how to line up a pot with side

[Freddie Ng]

I recommend a player who cannot consistently run 50 breaks should only use side under the following conditions:

1. On the break
2. When an object ball is over the hole and there's lots of room for error.

When using side you must alter your line of aim and the amount is different for EVERY shot on the table as it depends on first of distance between the 2 balls, secondly on the amount of power used, then we can move on to speed of the cloth, weight of the cueball, natural throw of the cue, strength of the nap and probably a host of others I can't think of right now.

Besides, in almost every case you can achieve the same results by using a combination of height on the cueball and power used. The break shot is an exception and there will be some exceptions in safety play where the margin for error on the object is large and the player is attempting to 'swing' the ccueball around the cushions to get to a particular side on the baulk cushion, exactly the same as the break-off shot.

Terry

Solid advise for everyone out there :snooker:

[nevets]

I recommend a player who cannot consistently run 50 breaks should only use side under the following conditions:

1. On the break
2. When an object ball is over the hole and there's lots of room for error.

When using side you must alter your line of aim and the amount is different for EVERY shot on the table as it depends on first of distance between the 2 balls, secondly on the amount of power used, then we can move on to speed of the cloth, weight of the cueball, natural throw of the cue, strength of the nap and probably a host of others I can't think of right now.

Besides, in almost every case you can achieve the same results by using a combination of height on the cueball and power used. The break shot is an exception and there will be some exceptions in safety play where the margin for error on the object is large and the player is attempting to 'swing' the ccueball around the cushions to get to a particular side on the baulk cushion, exactly the same as the break-off shot.

Terry

Good advice as always from Terry. However there is one more shot where I regularly use side, and I think it is necessary. That's playing safe off a ball on the side cushion to send the white back down the table off the top cushion. A little bit of side avoids that costly double-kiss, and it's quite easy to play.

[vendetta_revived]

I know this isn't the place, but a lot of people here are saying that you will need to aim 'thicker' regardless of what side you are using and this is confusing me.

As far as my understanding goes, you need to aim thicker only when you are using running side because if you are using check side, you will need to aim a bit thinner, right ?

[nrage]

I know this isn't the place, but a lot of people here are saying that you will need to aim 'thicker' regardless of what side you are using and this is confusing me.

As far as my understanding goes, you need to aim thicker only when you are using running side because if you are using check side, you will need to aim a bit thinner, right ?

Before I can answer the question I want to clear up what I believe is a common miss conception about the terms running side and check side.

The term check side is used when the angle the white takes off the cushion is narrower than it would naturally have been.

The term running side is used when the angle the white takes off the cushion is wider that it would naturally have been.

So, which term is used in each case depends firstly on the angle the white takes onto the cushion, and secondly on whether the angle it takes off the cushion is narrower or wider than what would have been the natural angle off the cushion.

For example, imagine potting the blue to the green side middle pocket on such an angle that the cue ball naturally goes just to the green side of the brown spot.

1. If you play this with right hand side the cue ball angle will widen off the cushion, it will come off the baulk end cushion and go toward the green side cushion, this would then be called running side.

2. If you play this with bottom right hand side, the bottom/screw will change the angle the white takes onto the cushion, it will go yellow side of the brown spot, and the side will narrow the angle off the cushion, taking it back against itself toward the green side, this would be called check side.

So..

To talk about how to aim when potting with side we should really talk about applying left or right hand side, and then what to do when cutting to the left or right in each case.

If you apply left hand side this will cause the cue ball to first throw to the right, then may swerve a little back to the left.

If you apply right hand side this will cause the cue ball to first throw to the left, then may swerve a little back to the right.

The amount of throw depends on the cue, and the amount of swerve depends primarily on the cue elevation, but also the cloth, the speed you play the shot with and how shiny the balls are.

So..

If you're cutting to the left:
- with lhs, you aim thicker to counter the throw to the right
- with rhs, you aim thinner to counter the throw to the left

If you're cutting to the right:
- with rhs, you aim thicker to counter the throw to the left
- with lhs, you aim thinner to counter the throw to the right.

However..

If you play with more cue elevation and the shot is over a longer distance then you need to take into account the swerve. The swerve will counteract the throw, so can mean you need to adjust the aim less, not at all, or even in the opposite direction.

There are some good scientific videos on the various effects here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXJ7bDafTms

And, if you haven't seen these two they're well worth a watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J0I6IgLlo8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oii0UhnYjCc

.. and finally this one is explains when/why people have trouble learning to screw the ball:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqqakiKbhHI

[Acrowot]

Some DD there.
:snooker: