Scoring and defence togetherLeaving the opponent a difficult position if your attempt at the point misses

ScalesReference linePath

Reference position

Spinside −3 · high

3/8

Ball fraction3/8

Speed2/5

White hits the yellow with a 3/8 ball fraction, a high hit and left spin, at speed 2. The yellow goes to the bottom short cushion, travels the length of the table and stops a little off the top short cushion. White takes the left long, right long and bottom short cushions, misses the red by a hair and stops right next to it. No point, but the yellow is at the top end, white and red at the bottom end: the opponent has to play a long path with a far ball 2. The yellow circle shows the area where the cue ball should stop if it misses, the green area the target for the yellow. Mistake: arriving fast at the red and dragging white to the middle of the table.

The best defence is the one built while genuinely trying to score. In the same layout there are often two or three scoring paths; when one of them misses it leaves the balls spread out and far apart for the opponent, while another gathers all three balls together. In this lesson you will see how ball 2, the arrival speed and the cue ball's stopping place are planned when choosing the scoring path. White is your cue ball, yellow is the opponent's ball.

When? When there is a scoring path but it is not certain; when red-first and yellow-first options both exist in the same position; when you have to choose the speed of arrival at ball 3.

Tips

1Apply the rule "slow to the red, hard to the yellow": if ball 3 is the red, arrive at it softly so that even if you miss, the white stays next to it. If the yellow (the opponent's ball) is ball 2 or ball 3, hit it with enough speed to send it to the far end.
2If you can play the yellow first, choose that: you send the yellow to the far short cushion with a 3/8 ball and arrive at the red slowly. Even if you miss, the white and the red stay at one end and the yellow at the other.
3If you have to play the red first, hit the red very thin (1/8 in the example): the red travels little and is not carried into the yellow's area. Then the white hits the yellow full and lively; the yellow goes to the far short cushion.
4If you hit ball 2 full, you send it far and to a place you cannot predict. In the faulty example with a 5/8 hit on the red, the red travels back up the table and stops next to the yellow; plan the path of ball 2 as carefully as that of the cue ball.
5If there is no good direct angle on the yellow, play a bricole: let the white go first to a cushion and then to the yellow. That way you make the yellow ball 2, send it to the far end and arrive at the red slowly; the first cushion also counts as one of the three cushions.
6Choose your margin for a miss in advance: decide on which side of ball 3 the white will stay safer if you miss it (the side away from the yellow) and aim slightly closer to that side of ball 3.
7If the same scoring path also works at several speeds, choose the slowest. Slow balls travel less, the chance of a kiss (an unwanted collision of the balls) drops, and you can judge better where the balls will stop.

Voice coach

PRO

The voice coach is part of the Pro and Club plans.

See plans

Watch outDo not spoil the scoring path out of defensive concern: the goal is that the shot that makes the point is also harmless if it misses.

Watch outHitting the red full and fast often sends the red around the table and brings it next to the yellow.

Watch outThe paths are drawn with ideal reflection without spin; on a real table spin and speed change the angles.