High breaks in Snooker or runouts in Pool don’t come from nowhere, they are built from strong fundamentals. Luckily, these small fundamentals can often make the most impact to your skill, and these don’t require hours upon hours of practice routines to develop. From learning to aim more accurately, or developing a consistent pre-shot routine, these 5 tips will help you to be the most confident player you can be at your next visit to the table!
Keep the bridge hand flat
As it is where the cue is placed while addressing the cue ball, your bridge is very important for delivering the cue correctly. A common mistake is to have the fingers very bunched up, or for the palm of the hand to be lifted, however this will not provide a stable foundation. Instead, you can make a stable bridge by following these steps:
- Bunch your hand into a fist
- Place your thumb against your knuckle
- Spread your fingers, and place your palm flat on the table
Do your aiming while stood up
A lot of beginners will form a solid bridge and then get down to play a shot without knowing where they should be aiming – this is ineffective as it does not provide the clearest view of the shot. Instead, it is more effective to find the line of the shot first whilst you are looking down at the table and then keep that point in mind as you get down for the shot.
The “ghost ball” method is a very popular way of aiming, where players make imagine a straight line from the object ball they are trying to pot and the pocket, and then imagining an invisible ball directly behind the object ball and remembering that point while they aim
Aramith's Nic Barrows Training ball is a product that can help with finding the right potting point on a shot. One side of it has visual aiming lines which can help with sighting, and it also has a red dot right where the potting point will be when lined up to the pocket. Having this potting point visualised helps to train your eye to know the right angles, meaning it will be easier to find that potting point during a match.
Practice sighting/cueing the ball straight
One of the biggest reasons a beginner may miss a shot is because they are not striking the cue ball in the centre. This causes a miss because accidentally applying sidespin causes the cue ball to deflect off its intended path.
A great way to train centre-ball striking is as follows:
- Place the cue ball on the brown spot
- Hit the cue ball straight through the black spot and keep your cue where it is
- If the cue ball comes back and hits your cue, you are cueing straight. If it goes to one side, whichever side the ball travels to is the sidespin you have accidentally applied
This is a valuable tool to find out if you are striking the cue ball in the centre, and it can be used to adjust your sighting/cue action until you are. Doing this will then ensure that you naturally pot more balls in frames.
Aramith's Nic Barrows Training Ball is something that can help with this routine and many similar ones. One side of the cue ball has a grid on it, with a green centre line to help you hit the middle of the cue ball which is particularly useful when practicing straight cueing. You can also use the grid to see how sidespin affects the movement of the cue ball which may help you find out if you are accidentally applying sidespin.
It can also be helpful here to use a cue with a slightly bigger tip size (For example, using a 9.5mm cue for English Pool, or a 10mm tip for snooker). This afford you a lot more room for error when cueing because it is much easier to actually hit the middle of the cue due to the larger surface area. This is important because hitting the cue ball in the direct centre ensures that it will actually travel straight, rather than being deflected off line and causing a miss. It does come at the cost of some control, but control is useless if you miss every pot due to deflection.
Have a pre-shot routine
Getting down on the shot with no plan or consistency is a recipe for disaster. Having a pre-shot routine and doing said routine before every shot ensures that you have taken all the right steps towards a successful strike, and it makes sure that every strike is the same. The pre-shot routine may differ from player to player, however a common one may look something like this:
· Go round the table and check the line of the pot
· Remember that spot while walking back around to the cue ball
· Chalk the cue
· Step into the shot, planting your dominant leg on the line of the shot
· Feather the cue until you feel ready to strike
· Strike the cue ball and do not move until the ball has found the pocket
Having a consistent routine does wonders for your confidence, and when you reach a high enough standard it also helps to keep you mentally calm during high pressure matches.
Keep your head still
This list is not in order, however if there was to be a number 1 tip, this would be a good contender. Your head acts as the centre for every aspect of your fundamentals, and once the head is moved, all the hard work you have done in aligning the shot correctly and working on your straight cueing is undone.
Movement in your head ripples through your body and therefore your arms, and it may cause you to apply accidental sidespin, misalign the shot or even miscue. If you apply one tip to your snooker game, this would not be a bad one.
With these helpful tips, we hope that you’ll feel ready to pot more balls and rack up high breaks – your friends will not rule the baize any longer! At Cue+Case we have all the equipment you’ll ever need to put this advice to good use. With a Baize Master cue in hand, as well as these 5 tips, you’ll be good as gold!
