‘THE SENSEI’S’ CORNER Roy Yamane
Master BCA Certified Instructor
WHAT PATH DO I TAKE?

When approaching a shot, one has to decide which path would be the best choice to get the easiest position. There are many factors that you should remember. The best path is the one you are familiar with. It is good to know if the other shots are possible for you to do. Decide on a clear path to the chosen result. If there are other object balls that would interfere in it’s path, change to another route. Once you commit to playing the shot, consider ball speed, sidespin and high, middle or low English.
Try this for an experiment to see if you can do all or some of the different shot positions from (A to E). Remember that every pool table plays differently: the type, grade and newness of the felt; the ball speed; the liveliness or dead rails, and the dampness and cleanliness of the table condition. Every time you change the contact location of the cue tip to the cue ball, the path will be altered. The shot shown is a typical one that could have a different outcome if either ball had been moved slightly. Try this shot by using pressure sensitive ‘Do-nuts,’ or ‘Hole Reinforcements’ (made by Avery and purchased at any stationary store for three-hole notebooks). This will give you the same shot every time you attempt it. Practicing the same shot over and over again will give great feedback to what extremes you can and can’t do. Remember, when applying any sidespin, allow for deflection and throw.
The easiest route to get to the next ball from this diagram after shooting the cue ball ‘CB’ into the object ball ‘OB,’ would be a natural center ball hit (Position A). Contacting more rails rather than less rails is more forgiving and predictable.
Position B requires high topspin. The difference in the speed from A and B is that the topspin will make the ball run longer so reduce the speed to 90% compared to shot A.
Position C requires low left draw. This shot requires enough finesse’ speed to draw the ball after contacting the OB but not too much power or you will over-run the shot. If you shoot too soft, the cue ball will loose the low backspin by the time it reaches the OB because of friction time and energy, and will almost run in the same path D limiting the distance and be short. Remember, shots will travel more that have running spin on the ball than shots with reverse spin like E.
Position D requires about one full tip to the left level at the equator middle.
Position E requires a full tip to the right. The reverse spin on the rail will slow the cue ball down slightly so give it more than shot D. Some tables vary on the amount of reverse spin you may acquire and you could get too much and contact near the third rail of Position C. New vs. old felt will vary this shot and new felt is harder to predict this shot. On new felt, you may barely get it to come to E as shown but on older felt, the same shot might contact the third rail as C does.
The higher percentage shots in comparison would be A & C because of contacting more rails which will slow the cue ball down after contacting the last rail in comparison to finding the right ball speed as with the other shots. Both A & C also are going into the position angle rather than coming across as in B, D, & E. Check the path out on each shot and see that if you were 8-10 inch shorter or longer on all the shots. The only ones that would not be as difficult would be A & C.
One major factor to remember and plant in your head is to always remember that A & B is a left-handed shooter shot more so than a right handed one. For a right-handed player, shot C, D, & E the shot is easy, even if you were to come up short. The hips will interfere on the reversal of the lefty and right-hander and the reach turns into using a Bridge.
Now that I have confused you with so many options, find out which is easier for you and if you are confident with one over the other, take the right path and you will be gifted with more wins to the final ball.