A lot of people are interested in billiards trick shots. Learning to play pool well is one thing, but learning to really impress people with fancy trick shooting is another altogether. After all, a big part of the point of playing table top billiards is to meet attractive people and impress them. Knowing a billiards trick shot or two is a great way to do this. It will produce a positive impression and, best of all, not look forced.
It is a mistake to start off learning billiards trick shots when you aren't very good at the game. After all, almost every billiards trick shot there is requires a perfect knowledge of geometry combined with an ability to precisely control where your shot goes. As a matter of fact, the most simple pool trick shots aren't really trick shots at all. For example, jumping a ball is often considered a trick shot, but it is actually a useful strategy for many pool games. To jump a ball, you have to hit it low down with just the right spin to get it to vault over the balls in front of it and hit what is behind them. You have to precisely calculate the jumps so it lands correctly and continues in a straight path.
In my opinion, this is the first billiards trick shot that you should learn. It isn't that you can't learn how to do other trick shots before you learn this one, but you will have more difficulty. The thing is, if you don't have the precise control over the ball That you need to jump it, you probably won't be able to do other difficult shots either. Being able to control such elements of the game as backspin, power, and precise placement are absolutely crucial to almost all of the good billiards trick shots.
Of course a big part of pool trick shots is just understand geometry. Once you can control the ball perfectly, you can basically set up any trick unimaginable. You can position five or six balls just right so that, when you hit the cue ball, all of them will go into different pockets. There are literally dozens of different ways to set them up like this. Then it is just a matter of placing the balls correctly, shooting a shot absolutely straight, and receiving applause from the people around you. It is gratifying to have people admire your abilities when you really master the game.
