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How many times has this happened to you? You come to the table with a difficult shot. You are two balls away from winning – IF you can make this ball. Your mind believes that the chances of success are 50%. In reality, you couldn’t make the shot even once in 10 tries.

You decide to ignore the truth and reality of your skills and proceed to attempt the fantasy. You declare your intent to your opponent and all the railbirds. You shoot — and FAIL!! And, of course, the cue ball stops in the perfect place on the table for your opponent to do an easy runout. Your miss gave the game to your opponent. (To make it worse, your opponent thanks you for giving him the game.)

If you are getting tired of throwing away games – you are beginning to become a more intelligent player. Maybe you need to spend more practice table time on how to play a defensive shot, instead of making shots. This actually will ensure that you become a better shooter. This one little change in your regular shooting style will become your key to becoming a better shooter. And all that is necessary is this little pattern change of your playing style – think before shooting.

You are going to be faced with many shooting situations with little or no chances of success. Instead, consider this: play a defensive shot and your opponent can only shoot the table layout you decide to give him.

Think whether you want to depend on the billiard gods for good luck – or a chance to give your opponent bad luck. Therefore, before you bend down over the shot, have a plan to play offense or defense.

The purpose of an offensive shot is to pocket the ball and get onto the next shot. The purpose of a defensive shot is to prevent your opponent from pocketing a ball and getting to the next shot.

STRATEGIC TIP: When you think about it, you don’t really have to win games. You only need to help your opponent lose.