What should you do if you want to make bank shots consistently?
Conclusion
You can expect a more stable bank shot if you aim with more or less twist rather than just thickness.
Details
Are you a good bank shot player?
Even the pros don’t make bank shots their first choice.
This is because of the uncertainty.
The reason for the uncertainty is the table condition, especially the cushion.
The angle of the ball bouncing off the cushion is very different if the cushion has a lot of resilience or not.
Have you ever heard of something like this?
In cushions, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
Therefore, if the line connecting the pocket you want to hit, the cushion, and the cue ball is like an isosceles triangle
The angle of incidence and the angle of reflection are equal, and the pocket is formed.
However, this is only partially true.
This is only partially true when the shot speed is as strong as banking.
The reason is that when the shot is stronger than that, the cushion will make a big dent, and the ball coming back from the cushion will stand up.
The best way to increase your chances of pocketing the ball is to use a twist rather than aiming precisely at the thickness.
Use a forward twist to put a thicker ball into the target ball.
If you only use the thickness, it will be too thick to pocket after banking, but with the twist on the target ball, it will open up from the cushion and pocket just right.
This feeling will become apparent after some practice, but I think you will find that you can pocket more cleanly with a twist than with thickness alone.
Also, there is a method of pocketing that not many people do, but it is quite effective.
It is to put a reverse twist on the cue ball.
When you put a reverse twist, the target ball will stand up from the cushion, so you have to aim thinly.
Aiming thinly and using a reverse twist to make the cushion stand up cancels each other out, and the target ball runs beautifully.
You can use this technique not only for long cushion banks, but also for short cushion banks.
Try it out for yourself!
