Customer Reviews

Precision Pool-2nd Edition

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A few years back, my husband introduced me to pub nights and the game of pool. Even though my play was sporadic at best, I immediately loved the game and took on the challenge of getting better. Now, I play whenever I can and am looking to join a league.

Since I've learned to play pool mostly through trial and error and by watching other people, I always wondered what bad habits I had picked up while trying to improve my game. When I saw the book Precision Pool, I had to have it.

I would highly recommend Precision Pool to anyone wanting to improve their game. This book starts with the basics: everything from the stance and creating a proper bridge (an area I needed some guidance in) to finding the right cue for the job at hand and understanding the construction of a pool table. The majority of the book, however, focuses on how to succeed at key shots and set up for the next shot.

For best success, you can practice these shots by replicating the full color illustrations and instructions given for each set of angles, strategies, and trick shots. I read the book, went off to the pub to play a few games. I was surprised at how much I retained and was able to use during actual play. Even though I'm still getting used to the new bridge, I can already see a drastic improvement in my game. My husband even wants to borrow the book now.

It's nothing new. Books on billiards and pool have always had their flaws, from the improperly illustrated diamond system in Hoppe's 1941 classic "Billiards as it Should Be Played" to the absence of such concepts as deflection and drag draw in Mosconi's 1965 "Winning Pocket Billiards." To this day, Mosconi's book is a sentimental favorite, these errors of omission not so great as to tarnish the reputation of a work that taught proper fundamentals to an entire generation of players. However, with Kanov and Stauch's "Precision Pool" we have an entirely new breed of cat.

Have you ever sat down to read a "how to" book and discovered so many errors, page after page, chapter after chapter, that it becomes a game of Find-The-Next-Boner rather than What-Can-I-Learn? This accurately describes the feeling I had while reading the ironically titled "Precision Pool."

It's hard to know where to start because the mishmosh of mistakes that beset this work are varied and great in number. There are sentences confusing right and left (page 128), illustrations contradicting the text (page 72, Rotation and Straight Pool racking), illustrations confusing outside with inside english (page 105, illustration 5.16) and just plain bad advice (page 155 and illustration 6.16, running a rack of 8-Ball).

The discussion of the massé starting on page 125 is a typical example of what's wrong with this book. If you're going to discuss a shot, make it comprehensible and comprehensive; don't gloss over it. Here the massé is treated like just one more shot in a player's bag of tricks, for beginner and advanced player alike to easily master. I doubt a beginner is going to understand how to shoot this shot or what stroke to use from Mr. Kanov's visage on page 127 and the illustrations on page 128. However, you can get this from Bob Byrne's excellent book, "Advanced Technique in Pool and Billiards."

Compounding the problem are confusing sentences, catching the authors not knowing their right from their left or object ball from interfering ball: "Now let's say you want to completely curve the ball around the object ball, and it's just to the left of the cue ball. You would hit it at about 5:00, shooting straight down at the imaginary clock face on the cue ball to massé it to the right." Say what? To the right? ... but I thought it was to the left? God, I'm confused; let's go play chess. The sentence should read: "To curve the cue ball around an interfering ball and hit the object ball on your right, picture an "elevated" clock face and aim for 5:00 with the angle of your cue 80 to 85 degrees to the table bed, depending upon the slipperiness of the cloth. Stroke firmly, but not too hard." Mr. Byrne's description and illustrations are better still.

And there's more! If there's a distinct difference between illustration 5.36 (page 126), a curve shot using a "slightly elevated cue," and illustration 5.37 (also page 126), a curve shot using an "extremely elevated cue," I'd like someone to point it out. I pity the poor beginner who's trying to make sense of all this.

Returning to that rack of 8-Ball on page 155, why in a book titled "Precision Pool" would a low percentage, touchy position shot on the 6-ball, bringing the cue-ball up table between the 15 and the rail for the 1-Ball in the corner be recommended when the sequence of 4, 1, 7, 5, 2, 6, 3 and the game winning 8 is so much more natural? The authors obviously want to make the point that the 6-ball should be taken early if you're an offensive player and left as a blocker if you have a penchant for defense. But with the natural angle from the 2-ball to the 6-ball and from the 6-ball to the 3-ball in the same pocket, why not have your cake and eat it too. If this were straight pool, I'd say the authors were right, but in this case their view is indefensible.

The coups de grâce was what I read on page 69 regarding deflection and throw. To quote "Nobody disputes the existence of deflection and throw ... Many have even come up with lovely charts depicting how much you need to adjust your aim for different shots ... [but] just try to apply this knowledge [in] a game situation ... think of [a] football traveling through the air ... Does the football player calculate the spin on its approach, combined with the day's wind velocity, to determine exactly where his hands should be to grasp the ball? Of course not." This simplistic comparison, knowingly or not, denigrates the work of Jack Koehler, Bob Jewett and Bob Byrne, men who have tried to bring some understanding and genuine precision to this game, something these two authors need not worry about in their work.

To be fair, the book isn't all bad - for example, the center ball drill on page 53. However, I'd modify it to a table length accuracy drill up and back, spacing the target balls no more than 2-1/2 inches apart. Also, the authors' chapter on the break isn't bad, their pre-shot routine suggestions (page 28) are accurate and well explained, and the practice games and seven-day practice routine (pages 237-239) are a most valuable part of the book. Still these relatively few pages in a 246 page work do not a good book make.

Frankly, I'm at a loss to explain how Shari Stauch, editor of Pool and Billiards Magazine, and Gerry Kanov, contributing writer to P and B, could turn out this kind of work. The poor writing, editing and proofreading is an embarrassment to the history of instructional pool books, and Human Kinetics, the small publisher of sports and fitness books who funded the project, should be ashamed. Except for the occasional good suggestion, this book can only be recommend to ball-bangers and felt-rippers, and maybe not to them.

Precision Pool is the reference for students and instructors alike. It covers all aspects of the game from the basics to advanced play.

Advanced players can benefit from a review of the fundamentals of bridges and stroke as well as the "reasons behind certain spohisticated shots and position play" from time to time. Advanced and Intermediate players will find sound instruction on patterns, position play, banks, stategy and, most importantly, the mental aspects of competition play. Beginning players will find this a resource for several years as they build a competitive game.

One of the strengths of this book is that it "reveals" many of the mystreies of the game as to why certain shots roll long, or short, as they play out. Precision Pool give details about banking and cushion first shots that few people truly understand. Best of all the diagrams and descriptions make it possible for any player to understand these subtle, but all important, aspects of object ball and cue ball travel.

It would be fair to say that I learned more from this book than any other I have used in over fourty year's of pool and 3 cushion play. I use this book frequently in conjunction with teaching students at all levels of ability.

Precision Pool is the only instruction book we carry at Palace Billiards. I recommend it with confidence to our customers. It will be "the best twenty dollars they will ever spend on their game."

OK, so I may not be competition for the Striking Viking or the Black Widow, but I love this book and its approach to teaching those of us who aspire to such lofty heights. Precision Pool has covered all the bases for me, from fundamentals to more advanced pattern plays. It has guided me, chapter by chapter, to a higher skill level and given me better understanding of other components which can affect the game, such as mental concentration, vision, and confidence.

There are great diagrams in Precision Pool that explain English; Follow; Draw; and several aiming techniques (this is for those of us who have to SEE it to understand it). Oh, and you'll really enjoy Chapter Ten which offers you several practice games that are much more fun than ordinary practice shots and drills.

I had about 5 or 6 books on pool in my library. Quite honestly this was the last one I bought. After Precision Pool I didn't need anymore. It's fun, it's informative, and it's well-written. Keep it close to your pool table and just see how much you consistently refer to it.

I would have probably given this book only 1 star, if it had not been
for the crisp illustrations, besides that this book did not show me
anything that i didn't know before. And with that being said, i
didn't know much in billiards to begin with. Precision Pool, merely
introduces the reader to the terminology of billiards and confined
situations, instead of actually presenting procedures, techniques or
any other facets that might have improved my overall performance.
Throughout the entire book the detailed illustrations were
overshadowed by incredibly poor writing, as well as vague
descriptions. For instance, they would show diagrams of the cue and
objective balls in certain situations, only pointing out how to make
that shot in that certain situation, completely ignoring any other.
The best analogy that i can come up with is that of a math teacher who
doesn't exactly show how to solve a problem, instead that teacher
shows the student only the answers. The worst sections in this book
were on english, kicks, bank shots, and caroms (practically
everything). I don't have anything against Mr. Kanov or Miss. Stauch,
but a book that is as poorly written as
this one, is not much of a steal unless. Check
it out at a library before buying it if you don't trust this reviewer.

both prominent in their industries of publishing information to do with the running of colored balls into holes, these twins of talent combine to offer a pool guide which is accessible to any one with or without a lobotomy or even a cue. Even though I'm still waiting to view my promo copy I'm sure such talented expertise goes along way. In fact in the next millenium it might even reach west australia. So would be something.

This book offers many important and fundatmental aspects of intermediate pool mechanics and strategy. As a player of six years, I can honestly say that this book offers a lot of important information that is left out of most other books. In my opinion, this book and the Monk's "point the way" (along with tons of experience, of course) are all that is necessary to become a complete pool player both mentally and physically. Of course, there is always that wonderful world of one pocket but that's another tale for another day.

For anyone looking to take their game to the next level, Precision Pool is more than just an excellent reading resource. Of all the publications I have on the subject, this one in particular is kept near the pool table for use as a reference. Several useful practice drills are discussed along with tips relating to shooting technique, game strategy and even mental prowess. Diagrams and illustrations are above average.

This is a good source of information for intermediate players. I find that it is a little bit more difficult to understand as compared to Phil Capelle's "Play your best pool". However, there are tons of useful information and good illustrations provided from basic fundamentals to advanced techniques plus a section on the mental side of the game. Although this is a good book, I would recommend (for beginner players) Phil Capelle's "Play your best pool" before buying this book.

Although there lots of books on billiards, "Precision Pool" is a comprehensive guide that has changed my life. I was never very good at anything - too fat for ballet, and too wheezy for sports and the tuba. But thanks to Shari "the Shark" Stauch and Gerry "the Guest" Kanov, I play for hours without a snack. I can now use the rail to support an open bridge (and my stomach, Pg.20), and my three rail kicks could make a chorus girl green with envy (pg. 108). While it is physically impossible to stretch for added flexibility (Pg.221), I check my focus daily with my thumbs (Pg. 41). I recommend this book to anybody with an appetite for improvement: chunky print, spicy back view photos, and hearty instruction - this book is Chicken Soup for the Pool Soul...yum, yum!