End game situation #1

In the above game of Eight-ball, you are stripes and it is your turn. What would be the best thing to do here? Do you bank, play safe or make a ball. Please post your solutions under comments.

Object ball frozen to cushion

In this shot, the object ball is frozen to the rail and you have a very steep angle with the cue ball.

The secret to making these kinds of cut shots is to actually aim to miss, just a little, and play the cue ball into the rail first with low english in the direction of the object ball. The cue ball will rebound off the cushion and into the object ball to make it into the corner pocket. This is actually much easier to execute than to try to cut the ball in.

Try it as shown. As you get more proficient, move the object ball further down the rail until you reach a point of difficulty or low proficiency that would not benefit you in a game. Practice this shot and know you percentage for making it one diamond out from the pocket, 1.5 diamonds out, 2 diamonds out, etc. That way, when it comes up in a game, you will know whether or not you should shoot it, or play a safe instead.

Follow and Draw drill

This is a great little exercise to learn how to follow and draw for basic position zones.

Place one ball on the foot spot (8-ball) and another on the headspot (9-ball). Place a third ball in the dead center of the table. Last, place the cue-ball anywhere on the straight line that allows you to pocket the center ball in a corner pocket and either follow or draw for postion on the next ball. You can shoot one rack of balls to follow to cue ball position A for the 8-ball, and another rack of balls to draw to cue ball position B for position on the 9-ball.

Your position goal should be to achieve either straight in position on the next shot, or at least a comfortable confident cut shot, no more than say a 30 degree angle.

Pocket Billiards 101: How to throw a ball with english.

In the above diagram, you are solids and you need to make your last ball, so that you can play the eight in the lower corner pocket. The problem is, your opponent still has a ball on the table (the stripe 12 ball) and this ball is preventing you from hitting your object ball at the cut angle you need in order to make it into the upper left corner pocket. Cue-ball diagram The answer to your problem is to "throw" the ball into the pocket using some right side-spin/english as shown in the cue-ball diagram above. By putting right side english on the cue-ball, the object ball will be thrown off it's trajectory slightly to the left of it's intended path. This occurs because the right hand spin (a counter clockwise rotation on the cue-ball) will transfer to the object ball in an equal and opposite manner, Think of two cog wheels interacting. When one turns in one direction (clockwise), the other turns in the opposite direction (counter-clockwise) This is exactly how english transfers from one ball to another. The friction created when one ball hits another allows for a transfer of spin (known as English in billiard terms). Left english on the cue-ball will throw the object ball to the right. Conversely, right english on the cue-ball will throw the object ball left.

Executing a simple Stop-shot

In the above eight-ball game situation, you are solids and your opponent is stripes. It is your turn to shoot. The out is simple. Just make the 6 ball straight in the corner pocket, stop the cue ball dead on impact, and you will have easy position on the 8 ball for the win. How to execute. Simply aim below center on the cue-ball, as shown in the diagram and be sure to use a moderate speed, but crisp stroke. If you hit the shot too softly, or aim to high on the cue ball, the cue-ball will roll forward after impact and you may be snookered from the 8 ball by the 11 ball. If you hit the cue-ball too low, the cue-ball will come backwards. This is called "draw". In this case, it would be unintentional draw. Remember that the cue-ball's reaction after impacting the object ball always tells you what happened in the stroke, so pay attention to the cue-ball.

Aiming: Why we miss

So, you've aimed the object ball into the pocket you intend to make it in and established center point on the other side of the ball that you need to hit in order to make the ball go in the pocket. The trouble is, you aim at that spot and for some reason miss! Why??? The answer is pretty simple. The point you have visually put all of your focus on is in-fact the "point of contact" which is not the same as where you should be aiming. If you ended up under-cutting the ball, this is probably what happened. In the above diagram, the cue ball was aimed at the point of contact and not the point of aim. As a result, the cue ball actually ends up making contact with the object ball earlier than expected because of the spherical nature of the two balls. Since the cue-ball ends up contacting the object ball earlier than expected, the line drawn from the two centers indicates that the object ball will in-fact miss the side pocket to the far side of the pocket. We call this an "undercut". Undercuts are the most common aiming error made in pool, so don't feel bad if you have been making this mistake. Okay, now that we understand the problem, lets examine how we can fix it. The correct way to aim this shot would be to aim the center of the cue ball to the center of the "Ghost Ball". In pool, the "Ghost Ball" is referred to when an imaginary ball is used as an aiming tool in determining where to drive the cue-ball in a given shot. This imaginary ball represents where the cue-ball would be at the exact moment of impact in order for the object ball to travel in a particular direction. When two balls are touching, the centers of these two balls form a line that show what direction the object ball will travel. If you shoot the ball using the ghost ball aiming point instead of the point of contact, your shot should look like this.

Eight-Ball 101: Analyzing The After Break Layout

Okay, so you just broke and made the one ball on the break. It is your turn to shoot again. Should you automatically pick solids since you have already made one on the break? The answer is NO! and for several reasons: Remember that the table is always open following the break. The first legally pocketed ball made after the break is what determines which player has what group of balls. Therefore, you do not have to take what falls on the break. Nor should you, simply on the basis that there would be fewer of that group left on the table for you to make. Contrary to popular belief, that is not your best strategy. So, now that we have addressed some common misconceptions, lets get to work on analyzing the table properly and selecting the best group of balls to win the game with.

1. Take a look at the 8-ball. Note that it is free and clear of any other balls or clusters. This is important because, if it weren't, you would have a problem that would have to be solved there in order to win.
2. Look for any clusters on the table. Which groups of balls do they involve? In this case, the 6 (solid) and the 9 (stripe) are tied up together. Therefore neither group of balls are favored in this cluster. However, the 5 (solid) and 7 (solid) are also tied up in another cluster, making the solids a less favorable choice from the cluster stand point.
3. What key balls can be used to break the clusters? In the case of the 6 and 9 ball, the 10 ball (stripe) is also located nearby and can be pocketed at some point in the game when the cue ball is at an angle to rebound off the 10 directly into the cluster. The 5, 7 cluster does not really have a key ball nearby that can be easily made and used to break up the cluster. With this analysis in mind, another point is scored in favor of selecting stripes.
4. Do any balls block pockets? Essentially, balls in the jaws of a pocket, or basically blocking the path of other balls, can be viewed as defensive blockers. In this case, the 11 ball (stripe) is a blocker which can easily be made at some point in your run.
5. What balls are makeable as a first shot from where the cue ball lays? Okay, so now you know "stripes" would be the best choice in this layout. Now you must decide what shot to take first. The easiest shot would obviously be the three ball into the side pocket. But, now that you have properly analyzed the table, you know that establishing solids as your group of balls would ultimately not be a strategically sound choice. Keep in mind that sometimes you may have to attempt a more difficult shot as your first shot in order to establish the best group of balls for yourself in order to win the game! Luckily in this layout, several striped balls lay in easily makeable positions. My first choice would be to make the fifteen and play shape for the 14.

Now that you know how to analyze the table and select the best group of balls to win, stay tuned for my upcoming analysis of how to think through the runout of this rack in my upcoming blog entry to come soon!!!!