Speed control techniques

[-Blade-]

Right now I play English 8 ball, and when I become an advanced player who can pot 10 long distance shots, 10 times, I will move to snooker. I only want to move to snooker when I have done it all in pool, such as running a rack, because snooker players seem to be the equivalent of pool players and can downgrade to the size of a pool table rather than the opposite.

Anyway, my position play needs some work (well I need to get my new cue first! My current cue must have a 13-14mm tip which is silly for English 8 ball and, until recently, has been flat).

Speed control is a huge component of playing for position. So I was wondering, what do players here do to control the speed of the white? Especially when the balls are bunched together and careful speed is needed to prevent not being able to see the potting angle.

I read a tutorial in American 8 ball that one method involves changing where the grip hand is on the cue's butt. But there is no scientific explanation for how this can help and it's a bit uncomfortable holding the cue further away from the back. It could possibly cause miscues too. My book on pool doesn't cover this aspect much and all it really says is to change the grip intensity - I can't see this killing speed. Killing spin, yes though. Also it mentioned things like cushions and how they play a rule and running english. But this means nothing when playing a long distance pot that requires spin.

Thanks

[hegeland]

I'd say speed control is one of the most difficult things to master on the table. It's really not much you can do about it, except practice, practice and practice. If you are talented, that also helps!

There are some exercises you can do as well. One is to make a square of balls on the middle of the table. Put the white inside the square and pocket all balls without letting the white slip outside the square. You can adjust the diameter to increase/decrease the difficulty.

OOOOOO
O_____O
O__O__O
O_____O
OOOOOO

Not as good as Statman's Legendary™ but you'll get the idea!

[Watford]

Firstly I'd try to avoid playing long distance pots with spin!
In fact I'd try to avoid using side completly if possible or until you get a bit better!
In UK 8 ball we don't use the term running a rack, we say 8 ball or the less specific dish (which doesn't have to be a complete rack)!
If you havn't had an 8 ball yet I wouldn't say you were advanced, I've had loads and I'm average, there are plenty of non pro players out there who can knock in 10 8 balls in a row!
Playing snooker is great for your long potting but can screw other parts of your game up at first.
Like heg said practice is the key!
For pool I'd say plan you're clearance out and know were you want the white to be.
One practce routine I've been know to do is......
Put 7 balls and the black on the table, the black on it's spot, a ball in a jaw near to the black, one on a cushion and then the rest in play at random.
Start from behind the line and plan it all out (or at least 2-3 shots ahead)
If you miss or don't get the white where you want it replace it and play the shot again.
Once you can do this easy enough your well on your way!
Bloody hell I can go on can't I!

[Cessy143]

Speed contol is all about touch, which can only be mastered through constant practice.

This can be made more difficult if you play on a variety of tables, ie fast cloths, responsive cushions or slow cloths etc.

[-Blade-]

Great replies guys.

As for practise, that is the bane of my game. Or the bottleneck. I don't have a pool table at home and a snooker table won't fit. I really desire one and I would give both my arms and both my legs for one. I have an instinctual feeling that if I had my own table, my game would burst wide open - I would become very good, very quickly. I have the same instinctive feeling about buying a new cue, so I will get one of those. In uni, time is a problem and the tables and cues are rubbish. At the clubs I play at, the tables are good quality but there is sometimes a wait. I can't practise when it's busy, only when it's quiet. Either way I lose, really. The fact that yet again, there is no hard and fast technique to use but just practise demotivates me as it means that at the rate I play (2-3 hrs a week - I spend more time having a shower in a week!), it'd take me years to master the skill. When I get my own house next year, I WILL get my own pool table though.

Long distance pots with spin on a pool table I can, and have made. The problem is whether the target ball rattles in the pocket. Sometimes power is needed. Not break power, mind. So my accuracy is there and I know I can do it. I have a mental block about doing shots like this (spin + long distance). It seems like too much to do with the white. But I'll get used to it, especially with my new cue.

On a pool table, precision has to be exact because the spaces are smaller. Thus I need to nail down my speed to be precise and I will do this before playing snooker.

As for the runout routine, I creatively thought of the same routine to run racks (or to 8 ball, sorry! lol). I will break, remove all the balls of one colour, and try to run the remainding colour and black. It mostly depends on where the balls are located, and if the spread is good, I am confident I can do a runout.

[maximumbreak]

Another good 8ball routine (English or American) is to pot a different coloured (or spot then stripe) ball each shot. It mixes things up a bit too as it gets you thinking slightly differently....

and also means that a run out is 15 balls rather than 8 so if you're cueing well then you get to pot twice as many balls in your runout.

[Semih_Sayginer]

Speed contol is all about touch, which can only be mastered through constant practice.

This can be made more difficult if you play on a variety of tables, ie fast cloths, responsive cushions or slow cloths etc.

agreed.

make sure the tip is played in, and is shaped correctly too, and when a new one is done, try to get it shaped the same way you like it, to make it easier to get back to the consistency of the old tip.

[adcaceo]

This is one aspect of the game that can never be mastered but can only be improved on. It would be impossible to get every shot absolutly perfect for pace as you will obviously see from the pros at every major event. Really as long as you have a good cue and cue action and practice reguarly it should improve all the time untill eventually you can hit 99% of the shots at a good pace

[Semih_Sayginer]

This is one aspect of the game that can never be mastered but can only be improved on. It would be impossible to get every shot absolutly perfect for pace as you will obviously see from the pros at every major event. Really as long as you have a good cue and cue action and practice reguarly it should improve all the time untill eventually you can hit 99% of the shots at a good pace

although for most players id say the above is good, id also say that you dont need a great cue action, or cue.

you need to try, try and keep trying

for backup of what ive wrote, check out billiard players, and see some archive shots of the great players. many had an "average" cue, and "dodgy" cue actions compared to what we now call a smooth and flowing action.

IMHO

[adcaceo]

although for most players id say the above is good, id also say that you dont need a great cue action, or cue.

you need to try, try and keep trying

for backup of what ive wrote, check out billiard players, and see some archive shots of the great players. many had an "average" cue, and "dodgy" cue actions compared to what we now call a smooth and flowing action.

IMHO

It's just my opinion aswell. I'v seen players with the same problem using a club cue and they have said that it's very hard to use a poor cue and get the same effect as they can with a decent cue. They feel you can't get a good cue action with a poor cue. Other peoples views and not mine. I wouldn't be able to comment on that as i'v only ever used my own cue

[Semih_Sayginer]

using a different or poorer standard of cue will alter youre ability to be consistent at the positional side of play especially, but a good player will adapt better.

but id still say that you can have a sh**e cue action and still be great at lots of shots. (as a lot of top billiard players are)