I keep old socks and place them in each of the six pockets. It accomplishes two things.Firstly it dampens the noise when the balls sink. Second it absorbs some of the chalk dust and every so often I’ll wipe a ball down when taking it out of the pocket. When I brush the table I brush the debris into the pockets. I take out the socks...into the washing machine and replace. I‘ve also done the same with paper towels minus the washing.
Re the topic. Anyone know of a YouTube video compilation of obvious kick shots? At times I’m not as savy as many on what constitutes a kick. Snooker commentators claim to ‘hear’ it but my ears aren’t as in tune.
If you watch the video you posted you'll notice in every example the OB hops after contact. This is a kick. A skid in literal terms is what happens every time you play a shot center ball. What "roll" the OB picks up is due to friction with the cloth. Not sure why a kick in snooker (hop) would be referred to as a skid in American pool.
In my limited mental capacity I consider a kick constituting a vertical "pop". A skid only having a horizontal negative component. I personally never refer to anything "skidding", and opt to use only kick.
In either case the cause is some material, chalk, hair, dirt managing to interfere with direct CB to OB contact
So when Harriman said he got a kick what exactly did he mean?