Best pool learning books?
- Thread starter Dwalk70
- Start date
Pleasure of Small Motions is good. Inner Tennis is one of best sports psych. books ever written. Applies to about any game/sport. Banking With the Beard is a good bank tutorial.
xX-Wizard-Xx
Well-known member
Robert Bryne books are great
Watch all of Dr. Dave's videos, and read the stuff on his website. Then get to a table and practice each concept.
I have Phil Cappelle's book on 14.1, and it's terrible. I imagine his other books are the same.
Are you kidding?!
Phil Capelle’s,
“Play Your Best Straight Pool” is 380 pages of clear, concise instruction that’s been broken down into bite-sized elements for beginner to expert level straight-pool players.
And his “Break Shot Patterns- How to Close 14.1 Racks Like A Pro” gives the secrets of the old masters and even diagrams situations for the reader that would take years to learn on your own.
I’m guessing that ‘reading’ instruction for you is more difficult for you to absorb & utilize than ‘watching’ instruction- but dogging Capelle’s writings cause you don’t get it, is absurd.
-CP
Yep. Comprehension is a fast-fading art. PC's stuff is really good.
I have to admit I didn't read the whole book. After slogging through the first 50 pages, I abandoned the book. Here is one of the passages I read:
I really found tip 4 to be insightful. I didn't know that a wide variety of shots would continue to show up over and over again while playing 14.1. I was under the impression that learning two shots would be enough.
And, tip 3 was invaluable. I would have never thought to do that.
There could be 10 pages of valuable information in the book, but I wasn't intending to wade through 300+ pages of
to find them. But, if you insist. I like books!
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I think this book is great!
Billiards as it should be played
By Hoppe
By Hoppe
Byrne has five books about how to play. You might also get his books "McGoorty" and "Great Pool Stories". The books are:
New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards
Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards (collection of columns from Billiards Digest, revised)
Wonderful World of Pool and Billiards (collection....)
Treasury of Trick Shots (learning the skill shots will make you a much better player)
Complete Book of Pool Shots (I think this one has the least useful info for playing but is certain to have some shots new to you.)
I like Byrne's books because they are clear, concise, and very well illustrated. They are also funny in places.
He also covers areas other authors never touch, such as his profiles of players and people who had a big influence on the game. I think everyone should have some idea of who Walter Lindrum was since he was perhaps the best cueman who ever lived. One of his chapters is how to argue for a pool room to the City Council.
![CropperCapture[876].png](https://forums.azbilliards.com/attachments/croppercapture-876-png.627781/ "CropperCapture[876].png")
New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards
Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards (collection of columns from Billiards Digest, revised)
Wonderful World of Pool and Billiards (collection....)
Treasury of Trick Shots (learning the skill shots will make you a much better player)
Complete Book of Pool Shots (I think this one has the least useful info for playing but is certain to have some shots new to you.)
I like Byrne's books because they are clear, concise, and very well illustrated. They are also funny in places.
He also covers areas other authors never touch, such as his profiles of players and people who had a big influence on the game. I think everyone should have some idea of who Walter Lindrum was since he was perhaps the best cueman who ever lived. One of his chapters is how to argue for a pool room to the City Council.
It depends a lot on your level of ability and what you are interested in improving.
In general, Robert Byrne's books are great (the Standard Book, New Stanard Book and Advanced Techniques). So is Ray Martin's 99 Critical shots. There are good reasons why these books are recommended so often. Play Great Pool (Wilson) is excellent. Also very good are all of Phil Cappelle's books, but those are more detailed and focus on certain games over others.
And then there are books more oriented towards specific games. This isn't a comprehensive list by any means, but the ones I would start with are:
- 8-Ball: Play Your Best Eight Ball (Cappelle), The Eight Ball Bible (Givens), The 8-Ball Handbook for Winners (Schwartz)
- 9-Ball/10-Ball: Cappelle, Upscale Nine-Ball (Koehler).
- One Pocket: Koehler's Upscale One-Pocket is an excellent starter, to be followed up by Controlled Aggression (Wirth), Shots, Moves & Strategies and Winning One Pocket (both by Robin and expensive).
- Straight Pool: I haven't read many books on this game, but I found The Straight Pool Bible (Cranfield & Moy) to be pretty good, if not a little basic.
- Trick shots: Byrne has a great one here too, Mike Massey's World of Trick Shots
- the mental game: Pleasures of Small Motions (Fancher), Inner Game of Tennis (Gallwey).
And then if you want to build on that, there are many excellent instructional books on snooker and the carom games that have a lot that can be applied to pool games.
Happy reading!
As a beginner, the only source of info I had was Willie Mosconi's brief book, "Winning Pocket Billiards". Since I was learning to play as I read it, and I had no one who could explain the complicated parts, like drawing the ball, I had to read through it three or four times before I finally understood most of what was in it. (The book is 140 pages in a small format and with lots of pictures and diagrams.)
I really wish I had found a good coach at that time, but they didn't exist.
What has already been recommended is all good, but likely information overload for the OP. I would suggest trying each new idea on the table and see if it works and if it is useful. Don't simply read through any book. Use it as a workbook. If you hit bumps, seek out someone who can explain the problem.
I really wish I had found a good coach at that time, but they didn't exist.
What has already been recommended is all good, but likely information overload for the OP. I would suggest trying each new idea on the table and see if it works and if it is useful. Don't simply read through any book. Use it as a workbook. If you hit bumps, seek out someone who can explain the problem.
Good recommendations. "Complete Snooker" includes the contents of his two previous books, "How I Play Snooker" and "Advanced Snooker". Joe Davis understood "contact induced throw" when most players were sure that there was no such thing.
I recommend Mark Wilson’s “Play Great Pool” and another book I really liked back in the 70s when I was in HS is the book in the link below by a Snooker champion from back in the 50s, named Horace Lindrum.
www.biblio.com
Horace lindrum39s Snooker Billiards by Lindrum Horace - Biblio
Browse available copies of Horace lindrum39s Snooker Billiards by Lindrum Horace for the best in savings on new & used books