Massey's Bag of Tricks

By Mike Massey

Juice It for the Juice

After an exhibition o­ne night while I was touring in Germany about 12 years ago, a spectator came up to me and propositioned me into trying to make the shot in Diagram #1. When I looked at the shot and studied it for a few seconds, I took him up o­n the bet for my favorite barroom drink at the time, a grapefruit juice o­n the rocks.

The object of the shot is to shoot into the 7 ball and make the cue ball curve around the 8 ball to pocket the 9. The cue ball is frozen to the 7 ball and both balls are frozen to the cushion. The 8 is frozen to the cushion a couple of inches past the side pocket, and the 9 ball is hanging in the corner pocket. 

I knew a shot similar to this that I had learned from Jim Mataya many years before. Of course the bets were different back then-more like the cost of 20 or 30 cases of grapefruit juice! The shot I learned from Jim was the shot in Diagram #2, which has the same objective of making the cue ball curve and pocket the 9 ball.

In order to execute the second shot, you must elevate your cue about 50 to 55 degrees and shoot straight into the 2 ball with about 7:30 english and stroke as though you are trying to make a normal massé around the interfering balls. By shooting into the 2 ball, the cue ball will slow up and curve much sooner than a normal massé. If you have trouble getting around the five balls, you might remove the 3 ball and just go around four by aiming a little to the left of the aiming point.

Now, let's get back to the first shot. After I studied the shot, I decided to shoot the same way I would in Diagram #2 except aim out to the left a little. I must have tried the shot three or four times and missed every time, coming up short and hitting the 8 ball or the cushion before it. I finally gave up and asked my new friend how to make the shot. After he showed me how easy it was, I almost felt embarrassed.

The shot is much easier than the o­ne in Diagram #2. All you have to do is aim out an inch or so left of the 8 ball, elevate your cue stick about 15 degrees, and hit the cue nice and firm at about 5 o'clock low. Really juice it up with a lot of spin. The right english will throw the 7 ball to the left out past the 8 ball, and the cue ball will curve nicely around the 8 ball to pocket the 9.

If you don't curve enough, you're probably shooting too hard, aiming too far left, or not elevating your cue enough. If you curve too much or too soon, you are doing the opposite: shooting too easy, not aiming far enough left, or elevating too much. Good luck!