In this video 4 times World Champion Gareth Potts explains how to anticipate where the cue ball is going. Being able to anticipate where the cue ball will go when you make a shot is the most fundamental part of honing your pool game. Without an understanding where the cue ball will end up you will struggle to build breaks and win matches against better opponents.
Video Transcription:
Gareth Potts: So in this video, we're now going to look at anticipating
where the cue ball is going to go. I've set up a small routine
here. So I'm now going to put the red ball into the corner. And
what a lot of players don't understand, even a lot of good
players that play 8-ball pool, is where the cue ball is going to
go after I've potted the red ball into the corner.
So I've set up two yellow balls on the rail here. So what I'm
going to do is I'm going to put the red ball into the corner,
and as a natural reaction . . . so I'm playing with no sidespin,
no topspin, no bottom spin. I'm hitting the cue ball in the
middle. So this is what's known as the natural line of the cue
ball comes off after putting the ball. I'm going to try and make
the cue ball hit the yellow ball. And it's all about the natural
line that the ball comes off. So this looks something like this.
So there you can see the natural path that the white took after
potting the red ball is hitting the yellow ball that I'd set up
on the side cushion there. This is something that's really
important to practice, because players struggle to work out
where the cue ball is going to go after you've potted the ball
that you intend to put.
So this is, I've set up a practice routine here, and as you can
see, I've put the yellow, red, yellow, red, going all the way up
the table. This is a good routine for anticipating where the cue
ball's going, because the objective of this particular routine
is to put the yellow, then a red, then a yellow, then a red, and
take the balls out in order. But the reason why it's good is
because you can work out where the cue ball's going off the
cushions. You've got to make to that you don't cannon into
another ball. So you're not allowed to cannon into another ball,
and you have to take the balls in order, working your way all
the way up the table.
And this is just a really good routine that gets you into
working out where the cue ball's going after you've potted one
of the balls. If sometimes you come a little bit too straight on
the ball, you've then got to manipulate the cue ball, and be
careful that you don't touch one of the other balls, and be
careful that you don't knock one of the other balls into the
other balls. So it's just a really good routine for trying to
keep hold of the cue ball. So for argument's sake, the first
shot here is potting the yellow. I know the natural line of this
shot, with just topspin, is going to take the cue ball off the
back cushion and back out, and then the next ball is going to be
this one, and so on.
So I'll just play the first shot here, so you can see I'm going
to put the yellow, the white's going to come off the cushion,
hopefully land around here to put the red ball in this opposite
corner. And this is just going to be the natural line, the cue
ball is going to potted the yellow. So that comes off somewhere
around here. You then put the next red. And it's just a way of
working out the natural lines, without playing with any sidespin
or any topspin. Just working out exactly where the cue ball is
going to go after you've potted a ball for your next one.
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