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That ain't it! Now you know what they're doing. In lieu of the "talc station" or talc pouch, you can fill a zip-locking sandwich bag (or even those new, cute little snack-sized ones!) with your favorite baby- or body powder. I did this in college when money was something you had only the first week or so after winter break! I still have such a baggie in my cue-case. You can apply it to both hands, but the purpose is to smooth-over or "dust" your bridge hand - that hand which is holding the end of the cue stick and resting (no, positioned!) on the table. Make sure especially to do the top of your thumb, and the inner edges (the ones touching each other) of your second and third fingers (pointer and middle). The last thing you want is for your shot to be choppy and stiff because of whatever sticky stuff is on your hands! Um...er....

MOVING ON!

The next chore you must do (and this is before every shot - *no* exceptions!) is to chalk your cue. And no, you're not trying to see how loudly you can make that squeaking noise as you furiously wiggle the chalk and your cue stick in counter-rotation to each other! I barely ever even touch the round little "divot" in the chalk. I take the *edge* and very deliberately smear every atom of the tip. I use a motion to and from my nose at just a couple of degrees off horizontal. And I'm barely moving the cue stick at all - only to shift or rotate it a quarter turn - that's three times! Don't worry! It isn't really this complicated. Putting it into words is much more cumbersome than actually doing it. Just make sure you chalk up the entire tip of your cue. And do it *every* inning (turn) or even every shot (this is also a good excuse to survey the table and determine your position play). Oh, and by the way, chalking thoroughly doesn't mean doing it at 90 miles an hour, or so hard that bits of the blue stuff are being launched into the air. Well, unless that is part of your psych game. But that's for another article.

Okay - now it's time to approach the table. Your first decision is cue-ball placement. For 9-ball especially, some players favor an "extreme" angle - the cue ball is practically kissing the side rail (the right rail if your shooting rightie, and left for left). These players have their bridge hand on the rail itself. It seems that a collapsed version of the standard tri-pod bridge is a favorite for this shot. I'm not a fan of this - simply because rail shots are the bain of many a run (2,3 or more successful shots

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