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.