Using side for certain pots?

[OmaMiesta]

Hey guys, was wondering how often you guys use spin aside from when trying to achieve position. I find myself using side for many long or difficult pots as it feels a little bit easier to judge rather then aiming centre oddly. If I have a long bit off straight pot for example, Id use right side (if cutting left) and aim a bit thicker before the pocket to pot it centre pocket. Do a lot of you do this as well and is it a bad habit? I find it really strange that potting with side can sometimes feel easier than aiming centre...maybe because I was a pool player first?

[RoryM147]

I find if play a long shot to nothing that needs side to get back safe, I will find out that I pot more these shots than centre ball long shots. I noticed on TV some players use some side even though no cushions are involved.

[alabadi]

i play most long pots that are just off straight with a bit of side. but different to you, if cutting to the right i will use a bit of right hand side and aim for center of the OB, the side pushes the cueball off slightly left just enough to pot. i have much more success this way rather than trying to figure out BOB which is almost dead center from distance.

[Ramon]

As long as you can pot these balls, is good enough. There are many snooker players who find it easier to use side ( or helping side ). !! Nothing t do with playing pool,,imo. ( get ready for Mr Big shot because here he comes .. )

[thelongbomber]

Hey guys, was wondering how often you guys use spin aside from when trying to achieve position. I find myself using side for many long or difficult pots as it feels a little bit easier to judge rather then aiming centre oddly. If I have a long bit off straight pot for example, Id use right side (if cutting left) and aim a bit thicker before the pocket to pot it centre pocket. Do a lot of you do this as well and is it a bad habit? I find it really strange that potting with side can sometimes feel easier than aiming centre...maybe because I was a pool player first?

It's difficult aiming center because you haven't practiced it and made it part of your game. Go back to ABC's and really take the time to understand centre ball stun. Once you master the touch of this key concept, you will understand it's inherent value: you pot way more balls if you do it right. On long shots, it's probably muscle and visual memory, and bad habits making you use side. You see cue ball exit lines after contact that involve side, and don't immediately see the "centre ball lines" that you should be seeing first. It's just as easy to make the long shots with pure centre striking. Centre ball is much more predictable and allows you to pick up any cue and make shots. It also allows you to reach flow state more quickly as you can get to a match cold, and reach your a-game in much less time. Using side, you have to feel good about the table, the balls, the cloth, the cue, your mind, your emotions. It's unpredictable using side in general and it also doesn't get you all that easily into sustained flow state. Speaking personally, if I do use side, it's no more than 1 tip off center. Anything more and (in my case with the cue I have right now) I miss the shot. Try a stiffer cue and it will make you use less side.

[OmaMiesta]

As long as you can pot these balls, is good enough. There are many snooker players who find it easier to use side ( or helping side ). !! Nothing t do with playing pool,,imo. ( get ready for Mr Big shot because here he comes .. )

Haha his pool senses must be tingling somewhere. ..

[Byrom]

Yes I use bits of side a lot both with and without cushions for positional reasons and safety -

Here are a couple of examples

To force or make a angle that does not exist - A straight red to middle for blue might get you wrong side of blue or straight leaving you no angle to get down to the reds - whilst a stun with left hand side will create an angle for you moving the ball over to the right. Note - on certain tables you can pinch the pocket plain ball and make an angle but more reliable to hit centre pocket with a stun with side if close in I think.

Holding position Sometimes you might have that three quart ball pink to right middle shot and you want to hold the white - a plain ball stun would send the white up past the blue and a slow roll would also send it too high up the table - digging in with a touch of left hold the ball to the right slightly more keeping you down in the money end of the table. It is of course a shot you can repeat all over the table when you see it - I perfected this shot when playing the cross practice routine around the pink so feel comfortable playing it.

An inch extra makes all the difference - I particularly like using side with top on a follow through shot - the positional aspect is minimal but so is the throw and sometimes narrowing or widening the angle off a cushion to find the right line by just an inch can make all the difference to finishing right side of that blue to keep a break going.

Splitting the pack off the black - Ok you are low on the black or level and want to pot the black and split the reds - a plain ball hit would more likely bury you in the reds the same shot dug in with bottom or bottom and with bit of side which would hit the pack then spin out moving the white to the left or right off the side rail for position - this is a shot Ronnie has perfected in the modern game the best and it is most effective on the faster cloths.

Safety - Figure of 8 safety shots with ruining side or safety shots with check to find the gaps through reds to get back up the table with the white - I often practice playing for different areas in baulk off balls - its fun.

Making the impossible possible - it is possible to soft swerve around balls with side to make a pot on the object ball if you are slightly snookered on it of course. You can also straighten up a pot with side.

The cushions are your friend - ok so you finish straight on the black ball and need to screw back and make an angle off the side cushion with reverse side to
widen the angle off the side rail for positional purposes for your next red. or maybe play a stun off the cushion to check the white off a rail to hold the line narrowing the angle of deflection.

The possibilities with side are endless and it is fun to experiment - but as a rule of thumb don't use it -side - unless you need to and are close in for potting as your accuracy is cut down when using it at distance because of the throw effect - although you can cut this down this effect by the way you cue at the ball and the type of side you apply. I cant explain this fully as it would take all night and I am not confident I can explain it properly - but someone else might be able to.

People will say don't use side - why not? On club tables you need to to get that ball to move - knowing when to use it and how is important and if you don't experiment you will never know when it helps so by all means ping it around in practice and try a few daft things - its fun.

The advantage of a good pool or billiards player moving over to snooker is that they are already comfortable with using side for position making doubles and the occasional flashy position shot and pot. Use your fluid strengths and adapt them to snooker why not.

Note - I can almost sense Terry Davidson - grinding away at the keyboard in response to this when he sees it -

[cyberheater]

Steve Davis (who knows a thing to two about the game) says don't use side at all if you're not using a cushion.

I hit 95% of my pots plain ball. Even long pots. It's hard enough as it is rather then trying to work out the throw of a cue ball over that distance due to side.
The only time I put side on is positional shots off the cushion. 3/4 blacks with a trace of side to get past the pack or top left to get into the pack though with that shot I can't play that too hard or the side doesn't take until you're past the pack.

On the other hand. It's amazing what positions you can get to just using stun with no side whatsoever.

One other thing. Folks on here will say don't use side unless you are a 50 break builder. I disagree. Get used to side and will improve your break building and as others have said. You shouldn't need much. I don't use more then half a tips worth.

[Byrom]

Steve Davis (who knows a thing to two about the game) says don't use side at all if you're not using a cushion.

I hit 95% of my pots plain ball. Even long pots. It's hard enough as it is rather then trying to work out the throw of a cue ball over that distance due to side.
The only time I put side on is positional shots off the cushion. 3/4 blacks with a trace of side to get past the pack or top left to get into the pack though with that shot I can't play that too hard or the side doesn't take until you're past the pack.

On the other hand. It's amazing what positions you can get to just using stun with no side whatsoever.

One other thing. Folks on here will say don't use side unless you are a 50 break builder. I disagree. Get used to side and will improve your break building and as others have said. You shouldn't need much. I don't use more then half a tips worth.

The shots I explained are almost impossible without side as Steve Davis would know - how can you soft swerve around a ball to make the pot without side?
I think this is either slightly misquoted or he said it but he is wrong - all professional players including Davis use bits of side during break building for positional purposes - but like you rightly say using less is more and on a match table perhaps you don't need it as much as the table cloth and cushions are more responsive but there are certain shots not possible or made easier with side for sure - I just explained a few.

[cyberheater]

[B]

The shots I explained are almost impossible without side as Steve Davis would know - how can you soft swerve around a ball to make the pot without side?

Yes of course.

I think this is either slightly misquoted or he said it but he is wrong - all professional players including Davis use bits of side during break building for positional purposes

I think he was more referring to folks who aren't of a high standard.

[itsnoteasy]

I really wish the line up clearance by John Spencer was on YouTube or something like that, he talked through every shot to show you don't need to use side, I was only a lad when this was shown on the BBC I rekon its thirty plus years since I saw it first, then it was shown the next year, as it was requested by someone(back in the days when folk had to write in lol) I'm sure it was something they showed between sessions of a tourney on the BBC. Unfortunately I have never seen it again, I might get in touch with the Beeb and see if I can get a copy.

[vmax4steve]

I think he was more referring to folks who aren't of a high standard.

And they'll stay that way unless they learn to use it because no one gets perfect position all the time.

[vmax4steve]

I really wish the line up clearance by John Spencer was on YouTube or something like that, he talked through every shot to show you don't need to use side, I was only a lad when this was shown on the BBC I rekon its thirty plus years since I saw it first, then it was shown the next year, as it was requested by someone(back in the days when folk had to write in lol) I'm sure it was something they showed between sessions of a tourney on the BBC. Unfortunately I have never seen it again, I might get in touch with the Beeb and see if I can get a copy.

Yet Spencer was one of the masters of using side, learned it from an old billiards player when he was a lad learning the game as told in his book.

[thai_son22]

i rarely ever play with side. with long shots i get most success playing dead center plain ball.

if i have to screw i sometimes get the un-wanted side or cue across it. but i try to avoid side as much as i can

[Byrom]

It might shock others to hear this but many really good players cue just left or just right of centre on the white - cueing or finding dead centre is hard to do consistently I think - some perhaps do it without realising others are more aware.

ducking for cover - waiting to be shot down now -