Imagine yourself moving around the table with ease, gliding from shot to shot without missing and making the whole thing look effortless! Yes, you! Your pool-playing style is what makes you different from everyone else. It's what makes you, well … you. Things like how you chalk your cue before your shots, or how you survey the table before you shoot, or how you approach each shot. These are all elements of individual style.

Of all the elements of style in your game, probably the most important one is your own personal preshot routine. It's the route you take to execute that spectacular shot or safety that gives you the win. Let's explore the preshot routine a little more and see if you can find your own personal routine that makes you stand out from the crowd.

Making Your Mark

Technically, your preshot routine begins once you've decided which ball you are going to shoot and how you're going to shoot it — hard, soft, with English, and so on. Once you've gotten all that decision-making out of the way, then you can begin the process of actually executing the shot. That process up to the point of execution is called your preshot routine.

Your Personal Style

It's time for you to create your routine and your own personal style. Ready? Your routine starts when you place the chalk down on the table. That usually means you are finished chalking, done with all that deciding, and you're ready to shoot. Step back away from your shot and take a look at it. Don't forget this step because it helps put everything you've just been thinking about into perspective.

Now that you're away from it all, take a good look and visualize what you are about to do. Then step into your stance, get down into position, and begin your practice stroking. Sound familiar? Yep, it should. You probably read it earlier in this book in the section that discussed your fundamentals.

So, the way you move around the table, how you chalk, how you get ready to shoot — these are all elements of your own personal style. It's fun to create the player you want to be, so have fun with it, experiment, and go for it!

Feeling at Ease

Feeling at ease basically means having confidence. That may not be too easy to do if you're just learning the game. But don't be too concerned about that, because there's another way you can feel the confidence that puts you at ease at the table without having to be a professional. Just play. Huh, you say? That's it? Just play? Yep. That's it. The more you play, the more at ease you will feel — it's an automatic; guaranteed 100 percent.

Try to think of a time when you did something for the first time. Remember how uneasy and awkward you felt at first? It's the same thing with pool. The more you play the more at ease you will feel, and you don't even have to bring your game to an advanced level to feel it. Just play, and you'll see. Before you know it, you'll be able to step into your local poolroom and feel like you own it!