Are there any free online carom training programs online?

Straightpool_99

Straightpool_99

I see dead balls
Silver Member
Hello everybody! I've recently gotten interested in carom billiards, having played mostly pocket billiards for 14 years. An older gentleman has been teaching me some standard shots, and has been very generous with his time, but I am looking for something a bit more structured, in the form of a training program online.

A few years ago I found a German program, that I can't seem to find now, with lots of gather shots etc. for straight rail and balkline. I can read English, German and Scandinavian languages, but my French is very bad. I have found some French resources but I can't properly utilize them, so I prefer the other languages.

I might buy a book or video later, but right now I'm looking into what is available for free. I would be grateful for any tips you could give me.:smile: Also, even though my goal is eventually to learn 3-cushion, for the time being I'm more interested in the small games. Instruction in the small games is very hard to come by here, as most "carom-guys" are playing 3c.

My second question is about cues. At the moment I am using a very stiff poolcue as my carom cue, but I will eventually buy a proper carom cue. Some of the guys playing have specialized cues for the different diciplines etc. What kind of cue type/weight would be the best allround kind for all games? What type of taper?
 
thebark said:
go to youtube.com there are many videos posted of shots and systems.
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Thanks. Yes I've found some videos that were somewhat helpful (always in French or Spanish, though). It would be nice to understand what they were actually saying without looking up words and worrying about misunderstanding. For instance this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5I3LngXXiA
I'd love to ask this guy some questions, like why does he "dig down" so much on his draw strokes, and why is his bridge so short?

This guys videos are the best I have found so far, yet I would love to see a diagram showing the english used etc:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzOqYodQBY4
 
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The response...

"Are there any free online carom training programs online?"

No Sir, but I am sure that there can possibly be a carom table somewhere around your area that you can spend hundreds of precious practice hours on... :idea2:
 
SlickRick_PCS said:
"Are there any free online carom training programs online?"

No Sir, but I am sure that there can possibly be a carom table somewhere around your area that you can spend hundreds of precious practice hours on... :idea2:
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I don't know if a thank you is in order here. Thank you for your interest, I guess.As a matter of fact there are 5 carom tables at my nearest pool hall. I don't want to spend my time there mindlessly banging balls around until I get good (or most likely not). I allready did that for the first few years of playing pocket billiards. It is not an effective way to learn, and improvement was slow. When I started practicing drills and in a structured fashion my development started gaining speed.

I will take your advice under consideration.
 
straightpool99 ,

about "small games"/balkline/straight rail basis, here is a link to the english version of Xavier Gretillat (partially translated ) :

http://www.xaviergretillat.com/livre/an_bref_historique.html

see the menu, at left , clic on the titles of the threads , you'll display the book's page in english.

excellent book, free to read online. The english translation isn't fully completed , but better than nothing, hummm ? ;)
 
erriep said:
straightpool99 ,

about "small games"/balkline/straight rail basis, here is a link to the english version of Xavier Gretillat (partially translated ) :

http://www.xaviergretillat.com/livre/an_bref_historique.html

see the menu, at left , clic on the titles of the threads , you'll display the book's page in english.

excellent book, free to read online. The english translation isn't fully completed , but better than nothing, hummm ? ;)
Click to expand...

Thank you very much!:)
 
Straightpool_99 said:
... I might buy a book or video later, but right now I'm looking into what is available for free. ...
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Well, OK, but Byrne's New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards is available for $3 (plus shipping) from the usual suspects and it is the best introduction in English to 3-cushion billiards. There are a lot of very clearly drawn diagrams in it for specific kinds of shots. You could try each one.
 
Thank you to all that have helped me so far! You carom guys sure are a friendly bunch!:) The links I've been given so far have been very, very good and I recommend all to check them out! Thank you to the people who sent me helpful pm's as well. You know who you are!:)
 
http://wbpb.blogspot.co.uk/

Is the Weingartner Billiard Program, sounds like the program you mentioned in you OP.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmUcvQ4Z5tNSybexEkx99lg/videos

Instruction in I think Korean, but each mini lecture starts with blackboard instruction before the demonstrations, managed to understand a lot of it without speaking the language, and most of the number systems are in english.

Four Ball caroms is a good game to start with, in that you have an extra ball to use for more options.

To get used to follow shots, make an imaginary rectange say half a diamond away from a cushion going all the way around the table, you can place cue ball anywhere on the imaginary line each shot ball in hand.

You can practice caroms on a pool table if the cue ball and other balls are the same weight. Break open a rack of any number of balls you choose, ball in hand each shot and score by caroming off a ball into a pocket to score. Try and keep track of the longest runs you can make without missing.

There is also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_pool, a hybrid of pool and carom.
 
Gollo said:
http://wbpb.blogspot.co.uk/

Is the Weingartner Billiard Program, sounds like the program you mentioned in you OP.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmUcvQ4Z5tNSybexEkx99lg/videos

Instruction in I think Korean, but each mini lecture starts with blackboard instruction before the demonstrations, managed to understand a lot of it without speaking the language, and most of the number systems are in english.

Four Ball caroms is a good game to start with, in that you have an extra ball to use for more options.

To get used to follow shots, make an imaginary rectange say half a diamond away from a cushion going all the way around the table, you can place cue ball anywhere on the imaginary line each shot ball in hand.

You can practice caroms on a pool table if the cue ball and other balls are the same weight. Break open a rack of any number of balls you choose, ball in hand each shot and score by caroming off a ball into a pocket to score. Try and keep track of the longest runs you can make without missing.

There is also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_pool, a hybrid of pool and carom.
Click to expand...

The first one is not the same as the one I saw, but it looks really interesting. Thank you! :)

Haven't looked closely into the Korean vids, but I will. Looks interesting and comprehensive. There are some Asian players who play 4 ball caroms at my pool hall now and again, but they are not really serious players. They have a lot of fun with it though!

Practicing carom on a pool table is better than nothing and can be fun, but the larger balls and faster cloth on a carom table makes a big difference. I am still surprised sometimes by the action of the cue ball on the carom table and I'm struggling with the power draws with the larger cue ball, it's like I can't get as much action on the ball as I can on the pool table. Also my current cue is a pool cue, which is not exactly ideal for the game. Need an upgrade soon.

Again thank you for your links and input.:thumbup:
 
Your welcome, glad to help.

Need any help with the korean vids pm me and I'll see if I understand what it means.
 
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