Massey's Bag of Tricks

By Mike Massey

Double Choo Choo Shot

I've been doing exhibitions for 30 years now and have traveled over 3 million miles performing. It doesn't matter where I go-Africa, China, Russia, Europe, Saudia Arabia, or the States-the Chattanooga Choo Choo Shot is o­ne of the most liked and requested shots.

There are many different versions of this shot, and when I was asked to do a popular television show in Barcelona, Spain, called "Carom Christmas" a few years ago, I came up with a new version. I call it the Double Choo Choo Shot.The setup is rather simple.  You take six fairly straight house cues and place them as diagrammed, making sure when you roll a ball down the cues that they will go into the side pocket. You should test them before shooting the shot. Make sure that they're snugly placed into the corner pockets with o­ne of them open wide enough for the 2 and 3 balls to roll up them and turn the corner, landing o­n the cues that are placed side by side. Then they will roll down the cues into the side pocket.

The 1 ball is placed approximately four inches from the side pocket, with the 2 and 3 balls frozen to it. Place the 4 ball in the jaws of the opposite side pocket and the cue ball straight out from the 1 ball about eight inches away.

Shoot straight into the 1 ball with 6 o'clock draw and o­ne tip below center with a medium-hard stroke.  The 1 ball should go straight into the side, and the cue ball should draw back to make the 4 ball. The 2 and 3 balls will go up the cues, turn the corner, and roll down the cues into the side pocket.

If you have trouble with the 2 and 3 balls hitting each other by arriving at the same time, just place a very small folded piece of paper as diagrammed to slow up o­ne of them. For beginners, if you have trouble drawing your cue ball, just use the 1, 2, and 3 balls.

Make sure that you sing the Chattanooga Choo Choo song when the balls start rolling down the cues. It starts out, "Pardon me, boy, is that the ChattanoogaChoo Choo"

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