The 99 Critical Shots in Pool: Everything You Need to Know to Learn and Master the Game Author: Ray Martin | Language: English | ISBN:
0812922417 | Format: EPUB
The 99 Critical Shots in Pool: Everything You Need to Know to Learn and Master the Game Description
From the Inside Flap
Taking a cue from the millions of younger Americans who have recently rediscovered pool, Times Books has revamped and redesigned this classic guide to the sport.
- Series: Other
- Paperback: 220 pages
- Publisher: Random House Puzzles & Games; Revised edition (October 5, 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0812922417
- ISBN-13: 978-0812922417
- Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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.
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