In Billiards Stop Looking For The System

The idea of a Billiards Nirvana, or the perfect aiming system is almost as extinct as the Dodo bird and thats a good thing. This article is excerpted from Billiards Basic Blueprint, an e-Book I authored to provide casual billiards players with a thorough grounding in this game.
There is no practical aiming system that will take you to the top other than feel. Systems slow you down. They take you out of rhythm and this can cause more problems than just missing the shot.

It is just as important to know where the cue ball goes after impact. You must have a second shot you can make.

Aiming systems are used as a crutch to help newer players learn where to aim on the OB, eventually developing feel. They can, however, hurt a player more than they help.

Watch billiards on TV. You will see that no top player uses an aiming system, they use feel. Years of experience do the aiming for them.

The best aiming system: LEARN TO SHOOT STRAIGHT. Shooting a straight on shot is the same as shooting a cut shot. Shoot straight at where you are aiming to, and if you are a somewhat decent player, the ball will drop.

The straight shot is your most important tool. You will rely on it over and over. It is what it takes to get a center ball hit on the cue ball. And that is what gets you to the impact point on a cut shot.

Once you can consistently hit a straight, you will find aiming is suddenly easier.

Feeling is not Guessing

Feeling only develops after consistent practice. It comes from shooting shots over and over again to provide you with an instinctive pattern and stroke.

I have been guilty of guessing for months and telling myself it was feeling. But even a good guess will not offset months of practice.

IMPORTANT! Set up a practice schedule to can maintain. It is nice to say Ill practice two hours a day, but if you cant keep that schedule, even if you settle on 10 hours a week, make it something that fits your schedule. Five hours a week is a lot better than shunting your practice aside.

We do this by letting things get in the way, like a good nights sleep, a special program on television, even too long writing and doing computer work.

Set a specific time for your appointment with the table and keep it. Make it a part of your daily schedule like brushing your teeth. It is that important to the future of your game.

Take the guessing out of your game, start developing feel. A Mantra to Repeat

While addressing the ball, separate your warm-up into three parts.

1. Survey the table and decide what you are going to do and get yourself into position.

2. Begin to address the ball by thinking aim, aim, aim. Really think about your aim.

Then pause and start the next phase stroke, stroke--actually change from thinking about your aim to thinking about your stroke.

3. Follow through as you strike the ball.

Separating thoughts of aiming from those related to your stroke will make your stroke smoother and more direct without last second adjustments.

Of course the follow through is the key to all shots.

Doing this little chant--aim, aim, aim, and stroke, Stroke, stroke as you prepare will make you focus on each aspect before striking the ball.

Half a ball better than none

The half ball follow angle is one of the most important tools for position play. Any time you have a close to half ball cut shot and the cue ball is rolling smoothly on the cloth when it hits the object ball, the angle at which the cue ball is deflected is very nearly constant. Knowing that single angle takes a lot of the guesswork out of such shots. Learn this angle through practice.

Physics too late at trigger time

Physics and systems may be useful for understanding and planning shots, but when it comes time to pull the trigger, trust your instincts. During practice, a careful, analytical approach will help you sort out what does and doesn't work for you, once you're in a match, the intense analysis must be put aside. Feel the shot and then make it happen.

Nix the Grazing

When playing a combination shot on a hanger, and that hanger is any ball but the nine-ball, try to keep the first object ball from grazing the rail on the way in. it greatly increases your chances of leaving the first shot in front of the same pocket, and enhances cue ball control.

For more help on aiming refer to Aiming Secrets of The Pros (Addendum III to Billiards Basics Blueprint).

About the author:
Reg Hardy, The Monks Apprentice, writes mostly on billiards topics, primarily for http://www.billiardscrossing.comWhere Good Players Get Better .. His Billiards Crossing website features over 160 billiards resources.
A 7-day Trial Membership is $4.95. Click Here ==> to set up a trial

Billiards Basics Blueprint is his latest e-Book. It will help you establish your game on a firm foundation.



Pot Odds Your Secret Poker Weaponian mcintoshPot odds is one of the most neglected aspects of Texas Holdem poker, especially by the beginner and intermediate player. Some poker beginners have heard the term and a few even have a basic concept of what pot odds are, but very few of these players know how to put them to good use in a poker game.

However knowing how to calculate and use pot odds is one of the crucial weapons that serious poker players have in their armory, one that most definitely separates them from the amateur.

Poker pot odds are often associated with complex mathematical calculations and the less serious player can feel overwhelmed at the prospect of tackling such a subject, but dont fret, do you really think that to be a serious poker player you need to be a genius at mathematics? Do you think all the poker pros are?

Well of course the answer is that they are most definitely not all geniuses, but what they do have is a method of calculating the odds quickly and easily to see if they are in their favor in any given situation. So lets look at a simple, basic way of calculating the odds, remember it needs to be quick and easy so that it can be worked out quickly and accurately in the heat and pressure of a poker game.

Poker pot odds can be broken down to this simple one liner:

If the odds of you getting the card you need to make your hand are less than the pot odds, you should bet.

There are two sides to this equation which I will try and explain, odds of you getting the card you need and pot odds. Firstly odds of you getting the card you need, this one is fairly easy to understand. Its best explained using the example of a flush or straight draw, so well use a straight draw to illustrate it.

Youre in a Texas Holdem game and your pocket cards are Q T, the flop is J 4 9. In order to make a straight you need to get either a King or 8 on the turn or river so you have eight possible cards that can make your hand, four Kings and four 8s. These are known as your out cards.

Youve seen five cards out of the deck, your own two pocket cards and the three flop cards. That means theres 47 cards you havent seen. So the odds of you getting the card you need are:

Cards that wont help you : Cards that will help you

Out of the 47 remaining cards, eight of them will help you and 35 wont, so the odds of you getting the card you need are 35:8 or 4.375:1. Now for the pot odds.

The basic formula is:

The size of the pot : Amount you need to put into the pot.

So if the pot is sitting at $100 and you need to bet $20 to call, your pot odds are 100:20 or 5:1.

In this case the pot odds (5:1) are bigger than the odds of you getting the card you need (4.375:1) so you should call the bet. This is known as getting "value" for your bet. If you are doing these sums quickly you can think of 35:8 as being about four and a half to one, its good enough for a quick calculation.

This is a simplification of pot odds and there are other considerations like will the players after you in the round of betting add to the pot? This would make your bet an even better proposition as it would increase the pot odds but it is of course an unknown factor.

Understand pot odds and you will take your game forward to the next stage and prepare yourself for the poker big league.

Article by Ian McIntosh of www.Love-Texas-Holdem.comCheck out the site for the latest information on Texas Holdem tournaments and freerolls as well as fresh weekly articles you can use for your site.
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