Rail-first shots

Wheeljack

Wheeljack

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My question is how far out from the rail can an object ball be for a rail first shot to still be effective? Here's why I ask...

So, I'm playing my league match last night (APA 9Ball) and my opponent left me hooked on the 4 ball. The 4 ball was about 5-6 inches from the pocket and about 4 inches from the rail. I decided to try a rail first shot to pocket the ball and it worked!

Now, I do rail first shots with pretty good results but I had never tried one before if the ball was more than about 2 inches from the rail. Any other time I would have kicked at it and try to get a good leave, but I only needed one point to win and my opponent needed many (about 20) points so it would not have been the end of the world if I missed.

When I was shooting the shot all my mind was telling me was 'this ball ain't going to go!', but I ignored that thought and put trust in what I thought to be an 'absolute' rule in pool as long as I hit the shot correctly.

Thanks for reading-

J.
 
You can do anything kicking that you can do by shooting straight at the ball. Except not hit a rail!

Going rail first on a ball sure does get harder, the farther an OB is from the rail.

Wheeljack said:
My question is how far out from the rail can an object ball be for a rail first shot to still be effective? Here's why I ask...

So, I'm playing my league match last night (APA 9Ball) and my opponent left me hooked on the 4 ball. The 4 ball was about 5-6 inches from the pocket and about 4 inches from the rail. I decided to try a rail first shot to pocket the ball and it worked!

Now, I do rail first shots with pretty good results but I had never tried one before if the ball was more than about 2 inches from the rail. Any other time I would have kicked at it and try to get a good leave, but I only needed one point to win and my opponent needed many (about 20) points so it would not have been the end of the world if I missed.

When I was shooting the shot all my mind was telling me was 'this ball ain't going to go!', but I ignored that thought and put trust in what I thought to be an 'absolute' rule in pool as long as I hit the shot correctly.

Thanks for reading-

J.
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Wheeljack, it really depends on how far you are from the object ball. At 5 inches from the rail you must have been pretty far down table with the cue. Good shot. Somebody probably has scientific way to express it but coming of the rail is like any other back cut.

Let's think about it. A line tangent to the CB on the edge of the CB cutting the OB cannot be more than 90 degrees to a line through the center of the OB and middle of target.( All other things being equal) The closer you are to the OB with the CB the harder that is to achieve. ( The thinner the cut has to be.)

I have gone through this only to confuse both you and me. It's no more than a back cut of the rail. You gotta eyeball it. Still a good shot! Practice, Practice. Test the limits for yourself.
 
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Off the rail shots

Through much trial and error you will become accustom to which "off the rail shots" have a higher degree of makeability & cue ball control, I'd say anything greater than 2 inches off the rail your chances of success and cue ball control diminish greatly.


David Harcrow
 
Many on here have touched on the variables, but none have covered all of them. First , how far up the rail is the Object ball away from the pocket. The more distance to the pocket the more accurately the kick has to be hit and the difficulty goes up. I feel that any OB that is within a half diamond away from the rail can be kicked in as long as you have a shallow angled kick. The next variable is what is the angle in versus angle out, the sharper the angle the harder the kick because of a thinner cut must be made on the OB. The last variable is position. Learning one rail kicks with follow and draw and at diffrents speeds with diffrent english produces diffrent position. With each change you make on the cue ball you now have to aim the kick diffrently. I have gotten out of some jams with a rail first kick with draw and running english with speed to get back up table if going forward is not an option.
 
I was taught, some time ago, to imagine that the ball to be hit was as far on the other side of the cushion as it is on this side (mirror method). Then if you could pocket the mirrored ball, from wherever the cue ball is, the shot is makable. This system seems to work for me.

Just my $0.02.
 
...the sharper the angle the harder the kick because of a thinner cut must be made on the OB.
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I think this is the most important limiting factor. Just like with any other shot, a thinner cut means a smaller target (and if you miss you're more likely to miss the whole ball), and even a full hit farther from the rail is harder to aim.

If you keep the angle shallow and keep in mind Bob Jewett's information (angle in usually does not equal angle out), you can get pretty good at rail-first shots.

pj
chgo
 
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8ball48043: Yes, that is what I was taught. I never had a name for it, but 'mirror system' makes sense :) It's a good system, for me, although I only use high outside english for it. I've never practiced the shot using anything else if I'm actually trying to pocket the ball and not just make contact.

To everyone else: Thanks for the input and the links!

J.
 
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