The Golden Bridge

Or should I say bridges?? There are oh so many more bridges than the standard TWO most people talk about. OK... so there really is only two (open and closed) but those two HAVE to be adapted to almost every shot! And NO ONE talks about it!!! Leave it to me to talk about it! ;)

First and foremost I'd like to thank Mike Hayner for playing the part of male model. HA. I have a male model.. WOOT. Actually he shoots INSANE so I'm lucky he helped me!

OK. Let's start with the open bridge. First you lay your hand on the table flat with all of the fingers touching. Next, keeping the base of the thumb tight to the forefinger, stick the top of your thumb out. This actually creates a 'V' grove for your cue. Like this:

See how only the top part of the thumb is sticking out in the picture to the left? That's what you are looking to do. Next, spread out your fingers for a nice comfy stable base.

NOT LIKE THIS!!!!

Keep in mind that the most important part of an open bridge is the side of the thumb to the first joint staying tight to the hand. I tend to tuck my pointer finger under because of my smaller hands. This creates a guide for the cue on the left side. Depending on the height of the bridge needed sometimes other fingers will be used to raise or lower the bridge. Note in the picture to the left that Hayner has his middle finger tucked under to raise the cue to hit a follow shot.

Let's be honest. An open bridge is really NOT meant for beginners. It's for the player that already has a straight stroke. Period. No joke. I am not kidding. Unless you can go up and down the table (foot spot to head spot to rail and back to foot spot) and hit the tip of your cue 10 times in a row... you are hereby NOT ALLOWED TO USE THIS BRIDGE. Unless you play snooker... totally different story. (Balls are smaller, cues are smaller... it's a view thing...) Also, if you are putting draw on the cue ball... you are not allowed to use an open bridge. And, if you are putting force follow on the cue ball... you are not allowed to use an open bridge. Oh.. and if you are putting massive right or left on the cue ball... you are not allowed to an open bridge.

I know, I know. When are you allowed to use this bridge? Center ball, stop shots, 1/2 tip of follow, and 1/2 tip of right and left. That's about it. Unless you are Alison Fisher... give it up, this bridge is NOT for you. And don't bother to argue, you can do whatever you want... you'll just continue to shoot bad.

So what bridge can you use? That would be a closed bridge. I don't want to hear about how small your fingers are, how uncomfortable it is.. blah, blah, blah. Hayners hands are literally a whole joint bigger than mine... and I can do it. It was so important to learn that The Black Widow had this unfortunate accident with duct tape. (Buy and read her book ... it's an awesome story!)

These are correct closed bridges:

This is a draw closed bridge.

This is a follow closed bridge.

Do you see the difference in Hayner's hand in the above pictures? To elevate his cue to hit the follow shot, he has actually moved the tips of his fingers closer to his palm. Put your hand up, palm out and 'wave' using just your fingers. See how your fingers get closer to your palm? THAT'S what you do on the slate to raise up the closed bridge. As your finger tips get closer to your palm, it will bring UP your thumb and forefinger that are creating the loop of the bridge. Note how the shadow in the above pictures change as Hayner's thumb raises off the slate.

I have small hands, so sometimes I even tuck my middle finger under to get a little more height, just like I explained in the open bridge section. But just because I tuck my finger under does NOT mean I raise my palm off the slate. Never never raise your palm off the slate unless it is an open bridge.

This is an off the rail closed bridge.

All masse bridges are closed, but some float and others do not. A floating masse bridge tucks the elbow tightly into your side... there should be tension because your hand is FLOATING thereby NOT ON ANYTHING!!! Without the elbow pulled in tightly, your bridge will wiggle.

Now.. the next masse bridge can only be used by... ummmm... slightly TALLER people. ie: NOT ME!! Actually... I can if I stand on something.. which I'm allowed to do in the trick shot tournaments!!! Judge me on my shots not my height! Ha! The following masse bridge is insanely stable and should be used whenever possible!

Let's talk jump shots. The most important part of a jump shot is the back hand. I teach the dart grip, because it is indeed the better form for jump shots. I personally use a overhand grip (regular pool grip), but this is a 'do as I say, not as I do' lesson. Deal. I did take other pictures of Hayner using the dart grip but I just had to use this one. I'm pretty sure the reason is self evident.

This is an open high bridge on the rail. The cue is elevated and it is an open bridge... it's safe to say that this is indeed a jump bridge. He's aiming (from his point of view) at the middle of the cue ball. A jump shot shoves the cue ball into the slate so hard and fast that it rebounds back into the air. A jump shot is NOT A SCOOP. In order to jump, you have to hit DOWN on the ball. The higher the cue is elevated, the more angle the cue ball will leave the table (more vertical.) The harder you hit the cue ball, the farther and higher the cue ball will travel. Since you have to hit down on the cue ball, the hardest shot to hit on the pool table, hands down, is the jump draw shot. In order to hit a draw shot, you have to hit low enough for the ball to spin backward. But in order to jump a ball, you have to hit in the middle of the face. So there is obviously a very fine line here. Hit too low and you shove the cue ball forward before it jumps which means it'll take off late, which means you've probably just hit the ball you were trying to jump. If you don't hit low enough, when the cue ball is done jumping... it will not draw back. So. What's the solution? Practice. Sorry. No short cuts here.

Let's get tricky. To the left is a slightly different back hand grip than the jump grip I showed earlier. This grip is for a one handed jump shot. Just have confidence... and do not try this at your local pool hall. Consider yourself warned.

So lets talk rail bridges. There are three basic rail bridges. The one you use depends solely on the distance the cue ball is away from the rail.

The first is just an open bridge that is placed on the rail. This is used when the cue ball is pretty far from the rail but you still can't put your hand comfortably on the slate.

This bridge is used when the cue ball is closer to the rail, but not resting against the rail. Lay your hand flat on the rail palm down. Rest the cue next to your thumb. Now bring your pointer finger over the cue. The thumb must be on the 'inside'... it acts like a guide.

This is the same bridge as above except it's used at an angle on the rail.

Remember that the whole idea is to keep the bridge at a comfortable distance from the cue ball and to keep your cue LEVEL!!! The following bridge is for when the cue ball is actually resting against the rail.

This is almost just like an open bridge on the rail. Place the tips of your fingers on the edge of the table. Then tuck your middle finger down and push it against the table. A lot of people do this bridge without the finger pushing against the table, so go ahead and try it that way... your whole hand moves up and down very easy. Now tuck the middle finger against the table and all of a sudden you have a VERY stable bridge. Having the cue ball directly on the rail is one of the most hated shots. Admit it. You hate it!! This bridge will help. Oh.. and see how Hayner can get a wicked level cue? That's what you should be striving for!

Now lets talk about bridges in a pocket. Sometimes where to make a bridge and which bridge to use can get confusing and awkward. Note how Hayners fingers sometimes rest on the slate AND rail at the same time!

The last bridge I'm going to talk about is the hated high bridge. I saved the best for last. This is an open bridge. And everything I wrote earlier about open bridges applies. This is a bridge you use when the cue ball is up close to another ball.

The strongest shape in the world is a triangle. Therefore... you should have THREE points of contact on the slate. If you stick your hand out and look at it, you'll notice that your middle finger is the longest finger. Which means... you can NOT just go up on the tips of your fingers with this bridge. How could you? Your fingers are all different lengths and your bridge would be so wicked unstable. To compensate for the differing lengths of fingers... tuck under the middle one. Some guys even tuck under two fingers, their middle and ring finger. Look at the picture to the left and notice that Hayner has his middle finger tucked under. 1. This makes the bridge stable because his actual palm is supported now. And 2. He can actually get his hand closer to the 5 ball to make it easier to get up over it.

See Hayner's ring finger in these pictures? It looks funky right? Yeah... well... it is. Not funky bad.. but as in funky odd. Hayner has found this position more comfortable rather than tucking both his middle and ring fingers under. He also has really long lanky fingers. And I'm totally ok with this weird funkyness. No two bridges are going to be alike. The main thing is to have a stable.... let me say it again... stable... one more time for good measure... S.T.A.B.L.E. bridge. His is dead stable, so he's good.

I can not also stress this enough: THE MINUTE YOUR PALM LEAVES THE SLATE YOU HAVE TO USE AN OPEN BRIDGE. None of this funky 'up on finger tips and closed bridge loop' crap. 'Cause that's exactly what it is. CRAP. JUNK. You need the pointer finger for the stability of the base not to loop around the cue.

So. That's about it. Any questions? Ask away. I'll answer... probably. And Thanks goes out to Hayner for all the help ;) click!

You didn't think that was it did you??? Here are pictures of Hayner's and my FAVORITE (as in sends us into eye rolling laughing fits) BAD, DO NOT DO, HORRIBLE, TOTALLY WRONG bridges. None are made up. We've actually seen each and every one of these bridges in action. Cover the kids eyes.... this is gonna' get ugly!!! This is like a bloopers reel for pool.

Ok. I'll start out easy and nice. This is a closed bridge that is ALMOST correct. You can really see the problem in the right picture. Hayner has not turned his wrist and has not spread out his fingers. Your middle finger must be under the cue shaft. Go back and look again at the correct bridges above.

Remember how I told you that the minute your palm leaves the slate, you should be using an open bridge???? Yeah... the above and below are perfect examples of someone NOT following that rule. The above picture shows the thumb on the slate, the one below has the thumb tucked up. I know they look the same, but really they aren't. At least the one above is trying to become a stable bridge, whereas the one below is wicked unstable.

This is such a typical bar shooter bridge. We've seen this one a million times.

Again... pretty typical. Someone that knows that the finger should be over the top of the cue.. but really has no clue as to why or how.

Ummmm...... yeah.

Really... I can't say enough.

This is not a joke. We've seen this. More than once even. It blows the mind.

This one is a fairly typical open bridge. Not bad... but again not good either. Without the base of the thumb tucked tight to the first finger, there's no groove for the cue to follow so it will wiggle sideways in this bridge.

A friend of mine shoots with this bridge. Shoots PROFESSIONALLY with this bridge. No lie. His nickname is The Praying Mantis. He plays great and shoots unreal... with that said, Do. Not. Do. This. I'm pretty sure no one out there is teaching kids to swing like Jack Nicolas... so again... Do. Not. Do. This. Thank you.

I don't have words for this. But again... we aren't making it up.. we've seen this.

This one I call 'Death Rail Grip.' And we've seen it like a million times. I guess it's better than just shooting the ball one handed with no bridge at all... but only barely.

Last... but FAR, FAR from least... we have the behind the back shot. This does NOT make you look cool... it makes you look like an absolute TURD. Hayner and I go to unreal lengths to get each others attention when someone is about to attempt this stupid shot. And it's the whole thing... from swinging the cue around to get it behind the back... 3 out of 5 times the cue gets whacked on the table next to them... to the actual shot.. which 9 out of 10 times is missed horribly. And the people taking this shot??? ALWAYS, ALWAYS thinks they are cool. The person that attempts this shot almost always also 'twirls' their cue like Tom Cruise in The Color Of Money. The MINUTE Rocky installed ceiling fans... this became MUCH MUCH more enjoyable to watch. Inevitably the look on the poor smucks face when the cue goes 'BANG' on the fan and gets thrown out of their hands is so freaking funny.... it's all fun and games 'till someone loses an eye... and since that hasn't happened yet... please, please keep doing it.. it makes our night!!