In the 9th and final episode of our pool instruction series with Master Instructor Anthony Beeler, Anthony shows you the most important shot in pool. From this shot, you can go anywhere on the table.

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Transcription

Hello, I’m Master Instructor Anthony Beeler, and today I want to talk to you about the most important shot in pool. In fact, whenever you watch professional players play, many times you will see pros take the cue ball, when they have cue ball in hand, and place it for this shot. With this shot you can get to virtually anywhere on the pool table just by varying your speed and your spin. So, let’s go to the table and see what that looks like.

Let’s look at this scenario here. You’ll notice that the 1 ball is sitting over near the cushion, the cue ball is somewhere in the middle of the table, and I’ve got (roughly) a half-ball hit on it. The half-ball hit at this angle, I can get roughly anywhere on the table that I would like to get. So, if I’m wanting to play for this 4 ball, all I have to do here is hit low, with just a touch of right, and I can come back into this area to pocket the 4. That’s the first example.

Another example of a shot would be if I’m wanting to play for the 4 as my next ball. In this instance, with the same shot, I’m gonna use top and just a touch of left spin. And that shot will look something like this. As you can see, I’ve got nice position for the 4 next.

Another example would be if I want to come down the table and shoot this 4 ball next. In this instance, again I’m using top left but I’m gonna strike the shot a little bit harder and come 3 cushions to get on the 4. This is what this looks like. You can see I’ve got a nice, easy shot on the 4.

In this shot I’m going to use low-right and hit the cushion over here to play for the 4. Just like that.

Another example would be if the 4 was right here… and again I’m gonna set the 1 ball there. Coming back the same way again, but instead of staying on the cushion I’m gonna bounce off and flow off for the 4. So again, low-right, just like that, for a straight-in shot on the 4.

Another example would be 2 rails across the table. Again, have the 1 in the same spot, the cue ball in the same spot, [and] this time I’m gonna play for the 4 in the same pocket. So again, this time low with just a touch of right. Very little right here. A little bit harder, and we come 2 rails across the table to play for the 4 here.

So, as you can see, whenever I play for this angle on the ball, I can get virtually anywhere on the table I would like to get just by varying my speed and my spin. So, practice this shot. Become a master of it. It’s really gonna improve your pool game, because next time that you get ball in hand, you’ll know how to get to the shot that you need to.

The post Anthony Beeler Instructional Lesson #9: The Most Important Shot in Pool appeared first on McDermott Cue Blog.