20. Bend The Rules With Kisses
Most players have heard the phrase “It’s a dead one.” Usually this refers to a frozen combination that can’t be missed, so it is called “Dead.” Later in this series, I’ll give a couple of examples of these. Sometimes, a dead one can be a kiss shot where the first object ball that the cue ball contacts is certain to kiss into a pocket. Imagine the two scenarios below with the clusters shifted toward the center of the table so the light dashed tangent line is aimed right to the middle of each side pocket. These kisses would then be “on” or “dead.”
There is a way to help these shots go in if the natural tangent line isn’t dead. In the example on the left, the dark object ball will move forward from the tangent line if draw imparted on the cue ball transfers to follow on the object ball. Likewise, follow on the shot at the right of the diagram will put a trace of draw on the dark object ball and pull it backwards from the tangent line to find the pocket. Note that it helps to have an extra ball for ‘support’ behind the right hand cluster.
So don’t just look for “Dead Ones”, keep your eyes out for “Slightly Dead Ones” too.
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