Basic banks and kicks

S

satman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Let me start this thread by saying this system is a lot easier with pictures or a pool table. The easiest system to teach beginners and intermediate players in my opinion is the invisible table. On a simple cross side bank you imagine another table butted up to the rail you're banking into, then aim the object ball into the side pocket farthest from you. The aiming point will be the same from any location of the object ball. Keep in mind, side english and top or draw english will affect the angle of the shot. Inside or top spin will shorten the angle while outside or draw will make the angle lengthen.
The same system can be used for kicks. Imagine another table butted up to your table and picture the ball you're kicking at the exact same distance from the rail, straight out on the other table. This gives your reference point to contact the rail. If an object ball or pocket is in the way, you can adjust the angle and use the appropriate english to shorten or lengthen the angle.

It takes only a few minutes to get a start to this system. Ask around where you play and see if any other players are familiar with this. If not, Drop me a PM and when I get the diagrams for it I'll mail you some. I showed this to a couple of friends in Chicago who are both higher than average caliber players and they had been shown something similar by picking out a point on an object or the wall and aiming at it. They had made the comment that they had both been having some trouble lining up banks. They both agreed this system would get them the reference point they needed.

Hopefully this will help get you started to making a higher percentage of your banks and kicks. 2 rules apply to using this system.
1. You are not allowed to beat me in any tournments by banking or kicking any balls.
2. You must send me 10% of all money won for life.
Just kidding, Sam
 
Since this is coming from a "Bank Pool Champion", I will take note!!! :)

Definately good advice for anyone struggling with banking concepts.
 
I teach both methods mentioned by CaptainJR. Equal in= equal out, also referred to double the distance method. I actually built a bracket to hold a mirror while setting on the rail (out of the way of the balls contacting the rail) and you can use a mirror image to train the eye to see the angles.

Zim
 
I teach both methods mentioned by CaptainJR. Equal in= equal out, also referred to double the distance method. I actually built a bracket to hold a mirror while setting on the rail (out of the way of the balls contacting the rail) and you can use a mirror image to train the eye to see the angles.

Zim
 
Thanks for links Captain. Those will make this a lot easier to understand. Hope it helps some of our people out. Sam
 
CaptainJR said:
invisible table pic ...
Click to expand...
That gives a general idea, but it's not accurate enough for the student to get the target where it has to be to acually make the shot by the system. The reflecting line has to be at the rail groove. Hawley's has a product out that you can set up as the reflected target called the Bank Perfector but I find a ball on a bar stool works OK.

For those who have access to Billiards Digest, from May through September I did four columns on kicking and banking. One of the things covered was the myth that it is the speed of the banked ball that makes it bank shorter for harder shots. In fact, on some tables and under some conditions, more speed makes the ball bank significantly longer.

One of the things that you learn if you set up a mirror-system practice is that it is a lousy system most of the time. There is a similar system that puts the mirror target closer to the table that does work pretty well as long as the ball is not rolling when it hits the cushion.
 
RichardCranium said:
...
I personally have a hard time picking the spot on the mirror image....I "can't never" seem to get the distance right....
Click to expand...
If you're just practicing, set up a mirror target. Put a ball in the jaws of the pocket you're going to. Put a ball in the jaws of the pocket on the cushion you're banking on. Put a ball in line with those two, and at the same distance from the second ball as the first ball is. That is your One True Mirror Target.

Each of the "balls in the jaws" should be at the common point of balls that are run down the adjacent cushions, which is to say at the intersections of the rail grooves.

If you're in a game, I suppose you could get your opponent to stand with his belt buckle in the right place.

I think the system you mentioned is in Mosconi's book, "Winning Pocket Billiards," but I don't believe that Mosconi ever used that system. It will tend to bank the ball short.
 
satman said:
2 rules apply to using this system.
1. You are not allowed to beat me in any tournments by banking or kicking any balls.
2. You must send me 10% of all money won for life.
Sam
Click to expand...

Please find attached your fee (10% of my winnings - currently at $0). Now, are you covering 10% of my losses???
 
Any ideas on backward banks? In one pocket for example, you have to bank a ball back to the corner and it's above the other corner so using the other table method wouldn't work here. I use the line from my cue coming out of the corner pocket I want it to go to and aim for the upper edge of the ob. It seems to work for me and kind of works like a mirror image except the mirror angle comes from the pocket you're banking to.
 
> In one pocket for example, you have to bank a ball back to the corner and it's above the
> other corner so using the other table method wouldn't work here.

The mirror image will still work as well as ever, but you have to correct for the hold-up that the collision-induced throw will put on the object ball. Try placing the target ball as I explained before but only put it out at 70% of the normal distance. If your table and balls are dirty, use even less than 70%.

> I use the line from my cue coming out of the corner pocket I want it to go to and
> aim for the upper edge of the ob. It seems to work for me and kind of works like
> a mirror image except the mirror angle comes from the pocket you're banking to.

To the extent that I understand this, it can't work for a very wide range of shots. That's geometrically. If your system mostly just draws your attention to how the balls are sitting within an organized framework, then it may well work for you even though the geometry is wrong.
 
Bob, I'm sure you're right. Some my success with this shot could be attributed largely to feel because I do use considerable english as well. I don't use inside english, I use outside, the further up-table the more english I use. Unlike bank pool, at least what I watched of last year's DCC tournament, I finesse the ball in because I don't want to hit the ob so hard that it rolls to the other side of the table if I go short.
 
This may be very confusing without any drawings, but here goes. I'm sure everyone here is aware of the fact that pool tables are twice as long as they are wide. And I hope everyone knows that this fact can be used when calculating kick and bank shots. If you place a cb at the left corner of the table, and you aim at the middle of the table (basically just barely to the left of the side pocket), you will make the cb in the right corner pocket. What people might not know, is that for every 1 diamond to the right you move the cb, you can simply aim 1/2 diamond to the right of where you first aimed. What you are doing, in effect, is always aiming at the middle of the table. Confused? I'm sure someone else can explain it better. I discovered this while playing around on my table last year, and it's very accurate. It also takes very little time to calculate, so you can actually use it while playing a game. Most of the systems I've read about in books or seen on video are much too involved to actually use while playing. Hope this helps someone.
 
I don't know how I do it (Drive...no comment needed here, please), but I look at the bank/kick from the shooting side first and THEN walk over to the pocket/target side. There, I lay my cuestick on/above the pocket/target pointing it at the spot on the rail that needs to be hit for success.

I don't really know how I find that spot, but from the pocket/target side, it just seems to jump up and slap me and makes it soooo obvious. When back in my stance, if I second guess this "backward" look, I always miss; if I trust my look/see, I'll usually make it. Weird, I know, but effective.

This works surprisingly well for me, it might work for you, too.

Jeff Livingston
 
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