I only have 5 copies (3rd Edition) for 2011 of "The Concise Book of Position Play". These copies are from my personal collection, #1496,#1497,#1498,#1499 and #1500. Not thru any distributor, the books will be numbered and signed, and of course include the 80 minute DVD The 2012 4th Editions will be slightly different.
In the spirit of the season, I'm offering the LAST 5copies for 2011 for $49.95 USD plus FREE S&H!
To ORDER go directly to PAY PAL, select the SEND MONEY tab. SEND funds to my Email address: mr3cushion@live.com.
Bill, that was a great review of your Book by Bob Byrne, in Billiards Digest [BD Media Review Section], George Fel's artcle "Branching Out" December 2011 issue, pages 30-32
Bob Byrne review from BD:
The Concise Book of Position Play
By Bill Smith
WHEN A champion dies, it’s like a library burning down, so much information and knowledge is lost. Plenty of players carefully guard what they know and choose to die rather than tell anybody anything. Even those who are willing to share rarely take the trouble to sit down and draw diagramsand write explanations.
Bill Smith of Chicago (now of Florida)is an exception. He was one of the top half-dozen three-cushion players in the country for over 20 years, and in the 1992 U.S. National Championship finished second to the great Sang Lee. Smith has always been a close student of the game and its greatest players.
He has done three-cushion players a huge favor by putting his 45 years of experience in the form of a book and an accompanying DVD. “The Concise Book of Position Play” is obviously a labor of love. Nobody is going to make much money producing a book on such a narrow subject as position play in three-cushion billiards.
But it’s more than that. There is also a review of stance, grip, bridge, stroke, aiming and the pre-shot routine.There are descriptions of several diamond systems that don’t appear in other books, and there are diagrams of half-a-dozen unusual shots that I haven’t seen before. The book has 260 pages and is spiral bound. There are a lot of interesting photos of players, including of his father Merle, who was also a fine player, and of old-timer Ernie Presto, Smith’s main mentor, to whom the book is dedicated.
The book has sections on position play for thin hits, half-ball hits, end-rail-first, cross-table, reverse English and multi-rail shots. He even has something to say on how to break through tough leaves.
Smith’s book has many examples of position zones, but unlike Vingerhoedt,
he advocates trying to leave big balls in corners. In many positions
it’s not that hard, and his diagrams and DVD prove it.
In his 1980 book, “Position Play in Three-Cushion Billiards,” Eddie Robin advocates a position idea that Smith doesn’t favor. Robin feels that if you can leave two balls in the middle area of the table — all three is even better — you are almost bound to have a decent second shot because you are likely to have options off either side of the two object balls. Smith would rather leave a ball in a corner than in the middle of the table.
I once asked world champion Torbjorn Blomdahl how often he played position. He replied that he used to play position more than half the time, but he finally reduced it to half because he was missing too often.
Even if you don’t feel you are good enough to play position, you’ll learn a lot just leafing though “The Concise Book of Position Play”: you’ll be reminded of shots you have forgotten and learn some new ones.
A final word of advice from Smith’s impressive and enjoyable book. Make the shot! Nothing is gained if you concentrate
so much on playing position that you don’t score.
— Bob Byrne
for an excellent book.