Now, the most important tip for playing better billiards is to learn to stay down on your shot. Much easier said than done. Most people have a tendency to stand up as they stroke through with the cue stick and this will cause your cue stick to wobble and hit the cue ball at an angle rather than straight on. To remedy this tendency to jump up, practice shooting a ball down the rail and freeze after the shot. Keep your head down until the object ball is in the pocket. Sounds simple, right? It’s harder than it sounds and very few people have the tenacity to practice (perhaps at your local pool hall or in your own game room) something this simple, but imperative, over and over until they have it down. That is why there are so few really good billiard players.

The next tip for playing better billiards is to learn to stroke straight. Again, the practice shot for this is very simple, but most people won’t take the time to really practice it. Set your object ball one half of an inch from the rail, on the side rail, two diamonds from the top of the table (the end you are standing at). Set your cue ball at the first diamond, also one half of an inch from the rail. The shot is down the rail into the end pocket. At a half inch from the rail, if you don’t stroke straight, you are going to miss. Watch your arm movement as you hit the ball, you elbow should not move from side to side as you stroke back to front.

Another important tip for playing great billiards is to learn a closed bride. The bridge is the hand that supports the cue stick on the table as you stroke the shot. A closed bridge, (fingers around the cue stick), is much more stable than an open bridge (cue stick laying across your thumb), and will help reduce the wobble in your stroke, making it easier for you to pocket the ball.

Last but not least, learn to think at least a few shots ahead. Nothing can cause a pool player more sorrow than to make a great shot but leave the cue ball in a position where there is absolutely no way to make the next shot. Cue ball control makes the game,  using proper billiard supplies and thinking ahead provides the information you need to position the cue ball to run the table.

Though Billiards games and variations have a long western history dating back hundreds of years, the modern game is most often played in bars, or in pool halls which tend many times to be just a step away from a bar scene. There is a lot of smoking and drinking occurring in these arenas, along with a deafening level of loud music being played. These bar and bar-like scenes where billiards games are played also often attract a certain level of unsavory persons. A professional billiards player is not only good at their game, but often has to, in effect, be a fairly tough person, given the places they must play.

In the movie the Color of Money, Tom Cruise plays a young and super talented pool player, who is respected by his competitors, especially when they realize his skill level. His mentor, however, instructs him in how to be a hustler, in order to make money playing billiards. This movie reflects a realistic side of up and coming talented pool players trying to make money at their game; that they, until they make it big, must be very close to being hustlers. Most people are not going to throw their money away and play a pool player that they cannot beat.

It has been theorized that since pool is in many ways a game of finesse, that women would tend to be better billiard players than men. Though since pool is most often a bar related game, more men tend to play. A woman who wins in pool against other players has likely spent a fair amount of time in bars, and often gets the sexist remark when they win: “You’re pretty good for a girl”. These societal gender realities of the game of pool undoubtedly spill into the world of professional players.

The game of professional billiards contains a large number of competitors, and only a small number of tournaments and prizes. The competition is fierce. Those who manage to make it to a professional status have been known to have often spent many hours of practice at their game, such as one famous pool player who would spend eight straight hours playing when she was a child. The level of skill of those who come to obtain professional status is due to the work ethic they contain, the talent they have, the mindset to continuously do well, and the toughness that this required for the environment the player finds themselves in.