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The most important thing if you want to become an ace in billiards is the accuracy. As there is really a very small margin of error while playing with a formidable opponent, you need to think before any shot you take.

The billiard drills can teach you how to get into the mind of your opponent. The constant practice will hone up your skills as an accurate billiard player. These billiard drills are actually a plan about playing a series of successful shots in order to have the larger share of the score. The plan is to hit the balls in such as way that the cue ball is well placed for your next shot. In professional billiards this is regarded as the single most element of success. Being a beginner you can learn to play billiards like a professional, if you can spend sometime everyday on the practicing the billiards drills.

The billiard drills can provide with the special tips, help you to be patient and relax while you are in a shot. But the last word is always the practice. The more you practice, more you improvise on your skill. Once you are sure about your techniques, practice them and you can see yourself succeeding in this skill.

Photo © Dmitry Kudryavtsev - Fotolia.com

Do you wish to become a professional billiards player and join the ranks of all time greats or at least be in the same league as champions.  There are many who have made it to the top by virtue of their talent and sheer hard work.

Apart from playing the game earnestly, you also need to take care of certain finer points. For example, joining a club of professional billiards players or interacting with state level players would give you an insight on how the game is played on professional level. Participating in tournaments that attract maximum viewer attention and are extensively covered by international channels like World 8-Ball Championship, 9-Ball Challenge and U.S Open One Pocket Championship and is the perfect way to enter the realm of professional billiards.

Professional billiards players look up to a win in any of these tournaments. You also tend to earn respect amongst the followers of the game. Following the career of these players would give you an idea about how to chalk out your career plan and go about it. Finally but most importantly there is no other alternative to continuous practice and it is the key to becoming a professional billiards player.

Photo © Ljupco Smokovski - Fotolia.com

Checking the difficult balls first

What are your difficult balls, where are they at and what will it take to sort these situations out.

On your opening shot after the break take a good look arond the table.  Are there any balls stuck to a rail,
blocked by other balls or locked in a cluster.  How can you make these situations good. Can you cannon these balls
after a pot.  Will they free up with a small nudge or will it take a larger impact to make the shot.
Will the opponent do this for you.  If they need to free their own balls from your then why not let them do it.  Makes sense.

On the practice table try pocketing one ball and making an impact with another.  It takes practice at first but then you start
to get a feel for the shot.

Remove the difficult balls then you have a real chance at the run out.  Balance the game, don’t let the opponent take the initiative.

Make them play the game your way

Photo © Jeff Wilson - Fotolia.com

Billiard drills will help you practice your billiard moves and hone your billiard skills. Hence, if you want to become a perfect billiard player then you have to practice drills to be able to improve your shots and the techniques of playing the game.

For practice drills you can improve certain shots namely cue ball concentration, cross table speed, short area draw, short position draw, long and straight, aiming, follow shots, squirt and masse shot.   Most skill shots require a lot of practice.

In practice drill sessions you will get a fair opportunity to practice the shots and understand the technicalities involved in the game. For instance if you wish to perfect your skill then you can aim for killing the perfect cue ball. You can aim the first ball in the string and hit the cue ball through a straight shot.

All the above mentioned shots have their special and particular techniques which you have to master before you can become a great billiard player. The short position draw is another shot in which you need to hit the shorter ball in the string. Once you become an expert then you will be able to execute the drill without hitting the cue ball on the bottom cushion.

Photo © Ljupco Smokovski - Fotolia.com

Becoming a professional billiard player is not only a matter of talent, practice and expertise. This requires promoting a talent. If you want to promote yourself, if you want to be professional, you need to know few strategies of the game beforehand.

Following are the essential tips for becoming a professional billiards player –

Tip # 1 Practice. The first tip definitely is your dedication, sincerity and hard work. World champions like Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes are known to practice for long hours, sometimes stretching even 10 to 12 hours.

Tip # 2 Not only practicing, you need to study the other professionals as well. Make yourself acquainted with the world champions, with their playing style, their special talent, their game plan, their career plan and their lifestyle. Make yourself one such a holistic plan.

Tip # 3 Now you are enough prepared to make your appearance. Join pool league. Develop a network. Test yourself at regional and local levels.

Tip # 4 At the next level, take part in high profile matches. Contests like World 8 Ball Championship or ESPN’s Ultimate 9 Ball Challenge will definitely build your image as a professional. If you win, then you definitely are.

Tip # 5 Last but not the least, be an opinion leader. Master your game and reflect your wisdom in your lifestyle and living.

Using the correct speed

How hard do you hit the object balls into the pockets?

Sure, it looks good to hammer them home into the pocket but what if you miss?
the balls have the tendency to go everywhere, making it a real possibility for the opponent to take control.

There are 3 main reason to use just the right amount of speed on a cueball:

1) To stay in control of the game.  Scattering every ball just aint being in control
2) Should you miss, you park the balls over a pocket and then you will also block that pocket for your opponent
3) These ‘locked pocket’ balls offer a ‘get out of jail’ shot should you run out of position.

Make them play the game your way

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Everyone would love to run an 8ball rack every game.  Although its unlikely to happen every single game we can at least increase our chances, increasing our winning margin in the process.

Strategy no.1 - Not leaving an open shot for your opponent

Every shot you play in a game has two purposes.  The first purpose being pot a ball and the second to make sure that you have not left an opportunity for the opponent should you miss.  Its a sort of yin/wang of the pool world.

When you fully commit to a shot without at least an idea of safety then you are leaving the gate open for your opponent to win.  I’m not saying that we can manage to play every shot with safety but the greater the amount of shots played that way then the greater our chances of winning.  You’ll see the safety shot a lot more toward end-game when players are trying to give it their all not to lose, but why not play these shots from the start.  It will always force the opponent to think, taking them out of their confident zone.

Make them play the game your way.

Photo © Erick Nguyen - Fotolia.com

Welcome to the billiards world of the unseen.
This is part 1 of our new microscopic billiards series.

Cue Tips
When you’re busy playing a game there’s no more that a little thought that goes towards the humble pool cue tip.  The poor tip is relegated to the back of your mind as you waltz around the table, yet remain so reliant on its performance.

Take a look at the image.  This is an image looking down onto a tip from above, scanned at x32 on an electron microscope.  Its amazing to see such detail.  Notice all the tiny cracks on the fibrous surface.  This is the bare surface of which the chalk will adhere to.  The chalk acts to keep these fibers from being impacted, thus keeping friction between cuetip and ball.  If you’re a greatly visual person like me then this post will help you to think why chalking needs to take place.  Next time spare a thought for the humble tip.

Image courtesy of www.8ballsecrets.com

Practice Games
Ask around and see where more serious players go to play pool.  You will probably find that these are places with the best tables.  To begin with it may be an idea to go at a time that is quiet so you can get plenty of practice in.  Take a friend with you and build up your confidence to play others.  When you feel ready try to visit at a busier time.  Try to play others,  watch and learn from how they play.

Joining a Pool Team
A brilliant way of improving your skills is to join a team.  When doing this consider what stage you are at and what you wish to gain.  In the beginning it may be an idea to find a team that likes to win but does not take it too seriously.  You can have a lot of fun while improving your game.  If you want something more competitive in the future you can alway look around for another team to join and with your new skills they will all be queing up to take you on!

Have fun!

photo © Vitaly Maksimchuk - Fotolia.com