The Secret
To
Winning Pool
Pool is a game of skill and concentration. Over time, with experience and practice you will ultimately become successful. Proper equipment and alcoholic lubricants help.
I will tell you the great, grand secret I have learned from my vast experiences. But first let us cover the lies told by the "experts."
Seasoned players will tell you there are techniques you must master in order to be propelled to their stratospheric heights of glory and have women swooning when you lean against the table chalking your shaft.
First, they say, is cue ball control. This is the ability to hit the ball sometimes with spin, or English, with the right speed and angle so that it repositions the cue perfectly for the next shot or breaks out a difficult grouping of balls. Wrong! That is for wimps. Difficult shots impress people. Try them.
They will further tell you that the art of the safety wins matches. When facing a difficult shot instead of actually trying to make it you instead try to hide the cue behind other balls in such a way that your opponent cannot get a good hit on their turn and it will be a ball-in-hand foul back to you. Again, what are these people thinking? Only Sissies do that. Go for the shot every time. Be macho.
They'll also say knowledge of table conditions is important. They check and understand things like dead rails, table roll and table speed. They say to take these into consideration on your shot. But everyone knows if you just hit the ball hard enough you don't have to, so why bother?
They will extol the virtue of a patient and repeatable smooth stroke to add consistency to your game. Just whack the ball instead. That way it can go over or through any balls between it and the pocket.
They will talk about other things like learning the diamond system for bank shots and other such podunk things, but it is all poppycock.
I will share with you the benefit of my immense knowledge of the game and tell you now the real secret to winning pool?
Make the damn shot!!
That's right, folks, make the damn shot! If you fail to "Make the damn shot!" then cue ball control, safety play, knowledge of table conditions and the diamond system for shooting bank shots is flushed down the toilet. Repeat this lesson to yourself ten times with anger in your voice - Make the damn shot!
So, there you have it. Once again I have boiled down a complex subject to its simple roots and proven the folly of the so-called experts.
Now, next time you are at the table get mad when you say this just before you stroke? Make the damn shot!
| 
Martel the Marauder
