Pool is a beautiful game of intricacies. Each time you prepare to shoot, you feel the control of the shot in your form and the stroking of the cue. You know that whether you succeed or fail comes purely from within. This first shot is extremely simple to pocket the two ball, but you must be sure to also know how the cue ball will react after it has made contact. Will it follow the two into the pocket? Will it stop dead in its tracks leaving a very long shot? Will it contact the two, and then leave the lower rail only to slide into the side pocket? If all goes as planned, the cue ball will only brush the two and will rebound off the lower rail and glide smoothly into position to shoot the four ball into the corner pocket.
Now, each shot will require some precision in pocketing the balls. The player will not want to be directly in line with the object ball and the pocket. This would give the player little margin for error to pocket the ball and still be able to maneuver the cue ball into position to shoot the next ball. The player should have a slight angle from the cue ball to the object ball. The player will shoot the cue ball into the part of the four ball that is in line with the pocket. This is where pool becomes more complex. The cue ball would normally depart at a 45 degree angle after contact, but this can be changed by the velocity and spin of the cue ball. Pool players call this English. The player will shoot through the top of the cue ball causing it to spin forward more quickly than natural, this is called top English. This will cause the cue ball to take a straighter path after contacting the four. The cue will then hit the lower rail and come back up the table to contact the side rail and slide back out towards the center.
The intent will be to have a fairly straight shot to pocket the five ball. This is because the seven would cause a problem when trying to get position on the six. The player should then cue the through the bottom of the cue ball. This will cause it to be spinning backwards despite its forward momentum. This is called draw or bottom English. The reason this is done is that once contact is made with the five ball, the backwards spinning motion will cause the cue ball to actually reverse direction and come to rest closer to where it was originally shot from.
The player will then have a fairly easy shot to pocket the six ball in the same pocket as the four. The cue ball should come off the rail and into position a few inches towards the center from where the six is now. The player can then shoot the seven ball at a very slight angle into the pocket the five was played. As before the cue ball should leave the seven at a 45 degree angle after contact, but this can be altered using English. The player will shoot with just enough bottom English that the cue ball will be barely spinning backwards as it contacts the seven. This will cause the angle coming off the seven to be larger.
The cue ball should slide into position to shoot the eight into the side pocket. If the player hits the shot a little too hard, he should still be able to shoot the eight into the upper corner. Either of these options should leave the player straight in on the nine, the final and winning ball. This is when it is great to have a straight in shot since there is no other ball to play position for. It is also nice to have an easy shot when it means this player will win the game, the tournament, and the nice cash prize.
