Pool players, learning to play to win a bet

[dblgutshot]

I really suck at pool and do not enjoy it yet but some of my friends are really into it. In order to win a bet I need to beat one of the better players in a race to 7, I have 6 months to train.

Anyone recommendations on where to get started? Any good forums/books for beginners? I found a nice site called http://www.easypooltutor.com/articles.html and it seems pretty decent so far.

Any things to concentrate on?

My opponent is quite good, in 6 months I don't think I can beat him in skill but I'm thinking there must be some strategy I can employ to play defensive or something...I really have no clue at this point.

Any tips would be great, thanks!

I wish ed miller wrote pool books.