Billiards - More Than 8-Ball Pool

8-ball is the most popular billiard game in the world. It is so popular, that 8-ball pool is almost a synonym for billiards. However, 8-ball is only a part of a one big happy family of billiard games.

8-ball pool, 9-ball pool, snooker, one pocket, balkline are all cue sports games. They all share a rectangular cloth-covered table, a long cue stick, a set of balls and an ambition to score, but they differ in their rules, objects, and even their terminology.

Generally, billiard games divide into two types: pocket billiard games and carom billiard games. Pocket billiard games, usually referred to as pool games, are the type of billiard played on a table that has six pockets. In pocket billiard games, the players aspire to sink the balls into the table pockets, according to specific games rules.

Carom billiard games, on the other hand, are played on pocketless tables. Only three billiard balls are involved in the carom games. The purpose of the players in most carom games is to maneuver their cue ball so it will carom off the other two balls, again, according to the specific requirements of the game.

8-ball pool is a pocket billiard game. Other popular pocket billiard games include 9-ball pool, 14.1 continuous (formerly known as straight pool) and even snooker. Snooker is the most popular cue sports in the UK. Even though snooker is played on a pocketed pool table, it is not governed by the same association that administrates pocket billiard rules. Therefore, pocket billiard general rules do not apply to snooker.

The equipment used in snooker games is also different from the one used in pocket billiard tournaments. For example, the snooker table is a bit larger than the standard pool table plus its pockets are narrower. The terminology used in both billiard games is different as well. While pool players' goal is to "pocket" the "object balls," snooker players aim to "pot" the "red" or the "on-ball."

Josephine Thunder is a professional writer who focuses on the online gaming industry including online billiards, online backgammon, chess and other games. Josephine commonly writes reviews of online gaming sites (including pool sites such as http://www.play89.com for example), articles on history of games and more.

Online Billiards

Now you can play live billiard games with your friends and other users online. This is a computerized version of the billiard game which lets you play in a multiplayer 3D realistic environment. These games are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is also an opportunity for you to chat online with people who share your passion and interests.

Like the real game, online billiards demands discipline, skill, and a great eye for all potential outcomes. There are many sites with a variety of billiards games which feature beautiful graphics, animation, and fun. With the development of web based graphic technologies such as Flash and Java, online billiards has become very popular. Carom 3D is an online multi-user billiard game created with special 3D graphic effects. It has interesting features such as straight pool, 6 balls, 9 balls, 8 balls, and exotic pyramid games. These are available in both single player and multiplayer modes.

Online billiards simulates billiard physics including side ball spin, realistic ball movements, back spin, forward spin, lights playing on ivory and bronze, exact cue shots, environmental effects, and curve ball trajectories. Some of these sites allow the user to play freely whereas some others who offer more sophisticated games demand a registration fee. Online billiard websites also provide tutorials on the game, which is a great help to the beginner.

There are certain online billiard sites where you can buy billiard and game room accessories at reasonable prices. Cue sticks, billiard tables, paintings of great billiard players are among the items you can buy. Online stores accept almost all credit cards.

Billiards provides detailed information on Billiards, History of Billiards, Rules of Billiards, Billiards Supplies and more. Billiards is affiliated with Pool Tables for Sale .

Billiards - The Transformation Years 1674 - 1800

In this article we're going to cover what is called the transformation years of billiards starting with 1674 and working our way up to the year 1800.

By the year 1674 the game of billiards was still very similar to the version played on the ground. The only significant change was moving the game itself to a table. However, in the next 100 years, changes to the game would come quickly which would make the game look more like the modern version that we play today. The elements of ground billiards would slowly disappear altogether. What would replace these elements are those which made for some very different variations of the game itself. The games became more complex and required a great deal more skill.

In the 1700s began what is referred to as the transformation to the modern game. The innovation which probably changed the game the most during this time was the creation of the billiard cue. Makeshift cues had been used until this time. It was actually the mace that led to the creation of the cue stick and ultimately to the disappearance of the mace altogether. Players began to use the narrow end of the mace to make their shots and because of this discovered a new way of playing.

Prior to this, the mace had always been used to "push" the ball forward, kind of like a miniature shuffle board stick. The narrow end had always been the handle. The new way of holding the mace to make shots came from the difficulty of making shots where the cue ball was pressed up against the cushion of the table. Thus the narrow end was better suited for making these shots. By turning the mace around and shooting with the handle, players discovered an immediate improvement to their accuracy and control.

With the invention of the cue came other improvements such as leather tips, chalk, slate beds, fine cloth, rubber rails and standard sizes for tables. Better cushions made for better shot making. This began the birth of "carom" games that started in and swept across France. Gradually as time went by, billiards was looked at as a scientific game as well as a game of skill. The rules of the game, which included the equipment used, began to become standardized. By the mid 1700s billiards had spread from Europe throughout the whole world.

With the market and demand for billiards increasing at an alarming rate, a demand for standardized rules, tables and equipment had to be met. This of course led to big business. Manufacturing plants of tables and equipment began to pop up like daisies. Everyone was trying to get a piece of this ever growing market, which included merchants, investors and even kings.

Once again, monarchs competed with each other, not only to make the best tables and game rooms but to grab the largest piece of the marketing pie that they could get. Many craftsmen and merchants actually worked for kings trying to capture as much of the market as they could. Some would specialize in making quality cushions while others would concentrate on cue sticks. Others would work exclusively on designing tables. Importers would spend fortunes trying to get the finest materials in which to make the table cloths. It was this industrialization that forced many of the changes that the game had undergone. After all, with every new innovation and improvement that meant more sales as everyone had to have the finest billiard set up that they could get. This was now big money. Innovations that caught on big meant profit for a lifetime.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Billiards

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.
Please feel free to use this article on your website, newsletter or blog as long as this resource box is left intact and there's a live link to the site.

Elegant Pool Tables

Elegant pool tables change the mood of your billiard room along with your personality. Elegant pool tables are well designed and the handicrafts are excellent. Pool table accessories and pool cues have a major role in giving pool tables an elegant look.

Woods used for pool tables are mahogany, oak, honey, cherry, wood finish, caramel wood finish etc. Elegant pool tables are produced with superior and patented systems. Most of the elegant pool tables are not only beautiful but also very strong. Some pool tables look elegant while the durability is questionable. There are leather covered pool tables. There are coin operated pool tables which are available in a variety of styles and designs. There are handmade pool tables also.

Elegant pool tables are made of beautiful wood and weigh approx 800lbs.Costs of elegant pool tables vary because of the elaborate designs and custom hand carving which requires more man hours. Body finish of elegant pool table is excellent. Eight feet elegant pool tables are also available. There is a high demand for traditionally designed pool tables these days. There are outdoor pool tables too. People need outdoor pool tables which give an elegant look. Every component is hand selected for quality, then cut, machined, carved, sanded and finished by expert cabinetmakers

The selection of pool table requires research and careful thought. There are many variations of pool tables to choose from. Elegant pool tables are available in the sizes of 7ft, 8ft and 9ft. Hardwood wide-profile top rails provide an elegant furniture appearance standard to all models. A little care makes sure of the finest performance and appearance for a lifetime. Use good furniture oil or polish on lacquered surfaces. This can help your pool table to become a family treasure for generations to come.

Pool Tables provides detailed information on Pool Tables, Pool Table Lights, Pool Tables for Sale, Used Pool Tables and more. Pool Tables is affiliated with Rules of Billiards.