9 Top Tips To Play Online Pool & Enjoy It

Pool has long been a popular game to play, and it’s easy to see why. Not only is the game itself enjoyable - and even mesmerising - but it’s a great way to bond with people. Even when you’re playing online pool, you can still have a great time.

That could be difficult if you’re losing constantly. While you could enjoy each individual game, losing sours the experience.

With a few particular tips, however, you can improve your pool game and get better. While there’s no guarantee you’ll win constantly, you’ve got much better chances. There’s no reason not to at least consider it.

Practicing more is the most obvious of these, but there are far more strategies you can use. Some of these will be more effective than you’d think.

Nine of these stand out, as they could end up helping you much more than you’d think.

Tips For Playing Online Pool: 9 Top Picks

1. Aim For Easy Shots

This is one of the more obvious tips you can find for playing online pool. The problem is, it’s so obvious people tend to overlook them. If you have any easy shots, it’s worth taking them. Do this anytime an easy shot comes up, and you shouldn’t have a problem potting them.

Since that’s the main goal of playing pool, you’ve no reason not to go with it. You’ll end up with much fewer balls on the table than you would’ve thought. You’ll end up gaining a lead on your opponent, giving you a much better chance of actually winning.

Take a little bit of time to look at the table and figure out if you have any easy shots. These should be relatively easy to spot, like having a ball right next to a pocket. You’ll make winning much easier, and you shouldn’t have to worry about winning your game.

You’ve no reason to make the game more difficult for yourself, so go out of your way to make it easier.

2. Master A Few Shots

There are quite a few types of shots you can make when you’re playing pool online. Some of these are trick shots that make you feel fancy when you do them. They could even help you pot more balls with one shot, especially if you’re really good with them.

You could be tempted to learn as many of these as you can. The logic behind it is pretty straightforward. With various types of shots in your arsenal, you can break them out when you need to.

The only reason these work when someone tries them is because the player is really good with specific shots. If you’re trying all of them, you wouldn’t be able to actually master any of them. Instead, you’ll just have plenty of shots you might be relatively average with.

By limiting yourself to just a few shots, you can practice them a lot more. You’ll end up getting a lot better with them, and you can actually increase your chances of winning with them. Don’t stretch yourself too thin by trying to learn too much.

3. Disrupt Opponents’ Chances

Your opponent will have quite a few chances to pot their balls, and it’s up to you to get in the way of this. They could end up getting more chances than you do if you don’t. If you really want to win, you’ll need to focus on potting balls while disrupting your opponent’s ability to pot them.

If you know you can’t pot one of your balls with your current shot, for example, it could be worth making sure your opponent can’t with theirs. While that means taking a slightly different shot than you normally would, it can still be well worth it.

At a minimum, you should make sure your opponent can’t create a lead and get closer to winning. Snooker them whenever you’re not able to pot a ball with your shot. While you’ll eventually need to risk it and try to pot a ball, it’s a decent fallback option if you can’t pot anything.

Your next shot could give you a better chance of actually potting something, so it could be worth waiting until then.

4. Break Up Clumps

It’s relatively common for balls to clump together during a game. Usually, this happens right after a break. No matter what, it can always be a nuisance when you’re playing. It could make it much more difficult to pot each individual ball, making it harder to win.

It’s something you should try to prevent as much as you can, but that’s not always possible. Sometimes, it just happens. When it does, try to break them up as easily as you can. Don’t just simply aim for them, however.

If you can break them up while potting another ball, then that’s worth going for. While that’s a little bit more of a tricky shot, it’ll be more worth it, especially if you still have more balls on the table than your opponent.

With a little effort, you shouldn’t have much of a problem with it.

5. Be Attentive To Balls

Make sure you’re paying as much attention to all of the balls before you make a shot. Don’t just focus on the one you’re targeting. Instead, you’ll need to consider how the cue ball and the ball you’re targeting will interact with the other balls on the table once they start moving.

That means you’ll have to pay attention to the entire table. Will the ball you hit knock off other balls while it’s moving? Will this change its trajectory, and will it cause the other balls to be potted? You’ll need to figure all of this out before taking your shot.

While this can be difficult to figure out, it gets easier and faster with time. It’s still worth paying attention to, no matter what. Spend as much time on it as you need while you’re figuring it out.

You’ll end up being able to figure out the best shot to take once you’ve put a little bit of time and effort into it.

6. Pick Your Balls Wisely

There’ll be a few occasions when you’ll get to pick which balls you want to target. You’ll be given the choice between solids and stripes, for example. Usually, this happens when you’ve potted multiple stripes and solids during a break.

Don’t just pick the first one that comes into your mind, though. Make sure you put a little bit of time and effort into it. Take a look at the table and figure out how many of each type of ball were potted. It’ll let you figure out which one you should go with.

If more solids have been potted during the break than stripes, then it could be worth going with them. You’ll have a bit of an advantage going forward, so you’ve no reason not to go with them.

By actually spending a little bit of time on this, you’ll help yourself more than you’d think.

7. Be Precise

Precision is one of the more important parts of playing pool. Whether you’re playing online or in-person, you’ll need to be as precise as possible when you’re making your shots. It not only affects whether you’ll pot the ball you hit, but whether you hit it in the first place.

As obvious as this is, it’s one of the more complicated parts of playing pool online. While it can be a little easier with an online pool game than it is in-person, it’s still something you might need to work on.

Practice is the main thing that helps this. You can’t get more precise without playing pool, so it’s worth spending a bit of time and effort on. You’ll end up figuring it out much faster than you would’ve thought.

With time, you’ll get better and better with this, so you’ve no reason not to spend the time on it. Since it’ll help you win more games, you’ve every reason to actually spend time getting more precise with it.

8. Break With Power

You’ll often get the chance to break when you’re playing online pool. While this mightn’t seem like much of a big deal, you should put a little bit of effort into it. Make sure it’s as powerful as possible so you can do a proper break.

It’s one of the more important shots of the game, and can have a drastic impact on the rest of the pool game. If you hit hard enough, you could end up potting several balls. While this is relatively difficult to achieve, it’s been done plenty of times.

At a minimum, you shouldn’t end up needing to worry about balls clumping together and being more difficult to pot in the future. It can also be a relatively risky move, however. Depending on where you hit the balls, you run the risk of potting the cue ball.

It can still be worth doing, though. The reward far outweighs the risk.

9. Pay Attention To Time

In many cases, you’ll need to keep track of your time when you’re playing pool. You could have a set amount of time to make your shot, and you’ll need to be aware of this. While this can vary from game to game, it usually isn’t too long. You’ll need to make your shot relatively quickly.

While that adds a certain amount of pressure to each shot, it’s where part of the fun lies. Get used to needing to think relatively quickly. If you don’t end up making your shot in the time you have, you could end up forfeiting your shot. Your opponent will then get another shot.

Since that puts you at a disadvantage, make sure it doesn’t happen. Pay attention to the time you have for each shot, and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Types Of Online Pool Explained

When most people think of online pool, they picture a specific game. What they often overlook is the fact there are different types to play. These all offer their pros and cons, and you could prefer one of the other.

It’s worth being aware of what type of pool game you might like. To do that, it’s worth knowing which options you have on offer. Some of the more notable of these include:

Snooker - One of the more popular types you can play, this involves pocketing the colored balls in a specific order. You’ll earn points with each ball you pocket, with each ball being worth a different amount. The game ends once all the balls have been pocketed, and the player with the most points wins.

One Pocket - This is relatively similar to snooker, except you’re only allowed to pocket balls in one pocket at a time. You have to keep trying to sink a ball into this specific pocket before you can move onto the next one. You gain points anytime you pocket a ball, but your opponent earns points if you miss

Eight Ball - Probably the most famous pool game, this involves either spots and stripes or solids and stripes, with these referring to having two different-looking types of balls. Both players have the same amount of balls they need to pocket before they can try to pocket the black ball. The first player to sink each of their balls and the black wins.

Power Snooker - This is relatively similar to traditional snooker, but it’s much more fast-paced. There’s usually a 30-minute limit on the game, and players usually have up to 20 seconds to make their shot. They gain points from every ball they pocket, and failure to make a shot within an allocated time frame could mean losing points.

Now you know the types of pool games you can play online, you’re in a much better position to pick which one’s right for you. It’s worth trying out each pool game a few times before making a decision.

It’ll let you properly figure out which one’s right for you. It’s hard to make a decision without actually knowing what they’re all like, after all. You could even like a few of them, and it might be worth playing all of them.

No matter what, keep the above tips in mind when you’re playing. They’ll help you get better at each of the games, and you shouldn’t have a problem winning quite a few games.

Additional Tips For Improving Your Pool Game

All of the above can be effective at helping you learn to play pool online and actually win at it. They’re far from the only things you should keep in mind when you’re starting off. If you’d prefer to take things a little more seriously, then it’s worth looking into a few other tips and tricks you can use.

They could help you improve your pool game more than you’d think. Some of the more notable of these include:

Know Your Angles - Angles make quite a difference when you’re playing pool. If you don’t hit a ball at the right angle, it isn’t going to go the way you want it to. Spend some time figuring out the right angles to get the ball the way you want it to go. Once you do, you’ll end up potting more balls than you would’ve thought

Vary Your Power - Like angles, the power with which you hit the ball makes a significant difference in whether you’ll pot a ball. Too little, and it wouldn’t get to the pocket. Too much, and the cue ball will be potted, too.

Take Your Time - Even though you could have a time limit on your shot, take as much time as you can during that limit. It’ll let you plan out your shot much better.

With these in mind, you can play pool online and be able to win much more than you’d think. Once you’ve put a little bit of effort into it, your pool game gets much better, and you’ll end up winning more and more. You shouldn’t end up with any problems, and you’ll enjoy yourself more than you’d think.

Since pool is supposed to be fun and relaxing, make sure you focus on that. Win or lose, you’re playing to have a good time, so there’s no reason not to focus on that.

Play Online Pool: Wrapping Up

When you’re playing online pool, you’ll naturally want to have a great time. That isn’t always possible if you’re losing constantly, though. By putting the time and effort into using a few strategies, you shouldn’t have much of a problem with this.

You should see yourself winning more games, and you’ll get better and better. With how good your pool game gets, you should win more games than you already are.

Take your time and be sure to practice, and you shouldn’t have a problem with this. Add in the fact there are multiple types of pool you can play, and you’ve plenty of chances to have fun. You’ve got plenty of reasons to keep - or even start - playing online pool.

With the right pool game, you’ll have a great time, so what’s stopping you from giving it a go?

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