I have been a billiards instructor for a long time. My playing and competitive experience goes back over 50 years and across the continents of the world.

In my years (decades actually) of playing pool, about my only guide to playing better was Mosconi's "Winning Pocket Billiards". It helped - a lot. When that was learned and applied, I was still losing lots of games. I must have been a slow learner, because I allowed myself to stay at a solid intermediate level for a long time.

Then, a particularly irritating friend of mine started playing. Off-table he was a very good friend. But on-table he treated me badly - not only outshooting me, but taunting and twisting (and twisting) the knife of defeat.

I could handle the verbal abuse - since I always gave as good as I got.
But I got REAL tired of being beaten. That's when I decided to start figuring out WHY he was walking all over my bruised body. I started paying more attention to what he did and how he did it.

That was the turning point of my pool playing competency. I started understanding just how complex and even more enjoyable was this Green Game. Being a helpful kind of guy, I started giving beginning players little tips and ideas to help them shoot better. It's no fun beating up a weak player, so I coached them along with my new discoveries.

And, that leads to my career as an author and commercial writer. The books I write include every little trick and shortcut that I have discovered over my decades of playing shooters of all skills. Buried within each book are dozens of little tricks that have double benefits. For example, in "Cue Ball Control Cheat Sheets", when you learn the shot, you are forced to pay VERY close attention to the cue tip/ball connection. Which, FYI, is the true secret to getting real good at pool.

If you REALLY want to own the information in each book, there must be evidence. A printed book should be dog-eared, dirty with chalk, with notes and observations on each page. An ebook should have worn out at least two or three batteries on your device.

FYI, I have a blog (three actually) on my billiardgods web site.
- "Good to Know" Pool Stuff
- Drills & Exercises
- Challenge Shootouts

Read, enjoy, comment on the posts. Tell your shooting buddies, playing relatives, and table enemies about the stuff. Have fun, enjoy, and shoot straight.