Rating: 
Summary: A CLEAR, FACILE HOW-TO-DO BOOK FOR BEGINNERS AND JOURNEYMEN
Review: "Cool Cat" Martin teams up with master courseware author Rosser Reeves to bring every pool player below the masters level a beautfully written, organized, and illustrated book on pocket billiards. We learn about the table, about cuesticks and their care, about postures, stances, and strokes, all illustrated by photographs, some reworked to emphasize the point. Here we can study the rules for more pool games than you have heard of and review new terms in the glossary. The heart of the book, however, are the title's 99 critical shots. The first of these is the bugbear of every once-a-fortnight player who stakes a beer on her game--the cut shot. No help Martin says but just to set up the table with easy shots and keep making them until your body takes over from your mind and makes it happen right! The other 98 shots are fascinating excursions, each one illustrated by one or more diagrams, into the psychology of billiard balls and why they roll where they do. We learn about English and throw, nip shots, shots with frozen balls and how easy they are to make even in combination. Martin speaks in tongues: what are "Cheat the Pocket" "Semi-Masse' shots? For me, the dessert was having unlocked secrets even my Dad couldn't explain: the diamond system and how to use it to make bank shots. Practice the shots in an empty hall away from your usual haunts and I guarantee you'll need to swear off free beer on Saturday nights. Hustler
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent course for pool proficiency
Review: 99 Critical Shots functions as a shot-by-shot course that introduces aspiring players to sound pool concepts and helps them build the skill to execute these concepts. While no book will carry you from beginning to end (in-person advice from a skilled pool player is imperative), Martin and Reeves put the aspiring pool player on the right track.The book starts out with basic shots, then builds in complexity. At no point is the player suddenly thrown into the deep end, but many of the shots are sufficiently detailed to force the player to concentrate on the mechanics necessary for well played pool. Some of the diagrams could be plotted better, but they didn't detract from my learning. When I saw that a shot wasn't playing out like it was diagrammed, I analyzed it to see why the deviation was happening; I also experimented with different stroke speeds and English to see how they effected the shot. This experimentation taught me a lot. No other pool instruction book has encouraged me to experiment and analyze as much as 99 Critical Shots has.
Rating:
Summary: The only book on billiards you'd ever need!
Review: A very concise yet very rich in content billiards instruction book. All the techniques taught (English, draw, follow, masse...) puts an emphasis on position play. If ever a second edition would come out why not include a video cd showing film clips about the topics in the book.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book on shotmaking
Review: As a poolplayer, and a personal friend of Ray Martin, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to beginners, intermediates, and professionals. Obviously, a book that shows the top 100 or so billiard shots will have to cover some basic stuff. Having said that, if you know every shot in this book, you should be playing in the circuit. I've been playing for over 30 years, am a member of the BCA, and was taught to play by Ray Martin in his pool hall in Clifton, NJ...and I didn't know all these shots. If you want a book to improve another aspect of your game (high runs, safeties, etc), there are better books, but this is the bible for shotmaking.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book on shotmaking
Review: As a poolplayer, and a personal friend of Ray Martin, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to beginners, intermediates, and professionals. Obviously, a book that shows the top 100 or so billiard shots will have to cover some basic stuff. Having said that, if you know every shot in this book, you should be playing in the circuit. I've been playing for over 30 years, am a member of the BCA, and was taught to play by Ray Martin in his pool hall in Clifton, NJ...and I didn't know all these shots. If you want a book to improve another aspect of your game (high runs, safeties, etc), there are better books, but this is the bible for shotmaking.
Rating:
Summary: I went from 4 shots for 1 to a 7 straight. Thanks Ray.
Review: Hadn't played pool in 35 years, I'm 50. Bottom line is I could not play. Sure I shot the ball and closed my eyes but... Picked up this book and absorbed it. Read it all day, at breakfast, lunch, during dinner, watching TV, before I went to bed. Read and studied and listened to Ray. The pictures are easy to understand and the words are very to the point. Especially great, wonderful, pick an adjective, were the little balls with the spot where the ball should be hit. Great touch. I even made little cheat cards to bring with me to the bar for practice. Ray, please do another book like this. You taught me everything I know. Just the beginning and far from the end. P.S. I guess this guy is a great player, huh?
Rating:
Summary: The ABCs of playing pool.
Review: Having played "pool" on and off for the last twelve years, this book provides a helpful insight in the basics that is often neglected. Just try repeating the somewhat mundane shots ten times in a row and you will realize that it is not the trick shots or the double banks that wins the games, but the common stright hits or basic planning that brings home the trophy.
Rating:
Summary: 2/3 Worth It
Review: I am really into pool. I was told this book would help me game. It did as I was told. The problem is, Ray Martin probably only got up to 70 critical shots, then combined some of those 70 to make up shots that anyone could make up. Also he makes up 15 straight shots that no one needs. You should buy this book, but you don't need 1/3 of the shots he says in the book. I CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BLACK AND GRAY
If you buy the book, you'll get this statement -Ben
Rating: 
Summary: SOME of the tip were helpful, while others were useless.
Review: I found the book to be very helpful in some aspects of my game...there were a few shots i had never thought of taking and i even turned a few heads. But the book didnt really help my over all game and most of the shots that were helpful hardly ever come up. I was looking for a book to help me be a better pool player and i was slightly disappointed. cj keronen (slakker@msn.com) howell,nj
Rating:
Summary: Good, but here's something Better...
Review: I got this book as a rookie. I started practicing about 5 days a week and thought I should get a book. This was a good book for practicing a few shots. And the things that the author explained were true, but if you really want to improve your game, you should seriously consider "Byrne's New Standard Book of POOL and BILLIARDS". Now that's a book that deserves the title of "everything you need to know to learn and master the game"! A guy at the local pool hall recommended it to me. I ended up buying both books. I don't even use the 99 Critical Shots book anymore. I mean, it's still a good book, and if I had a table in the basement and just wanted to practice a few shots on some Saturday afternoon, I would totally refer to this book. Otherwise, Byrne's book has been my guide and has helped improve my game far more than these 99 Critical Shots.
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