Snooker Tips 2023 Aiming and Techniques

The simplest way to line up almost any shot is to push the tip through the centre band of the cue ball directly to where you're aiming on the object ball, just like the cue ball isn't really there. And as long as you're not too far away from the centre, the cue ball is going to move in whichever direction you point your tip. So a successful pot can be as simple as just pointing your cue at the object ball and then pushing towards it through the centre of the cue ball. This is just tip 1 of my 23 tips to help you improve in 2023. And as long as you can work out where the centre of the cue ball is and where the cue ball needs to go in order to pot the object ball, you will be able to see exactly where to aim, and this tip will help you pot any ball on the table. Tip 2. I'm not going to play this shot with any sidespin whatsoever, just a huge amount of backspin, and look what happens. It straightens up quite a lot. And knowing this can often be very helpful when you're escaping from snookers. Tip 3. Not only is it difficult to play shots accurately when the cue ball's under the cushion, it's also very easy to miss cue. The solution to both of these problems is to just push the tip of your cue into the cushion on the way through. It actually makes potting the ball a lot easier. Tip 4. Most people will be aware if you strike the cue ball to one side, either intentionally or accidentally, it will move off-line. But as you can see here, not by very much. So can it be stopped? The problem is, striking the cue ball perfectly through the centre is almost impossible. And if you're only adding a small amount of unwanted sidespin, it's not going to make too much difference as we've already seen. So really, this isn't worth thinking about. It actually can make your game worse by trying to correct it too much. Tip 5. A big reason you might miss mid-range shots like this one is getting down on them and changing your mind about how hard you're going to strike the cue ball. Say I'm going to hit it very slow now, and I decide I'm going to hit it instead very hard. As we've just seen, a small amount of sidespin isn't too difficult to adapt to. That is, unless you don't know how hard you're going to strike the cue ball. So before I get to the table, if I know how hard I want to strike the cue ball and I stick to that plan, my brain has more of a chance of working out what any unwanted sidespin will do. Tip 6. Don't try to improve your technique. How you play better is by keeping your technique the same on as many shots as possible. This makes it more predictable, and that's how you improve. You do this by remembering exactly where you stand, along with the parts of your body that are in contact with the cue, and work out where you grip the cue and where your bridge hand should go, as well as where you're in contact with the table. The more you keep these the same, the better you're going to play. But we'll have a look at this in more detail later on. Tip 7. The main point of practice is that it allows you to play the game without really thinking about your technique in any way. It's vital to be able to play the game without thinking about where your arms are, so you need to do enough practice to be able to play completely naturally. Tip 8. But it's also vital you know in pressure situations how your technique works, because you can't play on autopilot all the time. If you know things like where you should be standing, how you should be holding the cue, and that you're lining the shot up right, it's less likely you're going to forget part of your technique and end up missing the pot. Tip 9. If you do find yourself missing a lot of straightforward pots, the first thing you need to do is make sure you're lining them up accurately. You may have been doing this subconsciously, but you can't rely on that if you keep missing. Especially on high-pressure shots, it's tempting to almost close your eyes and hope your natural technique takes over. But this won't work — you need to almost make sure you're potting the ball. Like here, make sure I'm hitting the blue in the correct place. Tip 10. Another reason you might be putting simple shots wide is a simple understanding of how the balls are actually colliding. A simple way of finding out is to play a dead-straight shot like this blue as straight as possible, and see how straight you actually hit it. As you can see, that went to the side of the pocket, and this is probably because I thought this bit of the cue ball was the centre. I actually get this bit of the cue ball in the right place, but it isn't the centre — this is. And that makes it go slightly to the right-hand side from where I'm looking. But if you start understanding the part of the cue ball that strikes the object ball, it will make a difference. Here I'm understanding where the centre of the cue ball is a little bit better, but it's difficult to know how to get this right. It's really confusing, which is why I made a whole video about it last year, which is in the card up there. Tip 11. When you're on the shot, if you stand up, you'll be able to see one of your feet underneath or around about underneath your cue. There will be a perfect place relative to your cue to position this foot. And if you get that position exactly right, then you're easily going to pop the ball. It's just going to be easier than it normally would be. Within just a handful of shots, you should be able to find the right place. And if you are finding the right place, then the ball should naturally be going to the centre of the pocket. After just a few tries, you should be able to find exactly the right place. And the more accurate you can be like this, the easier it's going to feel to pop the ball. Now, I know I said earlier, how you play better is by keeping your technique the same on as many shots as possible. But this isn't really about changing anything. It's about doing what you're already doing more precisely. And so are the next few. Tip 12. When the tip of your cue is up to the cue ball, you want your arm to be pointing roughly straight down. And this gives you equal room to both pull the cue back and push it through again. Tip 13. The angle of your wrist makes an absolutely huge difference to your entire cue action. So you want to find the best place for you both at the start of the shot and where it ends up after you've struck the cue ball. And keep this the same. Tip 14. People will tell you to keep your head and body completely still on the shot. And they're right. But the problem is, the harder you try to do that, the more likely it is you're going to jump up in some way. This is because if you tense your body up, it's very difficult to push your cue through without moving any unwanted body parts. So instead, you just keep this bit of your arm between your bridge hand and your elbow pinned to the table. As long as that's stuck in position, you can keep the rest of your body loose. And surprisingly, the rest of it won't really want to move. Tip 15. Ronnie O'Sullivan's technique is fascinating. Instead of doing what I do, which is pull my cue back, stop, and then push it through again, he actually creates some sort of piston motion where the cue goes back around and then forward without really ever stopping. Now, even if, like me, you don't deliver the cue like that, for some reason it makes shots where you're digging down at the cue ball like this a lot easier to strike in a straight line. Or even if you're just bridging over the top of something like this, this piston action seems to be a bit more reliable on these types of shots. Tip 16. If you ever get a shot you really need to pot, especially if it's a stun shot like this, try to play it with as little power as possible and keep as much speed out of the cue ball, giving you the maximum chance of potting it. Tip 17. If you give up on a shot before you strike the cue ball, then you're very unlikely to pot it. If you play every shot like you're confident and you're going to get it, then your success rate will actually improve dramatically. We've got some positional tips to look at next after we find Alvaro from Madrid in Spain, which is there. Tip 18. A lot of the time, if you leave yourself an angle to pot the black and get in position on the next red off the top cushion, it can make break-building a lot easier, because you don't have to do very much with this shot. Tip 19. When you're potting along the cushion, you have to be really accurate, because the pockets are very tight from this angle. The trick is to play with the opposite side to the cushion you're playing along. Even though I play this quite badly, it still pulls it into the pocket. Tip 20. Even when you've got a difficult shot that you're worried you might miss, you still want to be putting a lot of effort into the positional element of the shot. Otherwise, you could have the same problem again on your next shot, or possibly even worse. Tip 21. If I'm trying to play position on that red and I'm worried about under-hitting it, the chances are I'll probably over-hit the shot. And if I'm worried about it going too far, I'll probably leave it short. It's important with touch-control shots like this, you work out exactly where you want the cue ball to go, and you just play the shot confidently, like you're going to get it right. Tip 22. Playing with side-spin can make some shots a little bit easier, but it takes quite a while to explain how to do this. Tip 23. And there are also a lot of practice routines that will help you improve at the game faster, but again, this takes quite a long time to explain. So for the last two tips, if you want to play shots with side-spin or learn practice routines that will help improve your game, have a look at these two videos. 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