All snooker players need to practice in order to maintain their standards of play. The simple routines below will help players to develop their abilities at positioning the cue ball where they want it for the next shot of a break.
A good, simple way of improving your positional skills at the snooker table is to set up easy-looking pots with one ball and the cue ball. Make these as tricky or as easy as you like, in terms of where the balls are placed and the distance. The key here is to see where the cue ball ends up after you have potted. Use screw, spin and side on the cue ball to make it go where you want to.
Practice making the balls go to certain areas of the table after you have potted.
To take your practice up to the next level, set up more complex situations and try the same thing. One good drill is to place two red balls in good potting positions at each pocket of the table, one above the pocket and one below. Leave the bottom left pocket free of reds and place the black ball there. Start this drill with the cue ball on the spot where the black usually goes.
The object of the drill is to pot the black and play to get position on one of the reds. If you then pot the red, it stays in its pocket, while the black and the cue ball are replaced in their original positions. You then repeat the process until you have potted all of the reds.
After each pot, remember to replace the cue ball and black back in their original positions, as this will allow you to use the cushions to create spin and angles to set up good table position for the cue ball.
Increase the Challenge
When you have got to grips with this drill, you can increase the level of challenge by adding the colours to the reds and black. This time you place all the colours, including the black, on their spots, while keeping the reds in their positions around the pockets.
The cue ball can be placed anywhere on the table, although between the pink and black is a good place. You then try and pot reds followed by colours, then the colours in order, following the conventional rules of snooker.
These drills are easy to set up and can be used to improve your performance in all cue sports. Always remember that practice and discipline are what separates the good from the great when it comes to sport.