I like how you teach the way forward for beginners and amateurs, and your detailed explanations are really easy to understand. I am pleased I used to play the right way, finding the line to keep the natural angle, flow with ease on to the next ball, and if you come up short you are still on the right line.
I'm only very recently getting properly into pool and cue sports, and it is a testament to your legacy and skill that I already view you as the best. There's no other player with the understanding you have, thank you so much for making this channel Mick!
Thank you Mick! Great to see you giving it back to the pool community. Lots of love from Mauritius! There is always a smooth flow in your pattern play compared to many players who might end up chasing a finish. It eventually boils down to knowing your natural angles and picking the right shots.
WOW WOW WOW... Thank you Mick this is what I really needed to see. Even at best my NATURAL READING SKILLS were 50 /50 and this video will help a lot. Cheers mate ... Keep up the great work
Thank you as always Mick, an amazing insight into your natural angles style of play. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge as always. Truly appreciate
That's what I'm talking about Mick, that's what the pub men been waiting for. 😂 Great video Mick, great drill and explanation, also happens to be what I've been working on right now. Natural angles and angles of cushions.
Fantastic insight and something that is often overlooked in the amateurs game. So many of us play a loose shot at some point in a frame and now as you say need to instruct the cueball often complicating future shots or snookered.
Starting to realise why I run out of position so consistently, I am always instructing the cue ball so eventually I run into problems. Thank you. Will certainly be contemplating this one. Keep up the great work. 👍
Love your content, great stuff. Played snooker with my dad for years, now getting a little more serious about 8 ball. That first drill is amazing! Gives you such a great feel for the angles. Just brilliant.
What a brilliant video. Can't wait to try the 1st drill especially. Losing the cueball on very makeable patterns is always my biggest issue and having to manipulate the cueball less is obviously going to help! Ive just subscribed to your channel Mick and I'm loving working my way through your videos! Thanks for all the great content mate!
Great content, forget about tangent lines, master the natural angles, i think most higher end amateur players even intermediate players see roughly the path of the cue ball but 'not sure' and not sure doesnt mean you run racks. Thanks Mick, probaly best video yet👍
Great video Mick, I remember playing you at an interleague match the day after you won the world championship. I missed an easy black and you dished up. You were playing in Wakefield. A bit hungover I think you were 😂
Love this. So simple. Im still a beginner and often just play agaisnt myself at home for practice. Ill deffo give the drill at the start some serious time. I love to watch snooker and pool and obviously love how the pros can manipulate the cue ball i love how they can also appear to do nothing with it and still be perfect. Like you say in the vid. Leaving it in the right place to play to natural is the key.
Gimme more ! The hardest thing is trying research this topic which most detail you find will be from English billiards/ snooker Forces you to learn the smal white natural ourselves which is the best way Of learning Awesome stuff Thanks mick
Question about the last example and playing to finish on the natural angle to shift the 8 ball with cushion first contact. If you finish say two inches past natural angle position you're now unable to play cushion first. Whereas if you were aiming to finish two inches short of natural position and overran by up to two inches the cushion first contact is still on albeit with some instruction. So it seems like there is a tradeoff in deciding what cueball position to aim for on the shot. Aiming to finish natural is great if you get it but at the risk of over running and losing the cushion first option. Aiming to finish short of the natural means you may have to instruct the cue ball but a small overrun still leaves you with the cushion first option. Would you back yourself to finish on the natural or give yourself more wriggle room and aim to finish a bit short of the natural? A video dealing with these sort of tradeoff issues would be interesting :)
Amazing mick. Any chance of showing how to play side or around the clock. Are you cueing from middle to side or aiming straight at the side. Love the videos
Great video Mick, makes so much sense to make the shots easier. I'll certainly try the drills out. Still can't believe you missed the 8 ball twice 😂😂, shows you are human.
6 times world champion You have also won the Anzac and big guns in Australia! Incredible absolutely incredible! Any plans of partaking in these tournaments this year? I would love to watch you play
Ive only cleared a few tables from the break in nearly 10 years of playing local league games, probably because i never bothered to teach myself natural angles and instead play unnecessary reaction shots, running out of position ball by ball! i will deffo give this a go when i get the chance 👍
Love it! Still hoping for an in depth video on stance grip and getting down on shot. Hopefully in depth as opposed to a general description although I know everyone has different body types
Great videos, thanks, I'll be practicing this for sure. I've just watched an old clip of you playing George Tierney in the Supreme pool series. I'd find it interesting to hear a potted history of your experience with the changes in the rules of the game from world to international with blackball and Supreme rules (seems to be the forerunner of international?) Cheers
Superb video. The art of developing balls isn’t easy but having the knowledge of natural lines make’s developing balls a lot easier. Which is why the drill with the balls on the Cush and just using the natural angle is a very nice drill to practice. Thank you Mike for the Insightful and informative video. Keep it up my friend.
wish I'd seen this video when I first started playing. I was absolutely clueless about natural angles, and even when I read a book on pool and thought I understood them, it was an American book, so my angles were slightly out as I wasn't allowing for the cue ball being smaller. Also love the honesty of not editing out the 2 missed blacks. Was a double not an option if you were worrying about white in that situation?
Just had a go. Fine with balls into corner pocket however potting into middle felt like i had to miss it to find the angle. 11 shots. Thanks great like drill 👍
Mick knowing you will scratch on black ball with cue ball near cushion and knowing shot is 10/20 times harder if you raise but of cue is there a safety shot available in that situation? I.e leave white at top of table? Or is that to negative
you need to weigh up the risks and the level you're playing at. 9/10 you would have to back yourself in that situation to play and pot the harder shot.
@@mickthemachinehill cheers mate and maybe on a next video you could show that shot raising the butt of cue to instruct white to miss the middle pocket 😀👍
This is an awesome tutorial video like others which is very important advice from the real number 1 in England (killing 🎱 Machine). 🎱🔥🔥🔥👌👌👌 Thanks Sir Hill, keep them coming to help those underground pool players out there who are seeking 🎱 coach out there. With you video we learning more and more each time we watch your video's...
Mick, been a fan for many a year. You v Tom Cousins in a challenge match would be a dream for pool fans worldwide. Totally agree it should be in a professional venue. That recent money match i think involving Ian Ali where drinks were thrown on the table at the end was a disgrace. Money on the line and alcohol in your british lad is not a good mix.
Great video. Just wondering something Mick. If the natural angle is in-off and the stun angle is dangerous. Is it possible to do some kind of partial stun to get an angle in between?
It would be great if you invested in something like a Go-Pro, that you could attach to your head or the cue, so we can see the angles from behind the shot 👍🏼👍🏼
On the shot you was playing around the 8 minute mark my first thought was the cue ball was in off so on that basis i said to myself play the 8ball of the top red as we watch would this be a good option or not as from the way it looks it would of gone fairly easily
Hi Mick for me the positioning looks precise to me to avoid the two reds, would it not be better to leave a straight shot to screw off the side cushion, or leave the white high to come off top cushion side cushion to play the yellow into the middle to then have the option off the two yellows into the corner bags?
@@mickthemachinehill I take your point Mick,but would you play for precise position in this situation if it was in a match scenario? Please don’t take it the wrong way mate ,Just picking your brains mate. I’m 62 but I still have the hunger to improve.
Although I am a fairly solid player, the natural angle is something I still struggle with. For some damn reason I just do not see it on a consistent basis. Very frustrating. I have worked on getting the natural angle down before, but really didn't focus on it as much as needed when practicing. This will now be a priority for me. Excellent video.
Great video Mick, very useful content as always. One very minor and very picky criticism is the incorrect spelling “amatuer” on your video thumbnail 👍🏼🤪. It’s completely unrelated to the content but thought I’d mention it.
This is useful because it's all too easy to think I'll be ok I can screw / top / sidespin to cannon or get position but then you're into a whole world of trouble. If you can keep every shot simple, the game becomes easier to play.
Just to play devil's advocate a little... I avoid those natural angles a lot of the time. The problem is you often have to get the cue ball to a very specific point and if you overrun that point, now you have to do something crazy because there's no way to get the breakout or whatever if you do overrun. But if you aim a little short of that point you can use stun follow or a bit of english to get the same result. I've found in a lot of situations using this approach actually provides a larger margin for error and therefore better percentages than trying to get that perfect position to shoot the natural angle on the next shot. jmho.
Just playing devils advocate back, how many world championships have you won? 😉 The situation you are in will be unique and based on your ability, the match situation, table conditions etc. may change the way you approach the shot but all that aside, you need to better your game and by doing things naturally will be a game changer. Promise.
I like how you teach the way forward for beginners and amateurs, and your detailed explanations are really easy to understand. I am pleased I used to play the right way, finding the line to keep the natural angle, flow with ease on to the next ball, and if you come up short you are still on the right line.
Glad it was helpful!
My natural angle changes based on the alcohol consumption.
🤣
Ain’t that the truth? 😂😂😂
Usually into the third dimension, in my case 🙂
I'm only very recently getting properly into pool and cue sports, and it is a testament to your legacy and skill that I already view you as the best. There's no other player with the understanding you have, thank you so much for making this channel Mick!
Thank you and you’re welcome
Thank you Mick! Great to see you giving it back to the pool community. Lots of love from Mauritius! There is always a smooth flow in your pattern play compared to many players who might end up chasing a finish. It eventually boils down to knowing your natural angles and picking the right shots.
My pleasure!
This is why i love watching you play! You don't over complicate things!🎱✅
I appreciate that!
Excellent video, Mick! Very useful to show real-world scenarios. Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Thank you for videos, watched many online but your style is clearly the best. Just got my own table so will put it all to practice 😁
Awesome, thank you!
WOW WOW WOW... Thank you Mick this is what I really needed to see. Even at best my NATURAL READING SKILLS were 50 /50 and this video will help a lot.
Cheers mate ... Keep up the great work
Glad it was helpful!
The new best and most useful blackball video ever seen on the internet.
Brilliantly and “naturally “ explained !
Wow, thanks!
I will give that a try tomorrow, thanks Mick. Enjoy your videos
Thank you as always Mick, an amazing insight into your natural angles style of play. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge as always. Truly appreciate
Glad you enjoyed it
Another great lesson on the natural angles, explained in a easy to understand manner. Thank Mick. Look forward to more videos. 🎱
Glad you enjoyed it
Hey lad -liked your concept on angles … I learned a lot ! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
That's what I'm talking about Mick, that's what the pub men been waiting for. 😂
Great video Mick, great drill and explanation, also happens to be what I've been working on right now. Natural angles and angles of cushions.
Thanks 👍
So so important. Cheers Mick. You are the man!
You're welcome
Hi mate . Great to see you on TH-cam. Been watching your match against rusty . Brilliantly done . And entertainment value is marked as a 10.
Thanks
Fantastic insight and something that is often overlooked in the amateurs game. So many of us play a loose shot at some point in a frame and now as you say need to instruct the cueball often complicating future shots or snookered.
Great video Mick, I'm going to give the first drill ago.
Go for it!
Thank you Mick, I really appreciate your tips
My pleasure!
Starting to realise why I run out of position so consistently, I am always instructing the cue ball so eventually I run into problems. Thank you. Will certainly be contemplating this one. Keep up the great work. 👍
Good stuff and thanks for watching
Thanks for another great video Mick. Always a pleasure watching you go through your playing thought process 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Glad you enjoyed it
Brilliant Mick 👏
thanks
Love your content, great stuff. Played snooker with my dad for years, now getting a little more serious about 8 ball. That first drill is amazing! Gives you such a great feel for the angles. Just brilliant.
Hope it helps.
What a brilliant video. Can't wait to try the 1st drill especially. Losing the cueball on very makeable patterns is always my biggest issue and having to manipulate the cueball less is obviously going to help!
Ive just subscribed to your channel Mick and I'm loving working my way through your videos! Thanks for all the great content mate!
Glad it was helpful!
TH-cam becoming interesting all of a sudden 😊
Thanks mate
No problem 👍
Great content, forget about tangent lines, master the natural angles, i think most higher end amateur players even intermediate players see roughly the path of the cue ball but 'not sure' and not sure doesnt mean you run racks.
Thanks Mick, probaly best video yet👍
Thank you.
Amazing video thank you for all the hard work you put into helping us sharpen up our skills
My pleasure!
Great video Mick, I remember playing you at an interleague match the day after you won the world championship. I missed an easy black and you dished up. You were playing in Wakefield. A bit hungover I think you were 😂
Thanks Mick, i've been waiting for this one for ages 👍
No problem 👍
Love this. So simple. Im still a beginner and often just play agaisnt myself at home for practice. Ill deffo give the drill at the start some serious time. I love to watch snooker and pool and obviously love how the pros can manipulate the cue ball i love how they can also appear to do nothing with it and still be perfect. Like you say in the vid. Leaving it in the right place to play to natural is the key.
Sure is!
Thank you for sharing your pool skills mick it shud help us all to be better pool players
Happy to help
Excellent video, thank you.
Glad you liked it!
Gimme more ! The hardest thing is trying research this topic which most detail you find will be from English billiards/ snooker
Forces you to learn the smal white natural ourselves which is the best way Of learning
Awesome stuff
Thanks mick
Question about the last example and playing to finish on the natural angle to shift the 8 ball with cushion first contact. If you finish say two inches past natural angle position you're now unable to play cushion first. Whereas if you were aiming to finish two inches short of natural position and overran by up to two inches the cushion first contact is still on albeit with some instruction. So it seems like there is a tradeoff in deciding what cueball position to aim for on the shot. Aiming to finish natural is great if you get it but at the risk of over running and losing the cushion first option. Aiming to finish short of the natural means you may have to instruct the cue ball but a small overrun still leaves you with the cushion first option. Would you back yourself to finish on the natural or give yourself more wriggle room and aim to finish a bit short of the natural? A video dealing with these sort of tradeoff issues would be interesting :)
Amazing mick. Any chance of showing how to play side or around the clock. Are you cueing from middle to side or aiming straight at the side. Love the videos
Great video Mick, makes so much sense to make the shots easier. I'll certainly try the drills out.
Still can't believe you missed the 8 ball twice 😂😂, shows you are human.
We wanted to keep these videos real and not rehearsed and edited to death. We think being authentic is important.
Was it not a purposeful miss? I thought it was to showcase a point haha. 😂
6 times world champion
You have also won the Anzac and big guns in Australia! Incredible absolutely incredible!
Any plans of partaking in these tournaments this year? I would love to watch you play
Doubt it, due to my current schedule I'll be mostly playing in China
Can’t wait to watch this after work thanks 👍
Hope you enjoy it!
Ive only cleared a few tables from the break in nearly 10 years of playing local league games, probably because i never bothered to teach myself natural angles and instead play unnecessary reaction shots, running out of position ball by ball! i will deffo give this a go when i get the chance 👍
Let us know how you get on.
Love it! Still hoping for an in depth video on stance grip and getting down on shot. Hopefully in depth as opposed to a general description although I know everyone has different body types
On our list.
Thanks for the video great stuff what's the make of the cue your useing please
Already answered in the Q&A video
Any plans for posting more drills to practice? Recently got a home table, although a 6ft, and looking for more routines to practice
Will do.
Great videos, thanks, I'll be practicing this for sure. I've just watched an old clip of you playing George Tierney in the Supreme pool series. I'd find it interesting to hear a potted history of your experience with the changes in the rules of the game from world to international with blackball and Supreme rules (seems to be the forerunner of international?) Cheers
thanks for question, I'll add it to the list for the future Q&A
Superb video. The art of developing balls isn’t easy but having the knowledge of natural lines make’s developing balls a lot easier. Which is why the drill with the balls on the Cush and just using the natural angle is a very nice drill to practice. Thank you Mike for the Insightful and informative video. Keep it up my friend.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Good stuff as usual, makes me want to get my cue back out.
Do it!
Great advice again Mick.
Thanks 👍
wish I'd seen this video when I first started playing. I was absolutely clueless about natural angles, and even when I read a book on pool and thought I understood them, it was an American book, so my angles were slightly out as I wasn't allowing for the cue ball being smaller.
Also love the honesty of not editing out the 2 missed blacks. Was a double not an option if you were worrying about white in that situation?
Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, we try to keep the videos as real as possible and generally they are all one take with no prep.
Just had a go. Fine with balls into corner pocket however potting into middle felt like i had to miss it to find the angle. 11 shots. Thanks great like drill 👍
Very honest, now try different positions around the table and see how you get on
Will try it thanks
Excellent explanation 👏
Glad you liked it
Mick knowing you will scratch on black ball with cue ball near cushion and knowing shot is 10/20 times harder if you raise but of cue is there a safety shot available in that situation? I.e leave white at top of table? Or is that to negative
you need to weigh up the risks and the level you're playing at. 9/10 you would have to back yourself in that situation to play and pot the harder shot.
@@mickthemachinehill cheers mate and maybe on a next video you could show that shot raising the butt of cue to instruct white to miss the middle pocket 😀👍
I may have slightly caromed the right off the red ball putting the cue ball at a different angle, so it wouldn't scratch in the side.
yup
Fantastic video and we get this for free.. wow win win .. thanks and keep up the good work 🎱
Thank you 👍
This is an awesome tutorial video like others which is very important advice from the real number 1 in England (killing 🎱 Machine). 🎱🔥🔥🔥👌👌👌 Thanks Sir Hill, keep them coming to help those underground pool players out there who are seeking 🎱 coach out there. With you video we learning more and more each time we watch your video's...
My pleasure
An absolute gentleman, I've learned an awful lot from your videos , thanks Michael
Glad to help
Mick, been a fan for many a year. You v Tom Cousins in a challenge match would be a dream for pool fans worldwide. Totally agree it should be in a professional venue. That recent money match i think involving Ian Ali where drinks were thrown on the table at the end was a disgrace. Money on the line and alcohol in your british lad is not a good mix.
Great video. Just wondering something Mick. If the natural angle is in-off and the stun angle is dangerous. Is it possible to do some kind of partial stun to get an angle in between?
Yes, but tricky to judge and get right and wouldn’t advise it. Hence, the previous shots are crucial
It would be great if you invested in something like a Go-Pro, that you could attach to your head or the cue, so we can see the angles from behind the shot 👍🏼👍🏼
great suggestion
On the shot you was playing around the 8 minute mark my first thought was the cue ball was in off so on that basis i said to myself play the 8ball of the top red as we watch would this be a good option or not as from the way it looks it would of gone fairly easily
Thanks Mick👍🎱😊
No problem 👍
Hi Mick for me the positioning looks precise to me to avoid the two reds, would it not be better to leave a straight shot to screw off the side cushion, or leave the white high to come off top cushion side cushion to play the yellow into the middle to then have the option off the two yellows into the corner bags?
but then we wouldn't be covering natural angles. 😆
@@mickthemachinehill I take your point Mick,but would you play for precise position in this situation if it was in a match scenario? Please don’t take it the wrong way mate ,Just picking your brains mate. I’m 62 but I still have the hunger to improve.
in this exact example, probably not. But would depend on the context, previous shot, etc. we may have been left like this too.
Although I am a fairly solid player, the natural angle is something I still struggle with. For some damn reason I just do not see it on a consistent basis. Very frustrating. I have worked on getting the natural angle down before, but really didn't focus on it as much as needed when practicing. This will now be a priority for me. Excellent video.
Glad to hear it. I’m 00% sure it will make you a overall better player
So "people think they need to elevate the cue"
(Followed by 3 scratches)
"It turns out, ya did need to elevate the cue" 😂
Great video Mick, very useful content as always.
One very minor and very picky criticism is the incorrect spelling “amatuer” on your video thumbnail 👍🏼🤪.
It’s completely unrelated to the content but thought I’d mention it.
Well spotted sir! fixed.
This is useful because it's all too easy to think I'll be ok I can screw / top / sidespin to cannon or get position but then you're into a whole world of trouble. If you can keep every shot simple, the game becomes easier to play.
Exactly!
legend
There is a lot to be said about not complicating shots see a lot of players forcing reactions where not necessary.
Great vid
Thank you
Natural angles change with how hard you’re hitting the cue ball
This is why uk 8 ball is harder to control the cue ball than snooker
Think you will avoid hitting reds.
Great advice Mick
Thanks 👍
Just to play devil's advocate a little... I avoid those natural angles a lot of the time. The problem is you often have to get the cue ball to a very specific point and if you overrun that point, now you have to do something crazy because there's no way to get the breakout or whatever if you do overrun. But if you aim a little short of that point you can use stun follow or a bit of english to get the same result. I've found in a lot of situations using this approach actually provides a larger margin for error and therefore better percentages than trying to get that perfect position to shoot the natural angle on the next shot. jmho.
Just playing devils advocate back, how many world championships have you won? 😉
The situation you are in will be unique and based on your ability, the match situation, table conditions etc. may change the way you approach the shot but all that aside, you need to better your game and by doing things naturally will be a game changer. Promise.
Hi Mick,
Where are you based? Interested in a private session.
Thanks
West Midlands, but not back in the country until mid November. Please enquire on the facebook page
I’m based in Bristol so not too far away. 👍🏻
The more I watch, the more I realise I have no idea what I am doing!
🤣
Hey mick wish i got lesson of you while your here in nz thank you for the vids the next best thing !!
Next time!
Thanks Mick
you're welcome