Clearing the Colours - Blue to Pink Troubles

[Deepscrew]

On tv they just get down stroke the Blue in, past the pink and it checks nicely off the cusion, moving back up the table for a straight or just off straight pink into the corner.

For the love of god i find this the most difficult shot in the game. Hit the pink or end up welded to the side cushion. Very rarely any other outcome. Very annoying as it should be so simple shouldnt it?

My latest high break of 82 ended after i potted the blue and left myself a few inches below the middle pocket right on the cushion for a nasty pink which i missed.

It shouldnt be this difficult!

Ive practiced it over and over pfrom both sides of the table but cant get any consistency, seems to me a very fine line when playing this shot.

HELP!

[Terry Davidson]

Deepscrew:

Nah, it ain't that difficult and actually the secret is in how you play the green to get on the brown. The ideal is if for instance you have a straight or almost straight green then only screw back 2" or so, don't try to get the brown straight in. When playing the brown target to bring the cueball off the side cushion about 2' above the middle jaw and out into the table. This shot on the brown is a simple stun shot, hitting the cueball just below centre with no side at all.

Now you end up sith a slight angle on the blue and can either roll it in or screw it back (depending on whether you're right or left handed) for a straight or almost straight roll shot on the pink for the black.

But to address your problem where you end up with an angle which is a little sharper on the blue and you have to stun off the top cushion and come back up the table to get a pink. If you constantly cannon the pink or end up on the side cushion then you are not hitting the cueball correctly. If you cannon the pink then you hit the cueball too low. If you are on the blue with the cueball on the yellow side of the table then the cueball should be hit slightly ABOVE center with a touch of check siding (in this case right side) to check the off the top cushion and return back up for a straight or almost straight pink.

Where a lot of players go wrong is either hitting the cueball too deep and cannon the pink or else not hitit with a touch of side and also too low on the power. You have to remember the check side will slow the cueball once it hits the top cushion and checks back.

Of course this is the shot the pros use but there are other options. For the same shot from the yellow side you could use top left with less power and swing the cueball off the top and side cushion to get it away from the cushion. The other solution is to roll the blue dead weight and get the pink straight or almost straight into the middle (only use this one if the table has good middle pockets).

Another solution which some players use is to hit the blue very deep with right hand side (which in this case will be running side as you pass inside the pink) but this one is dangerous since if you hit it too well you might screw into the top pocket or the jaws and not be on the pink.

Terry

[Deepscrew]

Nice one Terry i knew i could rely on you!

I always leave myself too straight on the brown so im sure not screwing back so much on the green will help overall in me clearing the colours more often.

Think i'll concentrate on teh 'other options'. The nearly straight blue to leave a nearly straight pink would be best i think!

Thanks again.

[itsnoteasy]

when practicing i do a blue pink black , onto blue from black and try and go round and round , it didnt half help me with this type of shot, i learned how to stun, roll through and screw for the pink off the blue at all angles,its just a bit of fun and something else to do. My shot to miss is the pink always to bloody thin.

[choice]

Deepscrew:

Nah, it ain't that difficult and actually the secret is in how you play the green to get on the brown. The ideal is if for instance you have a straight or almost straight green then only screw back 2" or so, don't try to get the brown straight in. When playing the brown target to bring the cueball off the side cushion about 2' above the middle jaw and out into the table. This shot on the brown is a simple stun shot, hitting the cueball just below centre with no side at all.

Now you end up sith a slight angle on the blue and can either roll it in or screw it back (depending on whether you're right or left handed) for a straight or almost straight roll shot on the pink for the black.

But to address your problem where you end up with an angle which is a little sharper on the blue and you have to stun off the top cushion and come back up the table to get a pink. If you constantly cannon the pink or end up on the side cushion then you are not hitting the cueball correctly. If you cannon the pink then you hit the cueball too low. If you are on the blue with the cueball on the yellow side of the table then the cueball should be hit slightly ABOVE center with a touch of check siding (in this case right side) to check the off the top cushion and return back up for a straight or almost straight pink.

Where a lot of players go wrong is either hitting the cueball too deep and cannon the pink or else not hitit with a touch of side and also too low on the power. You have to remember the check side will slow the cueball once it hits the top cushion and checks back.

Of course this is the shot the pros use but there are other options. For the same shot from the yellow side you could use top left with less power and swing the cueball off the top and side cushion to get it away from the cushion. The other solution is to roll the blue dead weight and get the pink straight or almost straight into the middle (only use this one if the table has good middle pockets).

Another solution which some players use is to hit the blue very deep with right hand side (which in this case will be running side as you pass inside the pink) but this one is dangerous since if you hit it too well you might screw into the top pocket or the jaws and not be on the pink.

Terry

Is that not running side????

[DandyA]

Is that not running side????

nope ...

white yellow side of table ... pot blue just missing pink green side with right-hand-side to bring the white off the black cushion straight(ish) back up the table for the pink ...

that's what I think Terry was saying and that is check side ...

[DandyA]

just to add, I personally don't like the terms check or running side - they are often ambiguous and open to confusion ...

it's one area I think the Americans have better terms ... they call it "inside english" or "outside english" which is unambiguous once you understand what they mean ... "english" just means side spin ... and "inside" or "outside" simply means you are hitting the white off-centre - inside is the side the object ball is, outside is the opposite ...

so, if I understand Terry correctly in my post above, he's suggesting playing the shot with a little outside english ... totally unambiguous and it doesn't matter whether your playing from the yellow or green side of the table it's still outside english ...

[Deepscrew]

Thats even more confusing!

Use the term 'english' for side. Why? Whats wrong with saying 'side' when you mean side?

Running side means the its going to add more spin, check side means exactly that, its going to check off the cushion. Simples?

[Gerry Armstrong]

On tv they just get down stroke the Blue in, past the pink and it checks nicely off the cusion, moving back up the table for a straight or just off straight pink into the corner.

For the love of god i find this the most difficult shot in the game. Hit the pink or end up welded to the side cushion. Very rarely any other outcome. Very annoying as it should be so simple shouldnt it?

My latest high break of 82 ended after i potted the blue and left myself a few inches below the middle pocket right on the cushion for a nasty pink which i missed.

It shouldnt be this difficult!

Ive practiced it over and over pfrom both sides of the table but cant get any consistency, seems to me a very fine line when playing this shot.

HELP!

Set up the same shot to practice and have say 10 attempts from the same place, but instead of looking at the blue as you normally do, look at the white instead when you strike the cueball.

The reason for the inconsistent results could be that you are not hitting the white exactly where you think you are each time, hence the different outcomes? Worth checking out.

[jrc750]

Is that not running side????

nope ...

white yellow side of table ... pot blue just missing pink green side with right-hand-side to bring the white off the black cushion straight(ish) back up the table for the pink ...

that's what I think Terry was saying and that is check side ...

Must admit i think Terry has got it wrong too, right hand side on that shot scenario is NOT check side ?????

[jrc750]

And please let's not start using the word "English" to mean side, it is what it is, stop making up new words for it !!!!!

[Gerry Armstrong]

Must admit i think Terry has got it wrong too, right hand side on that shot scenario is NOT check side ?????

Terry is correct. The shot as DandyA has described is what I thought Terry meant and in that scenario RHS on the cueball is deffo check side.

[nrage]

Thats even more confusing!

Use the term 'english' for side. Why? Whats wrong with saying 'side' when you mean side?

Running side means the its going to add more spin, check side means exactly that, its going to check off the cushion. Simples?

"check" side means the angle off the cushion has been narrowed. "running" side means the angle off the cushion has been widened. Which is almost what you just said, but not quite.

Imagine a shot where you're potting the black to the black/yellow side pocket. The white is on the green side of the table and far enough down the table that a plain ball strike will have the white come off the object ball still travelling toward the yellow side of the table, strike the top (black) cushion just on the yellow side of center, bounce off and continue to the yellow side probably striking the bottom rail before it strikes the side rail (due to the steep angle).

So, check side is left hand side in this case (aka outside english). When you play it with check/left/outside the white will hit in the same spot on the rail, but travel back to the green side of the table. The original angle was narrowed, possibly so much that the white comes back off on the same angle it went on, or even further back on itseld.

And, running side is right hand side in this case (aka inside english). When you play it with running/right/inside the white will hit the same spot on the rail and head even more over to the yellow side of the table. The original angle was widened.

So far so good. But, here is where check/running get "confusing" ..

If you play the same check/left/outside shot with screw you alter the path the white takes onto the rail, now it strikes the top rail on the green side of the black and the side spin widens the angle. The white does not check off the cushion. So, with screw the left hand side is now running side.

If you play the same running/right/inside shot with screw again the path of the white alters, it strikes the rail on the green side, but this time the side spin narrows the angle and it does check off the cushion. So, with screw the right hand side is now actually check side.

The same reversal of check/running side can be seen if your original plain ball shot was coming back to the green side but you use top to alter the path of the white so it carries on to the yellow before impact with the rail.

So, if you want to be 100% clear about what you're doing you have to use the terms left/right hand side or inside/outside english not check/running side. To see an example of how it causes confusion you only have to watch the early "Snooker Tips" and "Snooker Pro Tips" videos where they argued about those terms back and forth for weeks.

[jrc750]

Terry is correct. The shot as DandyA has described is what I thought Terry meant and in that scenario RHS on the cueball is deffo check side.

Well what would happen if you played that shot with LHS ??????

[nrage]

But to address your problem where you end up with an angle which is a little sharper on the blue and you have to stun off the top cushion and come back up the table to get a pink. If you constantly cannon the pink or end up on the side cushion then you are not hitting the cueball correctly. If you cannon the pink then you hit the cueball too low. If you are on the blue with the cueball on the yellow side of the table then the cueball should be hit slightly ABOVE center with a touch of check siding (in this case right side) to check the off the top cushion and return back up for a straight or almost straight pink.

This is a perfect example of why check/running side is confusing. Each person is imagining a slightly different shot here, specifically you're each imagining the white taking a slightly different path off the blue and onto the top cushion. If the shot on the blue is thin enough the white will, on a plain ball shot, travel to the top/yellow pocket. If the shot on the blue is thicker the white will travel to the top/green pocket. In the top/yellow case right hand side would widen the angle, making it running side. In the top/green case right hand side would narrow the angle, making it check off the cushion.

Terry mentions striking ABOVE center, which will impart some top spin, making the top/green pocket the more likely result - unless the shot on the blue is very thin.