Bridge forearm - on or off table....

B

benny2

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Firstly, I'm a newbie at trying to develop a decent pool game. Got my table delivered yesterday and commenced to get my butt kicked 9/3 games of 8 ball.
While practicing a little while ago, I tried putting a slight bend in my bridge forearm and relaxing it on the table while shooting. I felt like it drastically improved my stroke and my aim.
How do you position your bridge arm? What are your thoughts on this? Any problems I should be aware of?

Thanks for your input,
Ben
 
I'm not an instructor, but my two cents are "forearm" off the table, but the palm of your hand should be on the table to stabliize your bridge. This is assuming your out in the middle of the table with no rails in the way.

I just found this photo in the member galleries, but it kind of exemplifies what I was trying to say.

Torvaldinterpoolopen.jpg


DJ
 
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Arm relaxed, elbow bent, and forearm resting on the table. The extra surface area helps to stabilize your balance and cements your bridge hand down. The only time you make an effort to keep the forearm off the table is if you are standing up for an elevated shot or bridging over a ball.

Plynsets, if you look closely at the picture you posted, the player is resting his elbow on the rail. If he was further away from the rail, dollars to donuts says that forearm would be on the table.:)
 
A few more...
 

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On the other hand...
 

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renard said:
A few more...
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the problem with those is that they are all reaching, they need thier bridge to be as far away from them as possible and to manage that they must have thier arm perfectly straight
 
renard said:
On the other hand...
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Those pics you included, most are bridging over the rail or a ball. Awkward positions. If you look at the pic of Ortmann, there's a ball directly beneath his elbow. The women, well they have breasts to contend with. The last one just looks unnatural.
 

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benny2 said:
Firstly, I'm a newbie at trying to develop a decent pool game. Got my table delivered yesterday and commenced to get my butt kicked 9/3 games of 8 ball.
While practicing a little while ago, I tried putting a slight bend in my bridge forearm and relaxing it on the table while shooting. I felt like it drastically improved my stroke and my aim.
How do you position your bridge arm? What are your thoughts on this? Any problems I should be aware of?

Thanks for your input,
Ben
Click to expand...

I think my pictures speak for themselves. Not every situation dictates that you will be able to put your forearm on the table. I'd bet that the perfect situation to put your forearm down is less than half the time you are shooting. Watch some video's of the pro's, that should give you the answer your looking for.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6819066532392643964&q=billiards
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=653458578924703745&q=billiards
 
benny2 said:
... How do you position your bridge arm? What are your thoughts on this? Any problems I should be aware of?...
Click to expand...
When I'm thinking about it, I try to keep my bridge arm straight. It makes my stance feel more solid, since it fixed the distance between my bridge and my shoulder, thus anchoring my upper body. On the other hand, at snooker the standard is to plant the elbow on the table. This also anchors the upper body, but with a shorter anchor. The problem with that arm position for pool is that the elbow often wants to be where balls are.

The main goal is to make your body position as consistent and stable as possible, with comfort as a secondary goal.
 
My theory is that the more stable your bridge, no matter how you form it, the better your odds of a good shot. According to the rules, of course...
But then, I'm only a recreational banger...
 
I find that if I bend my elbow I get into trouble. I am much more consistent with a straight elbow that is off the table with most shots. Then again, I am no pro.
 
I think Bob has nailed it for me. My arm will be straight most of the time but having played a lot of snooker I do have a tendency to rest my elbow on the table.

If I'm close to a rail or ball though I tend to raise my elbow up quite a bit. My regular playing partner says he hates to see me do this, because I rarely miss when I do it! It does look somewhat grotesque though!
 
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