The 99 Critical Shots in Pool: Everything You Need to Know to Learn and Master the Game

Got what you paid for. It was well worth it. I bought this item for my boyfriend. It’s not in bad shape.

If you are looking for a good book for beginners, this isn't it. This book is all about making a good pool player better. It assumes a basic knowledge of pool has already been established. If you're a beginner, check out Ewa Mataya Laurance's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pool & Billiards." It's a great straight-forward book to get you started right. But if you're already a pretty good pool player and want to add some great shots to your game, I highly recommend "The 99 Critical Shots in Pool."The book is not without it's drawbacks. This is a 220 page book. Of that, 50 pages are devoted to The Official Rules and Glossary of Terms. An additional 25 pages skim the basics of shooting form, etc. That leaves only 145 pages for the meat of the book, the 99 critical shots. Of the 99 shots, 22 are devoted to break shots for straight pool. If, like me, you play only 8-ball and 9-ball, then this book should be called "The 77 Critical Shots in Pool" because you'll never use the other 22. So, for me, this 220 page book has only 107 useful pages.The format of the shots section is great. Each shot includes a diagram of the whole table layout, a diagram of the cue ball showing exactly where to strike it to impart the draw, follow or English, and a text description of the shot. As others have pointed out, the text refers to a black ball (the object ball) and gray balls (all other balls), yet they are indistinguishable in the diagrams; they both look black. This is an annoyance, but does not keep you from understanding the author's intentions. Between the text description and the lines indicating the ball paths, I was always able to determine which ball was the object ball.If I still had my own pool table, I would have this book sitting right next to it. I'd study a single shot in this book and then practice it until I had mastered it. Then, when I'd mastered that shot, I'd proceed to the next shot and so forth. That would be the most effective way to use the book. Unfortunately, I have to go to a pool hall to practice. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to be seen reading a book about pool at the pool hall. So I have to study several shots and then practice them there from memory. Obviously, there's no substitute for practice. This book shows you WHAT to practice. Having told you that I only found 107 pages (77 shots) useful, you might get the impression that this book's not worth buying. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of those 77 shots, probably at least half were shots that I had either never even considered or had never fully mastered. You only have to add a few new shots to your game to make this book well worth the price. Buy it!

I have always been pretty good at making difficult cut shots, but always remained average overall. I knew position play was the answer to improve, but where the cue ball would wind up after a shot was a complete mystery. Not after reading this wonderful guide. Where position was a mystery, this book has the answers. Now, instead of having to make difficult shots, I simply leave myself easy shots. Also, the book examines interplay among balls which has given me a foundation upon which I will continually grow.

I just started playing pool and this book has been very helpful. The points the author makes are clear and useful. By studying this book pool becomes a much more familiar game because you recognize the shots in your games from shots in the book. Also, I've found that except for really advanced players, most other players don't know about a vast majority of the shots detailed in the bookI don't understand the reviewer who commented that the book contradicts physics. While the ball behavior may not be obvious to a pool novice, every shot I have tried from the book "works". The bottom line is that I bought the book, studied it and improved my game. What more do you want from a pool book?

"Cool Cat" Martin teams up with master courseware author Rosser Reeves to bring every pool player below the masters level a beautfully written, organized, and illustrated book on pocket billiards. We learn about the table, about cuesticks and their care, about postures, stances, and strokes, all illustrated by photographs, some reworked to emphasize the point. Here we can study the rules for more pool games than you have heard of and review new terms in the glossary. The heart of the book, however, are the title's 99 critical shots. The first of these is the bugbear of every once-a-fortnight player who stakes a beer on her game--the cut shot. No help Martin says but just to set up the table with easy shots and keep making them until your body takes over from your mind and makes it happen right! The other 98 shots are fascinating excursions, each one illustrated by one or more diagrams, into the psychology of billiard balls and why they roll where they do. We learn about English and throw, nip shots, shots with frozen balls and how easy they are to make even in combination. Martin speaks in tongues: what are "Cheat the Pocket" "Semi-Masse' shots? For me, the dessert was having unlocked secrets even my Dad couldn't explain: the diamond system and how to use it to make bank shots. Practice the shots in an empty hall away from your usual haunts and I guarantee you'll need to swear off free beer on Saturday nights. Hustler