God my brain is turning to mush.

This is a very hard thing to get good at regardless of what you do. Anytime the cue ball is close to the cushion your life is much, much harder than it otherwise would be, and being forced to strike only a small part of the top of the cue ball both hugely limits your shot selection as well as making it very hard to be accurate (as you end up putting unintentional side/English on the cue ball which throws it off its natural path, as well as being much more likely to not hit the centre line of the cue ball).

The best advice I can give is to try and cue up as normally as possible for the shot, really focus on hitting the ball straight and directly in line with the middle of the cue ball, and try and get your bridging hand as stable as possible on the rail. Also make sure you have chalked your cue well - any slippage from the tip is much more pronounced when having to hit the edge of the cue ball.

As I said, this is something even very good players struggle with, and is nearly impossible to master - your job is generally damage limitation more than anything else.

its nice when youre playing on a table with some inlaid grooves on the very edge of the rail. allows you to bridge your hand so only the very tips of your fingers are on the rail, and you can get a sturdy grip. my old table was like this, and i got pretty used to it. and now i greatly dislike smooth railed tables.

thanks for the tips. this is what i was referring to. glad to hear that this shot is really hard, because i'm so awful at it i figured i must be doing something very wrong. i guess i just need more work.

also, sorry to derail the stories. MORE STORIES PLEASE

i wrote a long post but i was just kinda repeating what wamy said. one thing he didn't seem to linger on was the actual bridge hand. a lot of people seem to do the closed bridge from the cushion and it seems to work great. it feels so unnatural to me and i am terrible at it, but it could be worth looking at. i'd just watch some matches on youtube and take note of how people cue when tight on the rail.

Gonna start doing some random photos from on my travels to brighten up the thread and because I'm very busy and can't write as much for a little while.



A very tight pocketed 6ft by 3ft UK 8 ball bar table in East London. Games of winner stays on 8 ball and killer seem to run on this non stop most nights amongst a fairly highly skilled group of regulars, and although there is not much money action above a few quid or some drinks, it provides a great practice spot due to the harshness of the table, cheapness if you can stay on (as the challenger has to pay for the next game), and generally high standard of play that forces you to keep your game sharp (and the very good beer they serve of course).

You mention the importance of being able to handle pressure. Is there any method you used to simulate pressure, back before you had the bankroll to play for high stakes? I realize that there is no true substitute, but most of us can't afford to play for the kind of stakes that make your knees shake.

Teamplay works pretty well for most people - having people depend on you adds a lot more pressure to a game.

I would never advise anyone to play super high straight out. Much like poker you are better off trying to grind a roll out of small games and go from there. The games I have felt the most pressure in were not to do with the actual amount of money on the table, but the percentage of my bankroll it represented.

A small hall the league I play in stops off in. Fast and open UK 8 ball tables, lots of seasoned players from the county/league circuit, not much money floating around, and generally a very hard place to hustle, but a good place to keep your game sharp.

Got a decent sized game away from London over the weekend so will try and get some flicks and a trip report of how it goes.

Maybe try limiting power on cushion shots, be less ambitious even if it might leave a tougher next shot. If you can roll it in steady, do it. Also, it seems to be instinctive for many players to jack the butt of the cue up in the air in an attempt to get to the centre of the cue ball. Obviously there are times when it's neccessary (though see my other comment about lowering positional ambitions) but some do it habitually, when it isn't helpful.

1. Do you own a pool table?

2. If you were interested in buying those regular "good" tables that you get in pubs where would you go?

3. Have you ever thought about private coaching but specifically technical play and not the hustle that surrounds it? (how much would you charge hypothetically )

4. What's the worst thing you've seen involving pool (you mentioned beatings?)

5. I'm starting a pool league next week and have my first proper match in two weeks. Any advice? (Specifically tactical please)

6. What's the best shot you've ever made?

7. What's the biggest plant you've ever made? (i call a plant what you might call a set or cannon)

8. How many times you reckon you've 7balled someone?

9. Do they actually play 9ball in London?

10. Do you believe in ghosts/aliens/god?

great stories and pics wamy.

Have owned a variety of tables over my life, ranging from a tiny table for toddlers, all the way up to a slate bedded UK table. Currently do not have one due to lack of space and trying to keep pool separate from my home life.

I would buy a second hand pub table from either ebay or one of the auctions that follow the major UK events. I'll have a dig around the key dates and pm you.

There are probably better players at playing/coaching than me. If you are based in London or are in London for any period I'll happily play a few games with you and give you some general advice free of charge.

Want to do a bigger post about this stuff so will keep you posted.

Try and evaluate your opponent as quickly as possible and adjust your game. Against very aggressive and skilled players you are a huge dog and will probably have to take many more risks than you normally would if you want any chance of winning (basically you will have to start being able to clear up or set very good snookers to have any chance vs good league players).

Against weaker players try and increase your overall game EV by stealing pockets and snookering them if you can't clear up that visit – bad players struggle to deal with the tactics and execution of both of these concepts generally which can usually make your life easier.

I'm actually a pretty bad league pool player in this sense – I'm overly aggressive and probably lose a few more games than I should when I over extend myself and go for very hard clearances instead of playing simply and in the most effective manner to beat amateur players. Kind of like how in poker you are better off grinding fish down with lots of small pots than taking marginal big pots.

League pool just does not motivate me like cash play does (although it still adds some pressure), and as a result I basically use league pool as a place to practice clearance pool (which is basically how you have to play vs pros) with some added pressure than just messing about.

This is an impossible question to answer. Hardest in terms of pressure I ever did was a double/bank on the final black to ship the BUSA UK team championship but was not very spectacular (this is one of the few games where team play really got to me – every guy on our team was a good friend and everyone of them wanted to win a huge amount which really motivated me). Most spectacular is maybe some kind of insane three cushion masse shot or the such like but I've done many great shots in hard spots so very hard to say.

Again an impossible question. Pretty sure I could plant a spotted blue on a snooker table with the red near the baulk end with enough tries, but not really a shot you would ever consider in a match.

On a well cut and maintained regulation UK ball table I usually win in one visit from the break (either my own or an opponent's dry one) between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6 times. On a US table it is probably a slightly better percentage - maybe 1 in 3 or - due to 8 ball being a slightly easier game on those tables (although 9 ball on a US table is a much harder game than UK 8 ball).

On a highly conservative estimate of ten hours of 8 ball a week for the last ten years (and this is very conservative estimate), and with a rate of around 4 clearances an hour, that's at least 20,000 times I have probably seven balled someone - although I think probably many more times in reality.

One of the last World 9 Ball Champions was British (the excellent Daryl Peach), and it is extremely popular here both in London and all over the country.

I believe we do not possess imagination enough to sense what we are missing.

What do you think of these "World Rules" for pool introduced in the UK 2 or 3 years ago?

The addition of deilberate fouling being legal (it used to end the game if you did it) and having to hit a cushion after contact are both very good. I'm all in favour of any rules which increase action in games and make the game better to play/watch/harder to cheat.

The main downside with World Rules is not the rules itself but the context with which they have been changed. We have now had about 5 rule changes in the UK in my lifetime alone. There seem to be 4 vaguely serious different sets of governing bodies all playing different 8 ball rules, and half of the problem with it as a tv game is many members of the public have no clue what the rules even are on a given tournament.

The basic problem with UK 8 ball has always been the ability to roll up snooker - something which obviously came from wanting the game to resemble snooker, but missing the key point that you have to earn it in snooker through potting at least one ball before it can be of any tactical use, which is not the case in 8 ball - so all rules should at least carry mandatory cushion contacts imo. No one wants to watch old men nudging balls into pathetically easy snookers every shot - and I basically never play 8 ball seriously without that rule in place.

They need to unify the game and agree one set of rules though if they want any chance of it being taken seriously though - I don't really care as I make my money from cash pool and can/will play any rules, but feel for the guys trying to make a worthwhile pro tour for UK 8 ball.

heh. i just tried looking at the website for that, don't think you'd have played anyone that i know from when that was just by looking at it. that said, their site is a pile of crap as it has absolutely no record of me playing whatsoever