Previously on the Billiards Direct Blog, we’ve discussed how to throw the ball when the balls were frozen together. Now I’m going to show you how to throw the ball when they’re not frozen. In the video below, you’ll see that there is actually a 1 mm gap between them. This means you need to take a completely different technique.

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When the balls are frozen together all you need to do is aim for the opposite diamond. However, when there’s a gap you run the risk of double-hitting your ball. So, instead of aiming to the opposite diamond, you now want to find the diamond that the balls are aimed at, and move one diamond up on the same side. Again, we want to use left-hand English in this example because we need to throw the ball to the right.

Make sure when you take your shot that you are jacked up at a 45 degree angle. If you shoot it with a level stroke, you’re going to double hit it and fowl the cue ball. Jacking your cue up avoids this issue.

The common phrase “Practice makes perfect” is a bit misleading. It seems to imply that as long as you keep doing something, you’ll eventually become the best at it. This is flat out wrong. If you continually do something wrong, you won’t improve, you’ll just figure out the quickest and most efficient way to do it incorrectly.

To improve in any aspect of life, you must practice using the proper techniques. Learning the right way to do something and then emulating that is the only true way to attain perfection. So, really a better phrase would be “Perfect practice makes perfect“. That is what I hope to impart on you today with my Pool Technique video.

We’re going to learn about how to properly follow the cue ball. Learning this technique will help you to become much more accurate and that will make it easier to sink balls.

The first thing to do is make sure your stick is level. You don’t want to angle your stick too high and transfer your energy into the table. You also don’t want to go over the top of the cue and transfer your energy over the ball. You want to hit the cue straight on, so that you transfer all your energy directly into the cue.The best practice is to create a reliable pre-shot routine and remember to do it each time you line up a shot.

Begin by leveling out your cue as I mentioned before. Then you want to aim just above the cue ball and then bring it down a tip-length. This will ensure that you are going to be hitting the cue ball straight on and it will transfer nearly all of your energy into the ball. It seems like a simple and obvious thing, but I’ve seen professional players who sometimes forget this relatively easy to grasp technique. Learn this technique and make it part of your daily routine and I guarantee your accuracy will begin to improve dramatically.