How to Play Pool - Shaping Up Your Position Play

Welcome to the next installment of Scott's Pool School!
In this video I will be talking about shapes used in position play - lines, triangles, circles, squares, and more! By showing these geometric shapes visually using the Projection Pro Billiards system, hopefully it will help you to identify these principles when playing and help you improve your patterns and execution.
Content:
- Tangent line (also covered in previous Angles video here: • How to Play Pool - Angles )
- Shot line
- Position zone triangles
- Center of the table square
- End rail semi-circles
- 45 degree rule visual
- and more!
I plan on publishing new videos monthly (if not more), so like and subscribe to be notified of new content when available. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future videos please let me know in the comments. You can also check out my website at mypoolschool.com for more articles and info.
Thanks!

[@lesterweinheimer665]

Great videos been playing 50 years and still learned a lot from you Scott. Wish you were closer to Dallas

[@rhaazy]

Thanks for uploading this content. You are a very generous person and I will pray to the Pool Gods to bring you good fortune.

[@michael_shawnruszkowskijr1887]

Great video. I enjoy the way you teach. I watched this last night, and this morning I spent over an hour working on the center table drill. Thank you for your videos.

[@ScottsPoolSchool]

Thank you so much!

[@caseysrodeo14]

I'm glad I ran into your videos here on KZbin. Always great to have different views as well as input on sharing knowledge. Thank you!!!!

[@royroynovak2572]

This is an EXCELLENT video. People learning in today's environment should feel blessed to be able to learn this from watching a video. Most older players did not have this option!!! :)

[@ScottsPoolSchool]

Thank you! Being a somewhat older player myself, I remember trying to learn from reading books, watching matches on ESPN or Wide World of Sports, and trying to extract secrets from more experienced players. Definitely easier these days and why I enjoy making these videos and trying to help others learn. Thanks again!

[@byronwhitney665]

This really helped me to fully understand why I often scratch. After some more practice and keeping these principles in mind during the game, I honestly believe I will be able to win 15-20 percent more games by avoiding the scratch shot. Thank you for making this content and providing it for free.

[@ScottsPoolSchool]

You're welcome! Thanks for the comments!

[@ZaneBeasley-d3b]

Nice. Very good infinformation thanks

[@trchrstnsn38]

Scott, Your videos are excellent. Thank you

[@MikeyD22]

Excellent instruction Scott. Thanks a lot for sharing!

[@aa-hd2zg]

wow, is this a projector which draw lines on the table? its so eazy to see, its a really great video!

[@kevinbransky1817]

I play an endless spot drill to get good and cutting a ball, banking it, or using english to avoid a scratch. Its a lovely drill, and my confidence in those shots is very very high. I usually warm up with 13-14 spotted balls, and then I kick at the last one to get a feel for my technique and to let out my stroke. Kicking two, three, or more rails helps me be consistent when using spin, though using check on a three rail kick shot is certainly unpredictable.

[@mFiUnCdKED7]

Great trining vids Scott, would love to go to one of your clinic's, Hello from Illinois!

[@michaeleggebrecht366]

Massive amount of information. Thank you Sir. God Bless.

[@ScottsPoolSchool]

Thank you!

[@jaimemolina1777]

center table shot drills reminded me of B. Kinister

[@rnjeezus575]

Great content! I try to live a simple life, play pool and watch Scott Rohleder videos when he posts them lol. One question- I thought the 45 degree rule was when shooting or rebounding off a rail at 45 degrees, you will end up mostly running through the center table? I saw Dr. Dave's video on this 45 degree rule so when you explained and demonstrated it I was confused. Thanks for all the content, hope to see more soon!

[@ScottsPoolSchool]

You are correct as well, when the cue ball approaches the rail at roughly a 45 degree angle toward the end rail it does tend to lead back to center. This rule is different because the object ball is in the way, therefore the rule about 1 diamond of travel for every half table. It's a great guideline for that type of position play, and you can extrapolate from there for smaller or larger angles.

[@jeremyparris6121]

If you're coming into the ball at 45, you know the natural angle will take 30 off. So the rebound off the rail is 15 - about one diamond across the table. Its easier to see by visualising how the cb acts with a bit of distance from the rail.

[@jdtyler007]

Thanks Scott!👍🏼

[@sirwayne8498]

What I find with some players, even after pocketing some difficult shots for the first 7, fear seems to set in when shooting on the 8 ball ... like there is something "different" about it. At the end of this video, you show examples of cue ball control when shooting the 8 (or 9) but not when you miss that shot, but still want to play the cue ball to a safer place. Great video though.

[@erickort1987]

ive been practicing using inside english/kill shot,the cueball comes off slow off the rail,the rotation master channel has a video about it,he has great tutorials for 9 and 10 ball,one thing i like about him he doesnt edit out his missed shots but i suspose some of his tips would work out if your playing 8 ball

[@bradleysimon1811]

I have been enjoying watching your videos, as a beginner I have had trouble when to use follow or draw when coming off of a rail...any advice or video you can direct me to?

[@ScottsPoolSchool]

Generally follow and draw are used to alter the cueball path after contact with the object ball - follow will bend forward of the natural tangent line, draw will bend backward. How much and how quickly is determined by thickness of hit (thicker can be altered more), speed, etc. That's where the "art" comes into the game, often similar end results can be achieved with different combinations of tip position and speed. For coming off of a rail, draw might rebound a little more sharply or bend after contact with the rail at certain angles, speeds, and amounts of spin, and the same is true for follow in the reverse. But altering the path off of the rail is more frequently done with right or left english, where running english will open up the angle more and maintain or somewhat increase speed, and reverse english will shorten up the angle and slow the speed down. So maybe thinking about those things separately will help when coming into position zones for instance - if a change is needed from the natural tangent line prior to contacting a rail you can use follow or draw to alter tha path, and if a change is needed from the natural rebound angle after contacting a rail then use right or left english as needed to affect the resulting angle. Hope that helps! Scott

[@JohnSmith-by2fl]

great video! What type of projector are you using?

[@ScottsPoolSchool]

Its called Projection Pro Billiards. It plugs into a projector, they recommend a certain type which is what we have, bot sure of the exact model.

[@jasonnieuwenhuis335]

Thanks!

[@wombra8314]

thx brother! 👋🏻🎱👄🎱🤚🏻

[@tigerleikong7445]

I grew up seeing people kicking/keeping the ball ⚽️ up, not letting the ball touch the floor, wow I thought, he can do 1000 kick ups, he must be a great player.. It came to match day and they just weren’t footballers, they were useless.. It’s like a person who speaks beautiful English but is too shy to ever speak.. I think 99% of all drills are a waste of time, they don’t make you a great pool player, however we must look at all to find our 1%! Thanks for the video 🙏

[@dennisbast743]

I'm sorry, Sir. Apples and oranges. You're conflating developing a technical skill set with excelling in competition. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that just because persons that have a skill set (1000 kick-ups, as an example) that doesn't translate into game savvy doesn't define them as "useless". The world is filled with great throwers who have no curve ball, great BB shooters who can't jump, amazing quarterbacks who cannot throw further than 30 yds. You can find examles of this in every human endeavor. These skills are not "useless"' if the person loves what they are doing. Your expectations were the problem. They were irrelevant, and therefore, useless. Be well