Aiming your Billiards Shot

Learning to aim your shots in billiards is one of the first things that you should seek to accomplish if you are new to billiards. Regardless of whether you are playing pool or billiards you should make sure that you are consistent and accurate in your shot.

For most billiards games, virtually the only exception being pumper pool, shooting requires a cue ball and then one or more object balls. To be a decent billiards player you should first strive for proficiency, then consistency and the accuracy.

Proficiency in billiards shooting means that you get all of the sophomore mistakes like miscuing out of the way. It makes sense that you should work on hitting one ball before you worry about hitting two balls.

To get a proper shot off you must hit the cue ball directly in the center if you want it to go straight. If you get a glancing shot on either side or on the top or the bottom you will not get a straight shot.

You can practice shooting a cue ball straight into a pocket to the hang of this. Once you are able to get a single ball to go where you want it you can start practicing for shots that you will use in an actual billiards game.

In most billiards games you will need to sink the object ball in one of the pockets on the table. For the game of pool, you will need to navigate through your opponent’s balls as you try to sink your own balls.

A crowded table will probably keep you from getting a direct shot from your cue ball to the object ball to the pocket so you will need to learn how to aim the object ball. The first step in learning how to aim the object ball has a lot to do with aiming a single ball like you do when you are practicing with just the cue ball.

You will need to visualize the line that you want your object ball to follow. Try to imagine this line passing through the center of the ball and not just resting on the billiard table.

This line should be the line that your object ball, or the center of the object ball, would take if it were to roll in a straight line into the middle of the pocket that you are aiming for. What you will need to do is have your cue ball make contact with that exact point on the object ball.