Top 3 instructional books and videos.

IA8baller

IA8baller

Family man.
Silver Member
Obviously this will be a matter of opinions, but to those who have read many different instructional books and have viewed many different instructional videos, give me your opinions on the "Top 3" of both that address most/all aspects of the game. I'm sure I'll have more specific related (ie: banks/caroms/kicks/breaks/etc) materials in the future, but for now I want the ones that cover a wider range of topics.

I'm in the midst of turning my garage into my "pool room" as I'm finally going to own my own table and would love to have your opinions on what books/videos are top notch and are must have's. Thanks.

Trevor.
 
When I decided to get serious about pool, I did not know anything about the game. My brother recommended these two books and they helped me a lot.

Byrne's New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards
Byrne's Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards

There are also many web sites with free material written by knowledgeable teachers. Here is a couple...

www.easypooltutor.com
www.tomrosspool.com

Vinnie
----------
Stroke.
 
Byrne's new standard guide.
Pleasures of Small Motions.
...i guess byrne's complete book of pool shots for #3.

-s
 
IA8baller said:
Obviously this will be a matter of opinions, but to those who have read many different instructional books and have viewed many different instructional videos, give me your opinions on the "Top 3" of both that address most/all aspects of the game. I'm sure I'll have more specific related (ie: banks/caroms/kicks/breaks/etc) materials in the future, but for now I want the ones that cover a wider range of topics.

I'm in the midst of turning my garage into my "pool room" as I'm finally going to own my own table and would love to have your opinions on what books/videos are top notch and are must have's. Thanks.

Trevor.
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I have many books (Byrne, Capelle, Henning) ...
The best IF you WANT really improve your game is :
Modern Pool by Ralph Eckert. (Litho-Verlag Germany)
It contains many (difficult) exercises that will improve your game if you do it regularly.
Advices about 8 and 9-ball and 14.1 are also included.
The books of Byrne are good, those of Capelle are also good (many tips) but poorly structured IMO.
The books of Hening are just acceptable.
Marc
 
Bert Kinnister videos are the best. There are more than 3 though. Try his series on the short, middle and long game first. Then his star system is really good also.
 
cram said:
I have many books (Byrne, Capelle, Henning) ...
The best IF you WANT really improve your game is :
Modern Pool by Ralph Eckert. (Litho-Verlag Germany)
It contains many (difficult) exercises that will improve your game if you do it regularly.
Advices about 8 and 9-ball and 14.1 are also included.
The books of Byrne are good, those of Capelle are also good (many tips) but poorly structured IMO.
The books of Hening are just acceptable.
Marc
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Good stuff...I have to check out Eckert's books.

Kinister's stuff is good, and I pratice his short game tape drills a few times a week, maybe a half hour a week (this week it's about three hours). I feel really works,and improves my game.
 
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in no

particular order..Eckart, Modern Pool......Banking with the beard.....And Joe Tuckers Aiming workout.....All threee have helped to improve my game...I am a big fan of all 3
 
theoneandonly said:
particular order..Eckart, Modern Pool......Banking with the beard.....And Joe Tuckers Aiming workout.....All threee have helped to improve my game...I am a big fan of all 3
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None of what I own. I have to update my billiard library.
 
I did not like banking with the beard or the gospool, but that is IMHO.

I do like 99 Critical shots in pool. When I played decent I would take that book to the poolroom and lay it out on the table and shoot the shots in there. It took me from decent to good.
 
It would be quite difficult to limit myself to naming only 3 of them. My first books (luckily) were Byrne's Standard and later Advanced, both translated into Russian. They lack original humor though and sometimes are not perfectly correct but they gave me a clear picture of how complex and fascinating the world of pool is.
Second, and my first English pool literature experience, comes George Fels with A Smarter Way to Learn Pool and Advanced Pool. These are very good for a newbie and cover the game of 14.1 mainly in a very comprehensive manner.
The best book for a player eager to improve, as well as for an advanced one, is already mentioned Modern Pool by Eckert. He's got another volume named Advanced Pool or smth like that but it is in German only. Don't know the reason for not printing it in English, asked Ralph himself and his publisher, they promised but still no results.
The most thorough and detailed insight into the particular game one can get with the help of 'Play Your Best' series by Phil Capelle. I've got these on 8-Ball, 9-Ball and Straight Pool, the latter being just the best book on 14.1.
As for the videos I enjoyed Eckert's series of 4 VHS a lot. Later he developed his knowledge into PAT books and videos which are ones of most valuable instructionals today, IMHO.
 
Phil Cappell's play your best 9 ball, the pro book, and 350 moves ever player should know. there're other great books though. banking with the beard, the advanced pro book. as for videos just check out your favorite games played right on accu-stats
 
All time best

"99 Critical Shot of Pool" by Ray Martin. I like Byrne but this one book has more instructional value than any other in my humble opinion.
 
I found Gerry Kanov / Shari Stauch's "Pool player's edge" to be fairly comprehensive and easy to read. I especially like the section on game strategy.

Eckert's "Modern Pool.." is a very good drill book.

In thrid, hmm, I would probably pick a Byrne's book (which I favor over Capelle) either "New standard book of pool and billiards" or "Complete book of pool shots". Martin's "The 99 ciritical shots" is also good as a reference.

As a side note, I didn't find the "Pleasure of small motions" all that useful. It attempts to address the psychological aspect of the game, but in my opinion, it doesn't cover anything revolutionary - most of the things presented are simply common sense. Again, just my 2c..
 
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Banking with the Beard book.

u12armresl said:
I did not like banking with the beard or the gospool, but that is IMHO.

I do like 99 Critical shots in pool. When I played decent I would take that book to the poolroom and lay it out on the table and shoot the shots in there. It took me from decent to good.
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I haven't spent enough time with Freddie's book, banking with the beard but there are three little two rail shots from the foot rail that make the price of the book worthy of purchase and I won't go any further with that statement until I take off time to study some more. A one pocket player should kick his own butt if he has never practiced those two rail shots off the back rail. It's golden, trust me. Just don't tell Lee Van.
JoeyA
 
It looks like Eckart's Modern Pool book and Byrne's books wil be a good place for me to start. Thanks for the responses.

I already have Capelle's "Play Your Best Pool" but I haven't utilized it very much since I haven't had a table of my own, but I'll be getting one in the next 2 weeks and wanted to hear what other good instructional books were out there that had impressed others so I could get a few more to have on hand for my upcoming practice sessions here at home.

More responses welcomed and encouraged, especially about instructional videos.:D

Trevor
 
ralph eckert

cram said:
I have many books (Byrne, Capelle, Henning) ...
The best IF you WANT really improve your game is :
Modern Pool by Ralph Eckert. (Litho-Verlag Germany)
It contains many (difficult) exercises that will improve your game if you do it regularly.
Advices about 8 and 9-ball and 14.1 are also included.
The books of Byrne are good, those of Capelle are also good (many tips) but poorly structured IMO.
The books of Hening are just acceptable.
Marc
Click to expand...

I looked for Ralph Eckert's book on Amazon.com & had no luck. Suggestions?
 
bell said:
"99 Critical Shot of Pool" by Ray Martin. I like Byrne but this one book has more instructional value than any other in my humble opinion.
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Agreed 'nuff said
 
berlowmj said:
I looked for Ralph Eckert's book on Amazon.com & had no luck. Suggestions?
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There is much better place to use while searching: Google :D You've already been directed there. Once you type "Eckert billiard pool book" the first link you will get is http://www.billiardbook.com/ - official store of Ralph Eckert or his publisher.
Modern Pool by Eckert was first published in 1995, his second book is Progressives Pool, published in 1999. As I said the latter is not present in English, and can't be found at the English version of the site. Though, if you try a German version, it redirects to Billardbuch.de where the selection of books is much wider (due to German language books included). The only thing you need is to learn German now ;)
 
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