Basic Position Play

The Cue Ball

Contrary to popular belief, the cue ball will not do anything that you don't tell it to do. Read that over and over until it sinks in. If you miss a shot or position, guess why. You told it to do what it did. The prerequisite for cue ball control is self control.

Speed is a very important aspect for cue ball control. This lessons discusses more into detail about how the speed of stroke changes the direction of the cue ball after it hits the object ball. The illustrations will let you clearly see where the cue ball generally goes after hitting it on the same spot but with different speed on your stroke. These illustrations are more than enough to show you what I mean without explaining the process in so many words.

Choose the natural path of the cue ball

The term "natural path" here means that when the cue ball is hit with centerball stroke (the natural stroke), the cue ball will then travel its natural path. You are probably wondering why this is important. The main reason why most good players choose the natural path of the cue ball whenever possible is because it is very easy to determine exactly where the cue ball will travel. You know that hitting the object ball (at an angle) with centerball stroke and medium speed on the cue ball will result in the cue ball to travel at a 90 degree angle from the direction of the object ball (refer to this lesson on basic position play). Playing the natural path is the only way for you to be absolutely sure where the cue ball will travel, where it will hit the rail, etc.

Here are two more principles that you can use as guidelines when playing for position.

Now that you have a basic idea of where the cue ball goes after contacting the object ball and perhaps even control the position where the cue ball halts to a stop, you are now ready to learn these basic principles to play position of the cue ball the right way. This simply means that there are many ways to position your cue ball for your next shot but there are a few ground rules for playing it right.

The Figure below shows you a situation using a draw shot with a straight-in shot. The cue ball position for the draw shot (indicated by a black circle) draws the cueball a few inches and still gain acceptable position for the eight ball.