Learning from Experience

ONE-POCKET

26. In any game requiring you to re-break clusters - that's one-pocket, 8-ball, and 14.1 - and especially if your break ball lies close to the clustered balls, extreme sidespin (3 o'clock or 9 o'clock on the CB) will act as a stop shot, even on thin cuts. It's basic physics: A sphere revolving more around its vertical axis than its horizontal one cannot move very far against a mass several times its own weight.

27. Splitting the first two balls in the rack with inside spin usually produces a good break. But the best breaks occur when you take less of the head ball and more of the second one. Remember, though, that you must contact the head ball to some degree, otherwise you'll go through the balls rather than off them. And that can't be good.

28. A common end-game situation sees two balls spotted in tandem and ball-in-hand for the shooter. We've all seen the power-draw shot that forces the head ball "through" the second ball and toward the desired pocket (Fig. 28) - but too many players choose it incorrectly. The only proper time for that shot is when you need more than one ball. If you're in the one-hole, that shot figures to put both balls in play for your opponent, when you didn't have to give him any. Don't do that.

29. A far better solution to the same setup: Play a medium-speed safety off half the top ball with inside spin (Fig. 29). Both balls go to your side where they can't be banked; the cue ball sits on the bottom rail like a lox.

30. Especially on shots where you're "moving" rather than attempting to score, put your entire focus into the cue ball. If you get it where you intended to, the object balls tend to take care of themselves.

... AND A BONUS

The proper tension for your grip hand is the lightest possible amount with which you can still control the cue (some players literally hurl the stick into the shot). The proper speed is the softest possible speed that will still accomplish all your cue-ball objectives for the shot beyond merely pocketing the ball. And the correct shot to select is the easiest which is still productive to your longer-range plans.

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