In this video Gareth Potts, 4 times World Pool Champion, explains how to bridge. He takes you through the different heights needed depending upon the shot you are playing. Also, he shows you how to effectively bridge when taking a shot over another ball which is in the way, preventing you bridging normally.
Video Transcription:
Gareth Potts: So in this video, we're going to talk about the bridge and
how to hold the cue on your bridge hand. So, there's lots of
different ways to hold the bridge hand, and it also depends on
which shot you're playing on how you'd have your hand on the
table.
For example, if I was playing with top spin in the cue ball, I
would have my bridge hand raised higher from the bed of the
table, as you can see my hands moving up and down. If I was
playing with top spin it needs to be higher, because I need to
get higher on the cue ball to hit with topspin. If I was playing
in the middle of the cue ball, I would slightly lower my bridge
hand, like this, so it's now flatter to the bed of the table,
which allows me to get to the middle of the cue ball.
If I was playing with bottom on the cue ball, I would lower my
hand even further to the bed of the table, like this, you can
see my hand going up and down, lower even further, which allows
me to get to the bottom of the cue ball to play with backspin.
If you're playing with excess backspin, obviously you need to
get even lower onto the cue ball. It's important that your hand
is quite flat, because otherwise, if your hand is still high up
in the air and you're trying to get low onto the cue ball, as
you can see now, the cue's now coming at an angle and you've got
a chance of playing with side spin. So, it needs to be flat to
the bed to play with bottom, in the middle to play with the
middle and high to play with the topspin.
Andy: So it's the back of your hand actually firm on the table
as well as your fingers, or is it the back of your hand raised
up?
Gareth Potts: It's always the back of the hand, the palm of the hand is
always flush to the table, which is like the anchor point
basically. It's like stability on the table; the most important
thing as well is a lot of people don't actually put the thumb
onto the first finger. So as you can see my thumb there is
moving, it has to be pressed up against the first finger, which
allows the cue then to have a V shape if you like, which you
would have in a rest. So it creates a V shape, which the cue
then sits in. So therefore you can't go any other way other than
backwards or forwards.
The only time you would have the palm of the hand raised off
the table is if you were bridging over a ball. So, if we have a
ball here and the cue ball's here, obviously with the palm of my
had on the table, I can't get to the cue ball. So to get to the
cue ball, I need to allow this had to raise up in the air. It's
also important to bury the fingers into the table, because any
movement either way on the hand will mean you either touching
the ball.
So, fingers raised up in the air there. You can see my hand is quite firm
against the bed of the table, and again the finger now gets
pressed still against the first finger. The thumb, so it gets
pressed there and then as you can see the cue sits in the V
shape again. It allows me to get elevation to get to the top of
the cue ball.
Andy: So, if you're trying to do a backspin shot, some people
find that they tend to chip the cue ball up, rather than getting
backspin on it, it actually chips up off the surface of the
table. What's causing that and what should they do to stop it?
Gareth Potts: Yeah, well that comes back to what I was just explaining
with, it's on the height of the fingers, or on the height of the
hand on the table. So, if you're trying to get to the bottom of
the cue ball, you need to flatten the hand out so that so it's
quite flat on the table. As you can see, my knuckles there are
quite flat. If I was playing with top spin, my knuckles would be
quite high up in the air. If I was playing with bottom spin, I
would lower the hand out.
So flatten the hand to the bed of the table. The palm of the
hand is still touching the bed of the table, which allows me to
get lower. The reason why people chip the cue ball up in the air
is because, if you're still playing with you hand quite high up
in the air as if you're playing with top spin, but now the cue
has to be striking down onto the cue ball, so what happens is it
causes a loop. So as I'm cueing up like this, as you come back,
loops. That's the reason people chip the cue ball up in the air.
So the hand has to be flat onto the table so that the cue is
parallel to where you're striking the cue ball. It allows you to
pull it back and push it through in one straight line.
Andy: So you see, in American pool, people would be using a loop
style bridge; why would they do that, and why do you not really
see that in English eight ball?
Gareth Potts: Yeah, well, I've got an American pool cue here and the
reason that American cues allow you to use what they call the
loop bridge, is because the shaft from there to there is
basically the same thickness. So when you loop over the shaft,
it's all one size so it allows it to run smoothly through the
fingers with no gaps in between the fingers. That's why a lot of
the American people use the loop bridge. If you were to try and
use the loop bridge on my English eight ball cue for example,
the taper of my shaft is thicker there than it is there. So, if
you look at the difference of an English cue and an American
cue, you can see how much mine tapers and how and American cue
stays the same all the way through the shaft.
So with the English cue, if I'm trying to use the loop bridge,
as I draw the cue back, it now becomes a really large gap in
between my fingers. So therefore the cue can move side to side.
So, to use the loop bridge with an English pool cue is really
difficult because of the tapir of the shaft. So it's a lot
easier having it sitting on the finger touching, the thumb
touching the finger, and therefore there can be no movement.
Andy: What's the reason for using the loop bridge?
Gareth Potts: Well, it's just something that's originated with the
American players, but the loop bridge again, is exactly the
same. The bed of your hand is planted firmly onto the table. And
it allows... It's just another device, basically, of pushing the
cue through in a straight line. It's just easier to get by with
it on an American cue, because the taper of the shaft is exactly
the same. With an American... with an English eight ball cue, I
wouldn't advise to use the loop bridge just because it allows
too much movement when you draw the cue back as you can see
there between my hands. The cue there goes to probably about
nine millimeters as in when the cue's there it's probably more
like 16 or 17 millimeters. So as you draw there's probably eight
or nine millimeters movement in between the fingers, as opposed
to when you are using the American cue.
Andy: For more videos from Gareth Potts, please visit
homeleisuredirect.com.
