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Of course we’d all rather have a clear open shot at the object ball, but in this article we’ll explore defensive options for kick shots, more specifically, kick shots where the object ball is close to the side rail. Next month, we’ll look at many other kick-safes with many different scenarios. But for now, we’ll start with shots where the object ball is close to the rail because those are easier to control. When an object ball is further away from the rail your margin for error decreases, which makes the safety more difficult.

Many players make the mistake of thinking that when you’re hooked, just hitting the ball is enough to consider the shot successful. However, when you’re playing against very strong players, leaving an open shot is almost as good as giving them ball-in-hand, so having a clear plan is important.

Let’s consider the 9-Ball layout below. This type of scenario comes up more often than you might think, whether the ball was originally tied up from the break or you or your opponent put it there as a safety.  In this particular shot, the cue ball has a clear path to hit a small part of the object ball, but this shot would be useful even if you’re unable to see the ball.

When a ball is tied up you should have one of two objectives:

1) Open up the balls and leave your opponent with no shot OR

2) Keep the balls tied up and leave your opponent no shot.

With this layout, it’s difficult to separate the tied up balls and play a controlled safety so we’ll examine an option of keeping the balls tied up. Many players would aim very thin on the left side of the 1-ball where the cue ball would first contact the 1-ball, then the rail, then it would come off of the rail and drift towards or behind the 5-ball on the opposite side. This is a perfectly good option but it’s also a very touchy shot where you could easily miss the safe or scratch in the side pocket if you don’t play the correct angle.  Another option that many people don’t think to play is similar, but instead you aim for the rail first and instead of sending the cue ball behind the 5-ball, you give it more speed and send it off the side rail down table and hope to block a shot on the 1-ball with either the 6-ball or by leaving the cue ball down towards the bottom rail.

This too can be a touchy shot, and you may have to aim to hit just a very small sliver of the object ball depending on your exact layout. This shot actually comes up quite often so try setting up similar shots and practice how thick and how hard you need to aim in order to get the results you want.

Another shot we should look at is when you’re hooked from the object ball, and it’s just a bit further from the rail than the shot before, but this time it’s not tied up. 

In this case, many players are only concerned with making a legal hit on the object ball. However, you should always have a plan in mind of where you want the object ball and the cue ball to land after your shot. The “hit and hope” method has a low success rate for most. The most effective safety shot in this situation is where you can separate the cue ball and the object ball and likely even hook your opponent behind the ball that you were originally hooked behind. In order to achieve this, you want to kick off the side rail with low english so the cue ball has a little draw when it comes off the rail.

You should set this shot up and get comfortable with how the draw affects the angle of the cue ball’s path off the first rail and in order to see what type of speed is good for different variations of this shot.

Next month’s article will explore some different shots where you have multiple options for which rail to use in order to kick at a ball and how to choose the most effective shot.

Attention APA members who are current or formerly in the military—we want to hear your story! Visit the link below and complete the form detailing who you are, where you are from, where you were/are stationed, how long you’ve been playing in the APA, how long you’ve been/were in the military and anything interesting you’d like to share about your experiences. Family members can feel free to submit something on the military member’s behalf. Stories may be selected as a feature that will be posted on poolplayers.com. Featured members will also receive a cue, t-shirt and hat. Submit yours today!

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Many players write to me asking about banking and kicking. These are two of the most difficult things to master in pool because as soon as you bring a rail into the equation, the balls take on a new life. You’re no longer just working with a straight line in one direction; the spin and speed of the shot suddenly change the paths of the balls. In my next few articles, we’ll examine how to take the guess work out of kicking and how you can start to use kick shots to your advantage.

There are many kicking systems to learn, some are more complicated than others, but this 2-rail kicking system is quite simple and easy to manipulate to work for many different situations. Let’s assume you are solids and playing 8-Ball. Your opponent has left you this shot on the 1-ball.

As you can see, you can’t kick off of either of the long rails—both are blocked by the 8-ball.  You could kick off the rail on the right in this picture, but that’s a tricky shot as you would have to use a bridge and would be cueing over the 8-ball. The best shot in this situation is to kick two rails at the 1-ball. In order to determine where to aim, we first need to understand how to measure the rails.

In the diagram above, make note of the numbers across the two rails. You’ll first envision imaginary lines from each number to the corresponding number on the other rail. It’s important to notice that when you measure these lines, you measure them from the diamond (half way from the rail to the outside of the table) rather than the edge of the rail. Then determine which line the cue ball is on. In this case, the cue ball is lying on the number 3 line—aiming anywhere directly on one of these lines will send the cue ball straight to the corner pocket.  In this situation, you would aim at the 3 on the short rail and always use “running english”. This means when you’re aiming to the left you use one tip of left english and when you’re aiming to the right you use one tip of right english. For this shot we’re shooting to the left so we’ll use left english like the diagram below.

Let’s now look at how you should aim the cue ball if it’s not laying exactly on one of these imaginary lines. Suppose it’s lying between lines like the diagram below. In this case it’s between the number 4 line and the number 5 lines so the point we’ll aim is between the number 4 and the number 5.

Loi Kemple of Rosemead, Calif., is in the U.S. Army Reserves. He was first stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., from 1994-1997. Then, he reenlisted with the Reserves in 2005. Loi was deployed to Iraq from 2006-2007 with 950th Maintenance Company, Los Alamitos, Calif., then with the 304th Sustainment Brigade, Riverside, Calif., from 2008-2009. He returned home and was with the 311th Engineering Battalion out of Camp Pendleton for about a year and a half before joining the 311th Education Services Headquarters Company in West Los Angeles last March.

Loi first got involved with the APA in Jacksonville, Ill. He started playing in APA around 1984, then had to take a break in 1997 and rejoined the League in 2005. He most enjoys the different tournaments, meeting a variety of people and having fun with others.

While deployed, Loi would run APA tournaments on base. He introduced fellow soldiers to the APA rules and formats.

“Pool kept me occupied while deployed, along with other activities,” Loi said. “If I wasn’t on duty or doing other tasks, I would keep practicing my pool skills.”

Loi is rated a skill level 6 in 8-Ball and a skill level 7 in 9-Ball. He recently qualified for the Spring 2012 Singles Regional! Loi will be competing for a spot in the 2012 APA National Singles Championships 9-Ball Shootout!

Kicking and banking are always tricky shots because anytime you use a rail, you have to factor in the english.  English is spin placed on the cue ball when hit with the cue tip to the left or right of the ball's center.  Whether it’s the cue ball or the object ball hitting the rail, the ball will gain some extra english from its contact with the rail. This is why it‘s important to undertand how that english works and how to counter it on certain shots when needed. The shot we’ll discuss this month is a kick shot, in essence, but is commonly referred to as a rail first shot.

The most common time to use this shot is when you’re blocked from having a clear shot at the object ball like the example below.

Just as you would do with most aiming systems, you should first envision where the ghost ball would be. The ghost ball is an imaginary ball that’s lined up with the object ball and the center of the pocket. This is where the cue ball will ideally be when it contacts the object ball.

Once you’ve identified the ghost ball, measure the distance from the center of the ghost ball to the side of the rail (shown in black). Using this same distance, find an imaginary spot on the rail and inline with the original contact point (shown in yellow). This is the spot you want to aim when executing the shot.

At first glance, it looks like a no brainer to aim equal distance from the rail. But, there are actually two factors to consider that make this difficult, and because of these, we must adjust our shot to account for these things. The first thing to realize is that the cue ball does not contact the rail at the spot where our imaginary line crosses the rail (shown by the red dot). It actually hits the rail before that spot because it’s only the center of  the cue ball that will follow that path, not the outside of the cue ball. The second thing to know is that once it contacts the rail, the cue ball will grab a little bit of left english since it’s hitting the rail at a diagonal. To account for these two factors, this shot should be aimed with one tip of right english as shown in the diagram below.

This aiming system is very accurate for shots where the object ball is only a few inches away from the rail. For shots where the object ball is further out, you must use alternative aiming systems for kicking because the angles and the spin become too great to counter them accurately. Another shot this method is useful for is one where you’re lined up straight-in on a shot but need to get the cue ball away from the rail like the example below.

On this shot you would use left english because the rail is on the left side but the same system will apply. I also suggest shooting at pocket speed—just hard enough for the object ball to reach the pocket. This usually helps you block that pocket or leave your ball close to the pocket for an easier shot later if you happen to miss the rail first shot.

Latonia Taylor of Jersey City, N.J., is a proud U.S. Army Reservist. She recently returned from a 13-month deployment in Baghdad, Iraq. It was her second time there and her third deployment overall. She plays a great deal of pool while on base, however mission always comes first. Pool was a quiet distraction from the issues of war.

“I remained focused on my mission, but when I had some free time I would run to the pool table,” Taylor said.  “Playing pool reminded me of all my APA buddies at home—it reminded me that I will be going back home and that my game has actually gotten better while playing other soldiers/contractors in Iraq.”

Latonia said that the Brooklyn/Queens, N.Y., League Operators, Ross and Smith Banfield, were a huge help when she was deployed in 2006.  They sent her APA T-shirts, chalk and food, which all the soldiers loved.  Latonia then held an APA style tournament and the soldiers loved it.  Morale increased and everyone had a good time.  The soldiers for a minute forgot that they were in Iraq and they were able just to have fun playing pool.  It was great for all the soldiers. 

Latonia joined APA in 2004 at a pool hall in Brooklyn, N.Y., and became hooked. She most enjoys the competition aspect of APA because anyone can win on any given League night. She also enjoys the smell in the air in Las Vegas. She’s been twice for the National Team Championships and loved it!