Pool practice guide
Nine essays live on this site, written by players who put in the table time. Read end to end, they sketch a complete practice plan. Here is that plan, with each piece credited to the essay it came from.
1. Build one repeatable stroke
Mark Ottoson's instructor graded every stroke in three phases — set, pause, finish — followed by a four-second freeze. Warm up with the phrase "set–pause–finish–freeze" in mind, keep the cue level, and pull the grip hand all the way to the rib cage. For every 5 degrees you jack the cue up, you give away about 10% of your accuracy.
Read the full diary: Pool School.
2. Eliminate, don't accumulate
Deno J. Andrews' advice for a crooked stroke: aim the cue before anything else, let only the triceps (back swing) and biceps (forward swing) work, get the body out of the way, and let gravity keep the cue on line. Test yourself with the up-and-down shot — it doesn't lie.
Read the full essay: Straight Stroking.
3. Make the stop shot your yardstick
Find your natural "stroke speed" first; then learn to strike the object ball during the skid with tip position and speed. Shoot 90% of your shots at stroke speed and you remove one of the three shot variables — angle, speed, spin — before you ever bend over the ball.
Read the full diary: Pool School.
4. Treat position as the short game
Tony Mathews' tournament statistics echoed golf's "golden 9": most misses happen immediately after a position error, and the players at the top of tournaments had the best position skills — not the best break or the best potting. Stay on line with a reasonable angle and the run-out looks easy.
Read the full essay: The Short Game.
5. Listen to your misses
Lou Figueroa treats easy misses as signposts: remember the shot setup, the position you were playing, and where the cue ball ended. Set it up afterwards and practice it. Every fundamental flaw he ever corrected started with an easy miss.
Read the full essay: Easy Misses.
6. Play under pressure on purpose
Pressure breaks down into four fixable parts: unfamiliar situations (fix: repeat them until they're normal), unrealistic expectations (know your true make percentages), changed mechanics under stress (keep your practice rhythm), and negative self-talk (save it for after the match).
Read the full essay: Help with Pressure.
7. Program the mental game
Carlton Redford's routine: twice a day, in the drowsy pre-sleep state, run three fixed affirmations and a five-minute visualization of yourself playing your best. It costs nothing and compounds.
Read the full essay: Programming Your Subconscious.
8. Aim with a system, then let instinct take over
The pros in the aiming roundup mostly agree: start with the ghost ball or the pocket-to-ball line, keep your eyes moving between cue ball and object ball, and look at the object ball last. Then hit hundreds of thousands of balls until the system disappears into feel.
Read the full roundup: Aiming Secrets of the Pros.
9. Remember what every shot told you
Lou's third principle is a memory habit: guess what will happen, observe what actually happened, and file the difference. It is the cheapest coaching you will ever get.
Read the full essay: Pool Secrets.
A 30-minute practice block
Put it together the way these essays suggest:
- 5 min — slow-motion pendulum strokes, body out of the way (Straight Stroking).
- 5 min — stop shots at stroke speed, varying only tip position (Pool School).
- 10 min — the penny drill around the rails, then four-ball same-line lags (Pool School).
- 10 min — position ladders: run racks with ball-in-hand, insisting the cue ball lands in your "golden 9" (The Short Game).
- Homework — log every easy miss and what it whispered to you (Easy Misses).
When you're done with practice, the master billiard list will point you to everything else worth reading.