The Game of Loop
by Bob Jewett Do you have an uncanny knack for scratching from every position imaginable? Here’s a game that turns that disability into a game-winning skill. The game of Loop — pool spelled backwards — is simple. Just scratch object balls off the white ball — we better not call it the cue ball because it is [...]
Power Follow Shots
by: Bob Jewett – San Francisco Billiard Academy, www.sfbilliards.com Last time we were practicing follow shots with the cue ball frozen to the cushion. That’s the sort of shot that it’s easy to do badly because the cushion interferes with your bridge and your elevation. For that shot you need to pay special attention to [...]
Playing Off the Rail
by Bob Jewett Last time I urged you to master a shot that requires maximum spin. This month, the problem is to avoid side spin. Shot 1 is a common problem for most players — you need to hit the object ball nearly full and get out to the middle of the table and the shot is [...]
Maximum Spin
by Bob Jewett Do you want to play like Efren Reyes? Previously, I’ve urged you to keep things as simple as possible. A recent column had you practicing shots with just a rolling cue ball — no side spin, draw or slide. I’d like to add to that idea something from Albert Einstein: “Make things [...]
Owning The Shot
by Bob Jewett Do you ever come up against a shot which is easy enough to make but you have no feel for how you’re going to get position? When that happens to you, it’s a great clue as to what you have to practice. Here’s an example. The 15 ball is one diamond from [...]
Going for Gold
by Bob Jewett Here is a drill that is both useful to perfect your use of side spin and is a good test of how the cushions work. Try a few shots like this if you have to play on a table that is strange to you. Put the one ball a diamond from each cushion [...]
Raising Your Sights
by Bob Jewett A common piece of advice around pool tables is that you have to play better players to get better yourself. While I’m sure playing tough competition helps your game, I think watching top players is nearly as useful. I remember the first big tournament I went to that had players like Steve Mizerak, Jersey Red and Luther [...]
Stun Shots
Stun Shots (published in the September Issue 2009) In my last article, I asked you to work really hard on one of the simplest shots on the table — the stop shot. Your homework was to try to shoot stop shots nearly perfectly with no spin and with no movement on the cue ball after [...]
Perfecting Stop Shots
Perfecting Stop Shots (published in the August 2009 issue) In my last column, I gave the answer to the stop shot puzzle from two columns ago. Two readers, Matt Hiatt and Bryce Leong turned in answers too late to acknowledge last time. Both found the solution using stripes. Playing a stop shot is the simplest [...]
Bob Jewett
Limited Banks by Bob Jewett A lot of learning to play pool is finding your own limits, but you also need to know the limits of the equipment you are playing on. You may have plenty of draw on new cloth with a standard cue ball, but go to a table with old, sticky cloth [...]
