If you have read this GuideSite or followed us at About.com via our Pool & Billiards Newsletter or Pool Forums, you realize (I hope) how committed I am to securing your pool arm and alignment as the foundation for great play.
You must stand accurately at the table or your game has no chance. You don't believe me? Stand on your head and shoot great pool using your pool feet and not either pool arm for play.
The body must be balanced, the head over the torso without undue strain at the neck, and the all-important shooting arm, the powerful pool arm, must be relaxed and in position over the shot line. The two typical methods for standing at the table are wrong and the third is correct.
Today, I'm featuring a tip that might help many of you, one that is extra helpful if you understand how to use the classic stance I recommend to my billiards students. It's this—tuck the elbow to your side.
No less a player than the legendary Willie Mosconi locked the elbow in fairly tightly, and during his early years especially so. Bringing the elbow to my side all but ensures my shooting hand is centered above the line along which the cue ball is to travel (on a straight stroke without squirting english.
The elbow tuck is not for everyone. Try it, and if doesn't work, discard it. The tuck must also go in balance with a correct cue stick height (clasped loosely in the fingers, stick inertia released straight at the target, etc.) to work its magic.
Send me an e-mail if this method doesn't help you improve, and we'll review your fundaments together and see what we can do to fix your game, starting, of course, with your pool arm. Mine works great.
