Why You Should Play Points?

By Michael Harrison

In pocket billiards, there are countless instances where you have multiple options other than defense. The problem is - you don’t see themPoints opens your eyes to offensive pocket billiards.

Efren Reyes was a master at taking massive risk & earning the subsequent reward for his successful effort. They call him the magician & he would always claim to have gotten lucky: fact is - if you never go for the shot… you’ll never be rewarded for the risk. In POINTS, you have nothing to lose.

Rotation can be monotonous. Boring. I’ve lost plenty of matches because instead of keeping things simple, I attempted a difficult shot to get perfect shape on the next ball- rather than taking what the table gave me. POINTS gives you the outlet for this style of play with none of that risk. If you miss: you simply line up the next attempt & fire away. It sharpens your offensive play - but it’s more than that. Your eyes will open to the plethora of options. I see people that play at a very high-level attempt POINTS & write it off mainly because they just don’t get it.

It’s really simple.

Each element of a shot is worth 5 points. A 1 rail bank is 5 points. If you bank off 2 rails & combo a ball in, that’s 15 points. If you have a ball next to the rail & you go “rail first“ with the cue ball & pocket the ball, it’s 5 points. Jump over a ball & pocket your object ball. It’s 5 points. If you carom a ball in, it’s 5 points. If you carom off 2 balls, it’s 10 points. If you have 3-4 balls lined up & you combo the last one in - that’s 5 points for each additional ball.

When I ran 179, my last 2 shots were worth 70 points. I went from 109 to 179 in 2 shots.

Now if you are shooting full table shots- the points double. It’s that simple. The game is played by not simply potting balls- but by inserting creative alternatives. Simply going rail first on a full table shot will earn you 10 points.

You must stop looking at it from the typical perspective. Simply pocketing a ball will give you a score of 1 point regardless of the difficulty. The only way to gain a high score is to find those shots you’d typically never attempt. What you gain is increased confidence in your creativity & shot-making ability.

That being said, I play POINTS because I enjoy it & it’s different. I get tired of 8 & 9 ball. I could play ‘one pocket’ or straight pool… even 15-ball rotation. There’s other options as well -however - I just enjoy playing POINTS. Not all the time. It’s simply another version of pocket billiards I’ve incorporated into my play.

I have the high run of 179 mainly because no one has stepped up & tried to beat the score with any significant effort. I’m sure various players in my area could beat that score. They haven’t because they’ve never tried. POINTS has never claimed to be better than other versions of pocket billiards. It’s just different. If you enjoy the same old thing, then by all means… do what you like. If you enjoy a challenge, I suggest you try it.