8 Ball Pool: Six tips and hints for beginners

Start racking up the wins and the coins with some helpful tips for 8 Ball Pool!

8 Ball Pool let's you shoot some stick with competitors around the world. It is wildly entertaining but can also gobble up a lot of time as you ride out a winning streak or try and redeem yourself after a crushing loss. All of this in the name of earning coins and cash to buy better cues and play at high-stakes tables.

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If you're just starting out with 8 Ball Pool, we've rounded up some basic tips for beginners to help you play better and earn more coins and cash right off the bat...er, cue!

• Choose your tables wisely
• Open the app every day
• Buy a better cue
• Use a little English
• Shoot faster
• Extend your aim

1. Choose your tables wisely

When you're just starting out, you don't want to get hustled out of your meager coin collection by some shark! There are several tables initially available to play, but as you swipe sideways you'll notice the tables have larger entry fees. At the beginning, stick to the Downtown London Pub until you get a good handle on your pool cue, and then try moving on to Sydney. As the entry fee increases, the pots grow accordingly, so you can earn money much faster as you go to more advanced tables, but wait until your skills are ready for the high-stakes tables.

2. Open the app every day

Even if you don't have time to play a full round, it's a good idea to open the app daily. Every day you get one free spin on the Spin and Win lever. Spins can earn your coins, cash, or even mystery boxes which allow you to build better pool cues piece by piece. You can always purchase more spins (and sometimes earn additional free spins), but this is an easy way to start building up your coin and cash collection without even playing a round of pool.

3. Buy a better cue

This is a quick way to give yourself an advantage right out of the gate. By using the few coins you initially earn to upgrade your cue, you'll have more success at winning your matches. The first cues you will have access to purchase can give you slight advantages to make you shoot with more power, extend your aiming guides, improve your cue ball control, or increase the amount of time you have to shoot. The more you play, the more cues you can unlock for purchase. Initially the cues you can access are just okay, but as you log more hours and wins you can use the coins you earn in the game to buy cues with some really great benefits.

4. Use a little English

English refers to the spin you put on the cue ball when taking your shot. Sometimes you'll have a tricky shot where the ball you want to sink is dangerously close to the pocket. Instead of shooting with minimal power, tap on the cue ball button in the top right corner of the screen. From here you can cap on the spot you want to make contact with on the cue ball. Tapping near the bottom adds backspin, which is handy if the ball you're aiming for is close to the pocket. Tapping near the top adds front spin, propelling your ball forward even after it hits your target ball (handy for breaking). Tapping the sides can help the cue ball move in a desired direction after you hit your target ball, setting you up for your next shot.

English can be a bit tricky to use, so give it some practice. Experiment with different contact spots on the cueball and different ratios of English to power on each shot until you become a full-on pool shark.

5. Shoot faster

There's nothing worse in 8 Ball Pool than having your shot lined up just right then suddenly your turn is up before you've made your shot! Instead of a clock to time your shots, a little green square envelopes your avatar and starts counting down your time. To line up your shots quicker, do so by tapping and dragging on the pool table surface in front of the tip of the cue (this will move the cue faster), then make more precise shot adjustments by dragging from the cue's handle until it's positioned exactly where you want.

6. Extend your aim

With the basic cue, once you line up your cue ball with the ball your are targeting, very short lines will appear to show you in what direction the target ball will roll. A simple cheat to give yourself a little better aim is to have a small piece of paper, Post-it note, or anything with a straight edge nearby. Once your shot is lined up, hold the straight edge between the aiming lines and the pocket you want to sink, to have a better idea if your aim is accurate. Just make sure to do this quickly because the clock is still ticking!

Shoot away

If you're an 8 Ball Pool beginner, hopefully these tips will help you out as you try and rack up the wins — and the coins. As you get better, you'll probably discover some handy tips or hacks to improve your performance in the game. Make sure to leave us a comment and share your personal tips for hustling the tables in 8 Ball Pool!