cue action when giving side

[darylmcghee]

say i was going to pot a red into the middle left pocket on a half ball angle to the left and i was to give some left hand side to bring the red down to the black of the side cushion then the top cushion (top meaning the black cushion) am i to aim just over half ball as my cueing is not at the centre of the white? also if i was to play the same shot with right side spin would i aim under half ball doe to my cue being on the right hand side of the white? i need this advice for my first league match on thursday thanks for the help.

[cantpotforshíte]

If it's your first league match on Thursday, then the advice is to play without side.
You can play the shot that you described with screw/stun only.
Whenever you use side you subconsciously compensate for the following variables: how whippy your cue is, how much nap there is on the cloth, how heavy the balls are, how tight your grip is, how dirty the balls are, how heavy your ferrule is, how hard you hit the shot, how you time the shot, how much top/bottom you are putting on the cue ball as well as the side, what kind of tip you are using etc. etc.
Amazingly, with not much practice, your subconscious can compensate for all these things. Your thinking mind cannot however, so it's best not to use side until you become comfortable with it naturally (especially in a match).
Hope this helps.

[Dan Lim]

That will be my best advice as well.

[Terry Davidson]

totally agree with cantpot here. Except for the break-off inexperienced players should try and not use side at all and then only on very easy pots that have a wide margin of error (ball virtually over the pocket or something like that). Any pot over 2ft using side without having any experience is dangerous, especially when you consider you can accomplish the same cueball position using centre-ball striking stun, screw or top.

Terry

[vmax4steve]

say i was going to pot a red into the middle left pocket on a half ball angle to the left and i was to give some left hand side to bring the red down to the black of the side cushion then the top cushion (top meaning the black cushion) am i to aim just over half ball as my cueing is not at the centre of the white? also if i was to play the same shot with right side spin would i aim under half ball doe to my cue being on the right hand side of the white? i need this advice for my first league match on thursday thanks for the help.

A cue ball spinning in the same direction as the nap of the cloth behaves differently to one spinning against the nap so although you would think that the aiming point for the shots you describe would be different they are in fact the same and here is the explanation why.

Left hand (running) side, to take the cue ball towards the top cushion, aim the pot thicker than needed to pot it with centre ball striking. First the cue ball will deflect away from the side put on it before arcing back onto the line of aim (thicker) and then go beyond the line of aim to make contact on the object ball on the spot needed to pot it.
This is because the cue ball is spinning in the same direction as the nap so the spin is exaggerated and the cue ball arcs more.

Right hand (check) side to take the cue ball into the middle of the table, once again the cue ball will deflect away from the side put on it but as it is now spinning against the nap it will not arc back onto or beyond the line of aim and the thicker aiming point is needed purely to allow for the deflection of the cue ball, ie. the cue ball deflects onto the correct contact point rather than arcs back onto the correct contact point.
this is because the cue ball does not arc as much when spinning against the nap of the cloth.

So on a half ball pot played at the pace required for the shots you describe then the aiming point should be the near knuckle of the pocket.
Now shots played harder or softer than those described need different aiming points as the cue ball will arc more the slower it is played and less the harder it is played both with and against the nap. Also sidespin played along and against the direction of the nap rather than across it behave differently again.
A cue ball with side spin played from baulk to the top cushion will deflect as normal and then arc in the direction it is spinning while one played from the top cushion to baulk will deflect as normal, come back onto line and then arc away from the direction it is spinning.

All this doesn't have to be remembered when learning to use side, all you have to remember is whether to aim the shot thicker or thinner than needed to pot it plain ball depending on what you have observed when practising the shots.
There are of course certain situations when you don't need to compenstae your aiming at all because the pace of the shot played over a certain distance makes the cue ball arc onto the exact contact point on the object ball needed anyway, such as the break off shot.

example

I was on a break in this weeks league match and failed to get the correct angle on the next red to enable me to stay on the black as there was another red stopping the black going into both corner pockets. I chose to play the red with check side to come back across the table to make the black into the same pocket as the red. Red was the straight side of three quarter ball and seeing as I had to hit it quite hard I aimed to hit it dead straight, two inches from the far jaw, with right hand (check) side to allow for the deflection of the cue ball. Made the pot but didn't hit it hard enough and ended up parallel with the black, another couple of inches and I could have had a go at it but instead had to play a safety,

BTW I couldn't just screw up for pink or blue as they were both out of commission, thirty handicapper put them there deliberately, git!!