Can you elaborate on that? That can't be easy to do! I'm right-handed and right-eye dominant, and I shoot with both eyes open. Do you close one eye or just kind of shift your attention?
Do you shoot ambidextrously?
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Can you elaborate on that? That can't be easy to do! I'm right-handed and right-eye dominant, and I shoot with both eyes open. Do you close one eye or just kind of shift your attention?
So, shooting up and down the table do a lot of players switch between Left and Right hand shooting, or do most players always shoot only with their dominant hand?
I've been switching between left and right (and drilling left and right) and it seems to be working for me fairly well, even though I'm not ambidextrous. Is this common practice, or maybe a mistake?
Thoughts?k:
Yes, I am ambidextrous...but only with my right hand.
I feel about the same way. I can bowl with either hand. I have averaged over 200 left handed and over 180 left handed at the same time in different leagues.
Pool is completely different for me though. I play left handed. I never shoot right handed. I really mean I never shoot right handed. Most of the time I play on a bar box and I am tall and I play with a 65 inch cue. I can reach anything on the table. When I do move to a larger table I will just use the bridge. I am fairly comfortable with it and it doesnt slow me down one bit.
When I shoot right handed, my left eye is the eye that is directly over the shaft.
When I switch to my left hand for a shot, I will shut my left eye, and make sure my right eye is the eye directly over the shaft.
It is easy to do actually, as long as you are conscious of it.
But there are plenty of times I've missed the right handed shot immediately after my left handed shot, because I forgot to switch back to the other eye, and the shot didn't "feel" right.
Anyway, that's what I do. Dunno if it will help as everyone is different.
But that's what works for me.
And in case you are wondering how well I was capable of playing opposite handed, back when I actually played a lot and had designated practice days for my opposite hand, I could break and run a few racks of 9ball and 8ball in a row, and a put together decent runs in 14.1.
Im not talking about making the occasional duck cut shot in the corner from a foot away because I didn't want to get the bridge.
I could actually play the game opposite handed.
But those days are long gone.
When I first got my start in the strip club industry (DJ, not dancer. lol) I worked the early shift that didn't have much in the way of early business. I played pool with myself to pass the time and, to make it interesting, started playing left vs right.
I just did it for fun, but it's been a handy skill to have over the years. I also sometimes play left handed against folks who aren't regular pool players to even the odds a bit. I'm no deadeye dick left handed, but I do ok.
I just did it for fun, but it's been a handy skill to have over the years. I also sometimes play left handed against folks who aren't regular pool players to even the odds a bit. I'm no deadeye dick left handed, but I do ok.
Thanks for that, I'll try it! So far, I've been moving my head up higher off the cue and looking at the shot from multiple angles like a bird - sounds like the piece I needed!
Working on it
Id like to be able to and Im working on it.
Id like to be able to and Im working on it.
So, shooting up and down the table do a lot of players switch between Left and Right hand shooting, or do most players always shoot only with their dominant hand?
I've been switching between left and right (and drilling left and right) and it seems to be working for me fairly well, even though I'm not ambidextrous. Is this common practice, or maybe a mistake?
Thoughts?
Thanks for that, I'll try it! So far, I've been moving my head up higher off the cue and looking at the shot from multiple angles like a bird - sounds like the piece I needed!
Just mirror what you do normally, with the opposite hand.
If your right eye is over the cue when shooting righty, make sure the left is over it when shooting lefty.
I have a friend I played pool with for a year or so who played left handed. One day he was playing me right handed out of the blue and shooting as good as he did left handed. I never saw or noticed him flip playing before.
I was puzzled and asked him what was up. He smiled and told me he can shoot ( and pretty well I add ) ether left or right and was in a slump right handed about the time we started playing and wen't left exclusively for a year or so and had done that in the past then gone back right.
I said BS. I was improving and he did not like loosing and he was better shooting with his natural right hand. Now when we play he flips back and forth and I cannot tell much difference in his game which ever way he shoots. We play pretty even now.
To me it's a big advantage if you can pull it off. He never grabs a bridge and gets shape with both left and right. It's such a smooth transaction and natural for him tough to notice unless you are really paying attention.
Best rolls,
-Kat,
I was puzzled and asked him what was up. He smiled and told me he can shoot ( and pretty well I add ) ether left or right and was in a slump right handed about the time we started playing and wen't left exclusively for a year or so and had done that in the past then gone back right.
I said BS. I was improving and he did not like loosing and he was better shooting with his natural right hand. Now when we play he flips back and forth and I cannot tell much difference in his game which ever way he shoots. We play pretty even now.
To me it's a big advantage if you can pull it off. He never grabs a bridge and gets shape with both left and right. It's such a smooth transaction and natural for him tough to notice unless you are really paying attention.
Best rolls,
-Kat,
While this could work, it is not necessary for me. I shoot with either hand and keep my cue under my dominant left eye for both sides.
No i don't use a system,its by feel only.
I do whenever I have the opportunity. I've been getting better at it but it's still not as strong as my right hand. I can hit a lot of simple shots and have decent english control with it. I couldn't break with it though.
Whenever there's an opportunity in the game, I'll try the left hand instead of a bridge or behind the back sort of thing.
I also like to do it because it helps me better understand what it's like to explain pool to someone else. It's not as natural feeling so it's similar to what someone else would be feeling when learning to shoot.
Whenever there's an opportunity in the game, I'll try the left hand instead of a bridge or behind the back sort of thing.
I also like to do it because it helps me better understand what it's like to explain pool to someone else. It's not as natural feeling so it's similar to what someone else would be feeling when learning to shoot.
As a lot of people have already posted, every pool player should have the opposite handed shot in his bag of tricks.
Bridges are not always available or preferable.
I shoot about 80% as good with my left hand as I do with my right hand.
Bridges are not always available or preferable.
I shoot about 80% as good with my left hand as I do with my right hand.
My main objection to using a bridge stick is I am not able to use a pendulum stroke which is easy to master if you practice playing pool opposite handed. The bridge changes the stroke motion and feel and it just seems unnatural compared with my pendulum stroke that's been practiced and perfected over tens of thousands of hours of playing time.
Now don't go inferring I am claiming to have a perfect pool stroke......not what I wrote nor meant. What I meant was my stroke is as good as I can get it and maybe you'd rate it a c or d but let's not get off track. My point is a pendulum swing just feels natural whereas the bridge is more akin to a jabbing motion even while striving to use a stroking motion. The bridge stick changes the stroke into an imbalanced swing with more forward movement and minimal back swing. It just doesn't feel as natural without the shaft being in my bridge hand feeling the slide of the shaft plus I am not in my normal shooting stance and the sight plane looks much more odd. The shooting platform just sucks compared to using a pendulum stroke where I am able to move and control the cue ball shooting pool with either hand.
Is a closed bridge better than an open bridge? Is playing opposite handed rather than relying on the bridge all the time better? Both questions have no right or wrong answer because it is entirely a personal decision and when you think one approach isn't as well suited for your game versus the other, it's all that matters unless you change your way of thinking........being able to play opposite handed adds versatility to one's pool game in my opinion.
Matt B.
Now don't go inferring I am claiming to have a perfect pool stroke......not what I wrote nor meant. What I meant was my stroke is as good as I can get it and maybe you'd rate it a c or d but let's not get off track. My point is a pendulum swing just feels natural whereas the bridge is more akin to a jabbing motion even while striving to use a stroking motion. The bridge stick changes the stroke into an imbalanced swing with more forward movement and minimal back swing. It just doesn't feel as natural without the shaft being in my bridge hand feeling the slide of the shaft plus I am not in my normal shooting stance and the sight plane looks much more odd. The shooting platform just sucks compared to using a pendulum stroke where I am able to move and control the cue ball shooting pool with either hand.
Is a closed bridge better than an open bridge? Is playing opposite handed rather than relying on the bridge all the time better? Both questions have no right or wrong answer because it is entirely a personal decision and when you think one approach isn't as well suited for your game versus the other, it's all that matters unless you change your way of thinking........being able to play opposite handed adds versatility to one's pool game in my opinion.
Matt B.
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Been an interesting drill session today. Actually, this method is what worked for me.
I've been focusing on keeping my chin inline with my cue - which works great for right-handed shots. But for left shots, I can't effectively switch to my left eye in a dominant role (epic fail), instead I still have to keep my dominant right eye over the cue. As long as my right eye is over the cue, and the rest of my stance mirrors my normal stance, I shoot pretty well.
I'm a Lefty,but my Mother was a Twin,and Two Sons are Lefty's and two a Right-handed. I always shot Pool and Write,Play a Guitar with my Left Hand,but always played Baseball,Basketball,and Football Right-Handed! I shoot with my Right hand sometimes,just to be able to make simple shots with my off-hand. I practice using the bridge,though. Same for Computer-Mice,they have been on the right side for so long,that I don't think I'd feel as comfortable if it was on my writing-dominant side. I grew up seeing Right-handed guys shoot behind their back instead of using a Bridge or the other Hand,if they could. I was taught to get proficient with the Bridge,but to learn how to shoot behind your back,and a little with the off-hand.
:rotflmao1: That is SO bizarre to me when I see somebody trying to shoot behind their back instead of using the bridge - I know they see all the pro players doing that all the time... :rotflmao:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Uu758dG2M
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I asked US Open champion Kevin Cheng how he, the Ko brothers, and other Taiwanese came to be so proficient shooting pool off-handedly.
He responded that at the rooms in Taiwan, when new girls are hired to work at the clubs they have to pick up the game as a requirement. He and the other pros are charged with teaching them, so they all practice solely off handed until they get the new employees up to speed.
As a result, their off-handed skills became quite solid. I witnessed them shooting a lot of iffy 9 balls during the last Open, and never saw any of them miss a single one.
He responded that at the rooms in Taiwan, when new girls are hired to work at the clubs they have to pick up the game as a requirement. He and the other pros are charged with teaching them, so they all practice solely off handed until they get the new employees up to speed.
As a result, their off-handed skills became quite solid. I witnessed them shooting a lot of iffy 9 balls during the last Open, and never saw any of them miss a single one.