Most people start off knowing little to nothing about pool. You have probably tried to imitate the way someone else holds a cue stick, breaks, or stands at the table when taking aim, just to get by. But unless you've watched some of the more knowledgeable players, or at least picked up a how-to book on the skill of the game, chances are you are not giving yourself the best chance at improving your game. Even if you have no dreams of being a pro, keep in mind — the better you play, the more fun you will have.

What to Work On

Focus carefully on the early chapters of this book. These will guide you through the basics of good technique. When you first start out in pool, the things you'll want to focus on most are consistency, your preshot routine, stance, and focus. As a beginner, one of the first things you want to strive for is to gain consistency in your stroke. You should practice as much as you can until you become comfortable with the way you hold the cue and with the steadiness of your stroke.

If you find that, in practice, you keep missing shots (or even worse, missing the cue ball altogether), you will need to work on your fundamentals, one of which is what it takes to accomplish a smooth and straight stroke. This means that you will have to ask yourself a few questions: How is your grip on the back end of the cue stick? How is the angle of the cue stick in relation to the table surface? Are you bridging properly? You need to keep that stroke straight and steady.

Keep It Simple

Of course, now that you're on your way to a steady stroke and have begun to implement a preshot routine and have even learned to focus, you want to jump right into the fancy maneuvers. It's still too early for that. Don't worry; you'll get there. For now, just work on hitting the cue ball into those object balls in such a way that they don't just bounce off the rails and never find a pocket. The fancy shots will come in time.

Remember, pool can be like Chinese water torture if you allow it to be. That constant drip, drip, drip of missed shots is enough to drive even the most sane person crazy. So, for now, don't practice missing, which is exactly what would happen if you attempted those fancy shots. Your goal isn't to pocket every ball on the table, right now, either. You're at the stage where you want to work on any flaws in your stroke. A beginner often forgets to pay attention to some of these basics — it's hard not to want to plunge into the more advanced options. But if you want to be really good and have a lot of fun, make sure you can walk before you try to run.