Basic technique — the straight push
A billiard shot is a straight push: everything else protects it
1 · Standing: decide the ball fullness
First decision, before the attack and the spin: what portion of ball 2 your ball covers. Don't aim at a point on ball 2: the contact follows from the fullness. The line is chosen standing; bent over, you only confirm it.
Fullness also splits the energy. Full: almost everything goes into ball 2 (with no rotation, your ball stops dead: the stun). Half ball: fifty-fifty. Finesse: your ball keeps most of it.
2 · Setting your stance: the single plane
A single vertical plane holds the cue, the line of the shot, your right arm and your eye, and exits through your right foot. The left foot steps out of it: it opens the body and frees the arm. Forearm vertical, free under the elbow.
There's no model position: the stance holds you still, lets the forearm swing straight back and forth, and places your eyes to judge the fullness. The spacing depends on you and the shot: tight balls call for a shorter base.
3 · Swinging the arm
Hand closed on the butt as if holding a bird: it holds, it doesn't crush. Wrist in line with the arm. Two controls of power, amplitude and speed: last-second acceleration is the most common flaw.
Practice swings: same length, same speed as the shot. A clean pause at the front, never at the back point. What you follow through past the ball equals what you drew back.
4 · Guiding the cue: hand on the rail
The hand stays flat on the cloth until the stroke is finished; its fingers decide the hit height. Hand-to-ball distance follows the amplitude: a long shot, hand further back.
- Low: palm on the cloth, cue in the loop between thumb and index, resting on the middle finger.
- At center: the middle finger slides under the thumb, one level higher.
- High: hand on its edge, the last three fingers under the loop.
- Very slow: cue in the hollow between thumb and index. Against the cushion: hand flat, the index finger caps the cue.
5 · Looking true
The head comes above the line cue – ball – aimed point (dominant eye, or the midpoint of both). A head off the line makes you aim with a constant offset, without knowing it.
What an outside eye catches
None of this can be felt from the inside: get filmed.
- Stance too narrow for the intended amplitude.
- Both feet on the line of the shot, instead of straddling it.
- Grip too far back on the butt.
- Cue that dips instead of staying level.
What damages the stroke
From most to least common.
- Choppy sawing, instead of a smooth swing.
- Acceleration right before contact.
- Stopping at the back point.
- A hand that grips.