Warm Up

How should you get ready for your pool game? It depends on who you are.

If you are just pounding balls at the local bar, forget the traditional practice. Instead, take the entire night as a practice session. Let everybody else play their macho games while they swill beer and pretend to be the kings of the cue. You concentrate on nice smooth strokes and, perhaps, a little ball placement. Keep the goofy low-percentage shots to a minimum. Just try to show a little cue ball control.

If you are warming up before a league match, you may be forced to warm up by playing your teammates in a practice game. If so, then you should also concentrate on your basic stroke. Forget the fancy stuff. Try to groove your stroke. You may be playing your match in ten minutes or two hours from now. You don't want to waste the first game or two while you try to get your stroke under control. Work on it now.

But, if you can find a way to get some real practice under your belt, the best way to practice is to do it like the pros. Work on your stroke . Forget the fancy stuff until your stroke is golden.

Sorry. I'm sure that a lot of you wanted to hear about some fancy shots that you should practice. Nope. If you want to be the king of the table, you gotta be the king of the swing.

Groove your stroke.