Reddit reviews The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards

99 Critical Shots is overrated and one of the worst books for a beginner in 2018. Before you jump down my throat, remember that being old and popular doesn't make something good.

It was a good book in 1977.

I'll let Bob Jewett point out the issues (page 13). He's much more generous than I am—I honestly don't think 99CS worth reading considering the wealth of other excellent material that's available.

Better books would be Illustrated Principles, Byrne's Standard, and Byrne's Complete Book of Pool Shots. Even PYBP or Science of Pocket Billiards would be better.

99CS is outdated and surviving largely on nostalgia, and personally there is not a single piece of information in the book that I didn't learn better from somewhere else.

Actually it gives some 100% incorrect information at least once, regarding rail shots. I literally had a guy defending it by saying "well beginners won't understand the complicated truth so the (incorrect) rule of thumb is fine." Right then is when I realized that some fools will defend the book because they think they should, rather than on its merits.

Don't be that guy.

Rant: Over

PoSM is easily the best book ever written on the mental game.

Kinda funny, the best and the worst right next to each other.

• Buy some books, sit in a chair, and actually read them.
  
  
• Pay attention to your mistakes. You can't learn from them if you ignore what happened. What went wrong? Did it curve left? Did you twist your cue? Did you jump up? It'll be exhausting to pay attention to so much, but it'll help you learn.
  
  
• Repetition. Shoot as many balls as you can, but remember to pay attention to every shot. Don't half ass them because you're planning on doing 10 in a row.
  
  
• Work on your cueing. Setup the cueball on the spot, shoot it forward as straight as you can, stay down, try to get it back to your cue tip. Analyze what happened after. Did it go left? Why? Did you mishit it or did you accidentally add English? If you're not sure... stroke slower.
  
  
• Work on a routine. Look at the table, step up to the cue ball, eye the object ball, get into your stance, put your bridge down, get over the cue, do your strokes, and fire. You don't have to follow that specific routine, but find one that works for you and stick to it. If you mess up while you're down... get up and do it all over again.
  
  
• More repetition mixed with paying attention. If you're able to do something over and over... try to think about why. If things are going wrong, try to think about why. Make adjustments. You'll be shooting a lot of balls over and over, but that's what it takes.
  
  There are probably some more tips of course, but this could be a good start.

I would recommend you to watch people play snooker/9 ball/8 ball to get a very good knowledge on billiards. Also, look at snooker player's stance to get a sense of what a proper form looks like.

For books, I recommend The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards and Play Your Best Pool. These books will give you the best knowledge on how and why things happen in billiards, such as the spin both balls receive after contact. They also give you the thought process behind pros so you'll gain a lot by supplementing these books with watching professionals. If you're looking for a practice book, Practicing Pool can provide a simple set up of practice. I was a bit disappointed by the book but it can definitely show you how to start practicing.

Go get Dr. Dave's The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards. That's almost all you need to know.


The book will explain the need to get the basics first. After reading the first chapter on getting your form right, you'll need to spend a good amount of time, 50-100 hours, just getting a feel for shooting balls and getting your intuition for the physics. Then read the rest while practicing to understand the deeper parts of the game. You need both practice and theory to be good at the game. I know dozens of players who practice all the time but have never read a book on it, their game would improve immensely if they traded a few hours practicing for reading. But you can read all the books and watch all the videos ever made and without practice you'll still suck.


Compete and learn from other players. Like gotwired said, having a mentor will help a lot.


Lastly, once you get comfortable shooting balls in, you need to focus on cue ball placement to set up for your next shot. When I'm practicing I usually stick to a very simple game that helps with ball placement: place 4 balls randomly on the table, take ball in hand with the cue ball (meaning put it in the most advantageous spot to start off), and try to make all the balls on the table in order from lowest to highest. Making 4 balls in a row is an achievable goal but you are forced to plan out exactly how to hit the cue to set up for the next couple shots. This habit is crucial to getting good at the game.