Bob Jewett

Making Contact

How to effectively play a ball frozen to the rail.

For a beginner, one of the hardest rules
to understand is the requirement to contact
a rail. Stated briefly:
No-Rail Foul: On a shot that does not
pocket a ball, some ball must be driven to a
rail after the cue ball contacts an object
ball, or the shot is foul.
The main reason to have this rule is to
avoid repetitive simple safeties. At 14.1 or
one-pocket, you can imagine the players
repeatedly rolling the cue ball up to the
nearly solid rack.
At 8-ball and 9-ball, the chance for a fullrack stalemate is less likely, but consider the
positions in Diagram 1, which could be from
either game. In situation A, if no rail were
required, the players could shoot softly to
just touch the object ball. With a rail
required, a more difficult shot would be
needed perhaps skimming the object ball
and spinning the cue ball to the far end rail
and it is likely to leave something for the
opponent.
In situation B, which was covered here in
October 1997, it is easy to get a rail contact.
In 14.1 (and apparently no other game),
another rule comes into play: when the
object ball is within a ball of the cushion,
each player is allowed two simple safes on
it, after which the object ball is considered
frozen to the rail.
This brings us to another wrinkle, shot C.
When the object ball is frozen to the rail,
driving it deeper into the rail doesn't count
as a cushion contact. Otherwise, the position might well result in a stalemate. One
simple way to state this requirement is: A
ball is driven to a rail if it is not touching a
rail and then touches a rail.
This definition, along with the rule above
and the "two shots and it's frozen" rule,
covers the problem fairly well. There are a
few situations that would not be fouls
according to the above, yet are still fouls by
the present wording of the rules.
In Diagram 2, suppose the object ball is
frozen and you try to shoot it straight into the
corner. Unfortunately, the far corner of the
side pocket is sticking out, and the object ball
hits it and rolls out to the center of the table.
Foul. Under the current rules, you do not get
credit for the object ball contacting the rail it
starts frozen to unless it leaves the rail, hits a
ball, and then returns to that rail, which
includes both side cushion selections.
In shot B, the object ball is frozen to the
BD -JANUARY 1999

corner of the side pocket. You hit it too full,

and it rattles between the side pocket jaws
and doesn't drop. Foul. Since the object
ball started frozen to the rail, you again get
no credit for contact on that rail even
though the ball clearly leaves the rail
between contacts. It's not clear what the
call should be if you try to force the object
ball through the corner of the pocket and it
hits the bottom of the pocket and then
rebounds onto the table. Probably a foul.
A little more unusual is shot C, where
both balls are frozen to the rail and to each
other. Suppose you shoot a thin shot with
masse to bring the cue out and back to the
same cushion. As long as the cue ball gets
back to the cushion, the shot is OK, even if
the object ball doesn't reach the pocket.

Should A and B be fouls? Clearly the

object ball is driven to a cushion on each. Is
there any danger of a repetitive safety? Very
unlikely. The rule would certainly be simplified by the wording above.
Those who play snooker know that no rail
contact is required at that game. How are
stalemates avoided? Part of it is that most norail safeties are rolled softly up to balls that
the opponent is not allowed to hit on his next
shot (the colors while reds are left). When it's
down to just the colors, the larger table
makes playing a shot that separates the cue
and object balls the winning strategy.
Knowing what the rules are can often get
you ball-in-hand. Remember, though: a
frozen ball must be so declared before the
shot, or it is not considered frozen.

TECHTALK

Bob Jewett

More Spin, Less Speed

Know the ratio to get the cue ball to behave.

Do y o u e v e r find yourself wondering whether you

can get the cue ball to take a
certain path? Usually the
question is whether you can
get enough spin on the cue
ball, or, more precisely,
whether you can get a lot of
spin for a given speed ie.,
can you achieve a high
spin/speed ratio?
Two example shots are
shown in Diagram 1. To
provide motivation, the goal
in each is to pocket an
object ball and also pocket
the 9 with the cue ball. The
side-spin shot is about a half
ball cut. Follow will help a
little, but the angle off the
rail is mostly determined by
how much side spin you can
get.
Just side-spin is not
enough, though. Suppose
you shot very hard and just
a little off center. There
will be a lot of RPMs on
the cue ball, but the high
speed into the rail will
make the cue ball rebound
relatively straight across
the table. Instead, you need
to move the tip as far to the
side as possible without
entering miscue territory.
This increases the amount
of side-spin relative to the
forward speed, and when
the ball strikes the rail, the
spin has a chance to dominate. When you try the
shot, use just enough speed
to pocket the 9, and gradually make the cut harder
until the cue ball will not
take the right path even with maximum
side.
In the draw shot, the goal is also to make
the 9 with a carom. The problem with too
much speed on the cue ball is obvious
the cue ball will not have time to draw
back. What's needed again is a lot of spin
(back-spin in this case) relative to the speed
of the cue ball. This shot gets a nice hook
on the cue ball that startles novice specta18 | B D - FEBRUARY 1999

tors. When you practice this shot, gradually move the cue ball to a thinner cut while
lowering your hit on the cue ball.
Remember to shoot just hard enough to get
to the 9.
In both these examples, speed hurts rather
than helps. What you want is lots of spin
but not much speed a high spin/speed
ratio. Hans de Jager, the former European
champion of Artistic Billiards, refers to this

as the "quality" of the shot. What does it

take to have a "quality" stroke? How can
you measure this "quality"?
According to a simple physical analysis,
"quality" is determined by how far from
center you hit the cue ball. The more
eccentric the hit, the more "lever arm" you
have to turn the ball. This analysis also predicts that if you hit the ball 11.43 millimeters above center, the cue ball will start with

Bob Jewett
exactly enough follow to roll smoothly on
the cloth. Let's call this a spin/speed ratio
of 1. Is it possible to get more "quality"
than this in a shot?
In Advanced Technique in Pool and
Billiards (page 42), Robert Byrne describes
an experiment to test this for follow. It
compares a "best" follow shot with a
smoothly rolling cue ball to see whether
"overspin" can be put on the cue ball. You
should try the experiment for yourself, but
the answer seems to be, you can't exceed
smooth rolling by much.
In my last column I briefly mentioned a
series of pool experiments done with highspeed video. The experimenters included
Mike Shamos, Jim Buss, Hans de Jager,
Walt Harris and me. We refer to the week
of tests as the "Jacksonville Project" since
that was where they took place. There were
several surprises and some interesting measurements, including some related to the
spin/speed ratio.
In a side-spin experiment, 19mm of tip
offset was used. (This means that the shaft
was 19mm away from where it would be
for a center-ball hit.) With left-side spin,
the camera was focused on the right side of
the cue ball. The surprising result was that
the side of the ball actually moved backwards at the start of the shot. This means

20 I BD-FEBRUARY 1999

that the spin/speed ratio was greater than

one. But by how much?
It turns out that if you look at the point on
the cue ball that starts nearest the camera
the eastern-most point as the shooter
would see it and note how far it moves
backwards before the forward motion on
the cue ball takes over, you can immediately after a little geometry determine
the ratio. The backwards movement is
about 1.7mm, which gives a spin/speed
ratio of about 1.2.
Does this result agree with the simple
physical theory that says spin/speed is
directly proportional to tip offset? If you
multiply the 11.43mm mentioned earlier by
1.2, this gives an estimated contact point of
the tip from the center of the ball of
13.7mm. This should be compared with
the 19mm shaft offset. The apparent discrepancy is due to the fact that it is not the
center of the tip that hits the cue ball on
spin shots but rather the shoulder, which is
about 5mm closer to the center of the cue
ball. Thus the measurement agrees with the
theory within the accuracy of the data.
In another scene on the tape of a soft by
extreme draw shot, the distance the cue ball
moved while it rotated backwards 90
degrees was measured, and the spin/speed
ratio was again found to be about 1.2.

You may want to test your own stroke

without renting $40,000 worth of video
equipment. Two reasonable ways to compare tips, sticks and strokes are shown in
Diagram 2. In the "Best Side" shot, shoot
on the equator and straight into the rail and
notice where the cue ball lands on the other
side rail. Try different techniques and see
what it takes to maximize the angle off the
rail. Try to use a consistent speed in any
comparison.
In the "Best Draw" shot, the idea is to see
how little speed you can get on the object
ball and still draw the cue ball back to
touch the end rail. On most tables, it's possible to get the cue ball to the rail without
the object ball touching that same rail. This
is a great shot to know at one-pocket.
Another version of this test is to move the
object ball to be even with the side pockets
and to see how far it moves when the cue
ball draws back four diamonds to just touch
the end rail. Try it as a challenge shot.
Who has the best draw?
Of course you should try to minimize
your use of spin it can lead to misses and
miscues but when you need a "quality"
shot, be ready.
Bob Jewett is an advanced level BCA instructor
with the San Francisco Billiard Academy one
of seven BCA master academies.

Bob Jewett

Progressive Progress
In order to improve your game/ you must constantly challenge yourself.
In columns in December 1992 and
October 1995,1 discussed a form of drill
that I call "Progressive Practice." The
basic idea is that you set up a particular
kind of shot, and make it harder if you
make the shot and easier if you miss it.
This practice technique keeps you at the
edge of your comfort zone, and hopefully lets you push back its frontiers as
your game improves in the area you're
working on.
Here is a sort of final test to see if
you're ready to challenge Buddy, Efren,
Earl and Nick. It is the fifth level of
Progressive Practice drills from the
BCA's Instructor's Manual. Like the
first four levels, it tests you with four
basic kinds of shot: stop, follow, draw,
and cut.
Diagram 1 is a "stop" shot drill. It's
really stop at an angle, which is often
called stun the cue ball should travel
at right angles to the path of the object
ball when struck properly. The object
ball is placed in the center of the table
on every shot, and the cue ball is placed
roughly as shown, but you can take
more or less angle as you choose. The
goal is to make the object ball in the
side and leave the cue ball within nine
inches (roughly a hand-span) of the current target.
Begin with 1 as your goal, and mark it
with a coin. Shoot the shot, and leave
the cue ball as close to the coin as possible. If you make the shot, move the
coin to 2 and try again. Continue moving the coin a diamond further away
until you fail either in the position or in
pocketing the ball, and then move the
coin to a position half a diamond easier.
After your first miss, each movement
easier after a miss or harder after a good
shot is by half a diamond.
Positions 1 through 4 are clear
enough, but 5 looks a lot like 3. The
trick is that for 5, and also 6 and 7, the
cue ball has to return off the end rail.
Remember to move the coin after
every shot. If you want to score yourself, shoot the shot ten times, and note
the position of the coin after the last
shot.
Diagram 2 is a follow shot. The
object ball always starts in the position
shown, and the cue ball is close enough
18 | BD-MARCH 1999

Bob Jewett

to the rail to need a rail bridge. (The exact

position is up to you.) The goal is to make
the object ball and leave the cue ball by the
target. In this case, put the coin up on the
rail or out from the rail far enough that it
won't interfere with the object ball. Once
again, the last positions include bouncing
off the far cushion. See where the coin is
after ten or 15 tries.
Most players find Diagram 3 the most
challenging of this set. The goal is to draw

20

BD-MARCH 1999

the cue ball back to the one-diamondsquare box. The object ball moves away
from the cue ball to make the shot tougher.
If you want to start with a somewhat easier
drill, the Level 4 set has a target zone clear
across the end rail (one by four diamonds in
extent). The exact positions are not critical,
but the object ball should be somewhat off
the rail, and the cue ball is in-hand behind
the line. Don't use the side rail with
English; the shot is a straight-back draw

with just a little angle.

Diagram 4 is my least favorite in this
set: cut the object ball into the side pocket. The object ball goes back to the center of the table, and the cue ball moves
up the rail to make the cut harder. At the
corner (position 5) there's a problem
because if you went a full diamond
around the corner, the difficulty would
take too big a step up. For positions 5
through 8, note the four balls frozen on
the other end rail. The cue ball should be
near the opposite end rail, far enough off
the rail to form a comfortable rail bridge,
and with the corresponding ball making
a straight line with the cue ball and
object ball. The goal will still be to cut
the object ball into the side pocket.
To make these shots a regular part of
your practice routine, keep score. All
you have to do is note where the coin is
after ten or fifteen tries at each shot. As
your basics improve, you can watch your
score rise. You will probably find that you
advance to a certain level (such as 3 for the
draw shot) and then oscillate back and forth
between two or three neighboring levels.
That is your 50 percent point for that shot,
which is good to know when facing it in a
game situation.
Bob Jewett is a BCA certified instructor.

Special Cue Report: The Jacksonville Experiments

Some surprising
discoveries about
cue/cue hall
interaction
emerged from the
Jacksonville

FREEZE FRAME

Experiments.

r^i BOB JEWETT

allows exact measurement of distances
and provides a good reference.
Now that the numbers don't seem so
foreign anymore, let's look at the interesting stuff: the images.
ness cue/ball interaction is well-docuThe image in Figure 1 represents one
mented in the previous article, we now
of the first tests we ran. The camera is
have some visual evidence of this
looking down from above the table. The
quasi-historic event. As I have stated
stick, which is moving towards the cue
before, these results were compiled in
ball, has been caught at maximum tip
the witness by five billiard enthusiasts;
compression.
you must understand that the concluThe main test here was to look for
sions are purely our own, and not necbulging of the tip during the shot. In the
essarily the opinion of Billiards Digest.
image shown, the vertical white line or,
That some of us write for BD is purely
marker, was positioned so any bulge in
coincidental.
the right side of the tip would be highWith that said, let's take a look at
lighted. It isn't possible to see the
what a 12,000-frames-per-second cam"before" from this still picture, but the
era could see that the naked eye cannot.
sliver to the right of the marker was
In Figure 1, you can see some of the
only half as wide before impact.
features of the camera and video system that we used to record
Figure 2 is a typical
these findings. They can
view of a side-spin shot,
be found on the black boragain seen from above.
der surrounding the
The ball began with the
image. (The camera itself
line between the light and
was similar to a standard
dark areas placed perpenhandy-cam, but it had a
dicular to the stick, so it
thick cable going over to a
has started to rotate a litlarge box of electronics
tle. The cue stick, which
that stored the sequence
started out several milof images in digital memlimeters closer to the cenory, or RAM. The camera
ter of the ball than in the
was fitted with several
image, has been moved to
different lenses to allow
the side by the ball's rotaclose-ups and normal
tion. The dark cloud
views.)
which is just visible
The time and date
between the tip and the
(upper left-hand corner)
ball is the chalk dust that
are obvious. The ID numflies in all directions on
ber, 10 (right), shows Fig. 1: A captured frame from the Ektapro 1012 at .0003 second. spin shots. Below the ball
which scene is being The image to the left of the crosshairs is the cue tip contacting the is a grid with minor divishown. Over the week- cue ball at maximum compression. From this shot, we can prove sions every 2 millimeters
long period, we taped the resilient qualities of a cue tip and the camera's eye for detail. and major divisions each
more than 250 different scenes.
The REC 3000 (r.) shows that the
images were captured at 3,000 frames
per second, which is about 100 times
faster than standard video. The frame
number, which gives the count from the
trigger, is -606 (lower left), which
means that the trigger will occur in 606
more frames. For all of the inns, the
trigger a button on the remote control was pressed just after the action,
and the camera was set to stop recording on the trigger. This is also reflected
in the ET, or, elapsed time indicator
(lower r.), which says there are 0.202
seconds until the trigger.
The X and Y numbers on the left show
where the cross-hairs are located, and
these can be moved around when viewing the video after the recording. This

71 I BD-APRIL 1999

4i
Special Cue Report: The Jacksonville Experiments

Fig. 2: This model demonstrates how the ball's rotation can

throw the cue tip off-center -when English is applied.

Fig. 3: The most surprising result: On just one miscue, the tip,
the ferrule and even the shaft can all contact the cue ball.

What is not directly predicted is that

require side-spin were done without
centimeter, which allowed accurate
this speed-up, which is caused by the
chalk for a clearer view.
measurements of speed and deflection.
springiness of the tip, is not as large as
Conclusions: How can the above ideas
As we tried more and more English, it
the simple calculation says.
or insights be applied to a game?
wasn't long before we started miscuing.
Presumably, significant energy is lost
Here's one example: As predicted by
Figure 3 is the surprising result. In
in the tip, perhaps as much as 30 perphysics, the ball moves off the tip at a
many but not all miscues, the ferrule
cent. For a break stick, you want to lose
speed faster than the incoming stick.
or in extreme cases, the shaft slaps
as little energy as possible. The
the cue ball several times during
suggestion from the video is that
the motion.
work on the tip is more likely to
In Figure 4, the speed of the
improve a break stick than anycamera has been set to its maxithing else.
mum: 12,000 frames per second.
Another major contribution of
At this rate, each image is a short
the tape is an improved underhorizontal slice, and the display
standing of how squirt develops. It
stacks twelve of them vertically,
is clear now that all sticks must
reading from top to bottom, giving
have squirt or deflection on spin
the history of one-thousandth of a
shots, because movement of the
second. This is a close-up of a
front part of the stick to the side as
graphite cue hitting a ball. You can
the tip rotates sideways with the
roughly estimate the speed of the
spinning ball must have an equal
stick by noting that in the first 12
and opposite motion to the other
frames (.001 second) the stick
side by the cue ball.
moves about 3 millimeters, or
However, there is no way to conabout 3 meters per second. A grid
trol how much sideways speed the
would have helped, but there was
stick gets that's determined by
no room in this picture for one.
the amount of spin used but it is
The main point of this test was to
certainly possible to reduce the
see whether the stick hit the ball
effect by reducing the weight of
multiple times. It is pretty clear
the front part of the stick. This
that the tip makes only one conresult bears out what a lot of peotact. By counting the number of
ple have been saying for some
slices in which the tip is touching
time: balance, length and weight
the ball, you can get the total conaside, all of the playability of a
tact time. It appears that the tip is
stick is in the shaft.
d
touching in twelve consecutive
frames, which would give a time
To obtain your own copy of the
of .001 seconds. In the last few
Jacksonville Experiment tapes, along
frames, it's hard to say whether the
with a copy of the notes that were made
tip is still touching the ball or not,
during the experiments, send $30 ($35
because the chalk cloud obscures Fig. 4 proves that the cue makes only one contact for S-VHS) to Bob Jewett at 962 Stony
things. Other tests which didn't with the cue ball. Total contact time: .001 seconds. Hill Road, Redwood City, CA 94061.
74

BD-APRIL 1999

Bob Jewett

Judgement Calls
Do you have what it takes to be a good referee? Give it a shot.
Are y o u a good referee? Do you know
the rules, and how to apply them? Here is a
quiz involving some of the more difficult
situations you may face as an official or just
an opponent. Take a stab at the following
questions and send in your answers to Bob
Jewett-Tech Talk, c/o Billiards Digest, 122
S. Michigan Ave., Suite 1506, Chicago, IL
60603. The winner receives a free one-year
subscription.
For each of the 10 questions, think how
you would handle the situation, first as
"Fred's" opponent in an unrefereed match,
and then as the referee in a league final:
SCENARIO 1
In a handicapped 8-ball league, you're
going to seven games while Fred, a raw
beginner and a new player in the league, is
going to two. He's ahead 1-0 after you
pocketed the 8 on an unintended combo.
You play a great safety and leave the cue
ball stuck behind three of your balls. Fred
plays a three-rail kick to hit his ball. The
cue ball comes off the last rail with just
enough speed to roll up to his ball and
freeze. Fred pumps his fist in the air and
says "Yes!" What now?

SCENARIO 2
At 9-ball, Fred plays a smash shot on the 2
ball, and in the chaos, the 9 finds its way to
a pocket. The cue ball is rolling up to the
end rail as shown in Diagram 1. It looks
like it might hit the 8 ball and still have
enough speed to reach the pocket afterwards. In his exuberance, Fred sweeps all
the object balls down to the front of the
table for you to rack. Your call?

SCENARIO 3
The situation is the same as above, but
there is no 8 ball to deflect the cue ball into
the pocket, so the scratch appears impossible. Fred grabs the cue ball before it stops
rolling. Your call?

SCENARIO 4
Fred has an easy shot at the 1 ball, except
for the 3 ball that is six inches from the cue
ball as in Diagram 2. Fred says something
about "cue-ball fouls only" and places his
bridge hand down on top of the 3 ball. What
do you say?
SCENARIO 5
Fred breaks at 9-ball and then announces
he's pushing out. He plans to move the cue
ball just an inch or two so there will be a
tough shot on the 1 ball. He taps the cue
ball at just the right speed with the side of
22

BD-MAY 1999

his stick. What now?

SCENARIO 6
Fred is struggling in a 9-ball
match. With an easy run in view,
he jaws the 6 ball, leaving an even
easier run for you. Acting on his
frustration, he sweeps up the
object balls, saying, "It's yours. I
can't do anything right today." Did
Fred just do something else
wrong?
SCENARIO 7
At 8-ball, Fred tries a draw shot on
the 3 but miscues, and the cue ball
flies over the three and softly
bumps up against the five that was
frozen on the rail. What's your
call?
SCENARIO 8
Fred is trying a new breaking technique that begins with warp-speed warmup strokes. On one of the warm ups, he
barely nudges the cue ball. While he stops
to chalk, he says, "I better hit it harder than
that." Do you say anything?

SCENARIO 9
Fred has left himself straight in on the 8
ball, but only half an inch away from it as
shown in Diagram 3. He elevates the stick
about 30 degrees and aims for draw. The

cue ball follows the 8 to about the middle of

the table, but quickly pulls to a stop as the
draw takes. What's your call?

SCENARIO 10
Fred is snookered and has to play a two-rail
kick to his last ball, which is an inch from
the cushion. From your position, you can't
see the ball because Fred's in the way. At
the end of his shot, you can see the object
ball moving parallel to the rail while the

cue ball rolls slowly away from the cushion, as in Diagram 4. The balls never reach
another cushion. What do you say?
If you would like to get training as a referee, contact the Billiard Congress of
America about the course they will conduct this month at the National 8-Ball
Championships
in
Las
Vegas.
For more information, call the BCA at
319/351-2112.

BD-MAY 1999

23

Bob Jewett

Don't Grip It and Rip It

The Jacksonville Experiment also revealed the significance of cue speed.
The v i d e o t a p e s made during the
Jacksonville Experiment (BD, April) provided the first quantitative information on
cue speed throughout a shot. We did this by
attaching a graph-paper scale to the cue that
would be used for the measurement. The
high-speed video camera was focused on
the scale, and set to its fastest recording
rate. Each of three players took shots at various speeds and with several cue weights.
To convert this raw video data into cue
velocity, the sequence was examined frame
by frame, and the time for each movement
of one centimeter (about four-tenths of an
inch) is noted. This gives the time the cue
took to move one centimeter. The number
could then be turned into speed by simple
division. When the resulting speeds were
plotted versus cue positions, a graph like
Diagram 1 is produced. Along the horizontal axis is how far the tip traveled from the
bridge hand. On the vertical axis is the
speed of the stick, with negative speed on
the backstroke and positive speed on the
forward stroke.
The backstroke begins with the tip almost
at the ball about 22 centimeters, or 8.5
inches from the bridge hand. As the stick is

22 I BD -JUNE 1999

brought back, a peak negative speed of 0.6

meters/second is reached. The stick comes
to a stop (speed = 0) with the tip just a centimeter from the bridge. As the forward
power takes over, the stick is accelerated to
1.9 meters/second. When the tip contacts
the ball, the stick speed suddenly drops to
about half its value. This takes only a millisecond (one-thousandth of a second),
which is about one-fifth of the time
between the measured points, and was
determined from separate close-ups of the
tip/ball contact. The follow-through takes
the stick forward another 12 centimeters as
it slows to a stop.
A major point to note on this stroke is, the
ball was struck when the stick was at, or
very near, the peak of its speed. As mentioned in a previous column, this is theoretically the best time to hit the ball for efficiency and consistency. Just at the peak, the
stick is coasting at maximum velocity.
A very interesting and unexpected feature
in the plot is that the cue speeds back up
after the ball has left. This turns out to be
from the hand and arm, which don't slow
down much during the very brief tip-ball
contact. After the ball has left, the cue, hand

and arm gradually go to their average

speed, which is about halfway between the
peak speed and the reduced cue speed after
contact. From the time it takes for equilibrium to be reached, it is possible to estimate
how tightly the hand is gripping the stick,
compared to how hard the tip is. It turns out
that the hand is about 100 times softer than
the tip. That is, to push the tip one millimeter into the ball required 100 times the force
needed to move the cue one millimeter
against the grip.
What does all of this mean for practical
purposes? In essence: Let the cue do the
work and don't worry about the details. A
very major point is that your hand unless
your grip is much, much firmer than mine
cannot have any significant influence on
the ball during the brief tip-ball contact.
Another point is that a good time to hit the
ball is at the peak speed. Notice that if the
ball had been an inch (2.5 centimeters)
closer, the cue speed at impact would have
been nearly the same. This means small
errors in stroke timing should have little
influence on the outcome.
Bob Jewett is a certified instructor for the
Billiard Congress of America.

Bob Jewett

To Kiss Or Not To Kiss

A system to help players avoid the pucker.

Is there a kiss in the cross-corner bank to

pocket A in Diagram 1?
One of the most difficult skills to learn in
pool is to know when a bank shot will kiss
out. This knowledge is essential at onepocket and bank pool, and useful at 8-ball
when a crowded table may leave you no
other choice. At one-pocket, the possible
kiss-out in Diagram 1 can prove costly if the
object ball stops right in front of your opponent's pocket. Only by luck could the cue
ball end up safe.
There is a rule of thumb for the shot
shown, but I've heard two different versions. One says that if the cue ball can be
shot past the object ball into the other corner
pocket (B), there is no kiss. The other says
that if the shot is lined up straight into pocket B, there is no kiss. Major conflict! I have
seen both rules demonstrated, but never
tried to study this myself. Here are some
preliminary test results.
All of the tests were made with no side
spin on the cue ball and just enough speed
to get the object-ball to pocket A. The object
ball and cue ball were positioned exactly by
self-adhesive paper reinforcements. For a
given object ball starting position in this
case, exactly one diamond from each cushion the shot was tried for various cue-ball
positions up and down the table.
If the cue ball is up the table, say by position C, there is no problem because the cue
ball goes to the end rail and back quickly
compared to the slower travel of the thinlyhit object ball. As the cue ball gets closer to
the shot shown, the speeds of the two balls
are better matched, and at some point they
will collide around the question mark. I
gradually moved the cue ball down the table
until it no longer passed out of the way
before the object ball crossed its path. The
position shown is about the last position
where that bank works.
If the cue ball is closer still to the end rail
(at D), the bank is hit fuller, and the object
ball will travel faster than the cue ball, passing the danger zone before the cue ball
returns from the end rail. I tried various
banks on this side, and marked the highest
position that didn't have a kiss.
A second kind of kiss happens when the
bank is almost a straight shot, say from E. If
the cue ball hits the object ball just a little on
the left side, it will travel very slowly down
the table and meet the object ball at the kiss
26

BD-JULY 1999

zone without having hit the cushion.

While this kiss is good to know about,
it is not covered by either rule of
thumb.
Shown on the rail are two clusters of
balls at F and G. These show the "origin" of the cue ball for the banks that
kiss out. If you are shooting the bank
with your cue stick passing over the
middle of the F group, you will need
to do something special to avoid the
kiss. If you are shooting from the ball
at either edge of the group, you may
miss the kiss by a whisker or maybe
not. Since the cue ball is shown with
an origin above the cluster, there is no
kiss if the shot is hit well.
Similarly, if the origin of the cue ball
is from cluster G such as from E
there will be a kiss unless you do
something to change the timing or
angle of the shot.
One way to avoid the kiss is with
side spin. The usual way to hit a shot
from F is to apply right follow so when
the cue ball comes off the end cushion,
it is bent behind the object ball. I tried
left spin, and it also seemed to work. I
had to hit the object ball fuller to compensate for the angle change from the
transferred spin, and again the object
ball passed before the cue ball got
back from the rail. For the second kind
of kiss, it usually works to shoot
straight at the object ball and use a little "hold-up" English, in this case left
side. Another possibility is to use draw
to slow the cue ball down after the collision. Of course, speed can seriously change
the result, but for one-pocket, you want to
leave any missed ball close to your hole.
What do these results say about the rules
of thumb above? It seems to say that they
both are partly true. If the shot is straight in,
the cue ball origin will be about the side
pocket, and there will be no kiss. On the
other hand, the kisses occur only for shots
where the cue ball cannot be shot by the
object ball. If the cue ball has a clear path to
the pocket, there will be no kiss. Neither
rule of thumb really covers all the cases.
What the rule does do is let you check fairly quickly for a potential kiss, then it is up
to you to decide if there is a real problem
that needs evasive action.
In Diagram 2 is a second shot that's a lit-

tle different from the first. The object ball is

now a diamond and a half from the side rail.
The measured "bad" starting points are
again shown by balls on the cushion. The
shot diagrammed is barely outside of the
danger zone. If you want to extend the tests,
there are lots of other positions for the
object ball.
It's important to note that the exact locations of the "clusters of death" will change
depending on the balls, cushions and cloth.
I did the experiment with relatively new
cushions and clean cloth that is about a year
old. Your mileage may vary.
Bob Jewett is a partner in the San
Francisco Billiard Academy, one of seven
Master Academies certified by the BCA to
train new instructors.

Bob Jewett

Judgement Day
Answers give insight into game rulings and reactions.
So y o u think you're cut out to be a billiards referee? According to the results of
my quiz, you'd be a pretty harsh one.
In BD May, I offered a series of 10 scenarios that involved shots attempted by my
invisible friend Fred a novice, at best
playing against you in various games, 8ball, 9-ball, specifically. I then left it to you,
the reader, to tell me how you would react
or rule in each instance. The best set of
answers sent in by readers would receive a
free one-year subscription to Billiards
Digest.
We'll get to the winners in a minute, but I
thought I should clarify a few trouble spots
that emerged during the judging. One
major point that most respondents overlooked was Fred's inexperience in formal
play. Does this make a difference in how
the rules are applied? In a relatively relaxed
situation like an unrefereed match in league
play, I think so. If you keep springing rules
on Fred that he's never heard of, he's
unlikely to return to the game. If you try to
make his introduction to the game as gentle
as possible while maintaining the spirit of
the rules, I think everybody can win.
Contestants were also asked to rule as if
they were the referee in the league finals.
Here, you really can't cut Fred any slack
the ref must enforce all the rules to the best
of his ability. A brief explanation may be in
order for those cases where Fred clearly has
no clue why he fouled.
Having noted these occurrences, here is
my view of the calls:
Scenario 1 Fred has just made the beautiful three-rail kick in Diagram 1 to hit his
last ball in a game of 8-ball. But he played
only hard enough to freeze against the ball.
Fred's delight shows he doesn't know about
the "No Rail" foul he just committed. As a
referee you have to tell him that rails before
the hit don't count, and he just gave up ballin-hand.
As his opponent, you could give Fred the
opportunity to try his shot again, unless of
course, prior arrangements have turned this
game into something more serious.
Of course, this path is entirely outside the
scope of the written rules, and another
player or the tournament director might
object, but I don't think they have much
reason to. You might also suggest that Fred
ask about any applicable rules before any
"strange" shot.
22 | BD -AUGUST 1999

Scenario 2 In a game of 9-ball, old Fred

has just made the 9 on a smash shot, and it
looked like the cue ball would scratch on a
carom off the 8, until he raked the 8 and the
other object balls down to the rack area.
The rule here is clear: You must never touch
any ball until the game is over. This is perhaps the most ignored rule at 9-ball. "Try
again" is not an option here for the un-refereed case. Some might argue that under
"Cue Ball Fouls Only" there was no foul,
but they would be wrong. It is always a foul
to intentionally touch any object ball when
you are the shooter. As Fred's opponent, I'd
be stuck for a middle path one entry suggested playing the game over. As the referee in this case, the BCA rule you should
apply is 2.19, "Illegally Causing Ball To
Move." (Rule 3.20 refers to accidental contact.) The possible penalty is loss of game
and/or match, as for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Scenario 3 Fred grabs up the cue ball
before it stops rolling on a winning shot
that has no chance to scratch. I'd warn him
of the rule while racking for his next break,
but a referee would have to call the foul.
Scenario 4 Fred rests his bridge hand on
an obstructing ball for stability. Technically
this is a violation of 2.19 again, but I'd try
to get him to bridge properly before he
shot. As the referee, I'd be reluctant to forfeit the game; ball-in-hand is a more appropriate penalty under the discretionary
clause of unsportsmanlike conduct.
Scenario 5 Fred pushes out at 9-ball

with the side of his stick. Foul! The only

fouls condoned on a push-out shot are No
Rail and Bad Hit. You are never, ever
allowed to play with the side of your stick.
Informally, try again. Refereed, ball-inhand, foul, and warn Fred that a second
such foul will be loss of match under rule
3.28.
Scenario 6 Fred is so frustrated by this
scenario that when he misses an easy 6 ball
at 9-ball, he sweeps up the easy run-out and
concedes the game. Under Rule 1.14, a
concession is permitted, but throwing in
four balls borders on unsportsmanlike conduct. I might say nothing to Fred as he
racked, or I might point out that I really
need the practice. The referee should warn
him not to disrupt the game or he may be
subject to a forfeit. Warning: In some tournaments, if you forfeit a game, you forfeit
the next one as well. It may seem strange,
but some players have perfected the concession as a sharking technique. My
advice: Never concede the match; the psychological ramifications are enormous.
Scenario 7 While playing 8-ball in
Diagram 2, Fred tries a draw shot on the 3,
but the cue ball jumps clear over the 3 and
softly bumps against the 5 ball which was
frozen to the far rail. I didn't say whether
anyone had called the 5 frozen before the
shot. If not, it counts for the rail contact.
Was the miscue-jump a foul? I don't think
so, because Fred wasn't trying a jump shot.
It's always risky to include a player's intentions in a ruling, but I would in this case. As

the opponent, I'd explain why my failure to

call the 5 frozen cost me ball-in-hand, and
that when playing a jump shot, any miscue
is a foul (Rule 3.26). Of course the referee
would have called the 5 frozen, and it
would be a No Rail foul.
Scenario 8 Fred barely nudges the cue
ball on the warm-up strokes for his break
shot. This is not a foul unless the cue ball is
driven over the head string. As an opponent, I might point out the rule, but the referee should not offer this advice.
Scenario 9 Fred played an obvious double-hit shot to pocket the nearly-touching 8
ball. As the opponent, I would have tried to
anticipate the shot and have a third party
come over to watch the shot after an explanation. After the fact, I suppose "try again"
will work, but I'd be tempted to take the
win. The referee must, of course, call the
foul and loss of game.
Scenario 10 Fred banked the cue ball
off a couple cushions to make a good hit on
a ball near a cushion, but because he was in
the way, you didn't see whether any ball
went to the rail after contact. As opponent
or referee, the first thing I do is kick myself
for being out of position. The next is to ask
someone whether the contact was rail-ball
or ball-rail. (In the problem statement, I
gave the final directions of the two balls,

but depending on the spin on the cue ball,

the rail may still have been before or after
contact.) As the opponent, I'd ask Fred, and
I'd take his word for it. As the referee, I'd
ask anyone in position who's opinion I
trust. If there is no one to ask Fred might
not have noticed you cannot call a foul
that may or may not have occurred.
And the winner of the 12 great issues of
Billiards Digest is ... a two-way tie between
Erik Franklin of Colorado, and Thomas
"Q" Ball of New Jersey. Several others,

including Eric Oudsema, Rick Malm, and

Tom Tidd, were close behind. Eric gets special mention for the most accurate list of
rules references.
The main thing I noticed about all of the
submissions is how little slack Fred got on
the calls. He's a beginner, for Pete's sake!
You sure play hardball out there. I can hardly wait to catch you with Rule 1.22.
Bob Jewett, a member of the BCA Rules
Committee, will be happy to discuss Rule 1.22
with anyone who cares to debate it.

BD-AUGUST 1999 I 23

Bob Jewett

The New Frontiers

Expanding your shot-making repertoire can improve your win-loss record.

O n e w a y to think of your game is as a
partially explored country. Some parts are
familiar to you, while there are other,
wilder, unexplored parts that you would
really rather avoid. Although part of your
game's development is the cultivation of
this easier territory, you should spend some
of your practice time extending your frontiers and taking control of new or harder
shots as part of your repertoire.
Of course, there are players who will
never attempt any shot that has much
chance of failure even during practice
sessions but you're not one of those. Get
some extra chalk and warm up your arm,
and let's move into uncharted territory and
stake some claims.
The shot in Diagram 1 is easy to set up
but not so easy to do. The cue ball is on the
spot and the object ball is about half way
between it and the side pocket. There is just
a little cut angle, so the cue ball will follow
to the side cushion on the near side of the
side pocket. The drill is to shoot with follow and see if you can spin the cue ball
around the table. You need plenty of follow,
but left english is the key to getting distance
on this shot.
Try progressively longer runs on the cue
ball. If you are not yet comfortable with
side spin, just try to take the cue ball to the
end rail. As you build up strength and confidence, see if you can contact five cushions.
In Diagram 2, you are going for maximum distance on the draw shot. Position
the balls a little differently if it makes the
shot more comfortable for you, but the goal
is to draw the cue ball as far as possible.
Two full lengths is good. Again, you may
want to start with an easier goal, but make
sure it stretches your present comfort zone.
To protect the table from miscues and
chalk build-up, put a piece of notebook
paper or thin plastic under the cue ball.
Diagram 3A is territory most pool players never visit. The shot shown is from
carom billiards, or straight-rail. The cue
ball must hit both the other balls, but no
cushion is required. From the position
shown, shoot softly enough that the same
position is left after the shot. Some things
that will help to master these very soft
shots: Get Daly's Billiard Book, which
describes lots of techniques for these close
shots. Try it on a carom table, where the
20 | BD-SEPTEMBER 1999

larger balls will allow easier control. Try a lighter cue until you are
used to hitting the cue ball very softly. If you master this speed, a
lot of "small" safeties will suddenly be easy.
Diagram 3B shows a shot that is common at straight pool, onepocket, and 8-baIl. You have two object balls near the same cushion, and you need to stay inside the second one while shooting the
first one. That is, you want the cue ball to bounce only a little off
the cushion so that the second ball will be a cut to the right.
When you first start shooting these shots, you will say to yourself, "No way can I stop the cue ball. I need to use more rails."
Often you can't arrange to use more cushions because other balls
block the longer path to position.
With practice, you will soon find the right combination of draw
and side-spin in this case-right to make the cue ball die on
the cushion.
Try a little more draw than right for your first tries. Gradually
move the cue ball farther off the cushion, so you will learn your
limit for various angles.
Diagram 4 will exercise your thin shots. The object ball is on the
center spot in which games is the center spot used? and the
cue ball is on the head string. See how close to the head spot you
can bring the cue ball and still make the object ball. This is a good
shot to try left and right English to see if either one helps you on
such thin cuts.
I'll guess that the problems caused by side-spin squirt, swerve
and throw make the no-spin shot more effective. That doesn't
mean you shouldn't also practice the shot with spin, as you will
usually need some spin when the cue ball gets to the far rail in
order to get position on the following ball.
Besides the above suggested expeditions into terra incognito, you
can plan your own. During a match, whenever you come up against
a shot you're uncomfortable with, make a note of it, and include it
in your next practice session. Soon, it will become a familiar part
of your game.
Bob Jewett is a BCA Advanced Instructor and a partner in the San
Francisco Billiard Academy.

BD-SEPTEMBER 1999

21

Bob Jewett

Communication Barriers

Don't let technical terminology tear up your tablemates.

In discussing the technical details of

shots, it's essential for the parties to use a
single set of terms. For example, I've
recently seen two new uses of the term
"throw" that aren't even close to the definition below. Sometimes it's possible to see
that the word is being used strangely from
the context, but usually the mismatched
meanings lead to gross misunderstandings.
Below is a brief illustrated glossary of some
of the more technical terms for the parts of
billiard shots which will be used next month
in examining various kinds of systems.
Even old hands may find something surprising here.
Diagram 1 illustrates the parts of a simple
cut shot. Can you fill in what all of the
abbreviations stand for? The cue ball (CB)
and object ball (OB) are easy. The ghost ball
(or phantom ball) is where the cue ball will
be at the instant of contact. It's drawn with
a dotted line to indicate that it's not a real
ball, but rather an imagined location to
which the cue ball will hopefully be driven.
The line of centers (LoC) is the line connecting the centers of the ghost ball and the
object ball. In an ideal world, the pocket is
along that line off to the right, and the object
ball will travel along it. On the line of centers is the contact point between the two
balls, or CP, which is not marked on the diagram. At a right angle to the LoC is the tangent line or kiss line. The TL/KL touches
both the GB and the OB at the CP, right?
The tangent line is useful in play because
the cue ball, after arriving at the ghost ball
position, will travel parallel to the tangent
line until draw or follow bends it away.
Also marked in Diagram 1 is the cut angle
(CA), which is the angle between the initial
path of the cue ball and the path of the
object ball. This angle can be given in
degrees. The example shown is about 30
degrees, and it is a "cut to the left." If there
is no angle when the object ball is being
driven straight ahead the cut angle would
be zero degrees. When the cue ball barely
grazes the object ball, the cut angle is 90
degrees (to the left or right).
Another way to describe the degree of a
cut is shown in Diagram 2. Imagine you are
watching from the point of view of your cue
tip as the cue ball contacts the object ball.
You will see the cue ball overlapping the
object ball by a certain amount. In the first
case, when the center of the cue ball is
18

BD-OCTOBER 1999

going towards the edge of the object ball,

just as in Diagram 1, the fullness of the hit
is called "half ball." Also shown is the contact point, which is exactly in the center of
the overlap region. It is useful to know the
cut angle for these fullnesses of hit. Half
ball ideally produces a 30-degree cut angle,
while 3/4-full gives slightly less than 15
degrees, and a 1/4-full hit gives about a 49degree cut angle.
Several aspects of the use of side-spin are
illustrated in Diagram 3. You may have
noticed that I tend to use the term "sidespin" rather than "English" when describing
such shots. This is to make a clear distinction between side-spin and draw or follow.
Some people use the word "English" to
refer to any spin on the ball, such as "follow
English" or "left English," but that can be
confusing.
The ideal path of the cue ball on a sidespin shot is parallel to the line of the cue
stick. Unfortunately, the cue ball refuses to
behave in such a simple way, and instead
starts out at an angle away from this ideal.
This angle between the ideal path and the
actual initial path is the squirt angle, or just
"squirt." The angle varies with the amount
of side-spin, the construction of the stick,
the preparation of the tip, and possibly the

speed of the shot and other factors. Squirt is

not fully understood, but it can be large
enough to make you miss the object ball
entirely if you don't compensate for it.
Swerve, curve or masse is the curving
back of the cue ball towards the ideal path.
Again, this effect is plenty large enough to
cause an "air ball" on thin cuts, or not-suchthin shots if the stick is elevated.
A last aspect of spin shots and cut shots is
"throw." When the cue ball arrives exactly at
the ghost-ball location, after your careful
compensation for squirt and swerve, the
object ball does not obligingly go along the
line of centers. Instead, friction between the
surfaces of the two balls pulls the object ball
off-line to the left or right. This effect is easiest to demonstrate by placing an object ball
at the ghost-ball location and playing the
cue ball to hit that ball full. The resulting
throw is fairly predictable.
If it is the cue ball that is making contact,
the problem is a lot more complicated. If the
cue ball has follow or draw in addition to
any side-spin, there will be somewhat less
throw. Also, the cue ball may have various
amounts and directions of side-spin.
Consider the cut shot in Diagram 1. If the
cue ball is played with left side-spin, there
will be more throw of the object ball to the

Bob Jewett
right upon contact. (This is called "inside"
English, when the cut is to the left and left
side is used, and similarly if both are
"right.")
If the cue ball is played with just the right
amount of right-side spin, it will roll
smoothly across the surface of the object
ball and there will be no rubbing or throw
at all. (This is called "outside English,"
when the cut and side-spin are left/right or
right/left.) If a lot of outside English is
used, it is even possible to throw the object
ball to a larger cut angle than the ideal.
It is important to note that "throw" happens on cut shots even when the cue ball
has no spin, just due to the motion of the
cue ball to one side, and the resulting drag
on the object ball due to the friction
between them.
Here is some homework to do before next
month: freeze two object balls together on
the spot pointed up and down the table, and
see what combination of cut angle, spin and
speed gives you the most throw.
In Diagram 4, some points on diamond
systems are shown. The goal is to send the
cue ball towards pocket X. A simple numbering of the diamonds (spots on the rail) is
shown for a one-cushion kick. This simple
system says that if the ball's "origin" is
twice the number on the target cushion, the

ball will go to the

pocket. Origin in
this case is the
diamond number
your stick will be
over on the cushion when you
shoot the shot.
The cue ball in the
example is placed
perfectly on the
line between 6
and 3, so the path
will be "from" 6.
In general, fractions of diamonds will be needed, and the
cue ball origin will need to be determined
by trial and error.
Some finer details: There are two ways to
describe where the diamonds are. In the
example, a ball coming from 6 towards 3
contacts the cushion at outline A. If the cue
ball has a different origin, but is still sent
towards diamond 3, it will contact the cushion elsewhere. Shooting directly towards
the diamond marking is called shooting
"through" or "at" the diamond. The advantage is easy sighting; the disadvantage is
that the cushion is contacted at more than
one place. An alternative is to shoot "opposite" the diamond; the cue ball is made to

land in position "B" when 3 is the number

to contact, regardless of the ball's origin.
(You can also think of the numbers as being
transferred from the rail to the cloth.) The
origin may also change, so the 6 origin is at
outline C. Note the considerable difference
in the line for the "through" shot and the
line from C to B for the "opposite" shot.
This second way may seem complicated,
but the master billiardist, Raymond
Ceulemans himself, recommends it.
Be sure to do your homework and study
the above terms before BD November (next
issue), when we will look at the technical
details, strengths and faults of a half-dozen
systems.

BD-OCTOBER 1999

19

Bob Jewett

Systems of Aiming

Deciding which one best suits your game.

Do y o u u s e a system to aim? By system,

I mean a mechanical or mathematical
method to decide on what cut angle is needed, to visualize the shot, and to line up the
cue stick for that cut angle. Don't worry if
you don't use a system; you're in good
company. However, if you do use an aiming
system, and it's not described below, please
send in a description so it can be shared in a
future column.
The fundamental system against which
all others can be measured is the ghost
ball system. The simple idea is shown in
Diagram 1: Imagine the cue ball at the
instant it contacts the object ball. Making
the shot is as simple as lining up your stick
on the straight line joining the centers of cue
ball and the ghost ball and bringing your
stroke straight through. Simple but difficult,
or we would all be champions.

To use any system effectively, you need

both belief and understanding. Without
belief, you won't trust the system to help
you, especially in critical situations. Without
understanding, especially of the system's
faults and they all have faults a system
can keep your game from improving.
What are the faults of the ghost-ball system? As mentioned last time, if the cue ball
arrives from an angle, the object ball does
not take off along the ideal line, but is
thrown slightly off-line. Your homework
assignment was to measure how much the
angle of the cut changes because of the
throw. If your equipment is like mine, you
discovered that with a soft hit and the cue
ball driven about half-full into the object
ball, the throw can amount to two or three
balls' widths in the distance from the headstring to the foot rail. Clearly this will cause
you to miss long shots if you execute the
simple system perfectly.
There are two approaches to correct this
deficiency of the ghost-ball system. In the
ostrich method, you simply ignore the error,
22

BD NOVEMBER 1999

and use the system primarily to focus your

attention on the angle of the shot. Any correction is done by feel, with subconscious
adjustments for the way the throw depends

on the angle, speed and cleanliness of the

balls.
The other approach is to include an estimate of the throw in the calculations right
from the start. For example, in Diagram 1,
you would line up the shot not to the center
of the pocket but to the left side of the pockets to match the throw angle you found in
your homework. You then visualize the cue
ball at the new location. If you execute perfectly that is, drive the cue ball to take the
place of the ghost ball the object ball
goes to the center of the pocket.
Let's look at some tests for the system to
see if it's consistently accurate, or if it falls
apart for some shots. First, imagine moving
the pocket away along the line of the shot.
Will the system still give the same aiming
point, as it should? If you move the pocket a
little to the right or left, does the system tell
you to hit a little more or less of the object
ball to change the cut angle correspondingly? If you move the cue ball from a full-ball
shot to a 90-degree cut, does the system give
the correct answer?
For all of these tests, as long as one of the
correction methods is used, the ghost-ball
system works. This may seem horribly obvious, and you may wonder why I'm belaboring the point, but we'll soon see systems that
don't pass these tests.
For many people, the largest problem with
the ghost-ball method is that they cannot
easily visualize the phantom ball sitting over
next to the object ball. Fortunately, there are
lots of alternative visualization methods that
give the same target, and one of them may
work for you. Some people think of these as
separate systems, but they're really all the
same, and the tests above don't have to be
done again.
The first is the "inch-and-an-eighth" system. For this, you find the spot on the cloth

that is 1.125 inches (the radius of the ball)

from the edge of the object ball and away
from the pocket. This happens to be the resting spot of the phantom ball. If you have this
point, just aim your stick at it and shoot
straight, hi the diagram, this spot is marked.
Some people actually place the tip of their
cue on the cloth at this spot with the stick
pointed at the pocket, and then pivot around
to place the stick over the cue ball, making
the shot line clear. Be careful if you use this
technique not to leave chalk on the inchand-an-eighth spot, as that would be a foul.
The second equivalent system is the "parallel lines" system, which is shown in both
Mosconi's "Winning Pocket Billiards" and
Byrne's "Standard Book of Pool and
Billiards." This technique asks you to imagine a stripe on the object ball aligned with
the pocket. Next imagine a stripe on the cue
ball parallel to that stripe, and then drive the
cue ball forward so its stripe lands in line
with the object ball's stripe. Another version
of this is to imagine just the contact points
on both balls and then place your cue stick
parallel to the line joining those points.
An equivalent system that I like to use on
relatively thin cut shots is shown in
Diagram 2. This shows the ghost ball overlapping the object ball from the cue ball's
point of view. Suppose you have picked out
the contact point. Notice how far it is from

the edge of the object ball say a quarter

inch and then aim the edge of the cue ball
so the contact point is in the middle of the
overlapping point. In this example, the edge
of the ghost ball is a quarter-inch to the left
of the contact point. It's not obvious that this
is geometrically the same as the ghost-ball
system, but it is.
Diagram 3 shows another way to visualize the shot. This helps solve the problem of
the cue ball's being bigger than the ghost
ball it is being projected to from the player's
point of view. Imagine a tunnel from the cue
ball to the ghost ball, as shown in the perspective drawing. The tunnel can also be

Bob Jewett
thought of as all the successive positions of
the cue ball on the way to the collision.
Now let's look at some other systems and
try to analyze how well they work. One
whole family of systems asks you to aim at
either the reflections of the lights off the
object ball or the edge of a shadow under the
ball. This sort of system is quickly discarded as worthless by considering what happens when you have to play on a table with
four instead of three bulbs. Or, consider
what happens to the reflections or shadows
as the cue ball and object ball are moved
together around the table, keeping the cut
angle constant. The shadows surely will not
stay in the same place unless you are playing outdoors on the equator at noon.
Conclusion: The spots and shadows systems
may be useful to focus your attention, but
they have no chance to be accurate. Note
that we didn't even have to find out where
the spots or shadows were to see that these
systems are bogus; we just needed a simple
"thought experiment."
Another system that is a little harder to
analyze is in Diagram 4. It is very simple to
state: Make the extension along the edge of
your stick point at the contact point on the
object ball, and use the left edge for cuts to
the left and right for right. This system is
said to work with side spin without any

other adjustment, so it potentially has a large

advantage over the GB system, which has
no provision for using English. Here's some
homework: consider cut angles of 0, 30, and
near 90 degrees. About how far will this system be off for those shots? Is it as good as
the GB system if throw compensation is not
included?
One system that has been discussed briefly

in these pages before is to find the point on

the object ball that is farthest from the pocket, and the point on the cue ball that is nearest to the pocket, and send the latter towards
the former. This will get you to hit the object
ball on the correct side, but is not much use
beyond that. Here is an analysis trick to see
that this system is junk: Consider what happens when the pocket is moved away from
the object ball along the line of the shot, as
we did for the GB system. The "nearest
point" on the cue ball moves which means
the system is asking for a different fullness

of hit for the same cut angle. People who

force this system to work are fooling themselves. Consider this shot if you're not convinced yet: Put an object ball on the rail near
a pocket and place the cue ball several diamonds back for a very thin cut. About how
much of the object ball is the system asking
you to hit?
If you hang around pool players, you're
bound to hear more systems. Maybe you
will find one that's helpful on certain shots,
but with any system you try to work into
your game, remember to do two things.
First, study the system carefully enough to
discover its faults. If you don't understand
the faults and all aiming systems have
them you don't understand the system.
Secondly, you need to practice carefully
with the system. Pay special attention to difficult shots and shots near the edge of the
range where the system is reliable. When
you have a shot that's going to win or lose
the game for you, and you're going to apply
a system, be sure that it can work.
As a final point, remember that all systems
need some compensation and that compensation, must be applied by feel. This is true
not just for aiming systems, but for banks
and kicks. You must trust your own judgement here, even more than you trust the system. Practice will give you that confidence.

BD-NOVEMBER 1999 I 23

Bob Jewett

Hidden Treasures

The diamond system can help you strike it rich on the table.
In last month's column, I went over
several aiming systems. This time it's diamond systems sending the cue ball off
one or more cushions to hit a target ball.
Again, the emphasis is on looking deeper
than the basic description of each system,
so that you understand the limitations of
each, and how well each can help you in
game situations.
In Diagram 1 is the classic "Corner
Five" system. This is sometimes attributed
to Willie Hoppe, but it was developed by
others, and Hoppe never seemed to use it.
The problem is presented is based from a
game of 8-ball. How can you bank the cue
ball to hit the 8? The diagrammed path
looks likely, but where, exactly, do you
need to hit on the first cushion?
The first things to note and eventually
memorize are the numbers around the
cushions. There are three sets, corresponding to the cue ball's "origin," the target on
the first rail, and the goal on the third rail.
The first set is not obvious, but the other
two are simply the number of diamonds
from the far end cushion. Note that when
the cue ball starts from the corner, it has an
origin of five, which gives the system its
name. The other cue ball numbers go by
halves up the long rail and units along the
short rail.
A note on the diamond location: For a
start, you will always be going towards a
point on the rail that is even with the line of
diamonds, and not towards a point on the
rail groove. In the diagram, the cue ball is
going towards "2" although it will touch
the cushion even with diamond 2.5. You
may want to try the system using the
"opposite" or rail groove points, but first,
try the "through" sighting.
For the shot shown, where is the goal? If
you look towards the 8 ball from the
approximate place on the second cushion
where the ball will land, you will see that
you want the cue ball to go towards diamond 3 the goal. The origin of the cue
ball is given by where your stick passes
over the rail when you are in shooting position, in this case 5. The arithmetic to find
the target on the first cushion is easy: Just
subtract the goal from the origin to get 2.
One of the most important parts of this
system is to use the correct spin on the cue
ball. The idea is to find the spin that makes
the shot as consistent as possible. At first
20 | BD -DECEMBER 1999

glance, it might seem that playing right in

the center of the cue ball would be best, but
it turns out that far better consistency is
achieved by using running English (left in
the case shown) on the cue ball. At the
same time, you should use follow. This
allows the cue ball to have about the same
action no matter how far from the first
cushion it starts from. If you used center
left instead, the angle off the first cushion
would change quite a bit depending on how
much follow it had picked up from the cloth
on the way to the cushion.

Often the target ball will not be on the

cushion, and you will have to work a little
harder to find the goal on the third cushion.
Just sight from the second cushion, and find
the goal on the third.
Here's a practice suggestion for this system: First shoot the diagrammed shot until
you can hit the target every time. Now vary
the speed from just tapping it perhaps to
leave a safety to warp speed where the
cue ball struggles to stay on the table. Once
you have this position down, start varying
the cue-ball position you will need to do

some arithmetic and the object-ball position. Here's one last shot: Move the blockers to below the side pocket and put the 8 in
the jaws. From the corner, bank to make the
8. Be careful to chose the third rail goal correctly it's not 4.
For more details on the corner-five system, and how to select a goal when the target ball is a long way after the third cushion,
see Robert Byrne's "New Standard Book of
Pool and Billiards." Look in the carom section.
Diagram 2 shows a system from Walt
Harris' "Billiard Atlas" he calls "System
Sid" after Sid Banner. While the system
comes from three-cushion billiards, there's
no reason pool players can't use it profitably. Here the goal is to come off one
cushion to hit a target. The cue ball's origin
numbers are xl, x2, x3... and again you
count where your stick passes over the rail
when you are in shooting position. The second-rail numbers are as shown note that
there is a change in the spacing of the numbers between 2.0 and 2.5. Also note that this
system uses "opposite" or rail groove numbering for the second cushion, so the phantom ball is shown at 2.5. The first-rail numbers are as shown. Again, you just have to
memorize these.
The arithmetic is a little harder than
before. In the shot shown, you have to land
the cue ball at about 2.5 on the second cushion to make the ball in the side. The cue ball
is at x2. Multiply the two numbers to get 5,
which is the target on the first cushion. Are
you good at multiplying two-digit numbers
in your head? It's not hard if you practice,
but a simpler way is to do the arithmetic for
the even diamonds surrounding the cue
ball's location, and then splitting the difference according to how far the cue ball is sitting to one side or the other of the space
between the diamonds.
This system uses no side-spin, but does
use follow. It is critical to the shot to have
no side on the cue ball; any little bit will
change the path off the end rail. To practice

this, use a stripe as the cue ball and see if

you can roll the stripe like a tire to the first
rail.
The system shown in Diagram 3 has been
described in these pages before by Robert
Byrne, but for a billiard table. Pool table
cushions behave differently, often with
quite a lot of variation within one brand.
You are going to have to figure out how the
system works on your table.
Suppose you want to shoot the cue ball
three cushions to contact a target ball that is
sitting perfectly symmetrically with the cue
ball. Shown are four such positions: AA BB
CC DD. For example, shoot cue ball A three
cushions to hit target ball A. This shot will
be close to the path shown in Diagram 1,
and the shot requires the same running follow you learned there.
When you are satisfied you have the target
on the first cushion for position AA, mark it
as shown. Repeat the process for positions
BB, CC and DD. Now here is the amazing
result: if you join each cue ball location
with the corresponding target on the first
rail, all of the point will pass through or at
least come close to a single point. On my
table it is about where X is shown; your
table may be different.
Once you know this point, any time a shot
like the ones shown comes up, you have a
ready target. Even more useful is to note
that if a shot is close to the perfectly symmetrical position, you have a starting point
for your estimation of the path of the cue
ball.
None of these systems will work without
practice. During your practice session, pay
close attention to the spin you are using on
the cue ball and work to find the spin that
makes the shot consistently. Try each on
other tables especially comparing results
on new cloth to old to find out how reliable the systems are under changing conditions. Once you have these systems in your
repertoire, you'll be surprised how often
they come up in games.
Bob Jewett is a BCA certified instructor.

BD-DECEMBER 1999

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