I’m going to show you an easier way to get shape using your tangent lines; not going across them but rather going with them.

In the video above, you can see we’ve got a five ball on one end of the table and after I make that shot I want to get good shape. If I shoot the ball going across the tangent line, the shape isn’t that great. I have a hard cut or I have a cut in the side. Neither option is ideal.

After I hit the ball, I ended up going across the tangent line, which is that imaginary line that’s drawn from the other ball I want to make and the pocket I want to make it into. Now, lets try shooting it again while getting shape for the other pocket. This method makes the cue ball go away from the ball and then towards the ball. Once that happens, the cue ball is in a much better place and I have a huge amount of room for error.

In a way, this shot is the difference between an experienced player and an inexperienced player. You’ll often see the inexperienced players shooting for that narrow shooting space, while the more experienced players will try to get their shot to end up in a much larger shooting space.