Piquet shot

predator

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Where I live, everyone refers to masse shots as "piquet". In few years of browsing various pool forums, I have never ever encountered such term to be used. Everyone seems to use "masse" to describe heavy swerve. The word "piquet" sounds french, so I wonder if the term comes from 3 cushion billiards maybe? Is anyone familiar with that term? Are "masse" and "piquet" even the same shot I wonder? Thanks.
 
Predator,

Happy Holidays!

I will try to answer as best I can about a piquet.

From what I understand, the piquet is a shot which has some qualities of a masse but with a different purpose. The masse curves the cueball while going forward, the piquet has the cueball going forward then coming back.

The piquet is a shot where you are moving the cueball forward then, without hitting anything, the cueball moves backwards. I am not very good at it but when it works, it looks really cool. I begin my attempts at the piquet by basically looking straight down at the cueball and shooting at it below center (from the straight down perspective). The cueball moves forward then, hopefully, backwards.

I know this is not the official (or best) definition of a piquet but I hope it helps somewhat.

Jerry
 
Piqué vs. Massé

predator said:
Where I live, everyone refers to masse shots as "piquet". In few years of browsing various pool forums, I have never ever encountered such term to be used. Everyone seems to use "masse" to describe heavy swerve. The word "piquet" sounds french, so I wonder if the term comes from 3 cushion billiards maybe? Is anyone familiar with that term? Are "masse" and "piquet" even the same shot I wonder? Thanks.

Piqué and massé are both French words, and they are related, but not the same. They both are extreme elevation shots with intent to put extreme spin and movement on the cueball.

The normal distinction that I've seen is that a massé shot curves. A piqué comes straight back, or nearly straight back.

Although an object ball doesn't need to be involved in the piqué shot, a lot of them will involve an object ball as a means to draw the cue ball straight back when the object ball and cueball are close. Here's the standard trick shot that involves piqué:

RSB Wei Table

The aimpoint on the cueball is seen as viewed from above with respect to the table:

START(
%AI7Z6%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%Ir4Z7%JK6M5
%KJ5P7%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%PK3Z6%WD3Z8%XH3Z5%eC4a5%_p6Z7
%`J8Z5%aJ6Z5
)END

Here's another that's really a piqué and not a massé and doesn't involve another object ball other than the ball being pocketed:

START(
%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%Ir4Z7%JK6M5%KJ5P7
%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%Pp7Z7%Yp4\9%eB4b4%_r2Y1%`q1U4%ap6Y3
)END


While this would be a massé:

START(
%Ar4Z8%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%Il9Z8%JK6M5
%KJ5P7%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%Pi9Z7%Wg9\9%eB9b2%_q2Y7%`m1W5
%aj4Y5
)END


As would this extreme massé from Kimura among others.

START(
%Ar5D8%BL7P8%CJ5O4%DL7N1%EM7P1%FK6P1%GK6N8%HM7N8%Il8U7%JK6M5
%KJ5P7%LJ5N2%MK6Q4%NJ5R0%OJ5M0%PI1I2%[G5G9%\A1B4%eB6`5%_r7G5
%`k6Z0%aJ6I9
)END

----------

Fred
 
Wow, it seems I've shot many piqué and massé shots without even realizing it! I think all shots that Fred presented via Wei table could be performed by average players like myself except one of course (that extreme massé - sick stuff...could never ever do that!).

Thanks a lot, I've learned something new...happy holidays!
 
I read a defintion of piquet (SP?) a few years ago that said any shot where the cue is held above a 45 degree angle to the table is a piquet. I cannot claim to know if the writer was correct.

Merry Christmas everyone!

-Jerry
 
I've seen the piquet used as a way of shooting from the kitchen. The shooter shot the cueball out of the kitchen hitting nothing and then it came back and made a jawed ball in the corner. The shooter claimed he followed the rule of the cueball leaving the kitchen first before striking an object ball.

Some people will do anything to win.

Jeff Livingston
 
Piquet is French for picket, meaning a stake or post driven into the ground from above using a fairly vertical motion. The piquet shot is one in which the cue ball is driven straight into the felt using a fairly vertical motion, so the term fits.
 
sjm said:
Piquet is French for picket, meaning a stake or post driven into the ground from above using a fairly vertical motion. The piquet shot is one in which the cue ball is driven straight into the felt using a fairly vertical motion, so the term fits.
Actually, the usual spelling is pique' with an accent on the e.

A pique' in Europe seems to be any shot with an elevated stick that is intended to be like draw. It is very common the balkline where the technique is used to remove speed from the object ball while keeping spin on the cue ball.

Pique' also refers to those masse' shots in which the cue ball generally comes straight back as opposed to going in a curve. For example, put an object ball in each of the foot pockets, and the cue ball in the center of the foot rail. Play a masse' to pocket one of the balls and bring the cue ball back hugging the foot rail to pocket the other ball. In Europe, I think that would be referred to as a pique'.

There have also been several discussions about this with further info in news:rec.sport.billiard. Just go to http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search and put in piquet pique as the words to search for.
 
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