Billiards Digest — House Pro Tony Robles

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BD House Pro
Tony Robles

A longtime teaching pro at Amsterdam Billiard Club in New York City, Tony has dozens of regional and national titles to his name, including the 2004 BCA Open Championships.

Instruction Articles:

• September 2010
Through & Through

• August 2010
Along the Rail

• July 2010
The Small Stuff

• June 2010
Three in One

• May 2010
One Ball At a Time

• April 2010
Going Thin to Win

• March 2010
Know Your Game

• February 2010
14.1 For 8-Ballers

• January 2010
Setting It Straight

• December 2009
Hanging Out, Part II

• November 2009
Hanging Out

• October 2009
Control Your Speed

• September 2009
Busting Out of a Slump

• August 2009
Easy Errors, Part III

• July 2009
Easy Errors, Part II

• June 2009
Easy Errors, Part I

• May 2009
Body Language & Breaking

• April 2009
The Break: Body Language

• March 2009
Must-Reads from Robles

• February 2009
Position: Four Square

• January 2009
Romancing the Stance

• October 2008
Look Out for Boingy Rails

• September 2008
Build a Better Break

• August 2008
Q&A: Ask the Pro

• July 2008
‘Buzz’ Kill: Stay Down

• June 2008
Stop Shots Safeties III

• May 2008
Stop Shots Part II

• March 2008
How to Keep Winning

• February 2008
The Dreaded Straight-In Shot

• January 2008
Trying the Soft Break

• December 2007
The Hard Way Makes It Easier

• November 2007
How to Sight the Cue

• October 2007
Win from Your Chair

STOP-SHOT Safeties

April 2008

The stop shot is the most powerful shot in pool. It’s the foundation of the break, position play, and — for the purposes of our next two lessons — safety play.

The principle of these safeties shown below is obvious: You want to stop the cue ball behind a blocker ball and send the object ball to an unattainable location. The distance you need to send the object ball will in part determine the speed of the shot, and you’ll adjust your draw (i.e., bottom English, or backspin), if any, on the cue ball to get the stop effect.

Let’s practice stopping the cue ball from several distances. Take a look at the diagram, Ex. 1. Focus on hitting the object ball squarely and stopping the cue ball on impact. Typically, you’re stroking the cue ball so that it’s sliding (no forward roll or backspin) on impact. Try it from all three cue ball positions (A, B and C). From each distance, you can adjust your speed and draw to get the stop effect. In general, as your speed increases, you need to decrease the amount of draw (i.e., hit closer to center), or else risk drawing the cue ball backward. Try practicing each distance with different speeds, and see where you need to strike the cue ball.

Then try Shots 1 and 2 (other diagram) from the three different cue-ball locations. Again, your speed will be determined by how far you want to send the object ball. Adjust your draw accordingly.

Next month, we’ll look at hitting the object ball slightly off-center, so the cue ball can travel to more troublesome locations.

Featured Video: Harriman's Drawing
(courtesy Accu-Stats)