Pool Bank and Kick Shots - 8 in the Corner Shot

Andy Segal: Hi, I am Andy Segal and in this shot we present it with a tricky situation in a game of 8-ball. We have the cue ball and the 8-ball frozen to each other, right along the second diamond line and what do you do in a situation like this. Well, most people would think to shoot somewhere into the 8 and try and bank the 8 ball. Most people will not think, instead of shooting into the 8 to shoot into the cushion and kick the 8-ball into the pocket. That s what I am going to try and do, I am going to kick the 8-ball right into this pocket and we are going to use the concept that we used in one of the previous shots, called compress the rail. I am going to shoot into the rail, the cue ball is going to compress the rail and then bank out and it s going to do it enough to cut the 8-ball this way into the corner pocket. Now the way you aim on this shot is you have to find your spot for each table and again, it s going to be different for each table. For this table, I am going to put my cue stick right over the outer corner of this score, right there and that s my line of aim. I am going to shoot right in to the rail with no English, centre ball and cut the 8 right into the pocket. Now, what happens if you miss, let s talk about how to adjust. Well, let s assume, that I shot the ball this way and you see it didn t even hit the 8 or I shoot it like this and the 8-ball misses over here. What that means is I am not shooting with enough angle. In that case, I had cue stick too far to the right so when I shoot it kicks into the 8-ball too soon and the 8-ball comes over here. So, in that case, I need adjust and aim over this way. Similarly, if the 8-ball hits over here that means I am hitting it with too much angle and I need to adjust this way. Another thing that can happen if I hit it with too much angle is the cue ball can escape all together. In that case, it s the same adjustment. I adjust back this way. Last thing you have to remember on this compression kick shot is to make sure that you follow through. You want the cue stick to go straight through the cue ball into the rail. In fact, if you shoot it right the cue stick goes right through the cue ball into the rail, through the wood and it comes out over here if you shoot it right. What you want to do, is you want the cue tip to be pressed up underneath the rail after you are done shooting it, like this. That concludes our four shot bank and kick shot video series but definitely don t go away because we have a lot of other great trick shots in other videos coming up.