Mark Williams laze with the rest shot....

[Sonny]

That one where he lifts the normal rest up in the air instead of getting the spider out and all the commentators go on about "wow, what forearm strength!".

Well it's rubbish. All you have to do is rest your forearm flat on the table, position the end of the rest under the arm close to the elbow but with the elbow still touching the bed of the table body side of the shaft, then by gripping the rest shaft with the same hand you can quite easily raise and lower the rest head height with hardly any effort by just by moving your hand fractionally, and the rest stays steady as a rock.

Try it. This takes absolutely nothing away from Mark Williams, he knows how easy it is and he probably has a good old chuckle at the thought of millions of arm chair viewers thinking they couldn't possibly do it. At the end of the day, no one has yet manufactured the spider with V gaps so it's viable.

[snazzydevil]

Yes, i've heard the commenatators RAVE about that little trick. I didn't think it had anything to do with strength. Thanks for the tip on how-to. But, when would you need to use a rest in that fashion?

[Sonny]

When you want to impress the girls with your forearm strength in front of some tv commentators

[Snooker]

I'm nearly as good at doing the funny rest thing that Mark Williams does, just a shame i'm crap at potting balls the normal way

[snazzydevil]

It just seems useless to me. It looks impressive but i think it's all for show.

[Snooker]

No it is quite handy and does work, sometimes better than the spider.

[snazzydevil]

I'm inaccurate at the best of times without lifting the cue that far from the table.

[reverse_side]

A thread well worth phoenixing - has anyone else got some amazing technique they want to share? Or insight into something unusual they've seen

[Edit




... nicely got the head of the rest in! shows how easy it is to do, grab it a bit further down for more stability and it'll lower the height of the rest]

[MAC]

I actually do this with the rest. It has a few advantages over the conventional spider. Firstly, you can adjust the height by doing this, whereas the spider had only 1 height. Secondly, its a good chance in a match to show your opponent how little nerves you have when playing infront of a few spectators!!!!

Regarding the picture supplied by reverse side, its more stable to allow the upper part of the rest to touch the anterior part of your forearm to give more support. Honestly it works.

[reverse_side]

someone's swallowed a medical dictionary! (What's your Grays Anatomy entre) I'll let you post up the ideal picture if you like; this was a quick camera phone snap I took myself on some guy's table I wasn't even playing on as I left the club; easy to visualise what we mean with a photo... especially as most members/guests won't even attempt this.

The whole point of this manoeuvre is to be in complete control of the height of the head of the rest and the reach you can obtain; with the spider it's quite high and the higher the cue the harder it is to control the white... making it much easier to hit the cue ball off centre pushing it offline. I've played stun & screw shots with the spider & swan but it takes confidence and practice; cueing right up to the white and a positive follow-through are the key.

If clubs get some hook rests then they'll be easy to whip out and turn it in such a way to raise the cue just above the intervening ball. What I'd like to see is a spider with adjustable legs so you can vary the height; the main problem with using it is when you feel you need step ladders to see down the cue... If anyone's seen the rest the American Pool players use, the big black plastic one; that could work well.... just Googled and couldn't see a pic, post if you do. The widget Davis uses is great too.

[Nat5guns]

Yes they r very useful indeed. You can get over the object ball more easily and cue through the ball bettern with a "Qrite" rest head. They r only 99p to buy off ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Snooker-Qrite-...QQcmdZViewItem

R u allowed to post links?

[reverse_side]

Any ideas bout the American rest? It looks like a mixture between a branding iron and a throwing star.... on a stick.

Better picture of a 'Qrite'? (Qrest may have been a better name methinks) Wonder if any high street retailers sell them?

[cwmboy]

well boys & girls the truth is here has you all know mark is my neighbour and
mate ' you don't have to have a strong forearm its all about technique' mark
was using this technique back in the day when he was about seven stone in
weight, it all came about when we were playing in the club many years ago.
when we used to put one rest on top of another to play that shot ' and mark
found it a lot easier to use this technique.As for marks form over the last couple of seasons he's living life.( making up is teenage years he deserves it)

[Semih_Sayginer]

Any ideas bout the American rest? It looks like a mixture between a branding iron and a throwing star.... on a stick.

Better picture of a 'Qrite'? (Qrest may have been a better name methinks) Wonder if any high street retailers sell them?

appreciate this was posted a long time ago, but you can get them in quite a lot of high street places now, and online.

[bongo]

AMERICAN POOL RESTS - THE PICTURE SERIES!
Here are the American Pool Rests This is just a test to see if I can do the attachments