Customer Reviews

Advanced Pool

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm your regular pool player aficionado. I've been playing the game for a few years now and I'm still mesmerized by the tremendous simplicity of its complexity. How difficult can be using a stick to hit a ball that in turn will hit a second ball and drive it to a pocket? Yet, when you see a good pool player doing just that, time after time, game after game, you might be inspired to wonder how far you can progress in this fascinating game.

After reading just a few pages of Mr. Fels' book, Advance Pool: Techniques and Strategies for Mastering the Game, I went to my favorite pool hall and applied a few of his suggestions and advice. To my astonishment, I saw myself pocketing balls more often and with much more cue-ball control.

Of course, when you read: "The softest possible hit that will accomplish the various objectives of any given pool shot is the best possible hit", you know you have to pay attention. Mr. Fels' guidance is subtle but profound, just like the game of pool. No matter how skilful you are at billiards, I believe in this book you will find something that'll make your game better and, perhaps more important, much more enjoyable.

Do you know the name of the first person to say, " I feel like I am behind the eight ball again.?" No, well neither do I, but now that I have your attention, I would like to tell you about a book writen by George Fels. The title of the book is "Advanced Pool: Techniques and Strategies for Mastering The Game." This book dealt not only with the physical elements of the game, it also stressed the importance of the mental aspects of the game as well. Most of the books writen about pool point out the obvious aspects of the game such as the use of English to make the cue ball move to a favorable position for the next shot. Getting the best position to make the next ball should ultimately lead to winning the game. Indeed position play is very important in the game of pool. Mr. Fel's book points out that getting position is as much a mental process as a physical process. I urge you to read this book. It is writen in a style which is easy to understand. It also contains many graphics to illustrate the situtation being discussed. The next time you are behind the eight ball, just remember you are not the first person to be in that spot, and you will not be the last. If you read this book and apply the advice given in it's pages you will surely be playing at the top of your game

This truly is a great book on the topic, and one of the best books I've ever read covering pool. It does cover mostly straight pool (aka 14.1 continuous); however, those topics spill over to one pocket, bank-shot games, and even 8-ball and 9-ball. If you are just learning pool (i.e. less than 500 hours at a table), do not buy this book. You will be disappointed because of your limited experience as a player. If you are just learning, I suggest "99 Critical Shots in Pool" by Ray Martin. For novice and intermediate players, 99 can help players immensely. Also, 99 is written in a fun, creative way. This book is not fun; however, if you are an advanced player (i.e. pool most-likely isn't "fun" any longer), you can learn a great deal about the game from this book from its great diagrams and great explanations. This is a book that you can read about 10-15 pages and then you have to set it down to absorb what you just read.

In my opinion a great book about playing pool.
George explains in a funny, pedagogic and easy to understand way how to master the game of pool. Gives concrete hints on what to think about in your game, specially the nine "whenever possibles" and the way of thinking about the balls in a straight pool game: A,B,C and D balls where the A-balls are potable balls, B-balls gets potable when the A-balls are potted, C-balls are the balls you have to break up and for that you use the D-balls. Understand? read the book!
I have learned a lot from this book and still do. It's the only book that i have read over and over again. George has a way of writing that never gets boring or uninteresting.
Most of the book concentrates on straight pool but there's also chapters on nine-ball and 8-ball that is very learnful.
If compared to "the straight pool bible"(don't remember the author) this book beats it with horse lenghts.
I'll soon buy some more books by George, hope they are as good as this one.
Kai Parviainen, Sweden

Mostly straight pool strategy. Not what I was looking for.

This book offers SUPERB insights into crossing 1 or 2 rack limits to breaks in straight pool. From ambitious novice to excellent player, you can learn a LOT by scanning a few pages. Straight pool, more than 8 or 9 ball, is a mental game and Fels does a marvellous and thorough job of explaining it.

As a student of the game of pool, I've had the opportunity to read several books on advanced pool. However, this one stunk so bad, I had to do my first review to save the rest of you from my mistake. Trust me folks, this one is for the trash can. It lacks substance, insight, and might be a bargain at $.99. If you're interested in learning valueable information, getting your moneys worth, and not waisting your time...pick up a copy of Byrne's "Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards."