2009 April | Billiard Coach - Mike Fieldhammer

Archive for April, 2009

Three Strikes to Avoid For Better Billiards

Posted on 26. Apr, 2009 by Fieldhammer.

This month I have three simple reminders to help you look and play better at the table:

1. Be sure your grip hand is not too far back.

2. Do not elevate your cue unless you mean to.

3. Always place the chalk “blue side up.”

Pool players shorter than 5’10” are far more likely to grip the cue stick too far back. I guess they’ve seen some lanky, run-out player gripping near the bottom of the wrap or several inches up from the rubber bumper. This might be exactly correct for a person who is 6’2”. . However, your wingspan as a 5’5” pool player is not built to hold it in the same spot. Gripping the cue too far back severely limits your backswing. This robs you of smooth acceleration and power. It also hampers your ability to see the cue moving (hopefully) in a straight line. Furthermore, your back hand can be descending whilst striking the cue ball which increases the possibility of an errant strike.

Cradle the cue in the correct position based on your height and length of the cue stick. Your hand should be hanging straight down from your elbow at the moment the cue tip contacts the cue ball. [See Diagram A] The grip hand should swing smoothly like the pendulum on a grandfather clock. If your hand is positioned properly and your cue stick is level, the game will get much easier to master.

cue action

This brings us right to reminder number two. Keep your cue as level to the table surface as possible on every shot. Jump shots and Masse’ shots are obvious exceptions to this rule of thumb. You must realize that on most shots there is still a small degree of elevation. In other words, the cue slopes downward from the back of the cue to the cue tip. The execution of an elevated stroke can cause unwanted curve of the cue ball on its way to the target. [See Diagram B] Aiming is tricky enough without trying to gauge the amount of curve or swerve. Billiard Physicists like Jewett, Shepard, and Alciatore have dissected these effects in the laboratory, but the bottom line is minimize/avoid elevation for a more consistent pool stroke.

level cue

Third, my personal crusade for 2009: Please place the cube of chalk on the rail with the blue side up. [See Image C] This game involves a lot of sublime actions/reactions that are affected by friction. Scads of chalk, dirt, and other impurities all change the behavior of the colliding spheres. To play the game well, a player must understand and learn to control cut angle, cue ball deflection, speed, squirt, swerve, throw, skid, and countless varieties of spin. Dirty cloth and balls make these complicated variables even more unpredictable. Preventing the equipment from becoming filthy is something we can all do to help.

Blue side up please.

In these tough economic times, pool rooms, bars, amusement vendors, and tournament promoters are tempted to cut back on table maintenance and expenses. During the boom times it wasn’t such a big deal to replace worn cloth or throw out a trashed cue ball. Now, it seems tables are going many months longer between getting recovered. Ball cleaners are getting old, not repaired, or used with improper cleaning solutions. Staffing cutbacks prevent suitable cleaning of said equipment.

Players are routinely seeing $1.50 per game or ever increasing table time fees at leagues and tournaments. We have the right to request good equipment and a proper playing environment. We are the customers and those in control of the equipment should listen. We should also be compelled to take care of their equipment.

Exhibit care to make it last and to show the owner’s investment in the expensive equipment is respected and appreciated. This will give you more credibility when you ask for cleaner equipment. Take care of the billiard equipment and everyone can enjoy playing on quality tables with a clean set of balls.

Mike Fieldhammer
Professional Billiard Instructor

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How to improve your pool game in 30 minutes

Posted on 21. Apr, 2009 by Fieldhammer.

Very simple: watch a bit of snooker. You can do it from your desk/home by tuning into the terrific streaming coverage of live snooker from Sheffield, England.

HOW THIS HELPS YOUR POOL GAME:

- Observe the picture perfect strokes of these professionals

Seeing these gentlemen pot (pocket) balls in tiny pockets with rounded jaws (pocket openings) with incredible accuracy is simply amazing. The technique and delivery of the cue demands such precision that they know they must have near flawless fundamentals. Just look at the perfect set-up, still body, and authoritative cue delivery and statuesque finishing position. If all pool players (author included) stayed down on shots this well, we’d all run many more racks.

- Admire the complexity of the game

If you get lucky and watch the right match, you’ll see a game that has flashes of 8-ball, one-pocket, 9-ball, straight pool and maybe even three cushion billiards. The unique scoring system might take you a little while to get the hang of, but snooker has a bit of everything. It starts with a safety break like straight pool, might progress into a total clearance or a run of 36 balls without a miss. Some of these breaks (runs) resemble an excellent rack of 8 or 9 ball with some delicate position plays and some power shots to break open the rack of red balls to continue the inning. A player might not be able to catch up midway through a frame (game) and might have to snooker his opponent in hopes of a miss or foul to add points to his tally. Games of this sort can have some ingenious safety play and maneuvering like the best one pocket clashes. Jump shots are forbidden in snooker, so players will have to lag or kick at balls from the worst of positions. A little billiard knowledge helps. Frames may last eight minutes to nearly an hour long.

- See melt-downs and world class play

Players have reacted in all sort of ways under the pressure of “The Crucible”. Players can choke or rise to the occasion. Last year there were two maximums in the WC for the first time ever. Earlier today, first time WC participant floundered to make even a 30 point break. The commentators were aghast. Word is that he had been making six or more centuries every day for weeks training for the tournament.

- See what we’ve been missing in televised pool broadcasts

If you watch for a while, you’ll want to phone up ESPN and scream. Sure, we’ve got quite a bit of streaming pool tournaments to watch in the last couple of years, but none compare to the BBC’s polished production. Most of the links at the end of the article are to fanatics who simply capture and pass along the high definition live broadcast put on by the BBC. They actually have two channels running simultaneously since the Crucible has two snooker tables for most of the event. Each telecast features about half-a-dozen cameras, wonderful (and useful!) computer graphics, and soothing, intelligent commentary be one or two snooker greats. Just listening to the patter is entertaining for any pool fan. You’ll pick up lots of British slang for pool terms.

- Fun tidbits from the Maplin UK Championships last year:

Cannon equals carom and a plant is a combination shot.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is every bit as amazing to watch play snooker as Efren Reyes is to watch play one pocket. Ronnie missed 2 makeable balls in succession in the eighth frame and brought his pot percentage from 95% down to 94%.

Red into the right center (or right middle) means side pocket.

The online screen graphics are actually very meaningful, unlike the nine ball graphics that show which balls the players pocketed in the ESPN telecasts.

Feature match April 21-22

The World Championship is being held at the fabled Crucible Theater from April 16 through May 4. That’s correct-seventeen days of snooker. The first round of coverage is underway. Today, an interesting match is Australian Neil Robertson vs. the legend Steve Davis. The young lefthander from down under has incredible cue action. That’s a monster stroke for us yanks. He’s 27 years old and he faces off against a snooker living legend and Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire knighted twice over. Steve Davis, OBE is 51 years old and has career earnings of over 5.5M British Pounds. With today’s conversion rate, that’s over 8 Million US Dollars! He won the World Championship six times in the 1980’s and fought through qualification matches to reach the field of 32.

Matches tonight

These are the best links for streaming I’ve found:

This has been my favourite. It is a bit larger by default and has no distracting chat. The video and stream is EXCELLENT quality:

http://atdhe.net/watchtv.php?b=x

These all have decent coverage and chat windows:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mordane

http://www.justin.tv/sportstime

http://www.justin.tv/mordane2

http://www.justin.tv/scooby1

Here are some reference sites to follow the action and news.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Snooker_Championship_2009

http://www.worldsnooker.com/ws_championship_venue.htm?tid=124

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/snooker/default.stm

Not too sure about this feed:

http://www.justin.tv/siaki

These is the odds to win outright from the new WC sponsor BetFred.com

Selection Price
O’Sullivan, Ronnie 7/4
Selby, Mark 7/1
Maguire, Stephen 8/1
Higgins, John 10/1
Carter, Allister 10/1
Murphy, Shaun 14/1
Junhui, Ding 16/1
Hendry, Stephen 25/1
Robertson, Neil 25/1
Day, Ryan 25/1
Allen, Mark 28/1
Ebdon, Peter 33/1
Fu, Marco 33/1
Perry, Joe 33/1
Dott, Graeme 40/1
Cope, Jamie 50/1
Wenbo, Liang 80/1
Lee, Stephen 125/1
King, Mark 125/1
Swail, Joe 125/1
Walden, Ricky 125/1
Holt, Michael 150/1
Higginson, Andrew 200/1
Davis, Steve 300/1
Bond, Nigel 500/1
Burnett, Jamie 500/1
Gould, Martin 2000/1