Center Pocket Every Time?

Texas Prez

Texas Prez

Hook'em...Enough Said
Silver Member
I understand the rule of thumb to aim for the center of the pocket for most shots.

In what situations would you not aim for the dead center of the pocket?

And in those situations where would you aim and how would you execute those shots?
 
well the better players dont always aim center pocket as you said. they call this cheating the pocket. by playing the ball to one side of the pocket it allows you to achieve angles that may not ness be there. with a 4''+ pocket and a 2'' ball there is alot of room for error.

say if a ball it taking up half the pocket and i dont want to move it ill play to the rail and in.

guess it depends on the table model. gc2or 3 are as deep as 4's or diamonds so theres a little more room.
 
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Good point...but what I want to get at is if there are certain shots where you have a higher probability of potting a ball by placing it somewhere other than in the center of the pocket.
 
Texas Prez said:
I understand the rule of thumb to aim for the center of the pocket for most shots.

In what situations would you not aim for the dead center of the pocket?

And in those situations where would you aim and how would you execute those shots?
Click to expand...

I guess I almost never aim to the center of the pocket.

Fred
 
Texas Prez said:
Good point...but what I want to get at is if there are certain shots where you have a higher probability of potting a ball by placing it somewhere other than in the center of the pocket.
Click to expand...

At my home social club, the tough tables actually give a higher percentage of pocketing if you hit near the point of the corner pocket rather than the face of the pocket.

And yes, there is definitely something wrong with this tables.

Fred
 
An example you can practice any time is to set the cue ball in the exact center of the table, then line up a straight in shot into the side pocket (set the object ball maybe a foot or so from the cue ball).

If your next shot is on the right side of the table, you can cut the object ball slightly to the left instead of hitting it dead into the center of the pocket. This will send the cue ball towards the right half of the table to make that next shot easier. If your next shot was on the left half, you'd cut the object ball a little bit towards the right.

How to execute it - exactly the same way you'd execute a normal shot. You just aim to hit the ball a little differently.

It's a super valuable skill, and by learning to do it you also learn to build enough accuracy to not only make balls, but to make them hit one side of the pocket or the other. With that kind of accuracy you'll be a great shotmaker and will have an easier time on tables with smaller, tighter pockets. On those pockets it's harder to cheat the pocket, so it becomes more important to give yourself an angle where cheating would not be necessary... the cue ball will naturally travel in the direction you want.

edit: I guess I understand your question a little better now.

The closer a ball is to a rail, the less likely it is that it can hit the dead center of the pocket (because the rail itself obstructs the shot). Here's a classic situation that comes up all the time. A lot of players find this shot counter-intuitive. In the example below, it makes more sense to cut the ball into the corner than into the side. You might think "but it's a sharper cut into the corner, and the corner is usually a bit smaller than the side pocket, and it's also further away... why would I cut it into the corner?!"

Normally sharper and longer cuts are a bad thing. But in this case it's the easier shot. That's because you can't aim towards the center of the pocket in the side, it's blocked by the rail (which I darkened up to illustrate). Your margin for error is tiny, you barely can fit the ball into the 'shootable area' from this angle, and if the angle were much steeper it'd be literally impossible. But the center of the pocket IS accessible for the corner, and no rail blocks you, so the corner is a much wider target area. It makes for a target that's literally twice as wide.

largerpocket.jpg
 
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play the shots as the come. thats the great thing about pool. no two racks are EXACTLY the same

not an easy question to answer
 
Many things would cause me to not aim at center... Finish too straight, cuts and adjusting for kicks, playing off rail behind balls and sometimes straight in shots. I will play these to the left or right of pocket and spin ball in. Most of time I try making the ball clean. Pocket weight will make up for not hitting the pocket center.
 
If you shoot a stun shot, the path of the cue ball is 90 degrees to the direction of the object ball.

Therefore, where you aim the object ball to hit the pocket determines the path of the cue ball.
 
I aim to the sides of pockets all the time, and sometimes you have to aim to miss the pocket because of amount of english being applied to whitey.

Other times you'd not aim for center is to better achieve position on your next shot. There is no such thing as being left straight in. You can always create an angle.
 
Texas Prez said:
Good point...but what I want to get at is if there are certain shots where you have a higher probability of potting a ball by placing it somewhere other than in the center of the pocket.
Click to expand...

When cutting this ball:

CueTable Help



Ball A and ball B aren't actually on the table; they're just there as reference points.

So if you overcut the 9 by some amount and hit it towards A, you miss. If you undercut the 9 by the same amount and hit it towards B, you can still make it, depending on how hard you shoot it and how the pockets are set up. So in this case, I don't aim for the center of the pocket, I aim somewhere between the center of the pocket and B. What I'm aiming at is the center of the range of angles where the ball will go in the hole. This shot is one case where the center of that range is not the same as the center of the pocket.

-Andrew
 
Texas Prez said:
I understand the rule of thumb to aim for the center of the pocket for most shots.

In what situations would you not aim for the dead center of the pocket?

And in those situations where would you aim and how would you execute those shots?
Click to expand...

It's mostly about: how do I want to move the cue ball? and what speed is optimal to pocket this ball?

If all I am doing is pocketing the ball, then I am usually at the center.

Someone else before me here, has an illustration of down the rail type shots, in these, you do not even have "center-pocket" as an option. In these shots, speed of the ball is of the utmost importance to keep you make % high.
 
CrownCityCorey said:
In these shots, speed of the ball is of the utmost importance to keep you make % high.
Click to expand...
On my Diamond Pro Am w/pro cut pockets, I'm aiming this shot at the pocket facing of the short rail.

If I hit my mark the speed won't matter... it can be blasted in.
 
Has this been mentioned?

When cutting the ball (particularly with stun and a small cut), I'll aim offcenter to compensate for throw.

pj
chgo
 
Texas Prez said:
I understand the rule of thumb to aim for the center of the pocket for most shots.

I always aim for the center when I want to clinch a ball.

In what situations would you not aim for the dead center of the pocket?

When I am playing a safe is one situation.

The other is when I need to get the CB in a certain area or if I don't have a whole pocket to shoot at.

And in those situations where would you aim and how would you execute those shots?
Click to expand...

I aim at the spot that I need to get the results that I want
 
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