18

This morning I almost walked away from 18 because I couldn't make a shot. I was on 3rd Gear. Then I said to myself "gotta do this everyday"

From now on though, I'll be using my Joss Cue with the 11.25mm shaft. I always practice otherwise, with my Predator, with the bigger shaft. I always leave the house with my Joss when I shoot league.

Went back and made my last 3, 3rd gear shots in a row. Just gotta search for that sound. When you hear it, you know it's going!   Lester

Next After The One Rail Kicks

Once you are able to go around and pocket the 18 one rail kicks with some consistency, the next step is to put an object ball in front of the cue ball.

Now you have the cue ball and object ball in line with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd "Standard Shot Lines". Let's say you are banking the object ball to the pocket on your left. You would then be using 5:30 outside English. An allowance needs to be made here. Line up the left edge of the cue ball with the center of the object ball. The outside English will throw the cue ball towards the center of the object ball, and hit it closer to full on. The same stroke you use for the kick, banks the object ball.  Lester

Pre Practice 2

If you want to work on "Shifting Gears", here's what you do.You got 3 "Gears". Multiply that by 6 pockets, and you come up with 18.

Start with what ever "Gear" you want to and see how many shots it takes you to make 6 of each. I found the side pockets the hardest because you don't have a rail to come of. What you want is, like I mentioned in a previous post "I hate when that happens", and you scratch. That means you are pretty darn right on!  Lester

Pre Practice

A customer bought my Complete Package. They said that they weren't that far away so maybe some lessons?

If someone were to want lessons, I would have them get something down first. For "Shifting Gears" I would have the person put a ball in front of all the pockets. The cue ball would be set about a foot, or a dot away from the long rail, and parallel towards one dot away from the pocket. When the person had the stroke down to where they could go around the table without missing the 1 rail kicks, then be a good time for me to start showing the subtleties.

The next thing to work on would be 2nd and 3rd gears, again around the table.   Lester

Simple Geometry

I am so used to "Shifting Gears" on my banks, that when I end up the perfect angle for a bank, I get a funny feeling. You just got to remember to hit it at the right speed.

Played a game of 2nd chance kick, on an unfamiliar table where I didn't get a chance to shoot a few test shots. We were playing "Two Or More" and I had a 4-rail set up just right. Hit the first dot away from the pocket with center ball--level cue running english. It went around and hit the long rail first. I raised the cue, still keeping it level, about a half tip. On my Predator cue that comes to about 6 mm's. That's all it took to score on my 2nd chance.  Lester