and aim it as close as possible to long rail side of corner pocket A with out it catching the opposite pocket point. Approximately at visualized rail point .02. Strike the cue ball hard enough to go around the table, striking the rails five times and into corner pocket A. If the ball goes into pocket A, the banks (rails) of the table are true. If cue ball strikes end rail long of pocket at point B you will know that rails run long. If cue ball comes up short and goes into rail at point C the rails run short. The offsetting solutions for a table that is slightly off perfection will be covered in Kick and Bank shot sections.

10

TABLE TRUENESS TESTING

B 00 02 10 A C

20

30

40

50

60 70

80

50

Shoot from corner 5.0 close to the left side of corner pocket 0.0. Must avoid side pocket D. Use running English at 1 o'clock.

11

CUE TIPS

Size 11 cue tip Dime coin Ferrule Cue shaft

If your cue tip is over 12 millimeters in size, sand it off to match the curvature of a nickle. If 12 or under, round tip off to a dime shape roundness.

12

SHOT

PREPARATION

FUNDAMENTALS OF THE BIG FOUR

STANCE BRIDGE GRIP STROKE

13

SHOT PREPARATION

This book and the game of pocket billiards is based on the fact that once the cue ball is struck by the tip of the cue stick, it is on its own from that point on. Only your pre shot induced preparation will be behind it. The shot will then take care of and control itself. It will do so, on each and every kind of shot you take, providing that you have adhered to some basic fundamentals and soon to be learned fundamentals plus technique in regard to shot preparation. This is all performed by you as the cue ball lies there under your control awaiting your cue tip strike stroke, with your directions behind it. If you are a beginner, I wish that I could stand there beside you and guide you through the proper stance, bridge and grip. Not being able to do this in person, I will try to put into words and help draw you a picture of the important aspects you must master.. Hoping that you will draw from these instructional words, a mental image of required stance, bridge, grip and then the stroke itself. You must feel free to experiment and discover your own comfort and balance levels , but within the frame work the author outlines for you. Follow the following instructions and you will soon go on to master the Big Three in pool shooting: proper posture, stroke confidence and aim accuracy.

STANCE:
The pro stands back for a very few seconds, his eyes darting out over the table layout before him. He approaches table, his eyes taking in the entire scene before him. He then assumes his stance, already knowing which shot he will take, the correct shot alignment, the speed necessary and the sequence of the following two or three shots he will follow with.

14

SHOT PREPARATION

His bridge hand holding the cue shaft stretches out toward the cue ball, coming to rest approximately eight inches in front of cue ball on the smooth felt surface. He bends his body forward, comfortably, at the waist. The forward foot almost parallel to his cue stick line, pointing toward the target object ball. His rear foot planted horizontally with the pool table. Weight evenly distributed on both feet. Forward knee slightly bent and flexible and the rear knee fairly rigid. He aligns his chin about two to ten inches above the cue with an imaginary line rising straight up through the center of his chin and directly between the eyes knowing the importance of keeping both eyes on a level plane and not with one eye tilted above the other. He sees an imaginary line from the target ball to the inner portion of his rear thigh. Once he has established this line in conjunction with his body balance and comfort, he goes into the sighting and stroking technique. This has all been accomplished, starting with his beginning stand back posture, in well under ten seconds. Now, lets have you go through this procedure each time you are about to shoot. First, stand back and determine the shot that you want to shoot. Step into the table with your left toe (if you are right handed) pointing toward the object ball you will be shooting the cue ball into. Lean forward at the waist, extending your left hand which is cradling the cue stick shaft within approximately eight inches from the cue ball. Spread your feet comfortably and with evenly balanced weight distribution. Lean forward, over your cue stick with your chin directly above where it feels most comfortable to you. Try to get into the habit of maintaining the chin distance above the cue, the same on all shots. Of course, draw shots and power break shots may require your chin position to be higher above your stick.

15

SHOT PREPARATION

However, no matter how high or low your chin may be, it must always be directly above and in line with your cue stick. Keep your forward leg bent at the knee and your back leg fairly rigid. A rigid rear leg will prevent lunging at the cue ball during your final stroke shot. Lunging is a fairly, all too often occurring problem with many pool players. They will take several beautiful, smooth warm up strokes before shooting, seemingly confident with the shot under their control and all at once, all goes completely haywire. The body bolts forward into the shot, cue tip jerking up and off line and, of course, the shot is missed. Draw an imaginary line straight back from the target object ball to the inner side of your rear legs upper thigh. This will help form a continuous alignment of shooting arm shoulder, elbow, forearm, bridge hand, cue tip, cue ball and object ball. Your shooting hand, forearm and elbow become part of your cue stick. Your stroke must be from the cue tip back to your elbow and no other part of your body is to move before, during and after the shot. Your shoulder must remain rigid and your elbow becomes the pendulum of your stroke. If you ever change your mind or are in doubt prior to or during your stroking, stop and stand erect, get out of your crouched stance completely. Make your new decision or renew your former one and renew your stance accordingly. Always remember to position your head so that your eyes are level. There is a slight perception distortion when the eyes are tilted off the level plane. Experiment. Find out what works best for you and gives you more confidence, comfort and success.

16

SHOT PREPARATION BRIDGE

As the elbow of the shooting arm acts as the fulcrum for the stroke, the forearm, cue stick and the grip hand makes up the force provider. The bridge hand becomes the staging area, the platform for the stroke.

There are two basic types of bridges for the standard on- table stroking shots. Of course, these bridges will vary somewhat for on-rail and off-rail shots.
There is the closed bridge with the forefinger crossed over the cue shaft forming a complete circle enclosure of the cue as it rests in the grove of the v-area at the base of the thumb and forefinger. We also use the open bridge and although it is sometimes referred to as the beginners bridge you need never be ashamed to use it. Whether a beginner or top pro, many of the worlds leading players, and yes, I do mean in the top ten in the world use the open bridge on many of their shots and some have become world champions using an open bridge exclusively. In fact, on all shots requiring you to stretch your body out over the table with your bridge arm fully or almost fully extended, you must shoot with an open bridge. The first thing to be concerned with, regarding your bridge is its solidity. A solid foundation must be obtained before you can trust it to cradle your cue shaft with all of your new found skills behind it. All skills, including perfect stroking, perfect aiming, perfect speed control preparation and flawless cue ball strike preparation are totally wasted as the cue shaft tries to counteract a wobbly, shaky bridge. Step # 1 in solidifying your bridge hand (assuming it is your left hand if you are shooting right handed) is to firmly plant the left (outer) edge of your hand from where the wrist goes into the heel of the hand, all the way out through your extended pinky finger. There should be no room for air space between that entire left edge of palm and pinky and the table felt edge of palm and pinky, and the table felt.

17

SHOT PREPARATION

Once that portion of your hand is firmly planted and you have the feeling of stability, roll your hand to the inside (right), forming your fingers and thumb into an open groove V - bridge or a closed bridge. Now you are ready to glide your cue shaft back and forth through an open or closed groove that is firmly propped up over a solid bridge base that invites smooth, confident stroking and will remain stationary and inflexible throughout your entire shooting stroke. Your bridge is secure, regardless of cue tip impact, English applied, speed used or follow through distance of tip. Firmness of bridge eliminates erraticism in your game. It stabilizes the cue stick. An open v-bridge gives you an unobstructed view and line of sight on long shots because of no overlapping finger. Never allow your bridge hand to be any part of a support for your body weight. Despite the necessary downward pressure on the bridge hand, your balanced weight support should be on your legs only. All the knowledge in the world about this game is of no use if the physical foundation of the shot is not solid and trustworthy. Do not have it said of you, Great eye, but no bridge.

GRIP
Only a small amount of instruction can be given to you concerning the position of your stroking hand on the butt end area of the cue stick. The instructions amount basically to dos and donts. DO use a tea cup holding grip on the butt end of cue, where it feels balanced to you. Emphasis can be on thumb and one finger, two or three fingers with your little pinky finger out of the way and just going along for the ride. Whatever number of fingers touching the cue stick depends on your own comfort and confidence feeling.

18

SHOT PREPARATION

Whatever it takes to make you feel assured and allow a smooth stroke. Even the top pros vary in their use of finger/fingers placement and pressure on the grip. What you must have thoroughly impressed in your minds bank of knowledge, is that a tea-cup like, gentle grip can be used on every type of shot including the power break shot. The reason being that, ball speed and power come from the speed of the cue stick rather than from the weight behind it. In the game of tennis, it is the racket speed that allows the worlds top players, whose weights average 160 pounds, to serve the ball at 120 miles per hour plus. In baseball, the long drives and home runs are initiated by bat speed during a wrist snapping swing. Had more been understood regarding this fact during the era of Babe Ruth and had he used a lighter 34 ounce bat rather than a 44 ounce war club, he quite possibly would have slugged fifteen more home runs per year. A concentrated tea cup grip on your cue every shot keeps you from the tendency of a strong, tight grip which will cause your cue tip to rise on cue ball contact. Create a circle with thumb and finger(s) on your grip hand that never allows any part of your palm to touch the stick. A tea cup grip should assure no palm contact and just the right amount of space between palm and cue. Again, do not choke, strangle the butt of cue stick , ever. Tea cup feeling on each and every shot.

STROKE
Now, you have approached the table, knowing which shot you are about to shoot and its alignment along with the speed you want to apply and any or what English you may wish to put on cue ball. Go into your perfect stance. Line up your shot. DO NOT waste time. Bring your cue back slowly and then forward directly at your planned contact point on cue ball.

19

SHOT PREPARATION

Do this from two to seven times until you are comfortable with the stick speed, aim and levelness of cue. Do not take more than seven strokes at the very most because direct eye focus, visually will not last longer than that. Your eyes will begin to blink and waver at that time. It is most important to completely stop your cue tip on the last warm up stroke prior to your shot stroke exactly at the cue ball contact spot. Then draw back, raising your eye level over the cue ball to the target object ball desired aim point. Now, forward with the cue stick with the same pace as your warm-up strokes and with your eye on the OBJECT BALL. Many players stroke for warming up and then on one of those stroking motions, continue it right on through the cue ball and will usually miss almost as many shots as they will make with this non-stop procedure. The loosening up, stroke smoothing, and speed determination are all correlated during the two to seven warm up strokes. However; precise, exact aim is created only by holding the cue tip absolutely still and motionless at the aim point and then drawing back to then stroke completely through that aim point with your eye on the object ball. Hold tip still at aiming time no matter how fancy and beautifully stylish you believe your stroke to be. NEVER push or rush your shot and you will never commit the worst sin in pool missing the easy shot. ALWAYS REMEMBER, most pool games are not won by making the hard shots, but are won by not missing the easy ones. So, it is the simple shot that you will be so overly confident about (and you should be) that will beat you. Treat ALL shots the same and do not rush ANY shot. Regarding the important back stroke. Try not to come to a complete stop at the end of this portion of each stroke. Visualize a baseball pitcher during the brief wind up. The pitching arm goes back, behind his body and with no hesitation snaps up, out and forward toward the target.

20

SHOT PREPARATION

The great tennis servers take a complete loop back swing in a non stop arc as the racket goes down and back behind them and then snaps up and out toward the sky, meeting the tossed ball right at racket center and propelling the ball over the net with almost frightening speed. DO NOT lock your wrist. Always shoot every shot with loose wrist action. This is a must on all shots, draw, top spin follow, English usage and stop shots. The only part of you in motion during your stroking and shot is your shooting arm from the elbow forward. Keep your shoulder still. For absolute motion free body, exhale completely just prior to the shot stroke. When ever it is said of a player he makes it look so easy, it appears effortless and easy because the player stays down, briefly motionless and FOLLOWS THROUGH the shot. Follow through creates ease of stroke. The longer and smoother the follow through , the easier and more accurate your shot. The shot appears to others as effortless and to you it is almost effortless only because you did everything just right. Two things cause lunging forward on the shooting stroke. One, is not holding the tip still at the cue ball aim point just prior to shot release, and two, not keeping rear leg rigid. All preliminaries can go for naught if these two rules of good shooting are not complied with. Remember that your shooting arm elbow is the pendulum-the hinge. All above the elbow and the entire body are frozen during perfect stroking. Throwing the shoulder back on the final stroke is the bad habit of many would-be good players without their realization of this habit. Just keep in mind always, that you never put your body into any stroke and yes, that does include your power break. Follow through practice drills are diagramed in Book Six along with other great practice routines.

21

SHOT PREPARATION

Although you must shoot each shot with some degree of authority, you will do well to follow the advice of the greatest pocket billiard player who ever lived. Willie Mosconi often said, There are only two ways to shoot pool-one is to shoot soft and two is to shoot softer. Knowledge of the game and of many shots separate the pros from most players. The primary divider between pro and amateur is the stroke, the stroke, the stroke! Keep your head DOWN until follow-through comes to a natural stop or all balls stop rolling. Resist the temptation to raise your chin. You can watch your target ball go into the pocket from right where you are with your head down. Concentration on follow-through will eliminate unwanted head and shoulder movement. Just as field goal kickers in football and golfers are constantly telling themselves to keep your head down, pool shooters must do the same. Allow your follow-through to come to its end, and stop itself naturally at the end of its forward thrust. Let the shot take care of itself. As soon as the cue ball responds from the cue tip strike, it no longer cares what you do with your cue or body. It is off and running away from any further control by what you may do from that point on. The cue ball will, do your exact bidding if you did everything correctly prior to striking it. At this point you should, with proper stance, bridge, grip, and stroke, resemble an accomplished pool player. Let us now proceed to develop you into that accomplished and confident player!

22

PREFACE
Rote: Routine, mechanical procedure from memory. In a mechanical way, without thought. The majority of top, professional pool players, play their superior game based on rote (memory recall). Each time they go into their shooting stance, they are confidently aligning a shot they have played hundreds and even thousands of times before, including the same exact angle and distance. The social player, league player and many tournament players however, do not have the time or opportunity to shoot hundreds and thousands of shots each month. There is a system taught by the author in the following pages that will direct players with far less experience than the pros, toward shot making that will allow you to play the game on an even plane with the very best players. I call this system the diamond/fraction method. To those who will devotedly adhere to this system, will come the ability to shoot almost by rote in a very short time. The strike point on the object ball will almost glare back at you as though you had shot this very shot a million times before. When you soon arrive at the point of rote ability, you will at any time of slight uncertainty on a particular shot situation, within a second or two, be able to draw on your diamond/fraction knowledge in order to double check your rote acquired aim point for exact shot accuracy. We will also cover the other three most used sighting systems used effectively by many good players so that you will be able to incorporate all techniques in your repertoire of knowledge for the purpose of double and triple checking your shot approach on extremely difficult shots. Note: In many diagrams the object and cue balls will be disproportionally large to allow more concise vision as to aim points, strike points, etc.

23

SIGHTING METHODS

The author would like you to build your game around not only the center cue ball hit but also on the object ball half ball hit. Players with some understanding of the diamonds, base the majority of their shots on first noting visually, where a head on center to center hit will send the object ball. Secondly, where a half ball hit will send object ball and finally, what fraction inside or outside the half ball to aim cue ball at. This three step procedure takes only about four seconds at the most and sends object ball exactly where shooter intends for it to go. (much more on this later). Always remember to remain in your stroke. Do not pull off, or up, or out of your stroke until definite shot completion. This means your head and your cue stick. Keep your head directly above the cue. Eyes on object ball just prior to striking cue ball. Position cue tip firmly at correct spot on cue ball and hold it there before the shot stroke. Have forward toe pointed directly at target object ball. Have cue in line with inner thigh of rear leg. Have upper and lower arm muscles relaxed. Light teacup grip on cue stick always! Align object ball, cue stick and inner rear thigh. When cue ball is on (against) the rail, line up the shot and then look at the cue ball as you shoot at it.. Yes! Keep your eyes on the cue ball on the cue ball against rail shot. The reason for eyes on the cue ball when rail frozen is because we are forced to elevate butt end of stick in order to hit enough of object ball without miscueing. With the butt end raised, we are forced to shoot downward, thus driving cue ball down into the felt. Because stick is not on a level plane, the slightest of stroke off the center will create unwanted side spin on cue ball sending it well off its intended course.

24

SIGHTING METHODS
STAY DOWN until balls stop moving! Shooting hand always directly in line with and under elbow. Open bridge for all shots requiring you to stretch out over table. Heel of bridge hand firmly planted on table. There are three basic elements of proper sighting. These abilities are a must! Learn them and apply them! 1. Imagination 2. Visualization 3. Concentration Combine these three factors and you are on your way to pocketing seemingly impossible shots. The sighting techniques are: 1. Cue ball replacement (ghost cue ball). 2. Parallel aiming. 3. Image pocket aiming. 4. Diamond/fraction aiming. You should by now, have the importance of the precise center hit on the cue ball firmly entrenched in your mind. The next procedure is to correlate this with proper lines of sight from cue ball, through object ball to target pocket or target banking point on rail. We will first cover the most widely accepted method of cue ball replacement, or some times referred to as ghost cue ball. Next will be the Parallel sighting method, made popular by the great Willie Mosconi. Thirdly will be a method the author makes use of on some quite difficult, thin cut shots, the Image pocket approach and lastly, but more intensely we will cover my Diamond/fraction technique, that should open all doors to you to successful shooting. Diamond/fraction sighting takes most of the guess work if not all of it out of successful shooting. Always know that except when aiming cue ball at object balls dead center, that the point of aim and the contact point are never the same. The cue ball replacement, parallel and image pocket methods, all must take into consideration the exact contact point between cue ball and object ball. Diamond/fraction involves only point of aim and the contact point takes care of itself.

25

CUE BALL REPLACEMENT SIGHTING

Visualize an imaginary cue ball frozen to the object ball in a direct line to the pocket. If that cue ball was real, it could be hit by a cue, shoe, finger, bat, etc. And the object ball would go into the pocket. So, simply shoot cue ball into ghost ball location!

26

CUE BALL REPLACEMENT

1. Visualize how and where ghost cue ball must be frozen to object ball for perfect alignment to the target pocket! 2. That is exact spot you must shoot real cue ball to, for perfect cue ball replacement regardless of where cue ball is shot from!

27

IMAGE POCKET SIGHTING

B C

If you had to pocket one more ball for the game winner, you would select the easiest shot which is shot c. But, suppose that shot c does not exist and you had to shoot either shot a or shotb.No problem if you change the shot set up with imagination and thus simplify the shot in your minds eye. See page 31.

28

29

IMAGE POCKET SIGHTING

A great practice drill when you have a table and time available to you. Set up two object balls in line with and closer together than the pockets.

30

PARALLEL SIGHTING or
JOINING THE DOTS

Back point of object ball

C B

Front point of cue ball

A. Visualize straight line from center pocket through object ball to its back side. B. Visualize straight line, parallel to line A from rail to front side of cue ball. C. Visualize cue ball as sliding, non rolling and aim its front point at object ball back side point.

31

PARALLEL SIGHTING

CUE BALL

PARALLEL LINE

IMAGE CUE BALL

OBJECT BALL REAR POINT

LINE TO POCKET

Hold your cue stick above cue ball and stretch it forward to rail as an aid in determining accurate parallel line.

32

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

No matter where your object ball lies on the table, its distance from the desired pocket can always be measured in diamonds and diamond fractions (portions of diamonds). A straight line visualized directly through the cue ball and object ball to a point on the rail will reveal where the object ball lies from the target pocket because obviously, a straight center ball hit on object ball will drive it to that rail point and you have only to determine the fraction aim to either side of object ball for required movement toward pocket entrance. It may be helpful to you if you develop the ability to visualize the object ball as a square or oblong block, or only a partially constructed ball, as an aid in the aim point determination. For simplification, this book teaches the Diamond/Fraction Sighting System by lining up direct center ball aim and then moving line of aim by fractions to the left or right of center, i.e., ball right of center, plus 1/8 (or 3/8) right of center. You will be dividing the object ball into fractions in exact co-ordination with rail diamond and partial diamond distances. This will allow you to drive object ball into any point on rail that you desire for bank shots and/or directly into a target pocket. Many shots will present themselves with object ball and cue ball in a straight line to a diamond. These are open invitations for you to simply pop the object ball into a pocket with the greatest of ease using mostly a half ball or a quarter ball aim. The majority of your shots should be a matter of center ball, ball, ball and plus ball aims away from center ball. When shooting long table shots from anywhere near end rail to the opposite corner pocket, the key will always be that a HALF-BALL HIT on the object ball will move it to the right or left exactly the distance of TWO diamonds. When shooting short table shots (table width), a HALF-BALL HIT on object ball will move it ONE diamond distance to the opposite direction.

33

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

Line up each cut shot in steps at, and/or away from object ball center (see diagram, page 39) i.e. The shot requires a half ball right plus an additional 1/4th plus a 1/8th aim at object ball. STEP 1- Line up center ball aim. STEP 2- Move aim to half ball right hit. STEP 3- Move aim additional ball width right. STEP 4- Move aim additional 1/8th ball width right. STEP 5- Shoot. When object ball is very close to a rail, whereby its travel distance to target pocket is too space confining to allow object ball to clear rail edge (pocket corner projection) prior to pocket, you must move aim point an extra 1/8 or 1/16th away from center to create necessary angle. The other option on a space limited shot is to maintain half ball aim only but strike cue ball well out side of center to create a spin throw effect on target ball. I am giving little space and time to cue ball replacement, parallel sighting and image pocket sighting, as they have their drawbacks and weaknesses until and unless the player understands the effects of push and throw. Eventually, when mastered, you will prefer the authors Diamond/fraction sighting technique which calls for straight on, center cue ball hits on object ball ninety nine point nine percent of your shots. However, for confidence and exact accuracy on difficult shots, any of these sighting methods can be blended in very smoothly with your diamond/fraction sighting technique. (See summation at end of this section.) Please forgive the author for redundancy on the following diagrams, because I believe constant repetition to be the best way to teach less experienced players to become excellent players.

34

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

You have probably noticed that rather than giving you one aim point move, such as right, 3/8 right, the author uses and recommends individual increments such as plus , plus 1/8 as a sight step procedure. This procedure allows the shooter to align an exact aim point and then to move out from it the required distance. I.e. Concentration on exact half ball aim and then adjust for one quarter more. This method gives shooter a more precise aim point and could be less confusing. However, should you prefer and are comfortable with only one alignment such as right, then by all means, you should do so.

MEMORIZE
Short table shots: Aim 1/8 right of center- object ball moves diamond left Aim right of center - object ball moves diamond left Aim - ball right - object ball moves 1 diamond left Aim + 1/8 right - object ball moves 1 diamonds left Aim + right - object ball moves 2 diamonds left Aim + + 1/8 right - object ball moves 3 diamonds Long table shots: Aim 1/16 right of center - object ball moves diamond Aim 1/8 right - object ball moves diamond left Aim right of center - object ball moves 1 diamond left Aim ball right of center - object ball moves 2 diamonds Aim + 1/8 right - object ball moves 2 diamonds left Aim + right - object ball moves 3 diamonds left Aim + + 1/8 right of center moves object ball 4 diamonds left. THE ABOVE CUE BALL AIM POINTS ON AN OBJECT BALL WILL SOON BECOME AUTOMATIC TO YOU!

35

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

Enlarged object and cue balls, to show;A. Half ball aim right side of object ball. B. Quarter ball right aim at object ball.

36

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

1/ 16

1/8

A. Assuming the above side pocket is the only available pocket due to not shown interfering balls, aim point on object ball is half ball aim right plus one quarter, plus one eighth, plus one sixteenth. Strike cue ball right of center to create spinning throw action. B. Calls for half ball right + + 1/8 Shoot both shots slow with cue ball right spin.

37

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

Half Ball Hits Quarter ball hits Eighth ball hits

HL

HR

1 ball HL=Half Ball Left C =Center Ball Aim HR=Half Ball Right A B C D

2 Ball H+1/4L=Half plus Left QL=Quarter Ball Left QR=Quarter Ball Right H+1/4R=Half plus Right 3 Ball Divided into 1/8 Increments

38

39

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

VISUALIZING BALLS AS SLIDING SQUARE BLOCKS

Imaginary cue Ball block with Imaginary arrow.

Center ball aim.

A. B. C. D. E.

Half ball left aim. Quarter ball left aim. Center ball aim. Quarter ball right aim. Half ball right aim.

40

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTINg

+ 1/8

+ ball right aim.

+ 1/8 ball right aim.

Moving point of aim outside, away from object ball. Half ball plus a quarter ball right aim and Half ball plus one eighth ball right aim,

41

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

4. 3 2 1

Long table shots to end Rail for a bank shot or To corner pocket.

C B A A. right aim to diamond 2 B. right aim to diamond 3 C. plus right aim for three Diamond move to corner pocket

42

AIM POINT V/S CONTACT POINT

OBJECT BALL

B
CUE BALL

ENLARGEMENTS A = Point of aim. B = Contact points.

43

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

A B C D E F G H I

A. Center ball aim. B. Eighth ball right aim. C. Quarter ball right aim. D. Quarter plus one eighth right aim. E. Half ball hit right. F. Half ball plus one eighth right. G. Half ball plus one quarter right. H. Half plus quarter plus eighth. I. Shave aim right. (Approx. One sixteenth of inside of cue ball grazes one sixteenth of outside of object Ball).

44

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

D 0 1 2 3

LONG TABLE 1/ 2BALL HIT

A B

0 C

EXACT HALF BALL HIT MOVES OBJECT BALL TWO DIAMONDS OVER LENGTH OF TABLE.. A GOES FROM 2TO CORNER POCKETC B GOES FROM 3 TO OPPOSITE RAIL 1 NOTE: B WILL TWO RAIL BANK 3 TO 1 AND BACK DOWN TO CORNER POCKET D

45

SIGHTING DIAMOND FRACTION

00

LONG SHOTS TO CORNER POCKET

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

1.0 = RIGHT AIM ON OBJECT BALL 2.0 = RIGHT AIM ON OBJECT BALL 3.0 = PLUS RIGHT AIM ON O.B 4.0 = PLUS PLUS 1/8 RIGHT AIM

46

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

1.5 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.5

Long table Shot

Half ball hit left moves object ball 2 diamonds from 1.5 to 3.5. Plus 1/8th left moves object ball additional diamond. Total aim + 1/8 left.

47

CUE BALL CENTER HIT

Believe it or not, one of the difficult things to do in pool is to make the cue tip strike the cue ball dead center and/or on the vertical center line. Even the top pros admit on occasion that they were off dead center on a shot requiring a center strike, causing their shot to go awry. Two things cause an off center cue tip strike when we want to be at cue ball center. One is of course that we look away from cue ball and at object ball as we shoot, which is what we should do. {The only shots requiring you to look at cue ball and not object ball during the shot stroke will be covered later and is most important).. A 1/16th off center strike on a slow moving cue ball can move it as much as a half inch off course on a distance of only twelve inches. This can throw the object ball one to two inches off its intended line over a half table distance. The second reason for inability to make a center cue ball strike when it is called for is the ingrained habit of constantly trying to apply some sort of unnecessary English. This the bane of many average players. For some strange reason, most players, when he/she watched pool shooting the very first few times were enthralled with the crazy, fascinating movement of cue balls being struck with varying degrees of English. They could not wait to get on a table to experience and create these effects. They have been doing this ever since and seem to enjoy weird cue ball machinations more than wins. Strive for center cue ball strikes in your development toward excellence in pool . Later in the practice drills section, the author has diagramed great practice routines to develop your center hit ability on both cue ball and object ball. Keep in mind that when Willie Mosconi ran a world record 526 balls in straight pool, witnesses say, he used English on less than ten shots. Of course his specialty was proper angle position and the stop shot. So, who are we to try to put English on three out of every four shots?

48

CENTER BALL HIT DRILL

A B C

Place object balls against foot rail at diamonds. Shoot cue ball straight into object ball causing cue ball to rebound off object ball back to head rail for a perfect center to center shot. If cue ball strikes side rail, a good center hit was not made. A = No Good B = Good C = Good

49

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

3 x 5 card for aiming practice

Object ball

+1/4 +1/8

+1/4

CENTER

+ 1/4

+1/4 +1/8

Aiming plus right at object ball.

Cue ball

50

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

3x5card

3x5 card practice drill. Lines on card point to center ball hit, quarter ball right or left aim, half ball hit right or left and half ball plus quarter ball aim right or left.

51

SHOT PREPARATION
3 2 1 0

Long table shots

Half ball aim moves object balls two Diamonds distance A. Left side hit on object ball. B. Right side hit on object ball.

52

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

2 1 0 1 2

All four of these shots are lined up two diamonds from each corner pocket. A half ball hit left will send each object ball to right corner & half right hit sends object balls to left corner pocket.

53

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

0.0

1.0

2.0

3,0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0 A. aim right of center for 1 diamond move B. ball right of center for 2 diamond move (half ball hit right) C. + right for 3 diamond move to corner pocket 0.0.

54

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0

0 = Center ball aim into pocket 0.0 right aim into diamond 1.0. right aim into diamond 2.0 + right aim into diamond 3.0 1/2+1/4+1/8 right aim into pocket 4.0.

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

0.5 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0

D E

B C

Long table shots A. Aim cue ball for 1/8 hit left on object ball B. Aim left of center on object ball. C. Aim left(half ball hit) on object ball. D. Aim plus left on object ball. E. Aim cue ball 1/2+1/4+1/8 left. All above shots to corner pocket 0.0.

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

0 1 2 3

3
C

4
A B

Long table shots

A. Half ball plus left aim moves object ball three diamonds right to corner pocket. B. Half ball left aim moves object ball two diamonds right into pocket. C. left aim moves object ball one diamond right to pocket. D. Half ball right aim for two diamond move

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

1.5 3 2 1 0.0

Long table shot

Cue ball and object ball are lined up one and a half diamonds from corner pocket. left aim on object ball moves it one full diamond right and 1/8 extra left aim moves it a half diamond. i.e. + 1/8 =0.0 corner pocket.

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

3 2 1
0

1 A

3 B

A. Object ball and cue ball in direct line to diamond 1 requiring a half ball aim left on object ball. B. Object ball and cue ball lined up with diamond 1 requiring half ball right aim.

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

A B C

ball aim

1/ 4ball aim

LONG TABLE CUT SHOTS A. Half ball aim left sends object ball two diamonds right to "C". B. Quarter ball left aim sends object ball one diamond right to corner pocket "C".

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

Going for far end corner pockets A. Half ball hit on object balls in this area will move object balls two diamonds left or right. B. Half ball hit left or right side will move object ball one diamond distance in this short table area. C Border between short and long table shots.

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

SHORT TABLE AREA

BALL HIT MOVES OBJECT BALL 1 DIAMOND BALL HIT MOVES OBJECT BALL DIAMOND 1/8 OFF CENTER HIT MOVES OBJECT BALL DIAMOND.

62

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

Half ball hit on object ball moves it distance of one diamond , whether it be a cut shot or frozen rail bank shot within short table area.

63

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

0 1 2 3

SPOT SHOT Form a straight line through the number one diamond, the spotted up object ball, and the cue ball. Simply aim for half ball right hit on spot ball to move it one diamond left into pocket. You have probably heard a hundred ways to line up a spot shot, but the above is the SUREST and ONLY way!

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

8.0

7.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0 C

1.0 0.5

0.0

A. Half ball left aim for one diamond move right, into corner pocket 8.0. B. 1/8 ball aim left for 1/4 diamond move into 4.0 pocket. C. 1/4ball aim right for 1/2diamond move.

65

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

6 7

1. Half ball left aim. (Short table shot) 2. Half ball left aim. (Long table shot) 3. Half ball plus left aim. (Long table Shot).

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

0

1 B 2

4 A 5 C

6 7

SHORT TABLE SHOTS A. Half ball left hit for one diamond move. B. Half ball plus left hit for two diamond C. Half ball plus 1/8 right hit for 1 move.

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

0.0

1.0

SHORT TABLE SHOTS

1.0

2.0

2.0

3.0

3.0

4.0

4.0

1 ball = Half ball plus left aim for two Diamond move to side pocket. 2 ball = Half ball left aim for one diamond Move into side pocket.

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DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

0

SHORT TABLE SIDEPOCKET SHOTS

If cue ball and object ball are in line with; 3 diamond= 1/2 ball left aim at object ball. 2 diamond= 1/2 + 1/4 left aim at object ball. 1 diamond= 1/2+ 1/4 + 1/8 left aim " " 0 diamond= 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 left " "

69

DIAMOND FRACTION SIGHTING

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

A. Half ball right at object ball for one diamond move left into corner pocket. B. Half ball plus one quarter right aim on object ball to move it 2 diamonds left. C. 1/2+1/4+1/8 for 3 diamond left move.

70

HELPFUL HINTS or CUE TIPS

Remember that long or short shots pertain only to distance the object ball must travel to be pocketed. Less than of the table distance or any part of the width area are short shots. Object ball having to travel over table length is played as long shot. When you sight your line directly through the cue ball and object ball to a point on the rail, determine first if it requires a little less or slightly more than a quarter ball hit or a little less than or more than a half ball hit. Tell yourself, Its not quite a half ball hit so Ill line my sight for the half ball aim and then move it a shade (hair, two hairs, tad) to the left. Use what ever words in your vocabulary that, to you, will equal a 1/32, 1/16, 1/8 etc. movement of your aim point. This is a suggestion for those who are not comfortable with numbers or fractions. HOWEVER! On each shot you must know that if it is not a center ball aim, how close is it to a half ball hit on one side or the other? Alignment with a Diamond is the first step. Put chalk on your cue tip after each and every shot

71

SUMMATION
We are now ready to begin the sections that reveal the importance of diamond and rail point knowledge that allows perfection on kick and bank shots. You must bring your knowledge from this section with you as you enter the following section in order to thoroughly learn and play the playing field around you. The field around you being, of course, the rails ( banks, bumpers, cushions), diamonds (real and visualized) and visualized rail points. The sighting, aim techniques taught in this book to shoot an object ball into a specific pocket, will also assist you at shooting cue ball into exact rail aim points for accurate kick shots .The sighting and stroking ability to send balls to these precise points is a necessity that you have, by now, mastered. Stand behind object ball and visualize imaginary cue ball frozen against it on exact line to pocket (ghost ball). Visualize object ball as being less than four inches from center of an IMAGE POCKET that is three inches wide. .Maintain the vision of GHOST CUE BALL contact position as you move behind actual cue ball. Line up DIAMOND/FRACTION sightline through object ball to rail point in order to determine fractional aim at object ball. Assure yourself that this alignment coincides with CUE BALL REPLACEMENT visualization. Fill yourself with cant miss confidence. Exhale and MAKE THE SHOT!

72