Three-cushion Carom Billiards From the book “ Carom Billiards: Around the World Patterns Patterns ” Group A: Short Leg into Long Rail, Group 1, Shot A1b Starting layout For this shot, this is how the balls are laid out on the table. With the cue ball at the lower left corner of the table, the other balls are up-table, near opposite side rails. The layout below shows how the shot was played. The Shot To make this shot work, the cue ball kisses off the red ball at a very thin

The Kamui brand has always stood for excellence in quality and craftsmanship. The new Kamui Roku is a new line of chalk on the market that is turning heads with looks of interest and skepticism. The chalk it self has a new look and feel to it. The new Hexagon shape that Kamui has chosen just feels right in your hands. The chalk feels a lot stiffer and harder to apply; it takes many swipes or brushings to apply it correctly. Once applied the chalk sticks to the tip with a diff

Bill Smith “Mr3Cushion” has been one of the top players in the country for all of his 40 year career as a professional 3 Cushion player. He can teach as well as he played and brings us a great opportunity to this great game. The SECRET of the Half-Ball The Half-Ball Aiming System THE KEY FACTOR in my game’s acceleration over the years is what I’ve learned regarding the achievement of maximum effect and speed with the help of my late mentor and best friend Ernie Presto. Peo

Allowing headphones during league or tournaments has become a bigger conversation among tournament directors and pool players. It wasn’t that long ago a few players were using headphones during practice, and even fewer were using them while playing league or during a local tournament. However, in recent months there has been a striking upswing in use. It appears that more players are seeing a benefit to their game by blocking out peripheral noise and getting into the “zone.”

The Purse Snatcher is a classic set up shot that can get infuriating when you try it on an unfamiliar table. It was once in the Artistic Pool shot program but has been removed for so long that some of the younger, aspiring trick shot artists wouldn’t even know where to begin. The objective is to bank the F1 ball in (the snatcher) before the F2 ball (the purse owner) and have the cue ball travel three cushions for the D ball. I start with the F1 ball placing it a ball width

It’s hard to come up with something new in this industry much less recreate something and make it better. What the crew at the Billiard Engineers did was take the micro sandpaper film, they created a malleable silicone handle to give you a better grip to hang onto. It comes with three different grittiness’. This microfilm can be washed and rinsed to be used many times over. Sometimes your hands just get a little too sweaty and your shaft picks up grit and grime chalk from t

www.theroadplayer12.com As you know, I am always willing to help my fellow pool players. I have been doing that for thirty-five years. Instead of an article this time, I am going to make you work on your skill development. I have a great exercise for you. Shoot the nine ball and stop right there. It would be a mistake to think this is an automatic shot. There is something about this stop shot that gives players fits from time to time. Build good alignment skills with this sho

The iCue cue ball. This thing is so simple that it should have been invented a long time ago. Three quadrants that make it easy to see where you hit and how that stroke affects the cue ball. I keep one of these in my pool case and love having it on hand to teach others about English and how, what they apply affects the outcome of their stroke. The three different quadrants allow you to see simple apply and get results. The ball itself is an Aramith cue ball that has been las

The DigiCue is well worth the money and as a great price point of around $79.99. Considering the thousands of dollars that we as pool players spend on cues and cases this is a small chip in the bucket and really helps change your game once you understand what it is capable of. Your cue is your weapon of choice when you challenge the table. It’s extremely important that you know how to properly use it. There are a lot of training devices out there and many are gimmicks. Howev

Knowing the 4 main variables that affect bank shots such as contact point, force, English, & collision induced throw are one thing, but training your muscle memory is another. This drill provides my excellent practice routine covering virtually every type of common bank shot on the table. There are 135 total reference shots here. Not only do you train your muscle memory for pocketing different bank shots, but you also must get shape on the next ball. Diagram 1 shows each pos

Pool Tables is a newer site, and this is my review of them. This is an interesting site that I stumbled across that gives reviews on cues for all over the place. They are primarily an Amazon store but the reviews that they put out are what impressed me. I would like them to do more reviews on companies like Joss, Jacoby, Mezz, Predator, Southwest, and Balabushka. I think they have a good thing going and always can use the help to get their name out there. http://pooltablesfor

Years ago you kicked, banked or found your way around problem balls on the table. In today’s pool playing society, there are so many options and everyone has their own spin on things. I recently had the wonderful opportunity to test the Dr. Popper Jump Cue. I have tested many cues and jump cues alike. I have honestly found there to be a few different categories; some cue’s crossover and some don’t. With that being said, there are what I would call specialty jump cues like thi

I am truly impressed and amazed by this 12-year old’s list of accomplishments that it gives me hope that the sport is alive and well. Coached and motivated by his father, takes lessons from a billiard author and instructor and is sponsored by one of the biggest names in the industry, this young man is destined to be on a short list of the nation’s top players. Charlie Marshall Jr.’s accomplishments: First and currently the only junior player sponsored by Predator® Products, W

I first met Rich Kranicki a little over 5 years ago when my business partner, Al Tonelli, introduced me to him in our new pool room. “He’s a person of great interest with great ideas; gives lessons to a few guys too,” he said. Over the years, I discovered that Al was right – Rich did have ideas brewing with a couple coming to fruition. As a student of the game myself, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of discussing, dissecting and learning about the mechanics and physics of pool

The Stroke After we have discussed three out of four basic fundamentals, we come to the most important thing of all, The Stroke! If you have a good stance and know many bridges, that will never overcome your bad grip that leads to a poor stroke. But when you see and hear a sound of a good stroke, you “forgive” many flaws, and you know that you have a good player in front of you. What distinguishes players is the stroke! In order to understand the importance and real place of

Open Rail Bridge When you are in a situation where the cue ball is too close to the rail or on the rail, it is very hard to use a closed rail bridge, so we have to use an open rail bridge. Please notice that the word “rail” is part of the name of this type of bridge. So whenever you can, try to keep your shaft in contact with a rail while also in contact with the cue ball, and keep it in contact with the cue ball after contact in your follow-through. If you do this, you will

Closed rail bridge Very often, the cue ball comes close to the rail, so we can not make any bridge from the playing surface; we have to make rail bridges. Rail bridges can be divided into open and closed, but all of them use the term "rail" in their name and in their structure. In this article, we shall explain the closed rail bridge. It is the best rail bridge and one of the most powerful bridges in pool. 1st step: Put your palm on the rail and spread your fingers with yo

In November of 2007, the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Louisville, Kentucky, played host to the $20,000 added CSI Qlympics. A star studded field gathered to compete in the BCA, U.S. Open Bank Pool Championship, U.S. Open One-Pocket Championship, U.S. Open 14.1 Championship, and the ever prestigious U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship. Early on Saturday morning I decided to drive north to Louisville and watch some of the world’s greatest players. My intention was to watch