whats the best book

I recommend the 8 Ball Bible if you are wanting to learn some great barbox 8 ball.

99 Critical shots is always a winner!


I don't take any of the books I have to the poolroom.. Cant let anyone there know what I know

Mark Wilson's Play Great Pool is the best, hands down. If you are willing to dedicate yourself to it, you can become as good as you want to be.

I got a lot from Mastering Pool by George Fels. Go ahead and look like a dweeb. Nobody cares but you.

I think the Beards first 2 books are top notch. The only 2 I've kept out of all the ones I've had.
But illustrated principals of pool is pretty good.
I don't have Mark's book yet but planning on getting a copy soon.

99 Critical shots

IMO as far as learning shots I have to say Robert Byrnes volumes 1 and 2. Same concept as 99 critical shots, but better. Of course most pool junkies end up with all of them anyway.

Byrnes comes in DVD as well and better still

99 Critical shots.

99 critical shots and Mark's new book. together they are great!

Mark Wilson's book, hands down. Great drills in his book as well.

I personally benefited a great deal from Phil Cappelle's Play your best pool.

nobcitypool said:

Mark Wilson's book, hands down. Great drills in his book as well.

Click to expand...

What book would this be? Would somebody mind posting a link? Thanks in advance!

J.S.

http://playgreatpool.com/InstructionBook.aspx

Mark is one of the top pool instructors in the country and this is his life's work put into one book. It's a bit pricey but covers the fundamentals in complete detail and reads like a textbook on pool. I wish I could have had it when I started pool, then I wouldn't have wasted years picking up all those bad habits.

Is marks book more for the beginner or more for the advanced player?
I looked at the web page & it looks like a lot of nice diagrams, which I like.
Is it mostly about training exercises?
How many pages?

cajunbarboxplyr said:

I recommend the 8 Ball Bible if you are wanting to learn some great barbox 8 ball.

99 Critical shots is always a winner!


I don't take any of the books I have to the poolroom.. Cant let anyone there know what I know

Click to expand...

99 Critical Shots was my favorite.

99 Critical Shots

trinacria said:

99 critical shots is a good book, but its directed at 14.1. it seems. I guess 14.1 is usable in all facets of the game. what about for the advanced player??

Click to expand...

You didn't specify for advanced player in your original question. You mentioned to advance your play and drills.

The reason I liked the Byrnes books over 99 critical shots was purely in the interest of the beginner. 99 book is an outstanding resource book and refresher book for the intermediate player, but for the beginner, who understands very little and disects the graphics in the book to see the shots, the graphics are terrible.

Whomever was the illustrator in 99 shots did that book an unfortunate injustice by scaling the table layouts so badly out of proportion, that the true beginner only ends up confused with examples of balls that don't pass other balls and angles that portray misinformation.

For those of us that understand the concepts being shown, it is practically unnoticeable, but for the beginner, the illustrations are very poor at best.

Not to detract from Rays content when I say this, because his may be the most complete in that regard, but nevertheless, for a true beginner I'd not recommend it as my first choice.

As far as an advanced player goes, I believe the game is far more cerebral than mechanical or physical. In that respect, The Inner Game of Tennis, Pleasures of Small Motions, and an extremely high dose of straight pool would be my suggestions.

You may go through these books:
1. Play Your Best Pool by Philip B. Capelle
2. The 99 Critical Shots in Pool: Everything You Need to Know to Learn and Master the Game (Other) by Raymond Martin
3. Byrne's New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards by Robert Byrne

Depending on the level of play you are talking about, in 1978 when George Fels published Mastering Pool, he sent me a copy. I had inquired about the book through the now defunct National Billiard News. Made the biggest change in my game at that point in time. It's still considered to be a classic instructional. Somewhat before or after, 99 Critical Shots.

Pushout said:

Depending on the level of play you are talking about, in 1978 when George Fels published Mastering Pool, he sent me a copy. I had inquired about the book through the now defunct National Billiard News. Made the biggest change in my game at that point in time. It's still considered to be a classic instructional. Somewhat before or after, 99 Critical Shots.

Click to expand...

I agree with this completely. Although I received my copy of "Mastering Pool" much, much later than Pushout, my copy is very worn, tabbed (with post-it notes) and still referenced from time to time.

If you want to practice your banks, any of Freddy the Beard's books (e.g. "Banking with the Beard," "Banks that Don't Go but Do," "The GosPool," etc.) are must-haves in your collection.

In the case of paperback versions of those books, here's a tip -- take them to your local Staples, Office Max, or other office supply store, have the glued spine spliced off, and replaced with spiral binding so it lays flat on the table. It's well worth the additional cost to do this, because you can work on shots without looking like a dweeb at the table (as the OP of this thread wants to avoid).

-Sean