This is Your Captain Speaking

By John W. Loftus

Scratch o­nly When You Have an Itch

During a recent local 8-ball tournament that I won, I was faced with the following cut shot o­n the 8 ball (Diagram 1). My opponent had failed to run out and left me with this shot. I knew I should almost always take a fairly tough cut shot over a long bank shot, and this is what I faced. But it was also a potential scratch shot o­n the money ball itself. I might scratch no matter which corner pocket I hit it in. If I scratched, then my opponent wouldn't have to win the game himself. I would have handed it to him-and I knew I should avoid that as much as possible. In similar cases like this, I will usually consider some kind of hook, try a two-way shot, or give my opponent a difficult bank shot, forcing him to win the game o­n his own. But I didn't want to give him another turn at the table.

I chose to make the 8 ball in Pocket "A" rather than Pocket "B" because it was easier and because of the greater distance the cue ball would have to travel before coming close to scratching in the opposite corner pocket. The greater the distance between the 8 ball and a potential scratch, the more that the english I put o­n the cue ball has a chance to take effect and spin away from the pocket.

When I face cut shots like this, I try to think the shot through before I even get down o­n the shot. Then, while I am getting down o­n the shot, I try to aim while I am bending down to get in position to make the shot. I try to visualize a ghost ball located in the very spot where I want my cue ball to make contact with the 8 ball, and then, with my warm-up strokes, I try to visualize it going in the pocket as I hit it. I had envisioned it going into Pocket "A" using topspin, but when down o­n the shot, I had some doubts about scratching in Pocket "B."  I usually trust my first instincts, but because I had doubts, I stood up and started the process all over again. When we shoot with doubts, we will usually do something wrong and miss the shot.

Now what should I do? Here's a little trick I use whenever I face potential scratch shots. I use my pool stick and place it behind the 8 ball perpendicular to the center of Pocket "A" (Diagram 2). This is a mechanical way to see something o­n the table when I'm not sure where the cue ball will go. When I did this, I noticed that the cue ball would hit o­n the right side of Pocket "B" if the cue ball had no spin o­n it when it made contact with the 8 ball. At that point, I could see that using top spin would send it directly toward Pocket "B." So I said to myself, "What were you thinking?"

Now I could see that using back spin would be the better way to avoid the scratch in Pocket "B," for it would curve the cue ball back away from the corner pocket even more. And to hedge my bets, I cheated the pocket to the right using right spin, which would also throw the 8 ball to the left. Doing all of this not o­nly increased the odds of my not scratching in Pocket "B," but it also helped to avoid scratching in Pocket "A" as the cue ball came off that rail. So, having thought it through, I shot it, and in it went as planned (Diagram 3). Whew, that's a lot to think about! Now if it was all just second nature from the get go.

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