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Interview with Dr Dave G Alciatore (2004) - Author of Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards

Can you tell me a little about your background and what interests you in pool?
I grew up playing pool (misspent youth) and played a lot in college (stress relief and fun).  I got more serious about pool about 10 years ago when I starting reading every book I could find on the subject.  Being in a pool league in the Washington D.C. area also peaked my interest. There were many great players (and serious gamblers) in that league, and I learned many things from them. One thing I learned is that many players (even good ones) often don’t truly understand how to plan and execute shots.  Also, books and people willing to give advice often do poor jobs at trying to teach and help others apply the important basic principles of pool.  That’s when I starting thinking about writing a book that would cover all of the important principles, be very well illustrated and easy to read, and be supported by lots of great web resources (mostly video demonstrations). Being a mechanical engineering professor (specializing in robotics and motion analysis methods), a dedicated and enthusiastic teacher, and an avid pool player, I thought I could do a good job with such a book.

What does your tipical day as Mechanical Engineering professor consist of?
prepare for classes. give lectures, help and mentor students that visit my office, drop in on Lab courses to make sure things are running smoothly and to answer student questions, write technical papers (for journals and conferences) and pool articles (for Billiards Digest), read articles and books supporting my research and pool interests, respond to e-mail from students and pool enthusiasts, respond to messages posted on the Billiards Digest online Discussion Forum, maintain and expand all of my websites (pool and engineering related), serve on university committees (e.g., to make changes in curriculum and hire new people), do volunteer work for the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME), plan trips (e.g., for the “Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards” talk that I give around the country), and plan, think about, and do work on my textbook (dealing with electronics for mechanical engineers) and future pool book projects.

How did you start with the idea of writing your books?
For any book project, I read lots of other related books, keep a folder of ideas and notes over a long period of time, think about the project daily and mull it over in my mind, and talk to people about my ideas to get input and recommendations. Before I started writing “The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards,” I had a folder about 1 inch thick with scraps of paper and bar napkins with all sorts of ideas and example shots. I started with a rough outline of the book and added all of the folder ideas to appropriate places in the outline. Then I drew all of the illustrations for the book.  Then the book almost wrote itself.

It takes a lot of dedication to write a book, did it take you a while to >complete? and what was involved?
I thought about the book, kept the folder of ideas, and did research over about 4 years (but not full time). The actual writing took about 5 months over 2 summers.  The website work supporting the book took about 1 solid month of work.  The most time-consuming part of writing the book was developing, drawing, and verifying all of the illustrations.  This can sometimes be tedious and it required me to develop proficiency with a computer drawing program (I used CorelDraw).

Do you practice a lot, what do you do for practice?
I don’t practice near as much as I would like. I usually only find time to play a couple of times a week for 1-3 hours each time.  I usually just play 8-ball or 9-ball with friends.  When I practice alone, I run racks of 9-ball, starting with ball in hand after the break. Any time I miss a shot or play poor position, I try the shot over and over again until I am happy with the results and confident I can do better the next time I face such a shot.  Sometimes I just practice safeties and follow-on reply shots, because these are critically important component of intelligent pool.  If I feel I am not doing very well during practice or after playing with friends, I always go back to checking my fundamentals:  making sure my stance and stroke are comfortable and consistent, and making sure no bad habits have popped up in my game (e.g., dropping the elbow, not pausing before the final stroke, moving my head or body during a shot, steering the follow-through, etc.). Then I practice in front of a mirror, with a video camera, or with a friend watching to eliminate any identified problems.

What are the top three skills that a person must learn to win games?
1.) aiming and visualization skills (this is part natural talent and part practice)
2.) consistent stoke (be able to hit the cue ball at the desired contact point and in the desired direction)
3.) speed control and solid strategy and decision making.

What do you think about the mental skills a player must have?
confidence and positive thoughts, realistic appraisal and understanding of one’s ability, concentration and focus, dedication and desire to practice and get better, ability to not be influenced or emotionally affected by factors out of your control (e.g., a lucky or distracting opponent), motivation for and love of the game.

Is 8ball your favorite billiard sport?
Yes. I also like 9-ball.  I like the sometimes chess-like strategy involved with 8-ball and the shot-making and position play challenges of 9-ball.

What is your favorite pool film?
The Color of Money.  The movie was very well done with good acting, cinematography, plot, and music, and it also helped glamorize our sport and dramatically increases its popularity.

Do you play any other sports?
bowling (I recently bowled a perfect game [300] and average about 210), table tennis (I play a couple of times a month with fairly serious players), running (I ran track and cross country in college [The University of New Orleans] and still run to keep in shape and mentally sane), hiking, biking, and skiing (Colorado is great for these things).

find out more at http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/pool/

As I also play the game of golf I have transferred some of the ideas from the driving shot to the Break shot in pool, which I feel is very much like a good golf swing on the driving range.  The movement of shoulders and hips make the biggest success by shifting body weight.  This is what you should master to have an explosive break.  Like so many of the different aspects in pool, a good break can mean the difference between winning and losing a game.  The aspect of control however is more important than power, as if the cueball finishes in a tough spot this may ruin your chances at that inning, or worse the game.  Try to leave the cueball somewhere near the center of the table when it finishes.

If you hit the cue ball just like you would on a break shot but without any of the object balls you will see that the cue ball will travel a great distance.  The energy that the cue ball uses to travel that distance is the energy that normally is received by the pack.  You must learn to increase and channel this energy to maximize energy transference to gain maximum spread.

Aiming
You must aim for a full ball contact into the pack in order to maximize energy transference otherwise the cue ball will still hold some of the energy after impact.

Achieving compression of power in the Break shot
Try to think of the break shot as if you were compressing a lot of power into it as you go through the downswing, with your hips and shoulder in the action.

Setting up the balls

DON’T POLISH THE BALLS
I cannot over emphasize this enough.  Whatever you do don’t polish the balls too much as a little dirt actually helps each contact.  I’ve played in some bars where they polish the balls every day, try getting a decent break on a table like that, the balls just can’t spread properly because of bad contact between them.

Some points to consider whilst setting up the balls:

* New balls will break better than old ones

* All balls must be touching to maximize energy transference

* Different types of cloth will effect the movement of the balls after the break

An old trick to pot a ball used to be to move the triangle forward an inch when setting up in order to have a greater chance to pot a ball.  This can work on some tables but I always win by skill and never cheat.

Placement
The placement of the cue ball and your bridge is vitally important in order to gain more energy into the break.  The nearer the pack the more energy can be transferred.

Weight Of The Cue

There is a physics equation for kinetic energy, which explains that a heavier cue does not make the break better.

In the equations most basic form, if you:

* Double the mass you double the energy

* Double the velocity you quadruple the energy

Timing
The cue ball must be hit at the moment that the cue is traveling fastest (at the bottom of the pendulum swing.  Think about that Golf swing again)

Body movement
You may have seen the nine ball players throwing themselves at the cue ball whilst breaking.  Although this movement creates more power in the break it will also increase inaccuracy.

Placement for striking hand
Try to hold the cue a little nearer the butt to maximize energy.

Can the break be too good?
Sometime we can spread the balls too well, but not potting anything, so leaving the opponent to clear up.  Its something to keep in mind.

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