When to use sidespin

[Frenger]

Hello.

I have a few questions. Do you ever use a sidespin when the cue ball does not hit the cushion after the shot? In swerve shot of course and perhaps if you want to come to object ball in a different angle (this is very rare?). I mean is using the sipespin just to get different bounce of the cushion or does it matter on some other ways on the path of the cue ball after hitting the object ball?

Have been arguing with my friend about this and I just want to shut him up.. And the second reason is that I think I am on the situation that I need to start hitting sidespin occasionally.

Thank you very much for the answers.

[GeordieDS]

Hello.

I have a few questions. Do you ever use a sidespin when the cue ball does not hit the cushion after the shot? In swerve shot of course and perhaps if you want to come to object ball in a different angle (this is very rare?). I mean is using the sipespin just to get different bounce of the cushion or does it matter on some other ways on the path of the cue ball after hitting the object ball?

Have been arguing with my friend about this and I just want to shut him up.. And the second reason is that I think I am on the situation that I need to start hitting sidespin occasionally.

Thank you very much for the answers.

It depends if you use the Judd Trump technique

[Csmith]

Some players have used a little bit of side on every shot. The idea is if you aim for centre and accidentally add side, you may miss the ball due to the deflection. But if you always play a little bit of left hand side (or whatever you use), you have already adjusted your aim for the side.

I'm not sure it really works like that though, if you add more side accidentally then you probably aren't compensating enough. If you accidentally hit centre, then you are compensating unnecessarily.

Other players may do it because they feel it reduces kicks, and it helps with controlling the cue ball and potting the ball in general. A lot of pool professionals claim that you should put a bit of outside english on everything unless you need inside. But I think these trends are far more rare in snooker.

For positional play, side generally helps you keep or obtain the angle you need. Playing around the black, for example, I can get on pretty much any red using centre ball only, but some shots require a bit of side to get the angle on the red to get back to the black.

[Big Splash!]

Some players play across the centre of the ball and unwittingly add side; Bingo was one of these for a long time until sightright sorted him out. Some players don't play across the ball but add a bit of right or left and they don't notice or aren't bothered. If it's just half or a quarter of a tips worth, it doesn't affect short potting but it can affect long potting. So the answer is never to use side unless you need to, which is mostly the situation of reducing the reaction angle off the cushion (check side) or increasing it (running side).

Side is a useful tool. As said in other threads, concentrate on hitting a 50 first before considering side. If you've got that far, start experimenting with it. But don't use it when a stun-run or stun would get you into the same position on your next ball. Mastering all the centre line shots is key first: top, plain ball, stun, stun-run, screw and dirty screw as I call it, or stun-screw. There are a lot of players who can't cue through the centre of the ball. It's amazing but true. It's an important skill to learn if you want to max yourself.

[bolty]

Being a below average cueist (at least of this forum), I second Splash. Side makes pots so much more difficult it's not worth it unless you can already cue well. Personally I don't touch side, or at least I don't intend to, unless the pot is super simple.. or I'm going for some wonder-pot which I don't care about missing - because I usually will.

I don't think many [good] players will play side without coming of a cushion to utilise the spin. Otherwise you're making the pot much more difficult for very little benefit. I've seen Parrot once (on the BBC) explaining a shot the N Robertson played with side in order to get a marginal extra bit of angle to force a pot that wasn't quite on. But that seems like such an edge case I wouldn't concern yourself with it.

[tomwalker147]

I very rarely use side when potting unless position requires it, running side etc
I tend to use side more often when playing safe.

[Booters]

I tend to do it on half ball shots more than anything else, particularly into the middle pockets, playing with a touch of side means I can hit the object ball slightly thicker and hold the White a little better, I do it on other shots too but more so into the middle than anything else

[atourdeforce]

Sometimes a touch of side can transfer over to the object ball and help steer it towards the pocket. I would use spin on ultra thin cutbacks etc