Today I’m going to show you a quick way to clean your pool cue shaft when you’re out at a pool hall. This technique is very effective at cleaning a dirty pool cue and you’ll probably to get it about 75% as clean as a professional pool cue repair shop will be able to do. Obviously, to get it fully clean, you’ll want to take it into one of those pool cue repair shops because they’ll have the tools to get it 100% clean.

What we need for this is: A paper towel (the natural, brown colored ones work best) and some water. You’ll want to wet the paper towel just a bit. A few capfulls of water is all your need. You don’t want the paper towel to get soaked, just nice and damp. After that, you’ll wrap the paper towel around the cue and you’ll want to move it quickly up and down the shaft to create heat. That heat and friction is what is going to force the dirt to come off. After about 30 seconds of this, you’ll notice that the cue is already quite a bit cleaner. If you continue to do this technique, you’ll start to see the cue become much cleaner.

Imagine you’re at a pool hall and you get a dent in your shaft. You don’t have your local cue repairshop nearby to fix it for you, so what do you do? Well, it’s actually quite an easy fix when you have the right tool. The right tool in this instance is the “Billiards and Darts Direct $2 Dent Buffer.” Yes, that’s right, it’s just an average, everyday beer bottle. That’s all you need and luckily, you should have plenty nearby if you’re at an average pool hall.

If you do this technique properly, you can take the dent out of your cue almost perfectly. Of course, this fix is not quite as good as what an actual cue repair shop will be able to offer, but it’s pretty close!

The science behind this is like this: Glass is extremely hard and the wood is very soft. The dent is like a crater and we’re essentially going to push it back to it’s original form using this beer bottle. Take the cue in one hand and the bottle in the other and begin to rub the bare glass of the beer bottle on your cue right at the spot where it’s dented. Do this for 20 to 30 seconds, until you begin to notice that the dent has vanished. You’ll want to apply a decent amount of pressure (but obviously, not so much pressure that the cue snaps in half).

If you do it right, the cue will look like new and the dent will be history!

I’ve gotten some questions about my store lately. A lot of YouTube users’ neighborhoods seem to be lacking in brick and mortar Billiards and Pool Supply retailers. That’s too bad because there’s really no comparison to getting to actually experience a pool cue by holding it in your hand.

While I may not be able to actually give you all the experience of visiting my store in person, I did make a quick video showing the various pool cues that I sell here at Billiards and Darts Direct in La Mesa, California.

As you can see, we have a lot of pool cues here. In fact, if you laid them end-to-end, we’d have over a half-mile of cues!

We have Eliminator Sneaky Petes, JJ, Rage, GW, Cuestix International, Dufferin Cues, Player’s, Action, Voodoo, Outlaw, NFL Cues (Imperial). BobCues (those neat looking ones), Viking, Pechauer, McDermott, Poison and Predator.

Today we’re going to test a Predator cue; the Predator IKON 1, to be specific. This particular cue is solid maple painted black. Threre are nickel silver rings in it with a leather wrap. The cue features Predator’s Uni-Lock system and uses the Predator 314 shaft. This cue is simple but very attractive.

It’s a fair generalization to state that all Predator cues are well made and this particular one is no exception. You can hear that it has a nice sound when striking the cue ball. When you hit with it, there’s hardly any vibration at all. It’s very solid feeling when you hit with it.

You can see in this video that we’ve set up a ruler at the other end of the table to test deflection. The ruler is marked with 1″ increments up to 3″. You can see when I hit it with softly, the deflection is about 1/2″. Hitting it a little firmer we get a little over 1″. There is very little deflection from this cue. As I said earlier, all Predator cues are fantastic. The IKON 1 is definitely worth the money if you can afford it. They’re very high quality cues and you simply can’t go wrong with a Predator.

This is a video response to YouTube user Alisma12 who sent me the following message:

“I watched your video on selecting the right pool cue, and I wanted to know can you make a short video shooting with a J.Pechauer and explaing some pros and cons like balance, vibration, hit, sound, and feel? I would greatly appreciate it!”

Well, Alisma12, you asked for it, you got it. Today we’re going to test a JP Pechauer cue. This particular cue has ebony and pearl inlays, an irish linen wrap and uses maple wood with a rosewood stain. Pechauer cues have a special joint and this particular cue has a 12.75 shaft diameter.

All Pechauer cues are very nice in general. This particular cue has a nice, soft sound to it. It’s very solid feeling when you hit with it. You can see in this video that we’ve set up a ruler at the other end of the table to test deflection. The ruler is marked with 1″ increments up to 3″.

You can see when I hit it with softly with right English, the deflection is a little over 1″. Hitting it a little firmer we get about 2″. Firmer still and we see that it goes a little over 2″.

The thing about Pechauer cues is that they all play very well. They’re very solid cues and I’d recommend one to literally any player. If your budget allows for it, you can’t go wrong with one.

Just as before when we learned about Bank Shots, everybody is trying to find the half-way distance between the ball and the rail and the pocket. So, here’s a technique for how to figure that out with better accuracy than just eyeballing it.

Please note: There are some techniques that are far easier to understand visually than to read about them. This is one of them. I highly recommend watching the video for this particular example.

To successfully make kick shots, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the diamonds on your table. You’ll need to use the diamonds for all your measuring. It’s important to remember that even though they aren’t labeled, each pocket is a diamond. Remember this!

So, imagine you’ve got your ball stuck right next to the corner pocket. Your cue ball is near the center pocket.We’re going to figure out how to make the cue ball go into that pocket. For now, we’re only going to focus on making our cue ball into the pocket (we’ll adjust for the object ball later).

I don’t want to use the diamonds behind the cue ball, I want to use the ones in front of it. I want to find the closest diamond to the cue ball. Now I’m going to parallel it and split it. It’s useful ,when you’re just starting out with this technique, to bring another cue over to perform the paralleling and splitting. After you’ve split it, you want to come straight out on the rail, so that your point will be accurate.

Now you’ve got your cue stick set up on your point. It’s time to figure out the where I want to make contact on the object ball. Again, we just want to parallel it and split the difference.

If you’d rather not have to keep looking at the rail, just visualize it in your head, pick the point, the center of your cue and figure out what the distance is. In this example, it’s a little over an inch. Now just move the cue over an inch that direction. This is where you’re going to make contact on the object ball. So, you’ve set your halfway point with far greater accuracy than eyeballing it. It’s time to make your shot.

Today we’ll be discussing cue tips and the many various brands available to today’s pool player. Although there are lot of different brands to choose from, we’re focusing on just six of them.

Starting at the lower end of the spectrum we have Elk Master. These are standard leather tips. The Elk Master is blue which is due to the fact that it is embedded with chalk. This is a benefit because you won’t have to chalk it as often as a regular tip.

Triangle. This is a standard piece of leather and performs quite well for general play.

Le Professional (Le Pro’s): This is another standard piece of leather that has been shaped and pressed into cue tip form. They’re dubbed “The French Style Cue Tip”, so can feel extra fancy using them.

All the aforementioned cues are very similar albeit with different textures. The Elk Master is the softest, with the Le Pro being of average softness and Triangle being the least soft.

Next we have the laminated tips, like Everest. When looking at this tip, you can clearly see the lamination and that it is composed of many different layers. There’s also a red line toward the bottom to let you know when it’s time to change your tip out.

Next up are Moori tips, which are a very high quality tip. These are laminated as well. The whole point of laminated tips are to prevent mushrooming over extended play. The uniform stays much better and, in the case of the Moori tips, their patented glue stays much better as well.

Finally, we have what I believe are the best tips of the group, which are Kamui Black tips. They come in a variety of hardness, this one in particular is a Soft. The Kamui tips are also coated in a special chemical to maintain their integrity, which makes them last longer and need less frequent changing. They also give more with your left and right english which gives you less deflection on your shots.

Today we’re highlighting a product that can benefit many players who are just starting out: The 3rd Eye Stroke Trainer by Joe Tucker. Essentially, the product is a small plastic device that slides over the end of your cue stick and helps you to straighten out your stroke. Don’t be deceived by it’s simplicity, the 3rd Eye Stroke Trainer really does what it promises.

It does this by virtue of two small prongs that jut out on either side. The spacing between the two prongs is slightly larger than the cue ball. This means that unless you hit the ball perfectly straight on, the 3rd Eye Trainer will come into contact with the cue ball, alerting you that you’re not shooting straight.

After just a few minutes with the device, you’ll likely notice your strokes becoming straighter. After a few weeks with this device, you’ll probably even start to see an improvement on your stroke in regular play (without the device on your cue, of course). There aren’t many devices out there that can generate results so quickly, and it’s even easier to use now because they all come with an instructional DVD.

For such a simple and inexpensive device, this thing always delivers quality results. If you have a friend who’s just getting into pool and they need some help with their stroke (sighting errors, alignment issues, etc), this little baby is a great gift idea for them. If you’re thinking about getting one for yourself, come on down to Billiards and Darts Direct and I’ll be happy to set it up for you to try before you buy.

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.

When you’re looking to buy a new pool cue, there are many things you might be considering: the weight, the wrap, the kind of tip. Of course, all these considerations are important but there is one crucial factor that is often overlooked by pool cue buyers. That one overlooked factor is, “how does it sound” ?

More than anything, you can tell if you’re using a quality pool cue by the sound it makes when coming into contact with a ball. Cheaper cues will make a loud click when hitting balls and that’s vibration. You don’t want to feel vibration because that will interfere with your ability to gauge how much pressure you are exerting. Cues like this are generally found in the $50 to $100 range, although some manufacturers are closing the gap and starting to make very high quality cues for just about $100.

When you upgrade to a nicer cue, you will notice a distinct difference in it’s sound. They will have a quieter, softer sound when striking balls. That is a sign that it has less vibration and that is what we are ultimately looking for, the least amount of vibration. Some higher quality brands are McDermott, Viking and Pechauer. These are all exceptionally well made and they will give you the feedback that you need to improve your shots. Finally, at the upper end of the spectrum are your cues like Predator. Predator cues are world-renowned for the their low vibration and overall quality.

If you are serious about taking your game to the next level, you should definitely consider upgrading your cue. It’s one of the few upgrades you can make that will start improving your game the first time you start using it. Of course, if you have questions, you are welcome to ask me using the comment box. If you’re in the San Diego Area, you can also come on down to Billiards and Darts Direct and I can show you around and we can find the cue that works best for you personally.