Welcome to Byrne's Wonderful World of Pool and Billiards, a medley of instruction and lore from the best-selling authority on billiards technique. Here, clearly explained and illustrated, are tips on improving your pool game ("Three-Shot Planning"), unusual shots, technique in three-cushion billiards ("Handling Tough Leaves", "Kilgore's Opposite 3 System"), and clarification of the games people play (five pins, snooker, box billiards). In his inimitable style, Robert Byrne also entertains with stories, sage advice ("How to Cope with Sore Losers"), and profiles of top players - plus one of an infamous poseur.
The definitive work on pool and billiards (National Billiard News) by champion player Robert Byrne Now updated throughout and expanded with new material on strategy in eight- and nine-ball, trick shots, and billiard memorabilia, Byrne's New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards is the classic guide to cue games complete with detailed diagrams and photographs to help improve play at every level."
Here is the companion book to the landmark Byren's Standard Book of Pool and Billiads--what every pool player needs to perfect his or her game. Byrne treats the finer points of the game with the comprehensiveness and clarity that have won him a loyal readership among the many thousands of players who have taken up the game in the recent pool boom.
Fully illustrated—in color for the first time!—with drawings of nearly 350 mind-boggling trick shots, Byrne’s Treasury of Trick Shots in Pool and Billiards will teach you everything from the basic “butterfly formation” to the most difficult and impressive shots. Robert Byrne will help novice and experienced players alike perfect their trick shots and learn about the historical context of each trick. Trick shots are anything amusing, surprising, or educational that can be done on a pool or billiard table with standard accessories, and have been around as long as the game itself. Byrne demonstrates historical shots, including some invented by the famous Captain Mingaud, the world’s first professional exhibition player, and newer tricks seen while travelling to tournaments around the world. Filled with easy as well as hard, and technical as well as showy tricks, the book’s clear diagrams, paired with secret insider tips, describe simpler stunts for the beginner, those that take years of practice, and some that the author doubts you’ll ever be able to do. Whether you want to impress a crowd, a group of friends, or yourself, Byrne’s wild, stunning, and unforgettable trick shots will make you question some principles of physics and wow an audience of one or one-hundred. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Fully illustrated with hundreds of drawings depicting nearly three hundred and fifty mind-boggling trick shots, Byrne’s Treasury of Trick Shots in Pool and Billiards will teach you everything from the basic “butterfly formation” to the most difficult and impressive shots. Robert Byrne has scoured classic sources from the past two hundred years as well as his own personal experience and contacts to bring you the most comprehensive book on the subject. Historical anecdotes and context about the origin of each shot accompany the explanations, making for fascinating reading for anyone—from the most inexperienced amateur to the most seasoned expert. Whatever your skills and strengths, pool and billiards master Byrne will teach you the best in trick shots. In hardcover for the first time in nearly thirty years, topics include: Classic shots and variations The wisdom of the ancients, inner secrets, and Byrne’s personal favorites Novelty shots and easy-to-do tricks Stymies, puzzles, and clusters Tube and jump shots Stroke, time, and kiss shots Draw, follow, and massé shots Showstoppers and more! Byrne’s Treasury of Trick Shots in Pool and Billiards is the definitive guide to the best trick shots that the world’s masters have to offer.
Bestselling author, Hall-of-Famer, and master-teacher Byrne is back with his most impressive effort yet: an exhaustive compendium of more than 350 pool shots that will take its place among the game's classic instructional books.
The Broadway Books Library of Larceny Luc Sante, General Editor McGoorty is master billiards writer Robert Byrne’s racy account of the life of Danny McGoorty, a billiards champion of that bygone era when cue artists were often scam artists and pool rooms were held to be dens of iniquity. Hustler and hobo, womanizer and fashion plate, McGoorty was at once eyewitness to Capone’s Chicago and the feats of greats like Willie Hoppe and Willie Mosconi. In an all-American voice at once sarcastic, profane, humorous, and chock full of colorful lingo, he relates his colorful and seedy life and times with a unique style and brio.
Thirty-one stories on pool and billiards written over the past 150 years. The authors range from Pushkin to Vachss, the stories from Wallace Stegner's The Blue-Winged Teal, on competition between a father and a son, to Bill Pronzini's science fiction story, The Hungarian Cinch.
In the world of cue sticks and side pockets, this is the gospel. A champion player, indefatigable writer, and inexhaustible promoter of his sport, Byrne racks his book into two halves, the first a primer on pool, the second on three-cushion billiards. Beginning with the fundamentals, he goes on to run the table with lots of readable advice and detailed diagrams for how to play individual shots, including trick shots, strategies for eight- and nine-ball, and rules for the major pool games. Then it's on to billiards, where he banks from the fundamentals to the art of shot making and tactics for play at every level, touching on every conceivable cushion along the way.
In the tradition of Pulitzer Prize nominated, Positively Fifth Street, here is a riveting account of a high stakes shoot-out between pool’s two most famous personalities. It was Valentine’s Day, 1978, and Howard Cosell was hosting the long-awaited show-down between the best-ever tournament player, Willie Mosconi, and the game’s most famous hustler, Minnesota Fats. This was The Great Pool Shoot-Out, one of the most highly rated televised sporting events of the year, exceeding even World Series games and basketball championships. R.A. Dyer, author of the best-selling Hustler Days, which recounts the rise of pool during the 1960s, writes of the acrid, but mutually beneficial rivalry between Fats and Mosconi, and how the televised shoot-outs came to embody that rivalry, which was nothing less than a bitter rift within the soul of American pocket billiards. Fats and Mosconi were born the same year, but were vastly different characters: one stood for artistry, the other for show business; one brought dignity to pool, the other made it fun. They are without a doubt the two most important players ever to hold a cue. This is the ultimate tale of American sportsmanship. R.A. Dyer is a columnist for Billiards Digest, and lives in Austin, Texas.
