4 Questions relating to UK 8-Ball :)

[tommydale]

So at 17 years old, my passion is UK 8-Ball Pool. Exciting, I know. I play once a week for my local's B team and find myself stuck around the 50% mark. I've read the thread about nerves and find that looking away from the table and taking a mouthful of coke helps reduce the pressure.

My question relates to tip size, power, bridging and length of the cue.

1. Tip size
   How do I identify how I play in order to accurately select the size of the tip of my cue? Does that make sense? :')
2. Power
   I have a slight disability meaning that I cannot quite control my pressure before I both get used to the table and settle down. Usually I'm more accurate after about an hour or so. Are there any routines or practise things I can do in order to be consistent in my pace?
3. Bridging
   Again due to the slight disability, I find bridging over balls particularly difficult. I have experimented with my bridge and have found that instead of resting the cue on my thumb, if I put it between my index finger and middle finger knuckles, it is a lot easier to do. However, I find that my accuracy is not as, well, accurate as it was. Might anyone know of any routines or drills to do with this also?
4. Length of cue
   So I'm 5ft 7ins (and struggle to reach long shots, not happy!). How are players supposed to find the most effective length for a pool cue?

Bit of a long thread starter, but hopefully some of you guys can help me out!

[Dave Walton]

Tip size is personal preferance, between 8-9mm is best imo for 8ball but some players prefere larger tips upto 10mm, only way to find what's right for you is to try different size tips, maybe your team mates will let you try their cues. The smaller the tip the more accurate your cuing has to be or you'll put unwanted side on the cue ball, its easier to apply spin though which gives better control as you can hit the ball softer but get the same reaction as you would hitting harder with a bigger tip, all depends on how good your cue action and timing is though.
Your power question I'm not sure how to answer. Length again is preferance but for pool its usually 55-57" its recommended your cue should come to your collar bone but it depends on the length of you arms, not being able to reach is solved buy a mini butt to extend your cue

[Dave Walton]

Bridging wise its hard to offer advise without knowing your disability, usually though you'd put your finger tips on the bed of the table and raise the rest of your hand keeping your thumb out and trying to form as solid a bridge as possible. Hope that helps mate

[Dave Walton]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T21K1iGQ89s&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This vid should help with your bridge question

[tommydale]

Indeed, I have used a fair few different cues, but I'm finding it difficult figuring out if it's tip size affecting my game or the weight of the cues. Of course pace is affected by weight and spin (and unwanted spin) is affected by tip size. However as you have pointed out, with a smaller tip, the same spin effect can be achieved with less pace. Is there anything specific which will particularly stand out depending on weight or tip size? I am able to cue quite well - a training device I used used screw top bottles and you may have heard of it. The aim is to put the cue in and out of the bottle top without touching the rim of the bottle. I am able to get to the bottom of a small 500ml coke bottle without touching the sides. Haven't been able to do it for long but I'm well chuffed with that! . I've also got it in my mind that the distance between the white and the tip of the cue when it is pulled back should be the distance that the cue goes through the whiteball. Does this sound logical or right?

Of course, it is a strange request! Ideally there may be some sort of training drill which would help tame my pace - there's got to be somewhere - that I am yet to learn of. A favourite of mine I used to play on the pub table (until it stopped giving the white back!) was good ol' cushions. First only 1, then 2 and then 3 until you get to stupid numbers like 12 - which I can't do. That helps a lot, however not enough to permanently improve my pace

Right, after measuring myself it's 56" to my collarbone and my arms are 29" :'). When I play my forearm is perpendicular to the floor as the cue strikes the white and there is about 3 or 4 inches behind my hand (which comes in useful for longer shots). I don't play competitively enough to warrant a mini-butt just yet - instead I tend to play an alright positional shot after potting the awkward ball but somehow manage to recover in the next shot. And I only really play for the pub B team or with friends, so this isn't as crucial as the rest of my game as of yet

Thank you for your advice, I understand it's difficult to know how to approach it without knowing the extent or what the disability is! It's called CMT and it's recorded that about 25,000 people in the UK have it and a further 5,000 have it without knowing. It affects my nerves and muscles; my muscles are considerably below average and my nerves are damaged. Impulses travel up to 4x slower than that of a person that doesn't have CMT - the average impulse travels between 120m/s - 150m/s whereas mine travel nearer 30m/s - 40m/s meaning that I have a slight sensory delay. In a nutshell! . I find that a wide base helps a lot, as it means it is more stable on the table, however keeping it there to fully commit to the shot takes time. However, if I was able to put my palm on the table or work something out which took the pressure off my fingers, this would be much more achievable, accurate and less painful

Thank you very much for your time and messages. I appreciate them no end!

[tommydale]

Just realised how much of an essay that was :')

[Dave Walton]

Weight will certainly effect pace untill you're used to controlling your cue and knowing what reaction it'll give on any given shot, however its acceleration through the cue ball that matters in theory you can accelerate a lighter cue faster to generate power, a lighter cue is also better for touch shots, heavier will kind of pull the cue through on your follow through helping to make up for timing not being quite as good. What tip size and weight is your current cue?

[Dave Walton]

Its hard to explain but as you've said your cuing is quite good, if you're struggling to play finesse roll up shots it could be a sign your cue is too heavy, if you often underhit then it could be too light, tip size, do you struggle with cue power? If you do a smaller tip could help, smaller you go though the more accurately you have to cue or you'll put unwanted side on and start missing pots

[Dave Walton]

The distance you pull the cue ball back in relation to how far you follow through is near enough but there is more too it than that, its hard to try and explain though.
Practising pace, one routine which I learned very early on is to place the triangle as if you had the rack set up, you place the white in the D if there is one on imagine a D and play down the table without hitting the cushion, then play across the table past the triangle again you can't hit the cushion, but need to get the white past the triangle, then play the white back up the table to finish back in the D again you can't hit a cushion.

[RogiBear]

All points are pretty difficult to advise as most are down to preference, Dave has covered the points pretty well. As for the pace problem, if you currently use a full backswing for every shot and adjust your acceleration through the ball, it might be easier for you to change the backswing length for each shot and use this to determine the pace at which you hit the cue ball.

[Dave Walton]

Because of your disability I fear bridging over balls will always be a problem for you, I'm trying to think if you could maybe make a mini spider of some sort, using the head of a spider rest, and fitting a very short handle that could be held and still allow you to cue from a regular position rather than having to use a full spider, not really sure what else would be possible.
Anyway good luck and I hope you start winning more games soon, if possible practise with the A team and learn from watching and playing against better players :-)

[tommydale]

Another essay

Ah okay then, in practise I tend to just experiment with all sorts of different side, with angles of the cue going into the white and with difficult and finesse shots. I'm understanding how my cue works in the sense that I'm used to its balance, its weight and its tip size, however it's just me who can't control my pace! . I currently have an 8.5mm tip on (the bloke said) about 17oz which the pub seem to think is quite light.

I have the power, it's just being able to use a lot or a little when it's needed - I struggle to judge how hard I'm actually hitting it. I know how hard to hit different shots, but due to the nature of my disability I find it genuinely difficult controlling my pace. I used to play with an 11mm tip when I was just starting out, gradually went down 2.5mm over about 2 years as my cuing got a lot better and more consistent. I also started to use a lighter cue as since then my power has improved a fair bit . Still got a long way to go though :')

I will most certainly try that routine, that sounds quite difficult actually! Thank you for that

Thank you Bear, indeed. The length I pull back does vary according to each shot. If you can imagine a shorter shot, I tend to have my bridge hand relatively close to the white, say about 6 inches or so. However for shots which require more power, such as breaking, my hand is nearer a 10 or 12 inches away. My cue then goes through the white that amount. I think that's to more effectively impose spin on the white?

Thank you all for your time

[Dave Walton]

17oz isn't that light for a pool cue but is considered light for a snooker cue, my pool cue is 57" long, 17.5oz and tip size is 8.65mm it was 8.75mm but slightly worn down from doing a complete refinish and grain filling. anyway your weight, length and tip size all seem fine for pool, controlling your pace with your disability will be a challenge, the only solution is hours and hours of practise, one thing you can try is to put an a4 piece of paper somewhere on the table, and set up an easy pot and screw the white back onto the piece of paper, once you get an easy shot consistently move the paper to make it harder, then eventually use smaller pieces of paper to give a smaller margin of error, it should help you to learn to control the cue ball. good luck mate

[Dave Walton]

with you loving pool so much there's a great book on the market that you'd probably love, its called - On Cue, the complete guide to pool by Mark Shepherd, I've got a copy myself and it does give some great advise, cool trickshot section too :-)