Safety & Defense

Safety play is essential with most pocket billiard games, especially 8-ball, which we'll concentrate on here. Most mid-level players have a basic understanding of safeties, but few achieve successful safety shots when an important game is on the line.

Good safety play will win you more pool games than any other technique that you will learn. I make this statement with the assumption that you are capable of running at least 3 or 4 balls when you have ball in hand or an open shot. Good safeties frustrate your opponent and often results in ball in hand for you. Probably the most important tip I can give you on playing a good safety is to try to precisely control where either the cue ball or the object ball ends up but not both. You do need to be aware of general direction where the ball that you are not trying to control is going. It doesn't do any good to hide the cue ball and have the object ball roll around the table and end up where your opponent can easily hit it and play a better safety on you. About 90% of the safeties I play involve controlling where the cue ball ends up rather than the object ball.

 After deciding to play a safe, a lot of players have no idea of what to do next. Listed below are some of the criteria I use for executing a safety and hints for good safety play.