The ball near the thin rail is difficult, isn’t it? I think many people are not good at it.
Here I will explain how to effectively pocket a ball near a rail with a thickness thinner than 45 degrees (about 45 to 80 degrees thick).
Conclusion
- When taking out the thickness, put down the cue, measure the thickness clearly and visually, and then go into address with your body aligned with the cue.
- If you put a twist in the cue ball even with a half-tap, the target ball will run steadily and cleanly along the rail.
Be careful of cue speed that is too slow. You will need to anticipate the slow speed.
Use three things to deal with slowness: twist, cue speed, and thickness.
Details
The ball near the rail is difficult to pocket.
When the angle of aim is about 45 degrees, you have to be very careful.
One of the most common misses is when the target ball glances off the rail and rattles at the entrance of the pocket.
Why do they miss, and what can I do to improve my pocketing success rate?
Even though pocketing a ball near the rail is difficult, it actually has an advantage over pocketing a normal target ball that is not near the rail.
This is because the rail actually makes it easier to get the thickness of the ball.
If you aim at the ball along the rail, you can see that it will go in the direction of the pocket.
The ball near the rail is sometimes angled badly, going to cut the ball about 60 or even 80 degrees thin, and sometimes succeeding.
This is possible because the rail is a visual aid.
If the ball is not near the rail, but in the middle of the table, and the angle between the pocket and the ball is 70-80 degrees, can you cut it?
It’s too thin to even aim at.
This is because it is difficult to get the thickness, and without some visual aid, it is impossible to get the thickness.
Here’s a hint for targeting the ball near the rail.
When aiming for a thin ball near the rail (say 45-80 degrees thick), place the tip of the cue in the center of the imaginary ball and position the cue so that it rises on the line connecting it to the cue ball.
Place the tip of the cue in the center of the imaginary ball, and hold the cue up on the line connecting the cue and the cue ball.
For more information on how to form the cue to the body, please refer to How to Build a Form: Always Set a Reference Point.
This gives you a clear visual aid from the cue ball to the target ball, and a visual aid from the target ball to the pocket as a rail, which actually makes aiming much easier.
However, even so, you may find the ball near the rail difficult to aim.
Why is that?
It’s because the pockets have a narrow range of tolerance.
For example, when you shoot from the center of the table into a corner pocket, you can pocket the ball even if it runs a little to the left or right of the line connecting the target ball and the center of the pocket.
This is because the pocket has a wide range of tolerance.
However, pockets from the edge of the rail have less play, so you need to aim accurately.
How can you do this?
In order to aim accurately, you need to take into account the friction between the cue ball, the target ball, and the rasha.
For more information on the relationship between throw and thickness, please refer to the section on how thickness depends on the cueing technique.
If you cue the ball in such a way as to eliminate the effect of the throw, you will be able to hit the ball relatively true to the thickness.
This is the following method.
- increase the cue speed to reduce the effect of the slow cue.
- add a forward twist to the cue ball, even if it is only a half-tap, to offset the effect of the throw.
However, it is not always possible to add a forward twist.
There are situations where positioning is impossible without hitting the target ball without rotation.
In this case, use a thinner cue and a faster cue speed.
The reason for the thinner cue is to offset the thicker cue that is missed by the slower cue.
The reason for increasing the cue speed is to minimize the effect of the throw.
In addition, there are situations like this.
When you need to hit the target ball with no rotation and with low cue speed.
In that case, aim very thinly.
Even if you aim very thinly, the slow speed of the cue will cause a large amount of throw to be applied, which will offset the slow speed and make the ball go to the pocket just right.
There are also cases like this.
When you have to do a reverse twist for positioning.
In this case, too, you should aim thinly. Even if you hit the target ball thinly, the rotation of the reverse twist will be transmitted to the target ball.
Even if you hit the target ball thinly, the rotation of the reverse twist will be transmitted to the target ball, and the trajectory of the target ball will be corrected toward the pocket, resulting in the target ball heading toward the pocket.
In the case of a reverse twist with a slower cue speed, the effect of the throw will be more pronounced, so make the thickness even thinner.
What do you think?
It depends on the individual, and there is a difference in feeling, so please keep the above in mind and try different things!
The characteristics of the ball near the rail thicker than 45 degrees are different from those of the ball near the rail thinner, which will be explained in another article.
