Today we’re going to learn how to do Kill Shots. The Kill Shot is for when you’re shooting close to the rail and you want to keep your shape down close to it.

You can see in the video that when I shoot the ball softly with no English, the cue ball takes off after making contact with the object ball. That’s not to say that the resulting shot is “unmakeable” but it’s certainly harder when the cue ball gets that far away.

The way to do it better is to use low English and to use the English with cue ball going away from my object ball. In this particular shot, I’d be using Right English so that the cue ball goes away from my next ball to-be-sunk. The low English should be hit with the right speed so that it dies by the time it hits the rail.

As you can see, shooting with this low, right English, the cue ball dies shortly after making contact with the object ball. This gives me much a better position to shoot my next shot from. That low English makes the ball spin backwards which will stop the cue ball.

Today we’re going to learn how to do a 9 Ball Break. You can break anywhere for 9 ball or 8 ball but ideally you want to try to start from the center and begin working your way to the outsides. The reason for this is because it’s going to increase your chances of pocketing the ball.

The further you get to the outsides, the more that the ball will swing the other balls around when it breaks. It’s a better chance of making the ball.

In the example video above, I want to hit the 1 ball head-on, not off to the sides. The reason I want to get it head-on is because I’m going to get full impact into it and I’m going to try to keep my cue ball in the center of the table. Another reason to keep my cue ball in the center is that it will increase my chances of getting shape on the 1 ball.

After we take the shot, we can see that the cue ball stayed mainly in the center, my 1 ball flew into the side pocket, I can see the 2 ball and I’ve got a good break that allows me some decent shots for my next shot.

Lets learn how to do Three-Rail Kick Shots. Just like Two-Rail Kick Shots, this is a very useful technique to learn for general gameplay. You’ll find that the basic principles of kick-shots apply to just about everything else in the game, so this is a great technique to learn.

Everybody is a little different on how they approach their three-rail kick shots. You’ll want to use running English for your kick-shots. This means that once the cue ball hits the rail, it’ll take off faster.

You next need to find a spot somewhere in the room that’s approximately 20 feet out from where you are. This is where you want to aim your ball using running English. Once you have your spot picked out, and you’ve taken a few successful shots to verify that it’s the correct spot to be aiming at, you can then position the cue ball anywhere on the table and still use that spot to make your shot.

Here’s an easy technique for shooting the cue ball off the rail. It starts with the way you hold your cue. Many people hold their cue with their whole hand, their middle finger, their front two fingers, etc. The easiest style for just a clean, simple shot is to hold the cue with your back two fingers.

This technique will give you very little error. When you follow-through the cue is perfectly straight. However, you can’t get a lot of force behind shots like this, so it’s not ideal for most other shots and that’s why you don’t want to use this technique for general playing.

So, holding your cue with your back two fingers, go ahead and line up your shot and take it. Shoot normally and you’ll more than likely make your ball.