Which part of the pocket to aim for?

[paulstreetboy]

would you aim for the near jaw playing from baulk to middle

[cally]

would you aim for the near jaw playing from baulk to middle

I wouldn't aim for a shot to the near jaw on any shot tbh.

[jrc750]

I wouldn't aim for a shot to the near jaw on any shot tbh.

If you hit it hard enough they don't have chance to run off line

[cally]

if you hit it hard enough they don't have chance to run off line

lol.............

[farlex11]

Hi Terry,

I also suffer from this adjustment issue after i am down on the shot ,as my concsious mind feels that the shot is wrong ,
in the past years i found 2 successfull ways to solve it :
1- after finding the correct line of aim i slightly use a blurred type of vision puposely where the object ball looks smaller than it really is .therefore i just accept the line i find in front of me.
2- i conciously think of two things together such as singing and imaging a counter of numbers running in my mind .such as 1 2 3 4 5 6...which.

It seems funny but it realy works for me.

[nrage]

I think that basically you are right. There must be scientific proof (although I haven't seen it) which proves which part of the pocket in each case you should aim for. Perhaps someone has drawn a map! showing the point of greatest acceptance. Also, the player has to take into account nap which operates differently. Am I own mo own here; I just believe that anything which increases the pot chance must increase the break chance and win chance. As a right hander I have been aiming for the left of centre on black into the top left ( yellow side) with increasing results and thus avoiding the near jaw which I was invariably hitting. Hitting thinner on both black pockets has increased my breaks and I am sure it has to do with a focus on which part of the pocket. The earlier reference to Joe Davis was interesting and true. However, he never saw Hendry play and he invariably takes an idiosyncratic look at the pocket!!

The way I think about it is. On most(all?) shots, including black off the spot, you have two limits, one on each side, and the ideal potting line/angle is exactly 1/2 way between the two (ignoring the effect of the nap). This angle is ideal because it gives you the most margin for error in both directions.

The near jaw is almost always one of these limits, the exception being very slow shots can sometimes pot off the near jaw, but only when the deflection added by the near jaw is small enough that the ball hits inside the other limit.

The only time you have no near/far jaw is a straight in shot to the middle pocket, where both jaws can be considered near and far and the limits get wider the slower you pot, and narrower the faster you pot. The reason for that is the curve on the pocket. The point where the curve is facing you directly is the point where no matter the speed it will not pot.

Imagine you have a straight black into the yellow side black pocket. The near jaw is the jaw on the top/black end of the table, hitting this jaw with the black will likely cause it to miss, likewise hitting too far up the side cushion will cause it to miss. The exact spot on the side cushion which is the limit takes experience/practice to learn, once you have it you will know where 1/2 way between is, and therefore the ideal line.

A straight shot into the middle has the widest limits, followed by a shot into the corners from exactly 45 degrees (straight into the back of the pocket where it is widest). Any shot where you cut down the angle, like a shot to the middle from near the side cushion narrows the limits until there is only 1 correct line/angle to pot (ignoring nap effects like drift, roll off/in etc).

So, once you have all that you should know exactly where the best line/angle is, and that potting slow is always better (where possible, positional considerations may affect the choice of speed after all). But, potting too slowly allows for nap effects, see:
http://www.fcsnooker.co.uk/intermedi...ap/the_nap.htm

So, you have to learn the speed at which to play to avoid these, or if forced to play slower (for position) you need to learn how to account for the nap, aiming closer to one or the other limit and allowing the nap effect to bring the ball back to the ideal line/angle naturally.

Now that I've explained all that, there is one much simpler method to find the ideal line, which you can verify with the above knowledge

Is it this, "look at the pocket cut into the bed of the table, and always aim for the middle of the cut". By 'middle' I mean .. imagine a straight in shot to the middle pocket. The point on the cut right in the middle of the pocket is the point to aim at on all shots to the middle pocket, even those where the angle is cut down. On cut down angle shots this point will appear to be in front of the far jaw, and far enough away from the near jaw to allow the ball to pass. If it's not, then you need to rely on the ball rolling off/in to pot it, so perhaps you need to select a different shot

Likewise, imagine a 45 degree shot to the corner, the point on the cut right in the middle of that is the point to aim at on all shots to the corner.

Don't believe me? Try it. Place the white anywhere on the table, pick a pocket, and aim directly at the cut point described and provided you hit the white cleanly, straight and with enough pace to avoid nap effects - and provided you haven't selected such a narrow angle as to require nap effects to pot it, it should pot.

[ewanfish]

If you are aiming for the centre of the pocket to pocket the object ball when you put side on a ball does this have an effect on throwing the object ball off line when you are trying to pot it in the centre of the pocket so do you have to ajust where you are aiming at the pocket. e.g. if you put right hand side on the white it gives the red left spin so you would have to aim for the left hand side of the pocket to ajust for the spin the red has?

[paulstreetboy]

This is an old chestnut. My understanding is that it is not possible to apply side through the cuew ball onto the object all. Does everyone agree?

I have been hitting the ball with more confidence and harder and my pot success has gone up. Watching hours of snooker, it is clear that professional NEVER rool a shot; it is always struck with assertiveness. Many club players roll balls even those oevr a wide distance and then shout in complaint 'the ball rolled off'. There is a difference btween playing on a bed of glass and felt with a nap but is surprising how many players don't realise this.

Most club tables have 'tram lines' running into the pockets, this is marked at my club around the black pockets on both sides. I use these as guides to find the point to aim for. Example. Your white is behind the black but almost in line with the cushion (horizontal to the top rail) and aiming towards the black pocket on the yellow side of the table (got it?). I aim for the right side of the pocket which has this tram line and the 'V' of the pocket where the fall of the pcoket is closest. My pot success has improved as there is a natural nap pull from right to left and I am not missing so many shots as I was to the near jaw. My profile says maximum break of 64 which it was before this string was made. I have now made 119 in practice which is something I though was never possible considering the years I have been playing and my age (almost as old as Steve Davis!). Many guys like me give up on the dream on making a century in tehir lifetime; don't!

[1blonde]

Always aim for the pocket with the wallet in

[Terry Davidson]

I agree that there is no thing as transferred side (of practical use) unless the balls are dirty and sticky. The amount that is tranferred is barely detectable and has virtually no effect on the object ball.

However, when using side you must adjust your aim to compensate for the amount of 'push-off' you give the cueball

Terry

[ewanfish]

I think that's what i was meaning, 'the push off' the object ball gets pushed off line a wee bit so you should be aiming for the opposite side of the jaw of the pocket. e.g. putting right hand side on the cue ball would cause the object ball to get thrown off its corect line so you would have to aim for the left corner of the pocket if you were potting a ball in to the black left corner with the white near the pink area but only if you were using side.

[nrage]

Over distance you get both push off and some swerve back depending on the cue angle, see:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FargoBil...18/mXJ7bDafTms