Jumping into a cluster

Dan White

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I wonder if anybody has an opinion on a situation like this:

You have a shallow shot into a corner pocket from below the rack. If you shoot hard with stun you will probably stick into the pack. If you hit with follow you stand a good chance of scratching into the same corner pocket. The other day I had this shot and shot down into the cue ball to create enough lift to get the cue ball to land on top of the rack. It opens the balls up a bit and the cue ball skips along and into the open. It seems like a pretty useful shot because it really isn't that hard to pocket the object ball even with the cue ball lift, and it seems like a way to get out of a problem situation. I'm no fan of jump shots in straight pool, but maybe this is an exception I could live with. Not sure I'd try it in every situation, but it worked well.

Any thoughts?

The Wei diagram is approximate and just for illustration.

CueTable Help

 
Not sure if this is the best time to pull out that shot, Dan, but use of a slight jump shot to modify the angle a little is a trick of the trade in all games over the glorious green felt. Top players all use this technique from time to time.
 
yes its a very useful shot...ive used it quite a few times with great benefit playing one pocket for opening up the stack and also to jump over a cluster that i didn't want to disturb that was hooking a shooting lane into my opponents pocket.

jumpin jahoosafats,
-Greyghost
 
Same shot came up again in practice tonight. The cb and ob were very close to each other, and there was about zero chance of missing the shot. Cue ball skipped over the cluster opening a few up and getting the cue ball in the clear. I'm not sure what the drawback on this shot is, other than some loss of control, but otherwise I'd have had to poke at the ob and possibly gotten stuck in the cluster.
 
Stefan Cohen

Good post Dan! The first time I saw someone play a shot and try to jump the cue ball into the rack (a break shot from above, no?) was when Stefan Cohen did it during the final match of the 2009 World Straight Pool Championship against Immonen. He missed the shot, but the benefit of playing the shot was obvious.

Not long afterward I was faced with a similar shot as you have diagrammed above and went for it. I wasn't sure exactly what type of english or stroke to put on it, but I guessed correctly and after sending the object ball rocketing into the corner pocket the cue ball hopped up in the air and dive bombed right into the middle of the rack. I ended up opening the rack up quite a bit and had several easy shots. My opponent was like - WTF WAS THAT??? lol Since then I've practiced the shot and use it with confidence whenever needed.

Thanks for an interesting post!
Ron F
 
Jumping in 14.1 is definitely useful. Often when a close shot is straight in but the edge of a second ball is obstructing entry, I'll jump into the OB and basically bounce it over the obstructing ball's edge. This comes up a lot around the rack when there are many balls on the table. Like other seldom used techniques, you just have to be looking for the possibility to employ.
 
Nice discovery, Dan. Ed Latimer showed me that shot a few years back and it comes in handy. You do not need to skip over the rack. If you land on top of the rack, the balls will open like a flower. Worth a shot in certain situations.

By the way, the other day, I was practicing break shots and just trying to stay down on them. I video'd so I could check to see if I stayed still on the follow through. On one of them I was using high and after the cue ball hit the object ball, it jumped over the rack. Maybe I will find that video. Something more for marop to laugh about.
 
Last edited:
dmgwalsh said:
Nice discovery, Dan. Ed Latimer showed me that shot a few years back and it comes in handy. You do not need to skip over the rack. If you land on top of the rack, the balls will open like a flower. Worth a shot in certain situations.
Click to expand...

Thanks. By "skipped over" I meant to say the cue ball climbed over the first cluster ball and then made its way across the top, opening them up as it went. Poor choice of words I suppose.
 
Ron F said:
My opponent was like - WTF WAS THAT??? lol Since then I've practiced the shot and use it with confidence whenever needed.

Thanks for an interesting post!
Ron F
Click to expand...

Thanks. I was playing a house pro awhile back and he had a back of the rack break. The object ball was close to the back of the rack and the cue ball was just barely hooked by a corner ball in the rack. He elevated, skipped the cue ball over the edge of the corner ball, pocketed the break ball and managed to open the rack up enough to keep going (on to about 85 balls if I recall). I remember two of his shots in that run --the first shot to begin the run, in which I had him dead nuts safe (he kicked out and made a ball), and that jump break shot. I think later he said he was a little lucky on that one... but he did make it.
 
Ron, the jump shot break you describe (again, i can't see the chart) is diagrammed in one of the classic 14.1 books, i can't remember which one, but i don't think it's Capelle's, which i just re-read. so maybe Byrne's?
 
wigglybridge said:
Ron, the jump shot break you describe (again, i can't see the chart) is diagrammed in one of the classic 14.1 books, i can't remember which one, but i don't think it's Capelle's, which i just re-read. so maybe Byrne's?
Click to expand...

It's in Capelle's..it's in the break shots chapter..can't quote the exact page at the moment..
 
Thanks Al

BigAL said:
It's in Capelle's..it's in the break shots chapter..can't quote the exact page at the moment..
Click to expand...

Thanks Al. I've never had either book. Just saw Cohen try the shot in the final match of the 2009 World Championship. Saw it a few more times here and there, but the first time left a lasting impression. Very handy arrow to have in your quiver.

Ron F
 
Ron F said:
Thanks Al. I've never had either book. Just saw Cohen try the shot in the final match of the 2009 World Championship. Saw it a few more times here and there, but the first time left a lasting impression. Very handy arrow to have in your quiver.

Ron F
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken it's also in Ray Martin's book 99 CS..he mentions it briefly...looks like i'll be adding this shot to my 14.1 practice :thumbup:
 
I've found that you don't even have to fully jump the rack to get utility out of this shot. Sometimes just the effect of the slight jump on the cueball trajectory after it contacts the object ball can, as previously mentioned, save you from a scratch, or even help move away from the rack in those situations where the cueball is very close to the BB and the rack.
 
posted by HawaiianEye in the main forum.............


"I've seen plenty of "weird" shots, but one of the weirdest I actually did myself was in a 14-1 tournament in 1990. My opponent and I were playing for the last spot that would send the winner to another tournament in the UK, with expenses paid.

We were playing a game to 100 and he was up on me 99 to 97. I screwed up the break shot selection and had to settle for a break ball that would be behind the rack when the balls were reracked. The cue ball and the break ball were both behind the rack and the shot was straight in and there was "no way" to break the rack (or so I thought). I had already decided (rightly or wrongly, since it had been a LONG, LONG game) that I wasn't going to cinch the ball and then play a safety battle.

I decided that I would try to cheat the pocket and use a half-masse to "throw" the cueball into the back of the rack, in the hope of breaking them up a bit. Even if the balls would have broken out, there would have been a very low percentage chance of getting an open shot, but I had already made up my mind.

I lifted my cue up and hit down on the cueball with the maximum of right English I could put on it and cheated the pocket to the extreme left. In my attempt to "throw" the cueball with the half-masse it actually made it do a half-jump in the process. The cueball struck the object ball (#98) perfectly and it went in, but the cueball jumped up in the air, about a foot or so, and to the right and landed square on the top of the rack in the middle and sat on top of the 14 balls for a several seconds.

My opponent and I stared at the rack for several seconds and I was wondering WTF do we do now (like, "how do you shoot a ball when the cueball is sitting on top of the rack?). Before I could figure out what the rule would be on this shot, the weight of the cueball slowly forced the balls to part and the cueball came back down to the cloth in the center of the rack. In doing so, it pushed the balls far enough apart that I had a ball straight in the corner pocket and it pushed another ball out so that I would have perfect position in the opposite corner.

I made the balls (#99 & 100) and got out and my opponent couldn't believe what had happened. Everyone came over to congratulate me and I had numerous people asking me to show them how to make that kind of shot. I told them that I couldn't be showing off my secrets and got a good laugh out of it. My opponent wasn't in quite the same spirits, because that shot kept him from the UK tournament."
 
michael4 said:
the cueball jumped up in the air, about a foot or so, and to the right and landed square on the top of the rack in the middle and sat on top of the 14 balls for a several seconds.
Click to expand...

LOL I always wondered if that was possible. Do you know what the ruling would have been if the cue ball had NOT come down? I would think you'd have to make a legal shot (ball to the rail) just like any other, but I even wonder if there is a rule for that situation in the books.

Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top