Customer Reviews

How Would You Play This?

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

 

 

When I was 10-17 years old, I was an avid pool player. I had a table at my house, and played 10 hours per day. Then college and family interfered and I put away the cue.

Back when I was a kid, I read the only books available then, by Mosconi and Hoppe as I recall.

Now, 40 years later, I bought a 9-ft.table and tried to improve my game. Today there is a plethora of books on pool. I have bought and read, word-by-word, probably 8 books on the subject during the last two years.

This book, however, is in a class by itself. It is a great strategy book. If in reading the book, you read the diagram (while simultaneously blocking the suggested course of action below) and attempt to answer the question: "How would I play this?", it is extremely instructive.

The author is not always right, but he makes you consider the multiple options. This forces you to think.

Of all the books I have read in the last two years, this is the only one which I felt merited a review. I am a straight pool shooter, but this book covers also 8-ball and 9-ball strategy well.

I strongly recommend this book. The other great books I have read are "Advanced Pool", the 99 best shots book, and "Play your Best Straight Pool". All are classics.

Someone suggested also re-reading billiard books. This is very helpful, as retention is limited when evaluating complex strategies and shooting methods. I also enjoy very much my subscription to Billiard Digest. I save the articles.

Spyder (so named because he gets in and out of small spaces)

If you are tired of just shooting at balls hoping for a miracle to happen this will get you in control. World class player Mike Segal once wrote, "Most players do the first thing that comes to mind". This book will change that for you!

I only bought this book for the 9-ball section and was left a little disappointed. The book is aimed more at begineers so in that respect it is OK. I found that some of the diagrams did not really match the shot suggested and there was one mistake on page 106. That said this book is cheap and if you don't just play 9-ball then it could be worth the investment.

I got tired of squinting at the tiny black and white diagrams, with the balls numbered in minute type. As these table diagrams are the entire point of the book, this is a fatal flaw.

This book is about useless to the medium player.. this covers basics and most of the solutions are horrible.. i didnt like it at all.

This book helps me to solve every problems or puzzles I stumbled on every pool table. I apply every topic on this book as a "Shot Making Patterns" on every game I played or watched on live pool hall games or on every sport televised pool games.

On this type of sport any legal shots can win you the game but having the right "Shot Making Patterns" can make you a legend. That is why sometimes sports TV commentators or even fellow players criticized another player on their shot making approach.

Just the sort of book I was looking for, so I was sorely disappointed by the teeny-tiny graphics and lack of cue-ball path-lines. The solids and stripes are designated by number only, there are no stripes on the stripes. And you can barely read the numbers. Diagrams need to be enlarged.

If you have time to copy every page to a larger size and draw the paths, then go for it. Probably a great book. As is, it's only usable if you are a prisoner with plenty of time left on your sentence and a powerful magnifying glass.

Stay away from it too many pictures without good direction on how to play the shots. It just shows balls on the tables no angles with a paragraph below describing the picture.