General Odds in the APA, and how to make money playing pool

The APA (American Poolplayers Assocation)  is the largest of all the pool leagues in the US (and arguably in the world).  As such, it is probably the most likely league which you are going to be a member of, or encounter in your billiards travels.

The APA, as one of its founding principles, prides itself on its particular flavor of (secret) handicap system, which, according to the APA, makes it possible for “anyone to win on a given night”.  Much of this is true, as I can personally attest.  However, there are a few caveats you should be made aware of.

The APA system relies on a rating for its players, which is established over the course of several matches by keeping track of a player’s record.  The record keeping is actually pretty extensive:  Innings are counted, defensive shots, 8-on-breaks, 8-and-runs, etc.  Essentially, after about 10 completed matches, every player has an established rating from 2-7 (3-7 for men, 2-7 for women), and based on this rating, the number of games (or “rounds”) each player must win against another established player is calculated, using a preset matrix which outlines the various iterations.

For example, two players with a 3 rating would have to win 2 games (whoever wins 2 first, wins).  A 2 vs. a 7 would be a race of 2 games to 7 games, respectively, and so on.

The general theory holds true, as I have seen strong players defeated by lower ranked players, and vice versa.  The handicap works.

Or does it?

Well, folks, I have to admit, there are a few inconsistencies in the APA.

First of all, in the APA system, as one would expect in any amateur sport, most of the players are not in the upper echelon.  Most players have ranks in the 2 to 5 skill levels.  Only a select few players are given the coveted 6 and 7 skill levels.  However, at the highly advertised and “respected” national tournament, roughly half of all players that survive the local and regional individual tournaments are 6 and 7 skill level players.  How can this be?

How come 15% of APA players take up 50% of the national tournament?

For example, in the last couple of years of the national APA individual tournament, less than 30 skill level 2 & 3 players showed up (approx 15% of all APA members).  However, over 200 skill level 6 & 7 (approx 15% of all APA members) were found in the same tournament??!

Other inconsistencies which have come to light over the years:

APA players contribute approximately $54 million per year into the league, and yet only about $1.5 million is given back in prize money at the national level ($1 million for the team tournament, and $500,000 for the individual tournament).  To the defense of the APA, it does provide a “travel fund” at both the local and the regional tournament level, whereby some of the prize money is allocated separately from the national tournament, but even at this level there is a “pattern”.

For example, a single league will contribute approximately $800 every night it plays, for approximately 46 weeks per year (the APA has 3 sessions of 15, 15, and 16 weeks each year). 46 times $800 equals $36,800.  How much of this goes back to the team to help them get to the regional tournament?  Approx.: $6300 over three sessions.  Another $1500 will go towards the winning team at the regional tournament (approximately 1 in 8 teams at regionals win, and the travel fund is approx. $1500 per player).  This leaves approximately $29,000 for each league which goes towards the national tournament, the regional league operators, and the national office.

That would be $29,000 x 5 (5 leagues per night) x 300 (the APA currently has approximately 300 regional operators).  The total comes out to approx. $43.5 million.  Subtract the $1.5 million and divide by 300, and you end up with an average yearly salary of approximately $140,000 per league operator.  Now, mind you, many operators own more than one region, and also the fact that the individual tournaments (“local boards”) have a separate entry fee ($160 for 4-8 players).  All my calculations are based on basic facts which are verifiable on the APA website, not to mention making assumptions such as: each operator only owns a single region, not counting the income from local individual tournaments.  Also, there are basic costs missing from my calculations:  Some operators maintain actual offices (although most operate from home), pay salary to some workers for paperwork, pay the APA franchise fees and insurance, as well as sponsor local tournaments etc.

In short, joining the APA should never be about (1) winning to go to Las Vegas, and (2) making money while playing pool.  Essentially, if you want to go to Vegas, just buy a plane ticket and go, and if you want to make money in pool, CLEARLY, become an APA league operator instead.

Speed Control

One of the more difficult things that many new players face is speed control, especially of the cue ball (since this contributes to controlling the other object balls in the most profound way). Speed control is essential to successful control from shot to shot, i.e. to be able to get from one shot into a position that has a reasonable chance of getting you into position for the next shot, and so on.

There are three pieces of guidance I can give you to (hopefully) help you in your quest to becoming a better player:

(1)  The more straight (i.e. “full”) a shot into the object ball is, the more cue ball speed will “bleed” into the object ball.  Inversely, the more angled a shot is, the faster the cue ball will be after it strikes the object ball.

This holds true no matter what kind of English the cue ball has at the time of the hit.  There is some room in my assertion for follow and draw shots (high and low English), although by-and-large my assertion holds true, and most beginning players will not be able to take advantage of such shots to help them gain position.

(2)  Hitting a rail with the cue ball at a straight angle will bleed more speed than hitting a rail at an shallow angle.

This too is useful to know, especially when attempting to get from one end of the table to the other.  Any straight shot into the short rails will lose most of its speed, so hitting harder will not always yield the longer run of the cue ball.  It may actually be more advantageous to hit softer with shallowers angles, perhaps coming of two or more rails, to end up in a similar position.

Pool Etiquette

A few words on Billiards Etiquette:

1. Do not move around into the view of a player while they are shooting.  Move in between shots or when players are switching from sitting to shooting (and vice versa).
2. Refrain from loud noises, shouting, etc. while another player near you is shooting.
3. Wait until the shooting player on another table is done if you need to shoot near them (i.e. in a situation with multiple tables where players occasionally “bump” into each other).
4. Leave table chalk at the table.  Don’t carry it around, especially when it isn’t yours to begin with.  Also, don’t chalk up while your opponent has his/her turn.  Wait for your turn to chalk up.
5. When there is a possibility that you may hit your opponent’s ball first or if there is a high likelyhood of a missed shot, point it out to your opponent.  Let them decide if they want to have a 3rd party observe the shot.  Remember, it is the sitting player’s responsibility to call for an outside observer (APA rules).  Any dispute after this must go to the shooting player (APA rules) if no observer was called in.
6. Especially in league play, let your opponent(s) know that you mean to play a defensive shot when you are about to shoot a defense.
7. Don’t play music that you know may offend others in the pool hall at excessive levels in the jukebox.  There is a time for musical expression.  Doing so during a grudge match, in a place filled with tired, half-drunk league players who may or may not have brought their own sticks is not the time or place for it.  Unlike what you may have seen in hollywood films, once a person is hit hard with a pool stick the stick generally does not break.  The person’s bones generally do.  Musical expression is not worth your time in jail/hospitals/rehabilitation
8. Don’t abuse your stick in front of others.  Wait until you go home, then break it, burn it, and deface it any way you like.  Then promptly take it to a reputable cue repair shop before next week’s contest.
9. Never, ever get into a personality conflict with another player.  If you feel you are abused in any way, walk and let the owner of the establishment know why you’re taking your money down the street.  In league play, write a letter to the league operator.  Let both your team captain and the other team’s captain know that the behavior is unacceptable and that you will complain.
10. One last note on mental play:  Play with the mindset that you are playing against the table, not the player.  Racecar drivers, especially in the upper echelons of racing (Formula 1, MotoGP, Indycar, etc.) race the road, not the other cars.  It will keep you out of personality conflicts and make you a more consistent player.  It will also make you a better player.

The special case of frozen object balls

The “line of centers” is an imaginary line that goes from the very top center position of any ball through the center of another ball.  It extends into both directions beyond both balls and can be a useful tool to use to figure out where to hit a ball with a cue ball, or – as in this case – where the balls may go if struck.

There’s a very special condition that two object balls fall into when they are touching.  The condition, in billiards and pool, is called “frozen”.  When two object balls are frozen, there are several special things that the player should consider.

First of all, it helps to establish the line of centers of the two object balls.  Extend the imaginary line from center to center and beyond in both directions.  This line is important, because, as long as certain conditions are met, the far ball will travel along this line when the near ball is struck by the cue ball.

In order for this statement to be true, the cue ball must strike along or nearly along the line of centers of the near ball, and have little or no english.  High speed will also help this cause.  So, if your two frozen object balls happen to line up with a pocket, then a combination of: (a) striking near the line of centers, (b) no english, and (c) high speed will make the far object ball roll into the pocket.

The further away from the line of center of the near ball, the more english is applied, and the lower the speed, the further off the line of centers the far ball can be thrown.  This too can be important to know.  For example, what if the line of centers does not point into a pocket, but instead is off by a couple of inches?  You can compensate by striking the near frozen ball off the line, at a low speed, and perhaps even with some spin to then throw the far object ball into the pocket anyway.

This is one of those things that seems too good to be true, and the best way to test my statements is on a pool table.  Set up a few frozen pairs of balls, and then strike them perfectly with your cueball along the line of centers.  Try to predict where the far ball is supposed to go before you make the shot.  Did it go there?  Now try hitting the near ball off center.  What happened to your prediction vs. the actual path of the far ball?  Try this at varying speeds and angles.  Remember, slower speed will amplify this effect, faster speed will reduce it.

Where to Hit the Cue Ball

One of the more perplexing tasks for beginning players is trying to figure out where to hit the cue ball.  The general rule of thumb is to strike the cue ball (“CB”) at the center, or just slightly above the center.

Beginning players tend to underestimate the importance of where to hit the CB.  At this time I would like to submit to you the following fact:  It is the single most important factor.  Even if you had shaky hands, had legs that swayed with the ebb and tide of about 16 oz of hard liquor, the vision of an axolotl (yes, it’s a blind animal), and the math skills of a horse (no offense, Mr. Ed), as long as you managed to hit the CB in the exact spot you intended in order to make the shot, you have a reasonable chance at becoming a decent player.

Think about it this way:  It’s the only legal interaction you have with all those balls, the table, etc.  It’s the only thing you can legally do to try to sink a few balls or stimy your opponent’s next shot.  If you can’t hit the same spot each time, there’s no hope.  You might as well whack the balls with the rubber butt end or swing at them furiously in a baseball-like swatting motion.

Alright, so we now settled the importance of hitting the CB in the same spot, so … how come I’m advocating for just the center or perhaps slightly above the center at this time?

Hitting the center will give you the most consistent shot, the straightest line, and the easiest-to-understand outcomes for your shots.  All of these are very important for the beginning player in order for you to get to the next level (i.e. not hitting the center).  When you hit the center, the CB will travel in a straight line, dictated by the direction of the cue and your stroke quality, and towards (hopefully) your intended target.

At least, that’s what it looks like to the untrained eye when you stroke at the center of a CB.  In fact, the CB will first slide for about 1-3 inches, and then spin forward due to the friction created by the table cloth.  By the time it reaches the intended object ball (“OB”) it should have acquired what is known as “natural roll”, i.e. it is rolling at the same speed as it is moving.  Those first few inches, as the CB is sliding, are what can sometimes lead to inaccuracy and a “miss”, i.e. not hitting the intended target or not at the right angle.  Being even just slightly off or having slight problems in your stroke get amplified in these first few sliding inches.

This is the very reason I openly advocate for beginners to hit the CB slightly (less than one cue tip thickness) above the center.  This will deliver a forward turning motion into the CB from the very moment that the CB begins to roll, i.e. no sliding for the first few inches.  The roll you impart onto the CB through the motion of your cue will help guide it forward, and only forward, into the direction you are stroking.

It is those first few inches that I am most concerned about.  When the CB slides, even a teeny tiny slight left or right cue motion during the stroke will cause the CB to squirt, swerve, and obtain english, all of which will cause error in your CB’s intended path.  Add just a little sprinkle of masse, typically caused by having the cue “jacked up” and not level, and you will miss your target by a country mile or more.

Does the “above center” hit cure everything?  Of course not.  But it will help you reduce some of the problems and frustrations that beginning players often experience.  Instead of missing the pocket by 3 inches, now you might just barely hit the corner of the pocket and miss.  Instead of hitting your opponents ball first, now you’ll just skim past it and make your legal hit on your own ball instead.  Over time, this will become more and more natural for you, and as you develop these skills you will grow in confidence and be able to move to more complicated shots.

GOOD:  Give the CB a shallow, level cue, aimed slightly above center, and stroked softly, gently, and through the CB (see my previous post) with an open rear hand, and you will aim the CB exactly along its intended path.

BAD:  Raise the butt end of the cue, hit left or right of center, and poke at the CB with a clutched hand and the forces of nature (masse, swerve, english) shall misguide your CB into the wrong path, causing the OB at the end of that stroke to either be mis-hit or missed altogether.

As you’re motioning through your warm-up strokes, think “soft, gentle, loose, STRAIGHT“.  As you release your stroke into the CB think “through, CENTER“.  I guarantee you’ll be amazed at the results.

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Here’s a quick test of your ability to make straight shots with the CB, and all the other little things you’ve learned about a good stroke thus far:

Take 3 object balls and line them up along a rail.  They should all be touching like ducks in a row.  I recommend starting with a long rail, i.e. you will be shooting parallel to the short side of the table first.  Later on, as your skills improve at this, attempt the same feat using the long way on the table.  Remove the middle ball, and carefully move the remaining 2 balls a tiny fraction of an inch apart (1/32″ or less if you’re good, but 1/4″ is a good start).  Now position your cue ball directly across from the missing object ball, i.e. the gap.  Stroke the cue ball between the two object balls, without hitting either one.  The CB should bounce of the rail and almost hit your cue tip when it comes back.  If the CB hits one of the two balls on the rail or doesn’t come straight back at your tip it would indicate a slight wobble in your stroke or not hitting the center of the cue ball.  Keep adjusting your hit until you can make several shots in a row, then move further away from the balls and shoot from there.  Also, move the balls closer together as you get the hang of this exercise.

Within a couple of sessions of this exercise you should be able to shoot at least three fourths of the table’s length with barely a hair between the object balls when the CB passes through.

Bridge Hand

Ah…so we’ve gotten as far as the bridge hand.  This is a very important subject, if not the single most important factor in learning to shoot billiards.

It is extremely important to your aim, your consistency, and your accuracy.  If your bridge hand sucks, you might as well pack up and go home, save yourself a few quarters and years of frustration.

A good bridge hand is one thing:  STABLE.  It must provide stable support so that the cue, upon stroking, always follows the same path during your warm-up strokes and the same path on your final stroke (when you hit the CB with your cue).  If your bridge hand isn’t stable, you’ll see the tip of your cue point to different parts of the cue ball each time your forward stroke ends.  This is a clear indicator that your bridge sucks, and you need to immediately remedy the sitation (especially before you strike the cue ball).

So, this begs the question:  How to obtain a good, stable bridge?  The key is simpler than you think, and you probably already know the answer but just don’t know to apply it here.  The answer is a tripod.  Just like a tripod, the further apart the legs are the more stable it gets.  The most unstable tripod has the legs collapsed together so they can’t sustain a weight at the top (i.e. it keeps tipping over).

If you can open up your bridge hand and still provide a nice “V” somewhere on your hand to be able to slide the cue stick along, you will have a nice, solid bridge.  The further you spread your fingers apart, the more stable your bridge will be.

Next, as you stroke back and forth, you may find some resistance to the movement of your cue stick, and perhaps even feel and see skin on your hand moving with the back-and-forth of your warm-up strokes.  As the skin moves with the cue, there will be inconsistency in your aim as well, so you need to find a way to eliminate the skin movement as much as possible.  Select a better spot on the back of your hand to use for the “V”, until you find a spot that is more consistent.  Also, sometimes squeezing your thumb into the rest of your hand helps.  Lastly, you may want to switch to a closed bridge (search online for example images).  Other things you can do:  Use talcum powder or baby powder on both the cue shaft and the bridge hand — just make sure you wipe off any excess unless you don’t mind having your handprints all over the table later.  You can also purchase and use a pool glove for your bridge hand.

There are two basic varieties of a bridge hand, with a few additional wrinkles thrown in for “odd” or “awkward” shooting positions.  There is the American, or “open” bridge, and the English, or “closed” bridge.  Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, and my personal rule of thumb is this:  Use the open bridge for most of your “run-of-the-mill” straight shots.  Try to use a closed bridge for the tough/draw/follow/lots of english shots.  If you can’t properly use the closed bridge due to circumstance (shooting over other balls, rail shots, etc.) then go back to an open bridge.

There’s also rail bridges, over-the-ball bridges, etc., which we will cover in later articles.

One last word about the bridges.  Bridges determine how high or low you hit your cue ball!!  If you try to adjust the height of your hit by raising or lowering the butt end of the stick you are doing yourself a disservice.  Use your bridge hand instead.  Bring the fingers together or roll them slightly to raise up on the shot (follow shots) and flatten your hand to lower it (draw shots).

Keep a sharp eye on your bridge hand and try this out on a table right now!!

Head Position

A very important contributor to making good shots is head position, or more specifically eye position.

In any activity where great precision is required, it is very important that the operator be able to make precise measurements with their instruments. For example, snipers use a powerful scope, that is marked with a teeny tiny thin “X”. Presumably, the bullet would land somewhere near that “X” on the target. Key to a sniper’s prowess is the ability to replicate the exact eye position relative to the scope from shot to shot.

As it turns out, billiards isn’t all that different from this. You also need to find some perfect spot from which to view your shots from, and replicate that position as often and perfectly as possible.

One of the tricks that snipers use is to essentially place their face’s cheek right on a particular spot of the rifle’s butt, i.e. just in the right spot so their eye lines up a certain way with the scope. Pool players do a similar thing. You can see professionals place their chin right up against their cue, as if resting their entire head right on the cue. Or, they’ll line up their dominant eye with the cue, especially if they pinch one of their eyes shut (like me).

The basic idea is to be in a position that makes it easy to be able to align the tip of your cue, the top of the cue ball, and the top or bottom of the object ball you’re trying to hit. Usually, the lower you are, the better your alignment and aim gets. However, don’t overdo this….if you get so low that you’re nose it touching the table, you basically went too far (unless you have a really big nose, Pinocchio). There’s a happy medium whereby you can sight along the cue/cue ball/object ball and still see the rest of the table (and the pockets). It is up to you to figure out how high or low this position is, and to find a body position that allows you to get there.

One thing is for certain – your dominant eye, or you chin (if you’re a two-eyer), must be directly above the cue stick if you want any hope of lining things up right. Just like a sniper, your eye needs to be in alignment with your instrument if you want to hit your intended target. If your vision is off to the right or left, you can’t properly aim your cue, and consequently you will send the cue ball into the wrong direction.

I mean, think about this – when is the last time you saw a sniper hit a target 1000 meters away and shoot from the hip? — Never. They always have their eye right on the scope, looking down the barrel. The cue stick is, with respect to sighting, similar to the barrel of a rifle. You have to sight down the cue, or at least along it’s intended path, to be able to properly judge the direction of your stroke.

The precision involved in a good stroke is phenomenal – even just 1/32″ off at the stroke may cause the cue ball to move by as much as several inches in the wrong path, missing the intended object ball altogether. Or, if you do hit it, now the object ball is moving in an entirely different direction than you intended.  As the distance from cue ball to object ball is increased, the error also gets larger.  So if a CB-to-OB distance is 5″ and the error makes you miss by 1″, then a CB-to-OB distance of 10″ will make you miss at least by 2″ or more.  15″ would cause a 3″ error, and so on.

So what would cause that 1/32″ error in the first place?  Always look at the fundamentals first, and then work your way up from there.  Look at your stance, your bridge hand.  Make sure your stroke hand is loose, check your stroke and follow-through.  And… now you have one more thing to check — your head position!

Until next time, have a great time at the tables!!

Follow-Through

Today I’d like to add a few comments on the fundamentals of a good stroke.  One of the aspects of a stroke that is often overlooked, especially by beginning players, is the follow-through of the stroke.

For just a moment, I want to point out similarities between pool and several other sports.  Imagine, if you will, the swing of a batter in baseball, or the swing of a golfer.  When their clubs strike the ball, what happens to their bat?  Does it abruptly stop 2″ after the hit, or does it follow through all the way down to the limit of its path?  The answer:  It follows-through.  It is this follow-through which allows for power and precision.  It gives additional control to the ball, which you would not experience otherwise.  If they just “poked” at the ball, and stopped their swing, the direction of the ball would be almost impossible to control, especially since the motion of their swing is circular.

In billiards, the motion of our “bat”, thankfully, is not circular.  Instead, it is a linear stroke that should begin at least 3″ from the cue ball and end about 3″ beyond the point of the where we strike the ball.  For most straight strokes, this is sufficient.  3″ in, and 3″ out.  However, in later discussions, you will see special hits such as english, follow/draw/stop, break shots, and masse, where these distances will change.  Especially in the follow and draw shots, is it important to have good follow-through with the cue stick.  Even though you only impact the cue ball for a tiny fraction of a second, the follow-through will multiply the effect of where you strike the ball (i.e. high or low).

So, when you practice your stroke, think about the follow-through, and how far you want the end of your cue to extend beyond the cue ball.  Ideally, you want the tip of your cue to end roughly where the cue ball was just prior to being hit.   Especially for a straight shot (i.e. the cue hits along an imaginary vertical line which is centered from top to bottom on the cue ball), the tip of your cue should be moving in a perfectly straight line from the back motion all the way throughout the stroke and when finally at rest after striking the cue ball.

One surprising way you can actually help with the follow-through is to have the butt end of the cue resting in the loosely opened palm of your rear hand (a.k.a. your “stick hand” or “stroke hand”).  If you tend to “clutch” your cue butt (i.e. hold it tight), you tend to “throw” or “pull” the cue (i.e. move left and right) as well as stop short of a good follow-through.  But if you have the cue resting in your fingers loosely, the weight of the cue should naturally want to continue the stroke motion beyond the point of impact.  Now, instead of your arm controlling the cue and possibly misguiding it, the cue is controlled by that wonderful force of nature called inertia and will help control the ball.  Your arm only gets the motion started, and inertia of the cue will finish it in a smooth, controlled fashion.  The only time you really need to have tight control of the cue (and apply a “clutch”) is when you are making hard shots or applying radical english/draw/follow shots.

Leave those shots for now and concentrate on just the basic straight shots – learn the basics first, and then build from there.  When you get comfortable with the basic shots, at your own pace progress to the next “level”.  In my next post we’ll expand a little on the importance of your bridge hand, it’s various positions, and how your can alter your hand position to help you make shots.

A simple exercise to improve your stroke

A lot of beginning players have a really hard time making smooth, consistent strokes that send the cue ball in the right direction (i.e. the one they intended).  I have found a simple exercise that – if performed a couple of times a week for a few minutes – will help you find your stroke.

This isn’t anything that I have invented, in fact there are many youtube videos and online posts about this very technique.  It’s simple, cheap, and can be done almost anywhere, anytime.  The things you need to get started are:

• An empty bottle, preferably a glass beer bottle, but an empty plastic water bottle works as well.  It should have a small neck (i.e. no “big gulp” type bottles).  Make sure it’s empty, and you might want to rinse it before you use it – Mom’ll get mad if you spill some old beer on her kitchen table.
• A pool cue – I recommend using the cue you play with just because it will help develop the “feel” of your stroke.  Conversely, if you’re one of those that are well-heeled and obtained one of those $500+ cues, you might want to use a spare cue instead.  Just make sure it’s roughly the same weight and dimensions as your competition stick.
• A table – the closer to a pool table in height, the better.  Also, the general dimensions should be similar so that you can practice “shooting” at the various possible positions for the cue ball – near the edge, in the middle, on the left side, the right side, etc.  If you have access to a pool table for this, then use the pool table, but in general almost any surface will get you started.
• About 5-10 minutes of spare time.  A commercial break is about 3-4 minutes long, so have a cue handy, a bottle nearby, and sit down near your table.  If you do this in between watching your favorite program and having them reprogram your brain to “buy buy buy”, then you’re golden.  I wouldn’t recommend going beyond 10 minutes at a time at this, although I can’t speak for your patience level.  Mine is about 5 minutes tops, but by then I’m usually pretty satisfied with my stroke.

Procedure:

• Place the bottle on the table on its side, i.e. so that it could roll around.  Don’t let it roll of the table, though.
• Set up your stance, bridge, and stroke so that you can insert the tip of your cue directly straight into the mouth of the bottle.
• Begin to softly, smoothly stroke the cue back and forth, in and out of the bottle.

Everytime you miss, or every time you wiggle the cue wrong you’ll inadvertently hit the bottle and send it in motion.  That is a clear indicator (feedback) that you’re not stroking correctly.  Keep making adjustments to your stance, bridge, aim, arm positions, and stroke until you can easily get the cue 1/2″ in and out of the bottle.

Repeat this procedure until you can stroke 1″, 2″, and finally 3″ in to the bottle.  As you do this, you should start your stroke from the same distance regardless of how far in you stroke.  Have your bridge hand at about 5-7″ from the bottle opening, and the beginning of your stroke (i.e. the end of your backstroke) about 3″ from the end of the bottle.

Soon, you will see your stroke improve.  Ultimately, you can even attempt to perform a few strokes with your eyes closed – at this point you are ready with this exercise and have mastered the basic fundamentals of a straight stroke.

Now go out and have some fun!!

Basic Billiards Dictionary

I’m sure you’ve peeked at my first post from yesterday and came across a few words which you may not be familiar with.  To help you with this, I am listing the basic terms here that hopefully will make it possible for you to follow my future blogs.

CUE or CUE STICK:  The instrument with which you stroke the cue ball (see below), or in extreme cases, the stick you defend your girlfriend’s or wife’s honor with (violence optional).  It is made up of the butt end (the thick end, usually with a rubber bumper at the end), and the tip end with a patch of leather called the cue tip.  The 2-3″ white plastic piece that is near the end, just above the cue tip is called the ferrule.  It’s job is to provide a stable base for the cue tip to be attached to, and to keep the wood of the cue stick from splitting apart from repeated hitting.  Most bar cues are 1-piece, while most players own 2-piece cues, mostly because they are easier to transport and allow for multiple tips (high end option with some cues).  Typically, they vary in weight from 17 to 22 ounces, with most being near 19 ounces.  Also, the tip is usually 15-22 millimeters in diameter, with most being in the 17-18 millimeter range.

CUE BALL (“CB”):  The white ball, which must be struck by the player’s cue stick.

OBJECT BALL (“OB”):  All the balls other than the cue ball, numbered 1-15.  Balls 1-7 are solid, or “low” balls, and 9-15 are stripes, or “high” balls.  The 8 ball is a “solid” ball, but is special under pool regulations, i.e. it is not part of the low or high balls.  In regular APA Pool, one player must hit/pocket all the balls numbered 1-7, while the other has to hit/pocket numbers 9-15.  Only once all of their respective balls have been pocketed, can they legally pocket the 8 ball.  Whoever legally pockets the 8 ball first wins the game.

Note:  Usually, the cue ball and object balls are of the same size and weight.  However, from time to time you may come across an old pool table which requires the use of an enlarged cue ball, i.e. the cue ball is significantly larger than the object balls.

RAIL:  The rubber bumpers along the edges of the table.  They are generally categorized into the long rails and the short rails, i.e. the long sides and the short sides.  Typically, the lengths are 3.5’x7′, 4’x8′, or 4.5’x9′.  These lengths are actually not exact measurements, because (1) each table manufacturer uses slightly different measurements and (2) there is no nationally/internationally recognized/standardized measurement for pool tables.  Most bar tables are 3.5’x7′, while most professionals and pool halls employ the 4.5’x9′ tables.  Most home tables are 4’x8′, kind of an “in between” the bar tables and the pro tables.

DIAMOND:  The markings between each pocket, usually equally spaced and three markings between the pockets.  They represent the 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 spot between each pocket.  They are often used to help with so-called “rail shots”, which are shots where you basically bounce off a rail to make a pocket.  Most tables will have 18 diamonds around the perimeter of the playing surface.

POCKET:  The cut-outs that you want to sink the object balls into.  There are six on a pool table.  Four of them are “corner pockets”, and two are “side pockets”.  The side pockets are slightly larger than the corner pockets, although most players would agree that sinking a ball into a side pocket is harder than sinking them into a corner.

HEAD:  The side of the table from which you break, i.e. the side on which you place the cue ball.

FOOT:  The side of the table on which you place the object balls, i.e. the side on which they are racked.

RACK:  The tool used to place the object balls in a triangular fashion on the pool table, at the onset of each game.  Also, the act of placing the balls into this position, as in: “You didn’t rack those right, you knucklehead!”  The basic rule is to place the 8 ball in the center, and the head ball right above the spot on the foot side of the table.  You want to have the balls touching each other, especially the first three balls.  It is considered bad form (and possibly a violation) to not rack correctly for your opponent.  Don’t worry though – everyone, at one point or another, gets a lot of racking practice.  Some would say I could write a book on just this one aspect of pool, but….who would want to read it?

SPOT:  A marking on the playing surface, usually (but not necessarily) on both the foot and head side of the table, which denotes the racking position and also marks a spot on the table where the 2nd diamonds would intersect each other.  You can’t miss ’em when they’re there – they look like pasties, except now they’re on the table instead of someone’s chest.

Ok, so now we’re ready to continue on our journey.  Just remember to always have fun, and always be eager to pick up a new trick or two!