There are situations where a one-rail kick shot is not available as an option. In this case you either have to go two, three or even more rails to make a good hit on the intended object ball. This lesson will explain the basic two-rail kick shot and its proper execution.

The last part of the basic kick shot lesson shows the parallel technique for executing a one-rail kick. This same technique can also be used to execute a two rail kick. For people who are still unfamiliar with the term "Kick Shot", this refers to a shot where the cue ball will need to hit the cushion or rail before hitting the intended object ball.

To illustrate the proper execution of a two-rail kick, let's look at figure 1 below:

Figure 1

In this type of ball positions, you simply need to find the half way point from the cue ball to the object ball. Then draw an imaginary line from the mid point going towards the corner pocket (indicated by the dashed line). The next step is to use this imaginary line as a basis to find the point on the cushion to aim the cue ball (indicated by point A). Point A is determined by using a line that is parallel to the imaginary line from the mid point to the corner of the pocket.

In the previous illustration (Figure 1) shows you a simple geometric calculation for executing a two-rail kick, however, minor adjustments are needed to execute this shot and hit the 1 ball. Because english or spin is naturally applied on the cue ball as it bounces off the first and the second rail, you would actually make adjustments to aim closer to the corner pocket to allow for the effect of english on the cue ball. In the illustration below (Figure 2), this is indicated by the black line.

Figure 2

Practice two-rail kicks to familiarize yourself with it so that you'll have a "feel" of where the correct point on the rail to aim.