Particular type of shot

[Freddie Ng]

I always find shots that are right on the cushions hard, i often miss cue, can you give me a tip on omprovment for this kind of shots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRUQMGl3uM8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTrLZz72Svk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrZYwUVgHwY

Hope this helps

[jamesmcd]

Middle pockets , when the angle is very tight. For example say a brown ball in the middle can cause me problems more often than not!!!

[gettingbetter]

More of a discussion rather how to play a shot.

When splitting the reds via the black and taking the direct route rather than using the top cushion I always get confused when commentators and users on here say use deep screw. If we are potting the black half ball (the normal/ideal angle) I have always found that if you deep screw or screw in general you are going to missing the pack by a long way. From my experiences, deep screw would only work if you have cut the black back into the pocket.

Could someone explan such to me?

[Gorfendor]

Not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet, but i find it really hard to pot a ball along the cushion.

I.E. A red is stuck on the cush and I try to play it along the cush into the pocket.

Whenever I try this shot I always seem to hit either too thick or thin...

Is it just a case of practice practice practice or is there a particular way of playing these shots???

[jrc750]

Not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet, but i find it really hard to pot a ball along the cushion.

I.E. A red is stuck on the cush and I try to play it along the cush into the pocket.

Whenever I try this shot I always seem to hit either too thick or thin...

Is it just a case of practice practice practice or is there a particular way of playing these shots???

Well if your hitting the red coming in on an angle you can use a bit of side on the white and hit the cushion and the red at the same time. So if your cutting the red on the left hand side of it, use right hand side on the white, and if your cutting the red on the right hand side, use left hand side on the white. The side helps the red "hug" the cushion and therefore pot the ball (for me anyway lol)

[bongo]

Not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet, but i find it really hard to pot a ball along the cushion.

I.E. A red is stuck on the cush and I try to play it along the cush into the pocket.

Whenever I try this shot I always seem to hit either too thick or thin...

Is it just a case of practice practice practice or is there a particular way of playing these shots???

Playing the shot with lots of running side often helps. For example, if the cue-ball is on the black spot and the object ball is tight on the top cushion for a pot along the cushion into the top right pocket (as viewed from baulk), then playing this with lots of right hand side in this case helps to keep the object ball hugging the cushion. Remember to allow for the side to get the correct contact on the object ball. I usually put quite a bit of running side on for this shot which I find quite often helps, particularly when there is a lot of distance between cue-ball and object ball.

Hope this helps,

bongo

[Gorfendor]

bongo and jrc750,
Thanks a lot (I like how you both gave very similar answers, this gives me a lot of condfidence :P)

I'll probably go play for a few hours tonight/tomorrow so will give it a go then

[jrc750]

Errr which is what i just said bongo lol

[HemiRR]

I agree with what RockerRoy has said. When you raise your back hand slightly, hitting the cue ball in the centre is extra important as being off centre slightly will masse the cue ball. I think the key is to remain very still. I have found that if I put enough weight on my bridge hand such that I can not stand up even if I lift my head (I actually have to move my lead foot forward to stand up) I am very successful off the rail. I do this by moving my feet back about 5" more than normal. Many players are amazed at my potting acuracy off the rail. (eg frozen on the rail opposite the spot I am 90% + in practice in potting the black; although easier to control the cue ball as there is a slightly better cueing angle on the cue ball, in league play I think nothing of potting the black at a good medium pace to chip balls out of the pack when frozen on the rail opposite the pink spot).

[mick 142]

I know this is probably the bread and butter shot for all you decent guys but i nearly always miss the black off the spot or any reds near that immediate area. I think i try too hard to get the white not to stick to the bottom cushion and mess it up.
Ha ha everyone i watch seems to know exactly which shot to play around the black but i seem to mess it up every time unless its a simple run through A simple thing to try just pot the black as many times as you can .put the black on the spot the white at a 3/4 angle below the black pot the black and play pos on the next black just do it for 10 mins and see how many you do .

I need serious help, although my potting is improving, my positional play is totally rubbish.

put the black on the spot with the white at 3/4 angle bellow the black now pot the black and play pos for the black in the other pocket keep going till you miss see how many you can do you must play from were the white lands do it for 10 mins .

[gettingbetter]

Purely an exhibition shot.

The shot looks like you are high on the black and play it with plenty of chekside and power. This will eventually arc it into the oppositie middle pocket. I see O'Sullivan play it plenty of times and I think you can watch Figueiredo play it in the first frame of the World Open against Williams.

How do they do it?

[Krypton]

Not as much check as you think (might work WITHOUT side even)
Much more top than you think (an arc is the result of topspin, NOT side)

[Dannyboy]

I know when potting half ball blue into the middle pocket with bottom right hand side going toward the baulk end i aim the blue to miss the pocket, what is the aiming point when potting the blue off it's spot from the yellow spot into the right hand corner pocket with bottom right hand side on the cue ball do i aim left of the pocket or right of the pocket?

[Terry Davidson]

dannyboy:

All you have to realize is you will 'push' or 'throw' the cueball in the opposite direction to the type of side so you must compensate and aim a little more to the right when using right hand side and to the left when using left-hand side.

As to how much to aim off that will entirely depend on the type of shot, the throw of your cue, the weight of the cloth and the weight of the cueball, the amount of power used, the amount of side used (and I could go on for quite awhile here, but you get the picture). Also, it takes a lot of practice to get it correct if one is trying to pot a half-ball blue and go into and out of baulk, missing the baulk colours and using the bottom and one of the side cushions to get back down to the top of the table.

Terry

[willtyson]

I always struggle with completely straight blacks, but with the cue ball flush to the cushion. I usually bring my hand down the cue when on the cushion but not sure what else to do. I probably pot 2 in 10 of these. Any help welcome ? :snooker: