Kick Safeties

Louis Ulrich

Louis Ulrich

New member
I spend a lot of time practicing getting out of trouble situations that I might find myself in. One thing that I have found is when you are hooked, you should try to make the best of the situation. Many players, however, when put in a bad spot, will pull out the high velocity "kick and hope" shot. This method seldom works and it really does nothing for advancing your skills. In addition, it usually results in a sell out.

Situations similar to the one I have below seem to occur frequently. If you set this one up and try it a few times, you may see that it is not very difficult to execute.

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Safe if missed

Here's another one. As nice as it would be to just kick the one ball in and pull shape on the two, it's still a tough shot and it's good to have a back up plan if you miss. The trick to this shot is to aim to cut the one ball into the left side of the pocket. This will keep the one ball at that end of the table if missed. The results will vary depending on where you contact the one ball but it should work out in your favor most of the time.

I use right english on this shot.


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Welcome to the boards!! Nice kick safe ideas. Do you suffer doubt when pocketing balls or do you shoot with complete confidence? Just wondering what the mentality of an upper echolon player is. Thanks in advance. Congrats on the Turning Stone finish
 
ledrums said:
Welcome to the boards!! Nice kick safe ideas. Do you suffer doubt when pocketing balls or do you shoot with complete confidence? Just wondering what the mentality of an upper echolon player is. Thanks in advance. Congrats on the Turning Stone finish
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I like this question a lot because complete confidence is something that I have been working to achieve. Most of the time I am confident but there are times that I just don't see things as clearly as I would like. What I have been doing to help increase my confidence is to keep a regular practice regimen of all the routine shots. Plus, if I find a shot that I am weak at, I will practice it until it becomes a strength in my game.

Another way to improve on confidence is to get out there and compete. The more matches that you win, the more confident you will become. My confidence level has come up dramatically within the last six months and I contribute it to a couple of tournament wins and several high finishes.

I hope this helps. Thank you for your question and please feel free to post any other questions or shot scenarios.

Louis
 
Here's a tricky one I thought I'd share:

In the first diagram, I am kicking at the 2 ball at an "unnatural" angle instead of using a "natural angle". The reason is because if I use the natural angle to kick at the 2, and don't pocket it, the cue ball and the 2 will probably end up in the same area, leaving my opponent a shot [diagram 2].

By using english and taking a wide angle at the 2 ball, I have increased my chances of getting good separation of the balls and may get "lucky" and hook my opponent in return.



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Louis

This one I saw Nick Varner do in match against Buddy Hall. Buddy left Nick a piece of the rail, and like the true champion that Nick is - he did this...

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I remember the look on Buddy's face when he got up from his chair... he was pretty miffed... mostly at himself for allowing Nick to see a piece of the ball... This is what Buddy had...

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Buddy looked at it for about a minute or so, bent down and answered with this...

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lol...

when Nick cae back to the table, he looked it over as everybody was still applauding Buddy's response. Nick just said, "Nice shot, Buddy. Nice shot."

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OUCH!!!

Nick was unable to hit the 3 ball from where Buddy locked him up, and Buddy took ball in hand and ran out.

This was by far one of the best kick safety exchanges I had ever seen - and by two American players, not Filippinos.

Great topic, congratulations on all of your recent success - I am glad that all of that hard work is paying for you!
 
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Thanks Blackjack for adding that. That must have been a great thing to see!

Seeing great safety battles like that really open your eyes to what can be done. It's even better when it comes from two great players like Nick and Buddy.

Louis
 
Thanks!

Louis and Blackjack,

Thanks for the posts and keep 'em coming. Is there any system you use for measuring the shots?

When you're practicing, are you setting up the tables as shown, or just picking a particular side the ball to hit as an objective?

Thanks and welcome aboard Louis!
 
42NateBaller said:
Louis and Blackjack,

Thanks for the posts and keep 'em coming. Is there any system you use for measuring the shots?

When you're practicing, are you setting up the tables as shown, or just picking a particular side the ball to hit as an objective?

Thanks and welcome aboard Louis!
Click to expand...

When learning to kick, I played around with the mirror system and the diamond system. Today, I prefer to visualize my kick shots without using a system but it never hurts to have a system to go to if you need some reassurance on what you think is going to happen.

As far as practicing, I set up various kicks and shoot them over and over. After awhile, you will start to see them well enough to hit one side of the ball or the other.

As with any rail shots, different tables and conditions will affect accuracy so you may have to make adjustments for unfamiliar equipment.

Thanks for posting!

Louis
 
Hi Louis,

I do really appreciate your post # 5. This kind of subtleties are very important to learn.
I will often come here to take a look at your posts.

Thanks for your posts. Oh yes... and welcome!
 
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