Using English and Bank Shots - Easy Pool Tutor

Using Inside English

This lesson will explain how the use of english affects the angle at which the object ball banks off the cushion. The first part of this lesson will be discussing the effects of inside english.

Refer to the illustration below. The illustration shows the cue ball being hit with inside english. When the cue ball contacts the object ball, a transfer of spin is applied on the object ball. The spin on the object ball is the reverse from that of the cue ball, therefore the object ball now carries "outside" english. You have learned from the lesson about position play that reverse english decreases the angle of the ball off the cushion.

In the above illustration, the white line indicates the normal path of the ball when no english is applied on the cue ball and the correct amount of speed is also applied. This is "angle in equals angle out" as discussed in the previous lesson on bank shots. The black line indicates the path of the object ball when inside english is applied on the cue ball causing a transfer of spin to the object ball that is opposite the spin of the cue ball. This opposite spin on the object ball then causes a decrease in the angle of bank of the object ball off the cushion.

Study this illustration carefully and try it a few times and you will start to get a feel of how the balls reacts using inside english on the cue ball at different stroke speeds.