Your little tips and tricks

G

grc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've always found that pool is based mainly on experience and being able to recognize common patterns
that occur in the balls and how to execute a desired shot with your ideal outcome. Having a large toolbox
of principles, tricks, etc. is, in my opinion, an essential part of the game.

Ever since I started playing, I've always asked the majority of players I shoot with "what kind of tricks do
you know that I can use in gameplay?" Some having no clue what I'm talking about and some all out showing
me the library of shots they've learned and acquired throughout their life with the game. It was through this
that I learned the simple things like the 3 rail kick and upward to what I would think are more advanced concepts.

Since the majority of this forum are high level players, I was wondering what kind of tricks have you
acquired down the road to get where you are? Not tips like practice a certain amount of time a week, etc.
But things like rail compression, uncommon but maybe useful position play, multirail kicks and banks and all
that good stuff.

And since I offered the idea, I guess I will start: A mentor once showed me his set of tricks which the
majority I've already seen. However, when he showed me this a couple months back I was super impressed.

Given the following, to make the two ball, a normal kick or a kick with reverse english wouldn't get remotely
close to the pocket. However, with sick sick draw (and maybe a bit of outside english):

draw-1.jpg


the cue ball will hit the rail and swerve at a super sharp angle. The cue ball should have a signif amount of draw
when hitting the rail. Game winner in league for me.

So, whatcha got?
 
I think the curve is backwards!

Looks to me that the cue ball would arc to that point the other way.
In other words, the curve would be a mirror image of what
you drew with the mirror being from the point on the rail that
the cue ball hits, to the two ball.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

And, thanks for posting the screenshot instead of the cuetable
notation, it allowed me to see it right away. (I'm on LINUX)
 
Wow, you mean you want to hear about good shots that are useful and not the "sickest jump shot you've ever seen"?! Awesome.

PM me with e-mail and I'll send you a couple that you could post here, if you want...I'm at work, and image hosting sites are blocked...
 
This just might be a little too elementary and hard to explain but here goes. I know that most people either probably know this or just do it without knowing but this is something to help with kicks, banks and shape to know almost exactly where the cueball is going.

You have to have a slight understanding of the kicks...for instance if I am beside the corner pocket and try to kick the ball in the side you just hit at the middle diamond with middle english and the cue ball goes to the side pocket.

Now for the big part of the tip...say for instance you are sitting at that same middle diamond and you cannot kick at the diamond one below the side pocket you can kick straight across from the middle diamond with two tips (the amount of diamonds that you need to go) of throw english and hit the side pocket.

This also helps on shape play if you know the 90 degree rule and you hit middle english and it would hit a certain place then you put one tip of middle throw english to go one diamond farther than you normally would with just hitting center ball. If you hit two tips of middle throw english then you would go two diamonds longer than you would with center ball...so on and so forth.

That just might be very confusing but I hope it helps someone.
 
wbweld0 said:
This just might be a little too elementary and hard to explain but here goes. I know that most people either probably know this or just do it without knowing but this is something to help with kicks, banks and shape to know almost exactly where the cueball is going.

You have to have a slight understanding of the kicks...for instance if I am beside the corner pocket and try to kick the ball in the side you just hit at the middle diamond with middle english and the cue ball goes to the side pocket.

Now for the big part of the tip...say for instance you are sitting at that same middle diamond and you cannot kick at the diamond one below the side pocket you can kick straight across from the middle diamond with two tips (the amount of diamonds that you need to go) of throw english and hit the side pocket.

This also helps on shape play if you know the 90 degree rule and you hit middle english and it would hit a certain place then you put one tip of middle throw english to go one diamond farther than you normally would with just hitting center ball. If you hit two tips of middle throw english then you would go two diamonds longer than you would with center ball...so on and so forth.

That just might be very confusing but I hope it helps someone.
Click to expand...


Although you mean well, and you sort of know what you're talking about, the terminology is incorrect. I believe what you mean when you say "middle english" is center ball, with NO sidespin. To me middle english would be 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock on the CB...which would bring the CB long or short, if kicking from the corner to the side pockets. The 4-2 kick requires no sidespin...just the right speed with topspin/follow.

As far as the original poster's thoughts...only topspin/follow and bottom/draw make the CB curve. Sidespin/english has no effect on the tangent line (unless top or bottom are added to the sidespin), until the CB hits a rail.

Secondly, there is no such thing as "throw english". You have running english, and reverse, or check english. Usually when teaching sidespin, I use right and left, to indicate what sidespin to use. It is much less confusing to the student, and it correctly identifies what to do in specific situations. The student can then see what happens if they shoot the wrong side english, on the same shot.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
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wbweld0 said:
That just might be very confusing but I hope it helps someone.
Click to expand...

Great tip. I wrote an article on the same principles that broke it down and made it a little more universal, but everyone on here directed me to a bunch of retarded 3-rail kicking tutorials.. There is no substitute for what you are describing, you have to gauge those kicks with english because you will need them sometimes...and they certainly do help predict position paths when using the rails.


Here's a little position tip, just to stay on topic...

There is a time to play balls in the side, but the majority of the time using the side pockets will get you out of shape. It is very difficult to play the pin-point position required to play most side pocket shots. :)
 
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There is a time to play balls in the side, but the majority of the time using the side pockets will get you out of shape. It is very difficult to play the pin-point position required to play most side pocket shots.
Click to expand...

Seymore...with all respect due stangers on a message board I have to disagree.
Or to put it another way...What the hell??

Perhaps I'm lost on your point (thinking I must be) can you expand on the quote a bit?
 
Thunderball said:
Seymore...with all respect due stangers on a message board I have to disagree.
Or to put it another way...What the hell??

Perhaps I'm lost on your point (thinking I must be) can you expand on the quote a bit?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I worded that retarded. What I mean is that a common mistake I see by even the regulars down the local hall is that they will play position on a ball for the side pocket, expecting that they can get straight in and play a stop shot or close to a stop shot to get on the next ball. More often than not they do not get straight in on the ball in the side, and they are hosed. When you have an angle into the side, that is a little different because you can hold the cue ball or send it straight accross the table and back...
 
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Great Tip Seymore. Your posts are informative...

My tip/observation is an extension of the grc's post. If you imagine the 2 ball about 1 diamond away from the pocket up the head rail and less than a ball off the rail, and if you imagine the cue ball not so frozen to the 1, then instead of hitting this shot with no english or running english, I play the shot with draw. (similar to what grc described, but not necessarily as much extreme draw.) I think because the cue comes in at a shallower angle, you have a better chance of pocketing/hitting the ball.

Similarly, if the cue ball is where the 2 ball is in the diagram, and you're trying to hit the 5, you can play to the right of the side pocket using follow, come in shallow and go 1 (or 2) more rails to hit the 5. I've seen some ppl use left english for a similar effect, but since the running english continues to the second rail, the cue ball increases it's angle going into the third rail and isn't coming in as shallow, so I don't think it's as good of a shot.
 
Scott Lee said:
Although you mean well, and you sort of know what you're talking about, the terminology is incorrect. I believe what you mean when you say "middle english" is center ball, with NO sidespin. To me middle english would be 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock on the CB...which would bring the CB long or short, if kicking from the corner to the side pockets. The 4-2 kick requires no sidespin...just the right speed with topspin/follow.

As far as the original poster's thoughts...only topspin/follow and bottom/draw make the CB curve. Sidespin/english has no effect on the tangent line (unless top or bottom are added to the sidespin), until the CB hits a rail.

Secondly, there is no such thing as "throw english". You have running english, and reverse, or check english. Usually when teaching sidespin, I use right and left, to indicate what sidespin to use. It is much less confusing to the student, and it correctly identifies what to do in specific situations. The student can then see what happens if they shoot the wrong side english, on the same shot.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

Yeah...thanks for clearing that up. That is why I wrote that it would probably be hard to understand and come off a little hard to read. I am an Electrical Engineer by career and definitely no english major. Yes...I mean center ball for middle english. Scott is correct on all assumptions on what I was saying. I know what I am talking about but very hard to put into a thread...for me.
 
I'd like to see this thread keep going, so here goes another tip!

Do you ever play a ball that is hung thin to go off of the short rail for position on the other short rail? Have you played it with high? Have you found that the harder you hit this shot, the more often the cue ball dies about one diamond from the shot?

It's the high. It works against you in this case because you are cutting the hung ball so thin... Play it center or even a little low and watch how easy you can cut this ball and get all of the way up table. It's effortless, you have to learn not to fight the table for position.
 
seymore15074 said:
I wrote an article on the same principles that broke it down and made it a little more universal, but everyone on here directed me to a bunch of retarded 3-rail kicking tutorials..
Click to expand...

The readers here should judge DeadAims Kicking Academy for themselves. IMO they are far from 'retarded'. And I suggested you get Freddys book, Banking with the Beard, mainly because it shows methods of using spin to compensate for the inaccuracies of "angle-in = angle-out" , something you appreciate if I read your post correctly.

Here's one that has helped me ... When shooting balls in the jaws of the corner pockets, there is a lot more rail available than one thinks, try shooting a normal shot (like the ball is a bit farther away from the pocket). The ball has to be very deep in the jaws before 'normal' shots won't work because of the points or facings. Thanks to my friend Steph for that one.

Dave
 
when hitting crossing banks if the view from cb into the opposing pocket is unobstructed the double kiss is not on......now if you can understand that it would make me laugh.....hehehe
 
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cheesemouse said:
when hitting crossing banks if the view from cb into the opposing pocket is unobstructed the double kiss is not on......now if you can understand that it would make me laugh.....hehehe
Click to expand...

That's the same way I judge those...lol
 
DaveK said:
The readers here should judge DeadAims Kicking Academy for themselves. IMO they are far from 'retarded'. And I suggested you get Freddys book, Banking with the Beard, mainly because it shows methods of using spin to compensate for the inaccuracies of "angle-in = angle-out" , something you appreciate if I read your post correctly.
Click to expand...

IMO the 3-rail diamond system is a waste of brain power. I could see this information being useful for playing billiards or something like that... It's just too much information for anyone to put into practice. You can kick like a god without knowing it...that's just the way it is.

Here you go, 3-railer to the corner: flip the middle diamond on the short rail out beside the table (as if it were a 6th diamond off of the short rail) and hit it with running english; hello corner pocket... Easy to remember, nothing complicated... This won't cover all of the kicks that reading a dozen pages of material will cover, but at least you can remember this..
 
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seymore15074 said:
This won't cover all of the kicks that reading a dozen pages of material will cover, but at least you can remember this..
Click to expand...

I have no difficulty remembering and recalling the systems after learning them, but can see how they might intimidate some though.

Dave, waiting patiently for the reprinting of Mr. 100
 
DaveK said:
I have no difficulty remembering and recalling the systems after learning them, but can see how they might intimidate some though.

Dave, waiting patiently for the reprinting of Mr. 100
Click to expand...

I've never had a problem remembering the systems either, once I've spent the very short time required to learn it they're mine for ever. Saying they are a waste of "brain power" is just an excuse for being to lazy to learn a usefull tool.

These systems have helped me escape traps more than enough times to make learning them worth it.
 
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