Training

Billiard training aids stand in for a coach on the parts you can drill alone: a straight stroke, aiming and cue-ball control. An hour with a simple trainer usually beats three hours of playing frames.

The most common are stroke guides (a cue running in a rail shows whether your wrist turns), training mirrors for setting the eye over the cue, magnetic ball position markers, templates for repeating the same layout, and rulers and protractors for practising angles. Then there are mats and aiming targets clipped to the rail. The simplest trainer of all — two coins marking the cue path — costs nothing, but the gear in this section shows the error more precisely and lets you repeat the same setup hundreds of times. Many drills also need training balls with printed points. See also coaches and lessons and the whole billiard accessories section.