Underthegun?: What Do You Do?

Instruction Special: The 20-Minute Warmup
UNDERTHEGUN?
THE
Your match starts in 20 minutes + You dont know the table or the cloth + Youre tight as a 4-inch pocket.
What do you do?

With tips from MELISSA LITTLE,
GA YOUNG KIM and other top
pros, well show you how to
loosen up, gauge the table and
get in stroke, so you can
hit the slate running!
ANTHONY ROBERT LA PENNA
BY MASON KING
instructional.indd 36
4/11/07 1:40:51 PM
OU THINK youre so slick. Youre about to play

a $100 set in an unfamiliar room, on a strange
table, with cloth wetter than the Everglades. Or
youre in Las Vegas for the amateur nationals and
roll in 10 minutes before your first match, just in
time for a nine-minute smoke break.
diagnosis. How fast is the cloth? Where are the

dead spots on the rails? How are the pockets
cut? Then, you have get your body and mind in
the game. Get the cue ball on a string. Clock your
speed. Hone your touch. Solidify your pre-shot
routine.
OK, hotshot reality check. You need to warm

up. And that means more than throwing the balls
out and running a rack.
Take 20 minutes, if possible. Below, weve supplied you with plenty of drills, exercises and tricks
to get you dialed in and acquainted with the table.
And weve broken them down into five-minute
increments, just in case you have less prep time
than necessary. Good luck. The clock is ticking.
A passel of top pros let us in on their pre-match

regimens. First, the table needs a full-fledged
SIZE UP THE TABLE FAST

WITH THESE QUICK TIPS
OUR FIRST question is, How is the table

playing? Humidity, worn balls, and/or thick
or dirty cloth will create friction between the
cue ball and both the table bed and rails, slowing
down the balls and causing them to rebound stiffly
off the cushions (aka playing short or boingy).
The opposite goes for clean cloth, new balls, and
dry conditions. With less elements creating friction, the balls will travel farther, with more speed,
and will come off the cushions even seeming to
slide off them at wider angles (aka playing
long).
How to diagnose a table? Diagram 1 is the classic three-rail, corner-to-corner kick, suggested
by, among others, Ga Young Kim, Melissa Little
and John Schmidt. Using center-ball or right-hand
English, watch where the cue ball lands. Then
adjust your English and speed accordingly.
If, for example, the table is playing short (see top
orange stripe in diagram), thats bad, says Schmidt. It
makes playing extremely difficult. You either need to clean
the cue ball off, or, if the humidity is super-high, you need
to adjust your stroke. That knowledge adjusts my position
5 minutes
Diagram 1
Diagnose
the table
play in my mind, without even playing the match. I already

know it's going to play short on particular shots. Also, pay
attention to how the cue ball behaves off each rail. Look
out for dead spots.
ODNEY MORRIS suggests this three-rail position shot

(Diagram 2) that will help you check the action off the rails.
It also will help with your control, plus allow you to let out
your stroke. Practice landing the cue ball at the ghost positions
marked. Again, adjust English as needed. By the time youre moving
the cue ball to the foot rail, your arm should be warm. Still, Corey
Harper suggests setting up easy shots, as in Diagram 3a, both as
a warmup and to trigger the positive mindset that comes from sinking balls. Next, set up a straight-in shot along the rail (Diagram 3b).
Some pocket sides will bobble balls hit with too much speed, so
take a moment to find the pockets tolerance level.
Diagram 3a
Get loose
Diagram 2
Cue ball
control
w/rails
Check the pockets

Diagram 3b
BD M AY 2 0 0 7
37
4/11/07 1:41:09 PM
Diagram 1
10
minutes
DIAL IN YOUR
STROKE WITH
THESE EXERCISES
Practice the lag
T MAY seem obvious, but some folks dont

practice the lag. Taking 30 seconds to find
the right speed (Diagram 1) gives you a big
advantage. It's nice to win the lag and maybe
put a three- or four-pack together, says John
Schmidt.
In Diagram 2 is a practice drill suggested by
Shawn Putnam that can help you in several dif-
ferent ways in the minutes before your match.

Set up the balls as shown, then take ball and
hand on each shot so that its straight in. First
off, the deliberate and repetitive nature of the
exercise helps you get in a rhythm. Practice
your routine of relaxing, breathing and stroking
on each shot, and it will become automatic. If
you stroke each as a stop shot, youll be able to
diagnose your stroke
by whether the cue
ball drifts to the left
or right. This exercise
also gives you a look
at the pocket openDiagram 2
ings from several different angles. Hence,
Shoot straight,
youll be able to find
the right aiming spot
clock the pockets,
for every shot. To top
and loosen up
it off, youll be cooler
when you face your
first straight-in shot of
the match.
HILE, IDEALLY, you dont want to put

yourself in the position of needing to bring
a bank shot, it certainly helps to practice
them. Again, youll need to get a feel for how the
rails are behaving, so set up the shot in Diagram
3, suggested by Melissa Little. First attempt a 1/2ball hit (you can help take throw out of the equation by using center-ball draw) and see where the
1 lands. You may need to adjust to a 1/4-ball hit.
In Diagrams 4 and 5, also from Little, we have
more variations of the multi-rail position shots seen
on page 37. The cue ball in Diagram 4 will show
a fondness for scratching in either the bottomright corner or the
top side pocket,
so deduce the
speed and English
required to miss
those traps. If you
are confident in
your ability to draw
the ball and want
to simplify the cue
balls path, try the
two-rail backspin
Diagram 3
shot in Diagram 5
Bank
this time avoiding the bottom
notes
side pocket.
38
Diagram 4
Get position
Diagram 5
Try
Plan B
BD M AY 2 0 0 7
4/11/07 1:41:25 PM
HONE YOUR POSITION PLAY

WITH THESE HANDY DRILLS
15 minutes
OW THAT your stroke is

warmed up and you know
the tables tendencies, try
some baby position moves that
will help refine your touch before
the match. Line up the seven
balls as shown in Diagram 1
(provided by Corey Harper), and
take ball in hand for the first
shot. The cue ball should hit the
rail and rebound for position
on the next shot. You then play
from that position for the next
shot. Keep going until, inevitably, you end up with bad position on one of the balls down
the line. Then you can practice
being a shotmaker.
Diagram 1
One-rail
shape
Diagram 2
Draw-shot
drill
N DIAGRAM 2 is a quick drawshot drill suggested by Bob Byrne

in his Standard Book of Pool &
Billiards. Starting from the position
shown, see if you can pocket the
balls in order from one end to the
other, using draw to gain position.
The trick is to use various parts of
the pocket depending on the angle
of the shot and position needed.
Look Ma, no rail!
Draw-shot drill
ERES ANOTHER drill from

Shawn Putnam, in which you
can put together everything
youve been practicing so far. Try
to pocket all the balls, as placed
(Diagram 3), one at a time. The
hitch: You cant make contact with
any other ball, even when you play
position. It makes you learn and build
your own pattern, Putnam says.
You obviously have to clear out a
pocket, and then another, then a
side, and so on. It can be any pattern
you want. But it teaches you how to
work the cue ball around the table
without bumping other balls.
OW OFTEN do you seriously

consider the effects of throw
when playing? It can make a
difference on long shots, so Putnam
has devised a way to figure out just
how much (Diagram 4). Different
Diagram 3
Exercise: Traffic
balls, tables and cloth throw differently, Putnam says. I'll set up a cue
ball just off the rail. I'm over-cutting
it to the outside corner of the pocket.
When the friction from the cue ball
takes hold of the object ball, it will
throw it toward the center of the pocket. Sometimes there is no friction. So,
now I have to change the way I aim. I
know I cant overcut the ball and make
it straight in the pocket.
Diagram 4
Gauging throw
BD M AY 2 0 0 7
39
4/12/07 3:18:50 PM
PUT IT ALL TOGETHER WITH

AN ADVANCED WORKOUT
40
20 minutes
ITH FIVE minutes before your match, you could throw out nine balls for
a simulated runout, or you could really challenge yourself with a rack of
rotation (Diagram 1). With all the balls on the table like that, you have
so many little areas that you'll need to weave in and out of, says Corey Harper.
When you get into a 9-ball match after practicing this, it's easy. It looks wide
open. There are huge areas to get the cue ball to go through, compared to what
you were dealing with before.
F YOU want to spend a

little more time getting
into a groove with position play, try this followshot version of Diagram 1
on page 39. Again, start
with ball in hand, but here
you should follow underneath the line of balls to
the other side, getting
position for the next ball
(Diagram 2a). Then shoot
for the opposite corner,
following back to the original side (Diagram 2b).
Keep going back and forth
until you totally lose the
cue ball.
Diagram 1
Play Rotation
Position:
Under
& Over
Diagram 2a
Diagram 2b
BD M AY 2 0 0 7
4/11/07 1:42:01 PM
TAKE IT FROM THE PROS: Preparation helps

HEYVE BEEN there and won
that. So they know what they're
talking about when they say you
can do yourself a big favor by putting
some thought into your preparation.
SHAWN PUTNAM:
Check out other
players. Before your
matches, you should
go in the arena and
watch a good player
play his match like
the final three or four
games of his match
and you can just
look and see how hard he is hitting the
ball and how the table is playing.
For example, if you think a guy hit a
ball too hard and the cue ball comes
up short, you automatically know that
the table is going to be playing a little
bit slow. Youll have to put a little more
emphasis on striking the ball harder.
you dont have tough shots during the

match. ... I might shoot a couple long
straight shots real quick. I also would
break a couple times to see if the corner
ball goes from whichever side, and I
would try to get my touch down.
The best thing for playing well is
to stay down on the shot and follow
through. It sounds simple, and we all

say it, but, under the gun, its not easy
to do. If you take the cue back on your
stroke smoothly because when
youre nervous, youll snatch it back
quicker and follow through, youll be
amazed at how good youll pocket balls.
Just dont do it against me.
RODNEY MORRIS:
When you see a lot
of the upsets in a
tournament, they
usually come in the
first day. Its that
both players dont
know the table. The
skill level becomes
closer, because
the better player is not dialed in yet.
When both players are not dialed in, the
weaker player has a little better chance.
And as the tournament goes on, the
better players are playing a lot better,
because they have the speed of the
table down.
If one person doesnt have the speed
of the table, that means getting hooked,
or getting a harder shot that he doesnt
want, or an angle he doesnt want. And
when you are playing on unfamiliar
equipment, the shots that you are not
comfortable shooting are the ones you
miss. You might not miss the 1 or the
2, but because you were out of line on
the 2, and then the 3 and then the 4
and then the 5, the next thing you know
you cant even shoot the 8 because you
are so far gone that you cant get back
in line.
JOHN SCHMIDT:
I see guys trying to
fire in balls and shoot
tough shots when
theyre warming up,
and I think you need
to work more on
your position play, so
BD M AY 2 0 0 7
41
4/12/07 3:19:10 PM

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Instruction Special: The 20-Minute Warmup

What do you do?

ANTHONY ROBERT LA PENNA

OU THINK youre so slick. Youre about to play

diagnosis. How fast is the cloth? Where are the

OK, hotshot reality check. You need to warm

A passel of top pros let us in on their pre-match

SIZE UP THE TABLE FAST

OUR FIRST question is, How is the table

play in my mind, without even playing the match. I already

ODNEY MORRIS suggests this three-rail position shot

Check the pockets

Instruction Special: The 20-Minute Warmup

Practice the lag

T MAY seem obvious, but some folks dont

ferent ways in the minutes before your match.

HILE, IDEALLY, you dont want to put

HONE YOUR POSITION PLAY

OW THAT your stroke is

N DIAGRAM 2 is a quick drawshot drill suggested by Bob Byrne

ERES ANOTHER drill from

OW OFTEN do you seriously

Instruction Special: The 20-Minute Warmup

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER WITH

F YOU want to spend a

TAKE IT FROM THE PROS: Preparation helps

you dont have tough shots during the

through. It sounds simple, and we all

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