Answers to Common QUESTIONS About Using SIDESPIN ... When, Why, and How to Use It

The Willie Mosconi book prescribed a short draw drill with a crescent of balls in front of a side pocket. Taking ball in hand on the first shot then shoot with short draw in order. Getting on the perfect angle makes the drill so much easier. Slight miss alignments can be helped with side. A good drill for learning side and its application in small doses. The number of balls in the arc can be increased as the touch is developed. And oh yeah don't forget C J Wiley likes a Touch Of Inside 🤷‍♂️
 
dr_dave said:
I think the answer depends on the person. If you are good at judging the bank angle with inside spin, that approach makes sense. Otherwise, getting better at judging gearing spin could make the natural outside-spin approach better. The 40% Rule here could help.
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Maybe instead I should try to determine what the highest margin of error approach is given perfect aim including intended cue direction, cue elevation, tip position, and speed. In other words, only accounting for stroke error. I'm not sure if that's useful, though, since obviously aim can be a large source of error.

These sort of questions are interesting to me for both the bank shot and the shootout shot.
 
vincett said:
What a lot of people dont get is that...you simply can not do a straight stroke when applying side spins
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It can certainly start and finish straight. But the shaft flexes during the hit and the whole cue vibrates after the hit. Is that what you are referring to?
 
dr_dave said:
It can certainly start and finish straight. But the shaft flexes during the hit and the whole cue vibrates after the hit. Is that what you are referring to?
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I took a stab at correcting the glance. The looser the grip the worse it is obviously, and probably counterproductive to correct. Still, referencing to that spiral stroke machine with the perfect linear stroke...
 
dr_dave said:
It can certainly start and finish straight. But the shaft flexes during the hit and the whole cue vibrates after the hit. Is that what you are referring to?
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For example the drill on looking for how much side spins are to use. You can see your cue was lining up closer to the diamond. Once you executed and follow through, the cue had left it's line.

Some people would call it a chicken wing back strokes.

I tried to explain to some of my friends that during the striking mechanism of english, the back strokes had to leave its line. This is also a reflex that the body and mind have to automatically be calibrating for. It also depends on whether it was FHE or BHE as well.

Also the amounts of Squirts and swerves as the cueball actions would have to be calibrated by the brain automatically for aiming with side spins. You have net down a very solid way to find the deflection on the shaft, the speeds that help a lot of people to learn it for sure.

For these reasons, a lot of people criticizing someone back strokes mechanics when they tried using english, greatly bother me.
Screenshot_20260216_173722_Chrome.jpgScreenshot_20260216_173607_Chrome.jpg
 
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iusedtoberich said:
I watched up to 1:30. All your example shots are from a game of 8 ball! What gives? You're in a position to change banger's mindset to play 9 ball! Get rid of that boring ass 8 ball game:)
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Eight ball is an excellent game but most folks don't how complicated it really is until they play some One Pocket. This will bring ones skill set up. Just a pool life tip...Don't gamble with old men.
 
vincett said:
For example the drill on looking for how much side spins are to use. You can see your cue was lining up closer to the diamond. Once you executed and follow through, the cue had left it's line.
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Showing an example shot where my stroke was not straight only proves that I probably did not have good stroke mechanics on this particular shot. Also, because of the oblique camera view and the fact that I use pendulum stroke, where the tip drops during the follow through, perspective effects could be making the stroke look more crooked than it actually was.
 
Tennesseejoe said:
Eight ball is an excellent game but most folks don't how complicated it really is until they play some One Pocket. This will bring ones skill set up. Just a pool life tip...Don't gamble with old men.
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One pocket is fine. 8 ball, light a fire on it! hahaha
 
gregcantrall said:
Especially if their game is 1 and 15 in the side, last pocket, 8 ball. 🤷‍♂️
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I got into strange rules on a trip through upper Arkansas and Tennessee. I thought I was getting BS'd about last pocket eight ball when I lost a game to that. I looked around and everyone was indeed playing last pocket. Other times it was obvious that they were making up rules as they went playing a stranger. It was fun catching them with their own made up rules! Even their buddies had to laugh.

I often use a touch of running english. More sidespin than that is rare. I can use it and do sometimes on a wide open table but I have seen the very best get burned too many times using sidespin in traffic. Angles and speed, more commonly called speed and angles, is by far a better solution. We usually learn spin first and seem almost like going backwards to then learn speed and angles but I don't think it is harder to learn than spin, maybe easier. Angles without side spin tend to be much more honest.

A few years back it was common as dirt to see even the best using excessive side spin and going around the table when they didn't need to. That seems a little less common now.

Many people have said they didn't need to learn english after they learned speed and angles. A bit of an exaggeration and learning cue paths is needed with either practice but once the bare bones are in place I think speed and angles are easier to work with than spin. When I go around the table so the money ball is a tap in I prove I do know spin. Most of the game I show when not to use it though.

Most people follow a certain progression. First they are happy to just make a ball. Then they discover draw and every shot is a draw shot. Then they move on to spin and use it whenever possible and as extreme as possible. Then most move on to a more delicate game, only using extreme spin when really needed.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
I got into strange rules on a trip through upper Arkansas and Tennessee. I thought I was getting BS'd about last pocket eight ball when I lost a game to that. I looked around and everyone was indeed playing last pocket. Other times it was obvious that they were making up rules as they went playing a stranger. It was fun catching them with their own made up rules! Even their buddies had to laugh.

I often use a touch of running english. More sidespin than that is rare. I can use it and do sometimes on a wide open table but I have seen the very best get burned too many times using sidespin in traffic. Angles and speed, more commonly called speed and angles, is by far a better solution. We usually learn spin first and seem almost like going backwards to then learn speed and angles but I don't think it is harder to learn than spin, maybe easier. Angles without side spin tend to be much more honest.

A few years back it was common as dirt to see even the best using excessive side spin and going around the table when they didn't need to. That seems a little less common now.

Many people have said they didn't need to learn english after they learned speed and angles. A bit of an exaggeration and learning cue paths is needed with either practice but once the bare bones are in place I think speed and angles are easier to work with than spin. When I go around the table so the money ball is a tap in I prove I do know spin. Most of the game I show when not to use it though.

Most people follow a certain progression. First they are happy to just make a ball. Then they discover draw and every shot is a draw shot. Then they move on to spin and use it whenever possible and as extreme as possible. Then most move on to a more delicate game, only using extreme spin when really needed.

Hu
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When I started playing about 15 years ago I didnt use much side spin at all, I first wanted to learn where the cue ball was going by staying on the vertical center. I did and still do use stun a lot, its pretty amazing how well you can work your way around the table using only stun, follow, and draw.
 
My afternoon session has me playing 9 ball, left vs right. A thin cut on the 9 ball brought that question. Well my choice was give it helper spin . That way if I miss it will most often be an overcurrent. It was and the result was...20260217_133122.jpg The more I practice the luckier uh Lefty gets. 🤷‍♂️
 
gregcantrall said:
My afternoon session has me playing 9 ball, left vs right. A thin cut on the 9 ball brought that question. Well my choice was give it helper spin . That way if I miss it will most often be an overcurrent. It was and the result was...View attachment 884138 The more I practice the luckier uh Lefty gets. 🤷‍♂️
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Definitely with a wood shaft, you do need some lucks which comes from using it over HAMB 😆. But English players are amazing, seeing cueball dancing around the table is most the fun of the games. Watching cueball following natural tangent lines for placements get boring
 
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