This is my home table, it's an 8-foot Olhausen Breckenridge. There's a whole long, boring story of my history and how this particular table and the room came to be, which I'll save for another time (and, in consideration for the current audience, probably another place). What I'll say for now is that I was able to get it installed in late January, and it has been a blessing to have for my mental and emotional health during the past several months. I'll also write something about the decor in...

"This is an old song, done a different way. I've done this lots of ways. This is the latest way. It may not be the best way...but it's the latest..."

-- Ian Hunter (introducing "Laugh at Me", from Welcome to the Club)

The phrase used often in pool instruction or guidance is "pre-shot routine", though I think of it as just "shot routine". For me, it's all one integrated process, or ideally, a flow. I do break it down for myself...

The Lead-In

A few months ago, I was browsing Dr. Dave's FAQ page on Inside English, and the very first question was, "Why do some people like to use inside english, even on shots where it is not required for position?", which struck me as very strange. Shooting that way didn't make any sense to me--if anything, I've always favored outside english to reduce the throw--so I dismissed it as a silly idea/question and didn't consider that it might actually be "a thing"....

I was down at my friend Bobby's house over Thanksgiving weekend a few years ago, shooting a bunch of pool in his outdoor man cave (that kind of thing actually works in San Diego), along with his kid and a friend of ours from school. At one point, I made a kiss shot, which I didn't call, and prepared to continue shooting, but Bobby said that was a foul. I protested (citing standard BCA/WPA rules), but he pointed to a framed document sitting on a shelf by the table, his House Rules, which did in...

I believe that kids who grow up banging balls around the table and not knowing the rules of the game, generally grow up to be adults banging balls around the table and not knowing the rules of the game. To make sure that didn't happen with my stepkid, Chip, the following is how I taught him to play, starting at age 11. For each step, when he reached about 60-70% proficiency (or thereabouts), I explained the next step to him, and had him starting to think about it and layering it onto his game,...