Combination Shot - Part 1 - Easy Pool Tutor

A combination shot is an advanced shot that you will need to learn in order to become a competitive player and win more games. However, you must already have a good grasp of the basic fundamentals before delving into this more advanced technique. Most importantly, your aiming must be fairly accurate already because combination shots require precise aiming.

A combination shot is a shot where an object ball is hit into one or more object ball to pocket the intended object ball. The illustration below shows you the 5-9 combination shot - the cue ball hits the 5-ball then the 5-ball hits the 9-ball and pockets it.

Aiming a Combination Shot

You can use whatever aiming system you are proficient with to aim a combination shot. The only thing that you need to know is the order of which to aim at what object ball. Basically, you will start by aiming at the ball that you intend to pocket and work your way backwards towards the cue ball. Consider the illustration above. We have a 5-9 combination shot. The first thing we need to do is get our aim point on the 9-ball and use the 5-ball as your cue ball. From this point, you will need to get the aim point on the 5-ball and aim your cue ball towards that point. See the two step process below.

No combination shot is easy. As a matter of fact, combination shots are very difficult and are generally avoided. The reason is because there is very little margin for error on combination shots. Precise aiming is necessary as any error in one of the aiming points is magnified on the next aim spot. For example, in the example above if your aim on the 5 ball is not exact, then it is most likely that the 5 ball will NOT hit the intended aim spot to pocket the 9-ball.

Aiming a Combination Shot Video Demonstration

Video courtesy of Dr. Dave and The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards at www.engr.colostate.edu/pool/