Stop Poking and Let Your Cue Do the Work

Are you a poker? Do you know someone who is? A teammate, perhaps? A poker stabs the cue ball with very little follow-through, often among a host of other flaws in fundamentals. Here’s one technique to help replace that poke with a naturally smooth and fluid stroke. First, it’s important to know that a poke-stroke is caused by tension in the shooting arm, a rigid wrist, very often a baseball bat grip on the cue, and usually a grip hand that’s too far forward. Not good. Master Instructor Jerry Briesath describes the perfect stroke as a beautiful throwing motion; similarly, the great Willie Hoppe called it “throwing your hand.” We achieve that by relaxing our grip and wrist and letting the cue do what it’s designed to do.

Try this: with your arm hanging naturally at your side, find the exact balance point of the cue so that it remains level with the floor when resting on your middle finger. When you’ve got that, gently curl the rest of your fingers around the cue but keep it level to the floor, and your arm relaxed with the grip hand next to (not touching) your leg. This is the starting position.

Now, with your upper arm motionless – (think about softly ‘pinning’ the elbow to your side to keep it from moving) – slowly raise your hand with the cue remaining level to the floor through the full motion until the butt of the cue just touches the underside of your forearm, with the elbow in the same, starting point position and the upper arm pointing straight down from the shoulder. At this point, both the forearm and the cue should be parallel to each other and to the floor. Lower it slowly to the starting position, again with the cue parallel to the floor all the way down, and repeat ten times.

You’ll find that having the cue staying level with the floor while folding the forearm requires both a loose, cradling grip and a flexible wrist. Now try several repetitions with your eyes closed, checking after every three or four to ensure that the cue remains parallel to the floor at both the start and finish. Try it again, this time slightly faster for a full minute, taking a one second to raise, another to lower, for a total of thirty complete cycles.

After the last cycle, try it again in your normal shooting position. Use an 8”-10” open-hand bridge and ensure that your forearm makes a ninety-degree angle with the cue at the set position. Now, without a cue ball, stroke the cue again while keeping that same feeling in your hand and wrist as before and without moving the upper arm. This should feel very smooth and relaxed.

Try it again, this time with a cue ball. Keep a smooth, slow, 1-2-3 cadence between set (one), pause at the back of the backstroke (two) and finish (three), one second for each. Let your hand swing through and up towards your chest through to the finish. If the tip rises during the follow-through you are either gripping the cue much too hard at impact with the cue ball or dropping the elbow. Try it a few times with your eyes closed at set and through to the finish. Think soft and smooth. Pokers anticipate a concussive impact with the cue ball and tense up in

response. Strokers think smooth-to-the-finish and stay relaxed. You’ll find that the combination of a loose grip, flexible wrist, slow backswing, slight pause at the end of the backstroke, steady elbow, and a smooth delivery will make for a very efficient stroke.

Speaking of which, next time you find yourself at a professional tournament, count how many pokers you see. I’d say – with the exception of Hall of Famer Allen Hopkins – close to zero. Notice how smoothly they deliver the cue and how effortlessly they move the cue ball. They are getting out of their own way and letting their cues do the work.

By: Mark Powell, PBIA Master Instructor.