Jacky Chin Learning Experience

Compilation of advises, tips and tricks from my experience with others

Throughout my time playing snooker, I’ve been trying to constantly improve my game my way and seriously, my way was taking me to Timbuktu via Holland. My brother is actually quite a snooker player himself but I was not given many lessons from him until later when I seriously wanted to play the game. Throughout the years, I’ve met many good players and here’s a compilations of advises they gave to me.

The Rhythm and the Pause

It’s been mentioned over and over again but this really does help. The rhythm and pause is very important for a player to find their “consistency”. The usual rhythm of a good snooker player, unless you’re Marco or Ronnie, should always be:-

“1.. 2.. 3.. *PAUSE.. SHOOT!”

During “1..2..3”, you’re actually feathering your cue front and back to give yourself a feel of how the shot would be like. Would you need a hard or soft shot, now I reckon this depends on how the ball is setup and also this is where experience comes into play.

As you can see I marked an asterisk on the pause. From my conversation with JH, I found out the pause is not just for the sake of pausing and making you calm down. Actually the pause is for checking and making sure everything is set before a shot is done. Meaning, when you pause:-

Your eyes is set on the cue ball to make sure you’re striking it right (backspin, follow, etc);
Now focus on the object ball to make sure you’re aiming the correct angle (quarter cut, half cut);
From the object ball, roll your eyes up following a line to the pocket to make sure it’s all lined up (center of the pocket);
SHOOT!

Just remember COPS! Cue ball, Object ball, Pocket, Shoot!

From my experience, no matter how confident you are in a shot, always play with COPS and rhythm!

A little about the writer

A 25-year-young budding and snooker/pool enthusiast who is still trying to improve his game. Scouring snooker parlours and the internet for tips, he shares a dream with a person he met to improve the overall snooker game in Malaysia.

By Jacky Chin