Cannoning the pack from the blue

[snoob]

Hey guys,

Say I'm a little above the blue (which is on its spot) say six inches up table from it, I intend to pot the blue in a center pocket, how far down the cue ball would I want to hit to cannon the pink and break the reds?

Cheers

[Luke Hooper]

below center matey stun it into the pack...my advice would be to just practice it out...

[firefrets]

The sharper the angle the more bottom and side you need to hold the white ball in the intended path, and spin the blue in at the same time.

If you play a ball into the corner pocket, with the object ball about a foot from both cushions, with a natural angle to hit the side cushion, and then practise making the white travel further up the cushion before hitting it, you will eventually master control of the white ball regarding manipulating the angle the white travels.

This can then be extended across the whole table, and is essential to the game of snooker, in avoiding obstacles, and gaining perfect dominance over the white ball.

[nrage]

You might find this helpful:
http://www.youtube.com/user/neilmaxm.../0/JS5np7-dsls

[thelongbomber]

Pace and how low below centre to strike the cue ball is something that can't be prescribed accurately. There are a lot of dependancies on how you execute this shot:

1. How clean your overall cue action is
2. How your cue hits
3. Type of cloth and age (new cloth slides then grips)
4. If you use touches of inside or outside english (left or right of centre)
5. How open the reds already are

The only sure fire answer is diligent practice and understanding how your cue ball, and your cue action behaves off the blue.

One way I found of measuring pace, spin, and striking point was to practice the shot in the opposite direction. That is, place the cue ball below the blue and practice going in out of balk.

Shot 1 - between yellow and brown no english and towards the side pocket you just pocketed the blue in (stun run)
Shot 2 - between yellow and brown and back through the same gap (stun run with right hand spin)
Shot 3 - between green and brown and towards the side pocket opposite where pocket the blue (screw)
Shot 4 - between green and brown and back through the same gap (slight screw with left english)
Shot 5 - over the brown spot and back over it again (stun)

For the shot you mentioned, prior to Hendry, Davis was famous for playing the stun shot into the pink. This was good if you hit the pink full on but if you missed a full ball contact slightly, the cue ball would invariably end up on the side cushion. Hendry was said to have invented the screw into the pink which holds the cue ball in the middle of the table and also prevents going in-off in the corner. Davis will argue he was the first to do this though

If you practice the routine in the opposite direction as described above it becomes something you can use again and again when you need to split red balls off the blue in a specific way (say 3 reds to the left of the pink for example).

Hope that helps!