websites? books?

frankncali

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I am fairly new to 3 cushion having played less than 20 times. I am getting
better and really enjoy it. My concern is that I would rather learn it now the correct way.
What websites or books are out there to help. I have found its much easier being taught in 3C than pocket billiards.

Right now I have a high run of 6. Main problem is being consistent. I will
miss in 2-4 straight turns and then will run a 2-4 on the next one.

Its fun and different.

This weekend I am going to watch some good players play as my local
3c room is having a tourney. $125 entry with a round robin format. Its
handicapped with the minimum being 25 and the maximum being 37.

Supposedly the 2005 US National Champ is going to be there.
Should be fun. The play is on Verhoven tables.
 

bud green

Dolley and Django
Silver Member
If you don't already have Robert Byrne's first two books, "Standard" and "Advanced Technique in Pool", get them. Almost half of each book is devoted to three cushion with a ton of shots, some system stuff, defensive suggestions. You can learn about 90% of the shots from his books. Eddie Robin has a position play book that is out-of-print and hard to find but is a good one to have.

There are a number of "systems" books out there; Walt Harris's Billiard Atlas series, some books from Europe. These are a lot of work to go though and you might be better off waiting awhile before learning these.

The most highly recommended instructional out there now is Frederic Caudron's two-dvd set from Kozoom.com. It's a French site so you have to figure out a way to pay for it in euros, and it's not cheap at 90 bucks, but its supposed to be a fantastic instructional. Bob Jewett bought a copy and has given it great reviews.

If the 2005 National Champ is there, maybe you can get a lesson from him.
 

Penrose Cues

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
bud green said:
There are a number of "systems" books out there; Walt Harris's Billiard Atlas series, some books from Europe. These are a lot of work to go though and you might be better off waiting awhile before learning these.

The most highly recommended instructional out there now is Frederic Caudron's two-dvd set from Kozoom.com. It's a French site so you have to figure out a way to pay for it in euros, and it's not cheap at 90 bucks, but its supposed to be a fantastic instructional. Bob Jewett bought a copy and has given it great reviews.

If the 2005 National Champ is there, maybe you can get a lesson from him.

There's a book about three cushion billiards written by Ceulemans, called Mister 100.

About the DVD's, I live in Europe and know Frédéric Caudron pretty well, as we did the commentary on the DVD's together. I could get you some.

If you see Frédéric, say hello from me.

Tom Penrose
 

Deno J. Andrews

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There are many books on 3cushion. The best ones in my opinion are:
Position Play in 3-Cushion Billiards by Eddie Robin
Mr. 100 by Raymond Ceulemans

Every other book on billiards ignores playing position, and if you don't learn how to play position from the beginning, you will have to relearn the game. The funny thing is that playing position is not really any more difficult that just trying to make the shot...on many position shots it is simply the knowledge of knowing where to send the object ball. So I suggest trying to find copies of either of those books. The Ceulemans book is supposed to be reprinted soon.

Let me know the next time you are in Chicago. I need a good excuse to play again these days.

Deno
 

Thierry Layani

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
frankncali said:
I am fairly new to 3 cushion having played less than 20 times. I am getting
better and really enjoy it. My concern is that I would rather learn it now the correct way.
What websites or books are out there to help. I have found its much easier being taught in 3C than pocket billiards.

Right now I have a high run of 6. Main problem is being consistent. I will
miss in 2-4 straight turns and then will run a 2-4 on the next one.

Its fun and different.

This weekend I am going to watch some good players play as my local
3c room is having a tourney. $125 entry with a round robin format. Its
handicapped with the minimum being 25 and the maximum being 37.

Supposedly the 2005 US National Champ is going to be there.
Should be fun. The play is on Verhoven tables.

Frederic Caudron will be in New York in August. He might come to Montreal right before so I'll ask him to bring some DVDs. Or else Kozoom is also my distributor, so it's quite easy for me to get them. Just let me know if you're interested.
 

frankncali

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Thanks for the suggestions

I will try and find a few books. I really think it might be easier to
learn 3c from another player so I may do that. I know a pretty good player that I believe will show me a few things.

What kind of levels are there in 3c?

Are there any ways to guage such as playing the ghost in 9ball?

How hard is it to go back and forth between pocket billiards and 3c?

TL
I will let you know about the DVDs. Right now I will have to wait a little
while to get them.
 

hanisch

Registered
frankncali said:
...
What kind of levels are there in 3c?

Are there any ways to guage such as playing the ghost in 9ball?

...

TL


it's great to hear that you're taking up 3-cushion! the usual measure of judging proficiency is average. that is, points made divided by innings played. this metric is not perfect since some players play very defensively; but as far as it goes it works pretty well. furthermore, it's kept at most tournaments so everybody will know it. it's easy to do once you get used to it. when you're playing a game, keep track of your innings on paper or with the other end of the beads.

here's an idea of what different averages mean:

* a 1.0 player (i.e. on average one point per inning) is a very, very good player. in this country (though maybe not in europe and asia), a national class player. there are maybe fifteen 1.0 players here in america. a player at this level will run lots of fives and sixes, occasional nines and tens, but on average will only score on half his attempts, which means that there will be plenty of empty innings as well.

* a 1.4 - 1.6 player is world class. i think there is only one player here who is that good, namely pedro piedrabuena, who is now living in los angeles. in new york, there are about five guys between 1.1 and 1.3.

* a 1.8 - 2.1 player is tops in the world. only blomdahl, jaspers, caudron, and sayginer can consistently play at that level. and remember, these players are only making 2/3 of there shots on average. they will all be in new york for the 2006 sang lee international open from august 13th to the 20th. hopefully you can make it!

now going the other way:

* a 0.7 - 0.9 player is very good, probably playing seriously for over ten years. perhaps roughly the equivalent of an open player in pool.

* a 0.4 - 0.6 player is a decent player, playing for at least four or five years. a professional pool player with little or no carom experience will probably play around 0.5 after a little while. also, there's a big difference between going from 0.5 to 0.6, bigger than going from 0.4 to 0.5.

a very good pool player who is used to playing with english will probably play between 0.3 and 0.4 after a few lessons. however, there are many good pool players who can barely play over 0.2 even after playing for a little while.

i hope this helps.

william
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
frankncali said:
I... What websites or books are out there to help. I have found its much easier being taught in 3C than pocket billiards.

...
For starting, you should get Byrne's "Standard Book of Pool and Billiards" and learn to play each of the diagrammed shots. He also has sections on billiards in his other books, but there is less of it.

There are several great, recent books from Europe, including ones by Caudron, Bitalis and Efler.

You might also consider playing some straight rail (or balkline if that's too easy). A good book for that is Daly's Billiard Book. The Caudron DVD set has amazing demos of all the varieties of ball-ball billiards. If you are interested in learning things for your pool game, there is at least as much to learn at straight rail as at 3-cushion.
 
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