Review of “Upscale One Pocket” by Jack H. Koehler
One-Pocket is a specialized game that requires a different skill set than other games. To become a good one-pocket player, you’ll need to learn these skills to a high degree of proficiency, and that warrants a book targeted at doing just that.
This is a good little book that can help someone who wants to improve their one-pocket game. It is most beneficial for novice to intermediate one-pocket players. Note that I am not referring to novice or intermediate players, simply to people who are not yet highly proficient in the game of one-pocket.
There are only two other books on one-pocket that I’m aware of, Winning One-Pocket and More Moves, Shots, and Strategies, both by Eddie Robin. They are out of print, and when available used sell for hundreds of dollars each. This book, though not as comprehensive as those, is only $12 and readily available through online bookstores (and if you buy at Amazon through the link on the cover photo, you’ll be supporting this website).
Breaking is important in many games, but even in nine ball it doesn’t have the importance that it does in one-pocket. A good break makes you the favorite to win against players at or slightly above your skill level. Jack covers the break in great detail, discussing pocket selection, rack analysis, cue ball position, aiming point, english and speed. He also shows several example breaks and analyses responses.
UPscale One Pocket includes 43 pages on the topic of practice. There are drills for speed control, banking and kicking, breaking, herding multiple balls, de-pocketing balls and more.
Banking is done more than in any other game except for bank pool, so skill here is paramount. Jack covers how to bank adequately, and refers you to his magnum opus The Science of Pocket Billiards for in-depth coverage. This material is well done, but doesn’t really stand out over similar coverage in many general pool books. However, one place where the book really stands out is the discussion of multi-rail banks. This is something you won’t see anywhere else.
Jack includes 5 wonderful diagrams of multi-rail paths that can help enormously in learning these difficult shots. They come up all the time in the middle and end game, and the more you know the better off you’ll be. And they’re eye-popping shots too, that can make your whole day when they get you out of a jam.
It’s been said that one-pocket is the chess of pool and I think this is a fair statement. In all pool games strategy (thinking) is important, but in one-pocket it is paramount. In this game you must pay much more attention to defense and being careful to not even take shots where the cost of failure is higher than the value of success. You also want to do more than one thing with each shot. These principles, and several others are taught with clarity and brought home with examples. Jack makes it easy to absorb them and make them part of your game.
Jack’s a very detail oriented, analytical guy. This comes across everywhere, but is most apparent in the fine level of detail he brings to rack analysis in the chapter on breaking, and in the short chapter on statistics. Jack analyzed the video of 75 one-pocket matches across two pro tournaments, 2989 shots in all. He presents a very interesting breakdown of what shots are selected and how often. Offense vs. defense, banks broken down by number of rails, and numerous other categorizations give a view into the game not found elsewhere. Only in Play your Best Nine Ball, by Phil Capelle is there another analysis like this, but it’s on nine ball.
Near and dear to my own heart, there are 43 pages on the topic of practice. There are drills for speed control, banking and kicking, breaking, herding multiple balls, de-pocketing balls and more. These drill and practice shots are treated with intelligence and insights into how they help you play better. For example, when he discusses kicking he suggests a little game. You try to kick balls into your pocket when they’re placed at various points along the foot rail and the cue is somewhere near you pocket. Try to make the ball, but if you miss pretend to be the opponent and shoot it at his pocket. By keeping track of which side is benefiting most, you get a truer picture of the risk/reward trade-off of shot opportunities that come up all the time.
What didn’t I like about the book? Not much really, except that it was shorter than I would have liked. More examples of the break and return of break would be particularly useful given their importance. The section on ball size variability was a waste (what can you do about it) and probably undermined his credibility a little. In the main there’s not really much to dislike.
Like the two other Jack Koehler books I’ve read, I really enjoyed reading UPscale One-Pocket. It is a detailed and substantive coverage of the important aspects of one-pocket. It doesn’t waste a lot of space talking about all the things common to all other pool games. One-pocket players are not beginners and are not treated that way here. Plus, Jack always manages to include things in his books that you just can’t get anywhere else. I rate this book a 7, very good but not quite outstanding. I think it’s great that the only affordable book on one-pocket is this good, and this cheap.
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