It's hill hill between Jason Shaw and Alex Pagulayan.
Alex has the chance to run the table because Jason didn't make a ball on the break.
Alex is in total control, makes a very amazing shot on the five ball.
He can play the five into the side pocket, has a shot on the six which guarantees him
position on the seven.
From the seven to the eight is no problem.
And also from the eight to the nine doesn't pose a big problem , just a little closet o the rail.
But guess what...
As we saw pool can really be a cruel game.
You can do the all the work and just miss the last remaining ball on the table
and everything you did before becomes useless.
So in this lesson I am going to show you four simple tips that will help you to make the
money ball more consistently.
Before we start I want to introduce you real quick to a challenge I want to run.
Your goal in the challenge is to hit as many rails as possible before contacting a ball
on the table.
For example with this shot I made a score of 4.
This will test your kicking game and also creativity.
The video of the person with the most rails will be shown in my next video.
If two players have the same amount of rails, the one who sent me their attempt first will
be the winner.
Send your videos to contact@sharivari.net or via private message on my Facebook page.
I am really curious to see your attempts.
And now let's start with todays lesson!
The Previous Ball Is The Match-Winner
What players often do is, they put all the pressure on the last remaining ball.
Look at this situation.
We're on the 8-Ball and have to get position for the 9.
We decide to just bring the cueball somewhere downtable and will probably have a shot on
the 9-Ball.
And yes this 9-Ball is very makeable.
But if you're in a match, maybe even at hill-hill, this 9-Ball suddenly becomes very misable.
So let's go back to the 8.
Usally players start to really feel the pressure once they're on the moneyball and not that
much on previous shots.
So we use this behaviour to make this shot on the 8 ball already the matchwinner.
What we have to do is to really commit and make sure that we get a good position on the 9-Ball.
If we can achieve this, we remove all the pressure from the 9-Ball
because this is a straight in stop shot.
And here even the 7 ball can already be the matchwinner.
If we're able to get straight on the 8-Ball we just have to play two very simple stop shots.
So our task is to detect these shots and to make sure that we have a clear mind where
we want to be on the last ball.
But of course this won't work 100% of the time, so let's jump into the next tip.
Playing Position
When we're shooting balls we always try to get the cueball to a certain position on the
table so that we can continue our run.
But of course we're not doing this with only one ball the table.
Is it a good thing, because we don't have to concentrate on getting position anymore?
In my opinion it isn't.
One thing about pool is that you always want to do the same routine on every shot.
And we usally do that, except for that last ball on the table.
So we're doing things differently.
So my second advice is to also bring the cueball to a certain position, even when you're shooting
the moneyball.
This will have the advantage that you're not treating any ball differently.
It will also prevent you from scratching caused by no awareness of the cueballs path.
And in some cases you can make life a lot tougher for your opponent if you miss.
For example on a shot like that I always try to bring the cueball three rails towards the
short rail.
Don't get me wrong.
I am not telling you to always force the cueball towards the short rail or a certain position.
Do what is natural and don't try anything that will harm your shotmaking.
For example here it wouldn't be clever trying to bring the cueball towards the short rail.
Never roll the ball in
Rolling a ball in is always dangerous.
The cueball and the objectball can both roll off.
There is also the danger of a kick or skit.
This usally happens when you roll a ball and is caused by dirt on the contact point.
Here this will cause the cueball to basically climb up the objectball which will straighten
the angle of the object ball.
When playing a ball with outside spin or in the best case as a stop / stun shot this will
never happen.
For example here I am elevating my cue a little bit to play a stun shot.
This prevents a kick and I can also play the shot with more confidence.
Another advantage is that if you shoot the ball with more confidence and power, that
if you miss the chances are higher that the objectball won't stay in front of the pocket.
Especially if you're missing on the pro side.
Don't treat the ball differently
I already talked about not treating the last ball differently regarding positional play.
But what I mean here is to not treat it mentally differently.
I often watch players who play pretty fast and fluent but once they're on the moneyball
the take more time, even if the shot is easier than previous ones.
Look at this for example.
I played fluently and once I am on the 9-Ball I stop and take much more time.
This is a mental mistake and will give your mind the time to realize the importance of
the ball which will automatically put more pressure on you and especially gives your
mind the time to think about bad things and therefore will get you out of flow.
So don't take that extra time if it's not required.
Of course if the shot is tough and you need time to collect, focus and prepare the shot
it's totally fine.
But don't do this just because it's the last remaining ball.
Because as I said this will give your mind the time to sabotage yourself.
Let's summarize it real quick.
The previous ball is the match winner.
Take the pressure of the moneyball by commiting to the previous shot and a perfect position
on the moneyball.
Play position.
Treat every shot equally and eventually bring the cueball in a tough position for your opponent.
Never roll the ball in.
Prevent kicks / skits, play balls with confidence and increase the chances that if you miss
the objectball won't stay in front of the pocket.
Don't treat the shot differently.
Don't take more time just because it's the moneyball.
It's a shot just as every other shot so don't let your mind into it.
Well, that's it for today.
I hope some of the tips will help you to miss less moneyballs.
And if you still miss, to make it tougher for your opponent.
This time a special thank you goes out to all of my Patrons.
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I hope you enjoyed this lesson and learned something new.
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Thanks for watching guys.
And as always, see you at the next lesson - take care!