Billiards

:This article is about the group of cue games. In the UK, "billiards" is the name for the specific game of English billiards. In the Netherlands, billiards is the name for the game of Carambole billiards.

Shooting techniques

English ? the spin put on a cue ball to affect its direction after the object ball is struck; to give shooter an easier shot to follow current shot. These include follow, draw and stop, as well as left or right or some combination thereof.

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If the cue ball is not struck directly in the center, spin will be imparted onto the cue ball. Spin can be used to control the path of the cue ball. This spin can also influence the path that an object ball will take when it is hit by the cue ball. Unintentional spin can cause missed shots.

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If the cue ball is struck above the center of the ball, follow is said to be imparted to the ball. If the cue ball is struck below the center of the ball draw is imparted. Follow is over spin, where the cue ball is spinning faster than it would from its natural roll. The main use for this is to control what happens when the cue ball hits an object ball. If the cue ball has overspin on it, the cue ball, after making contact dead-on with the object ball, rather than stopping abruptly, will resume rolling forward and follow the struck ball. If the cue ball was hit with draw, it will reverse direction after hitting an object ball dead-on and draw back. If the cue ball does not hit the object ball dead-on, the cue ball will travel in a line tangential to the point of impact between both balls if the cueball carries no vertical spin. Top spin will cause the cueball to parabolically arch away from the tangent line in the direction of cueball travel, whereas bottom spin will cause the cueball to arch backwards from the line of travel. Spin dissipates as the cue ball travels, thus the effect will be less pronounced when it finally contacts an object ball - indeed, the backspin may have dissipated entirely by the time the cueball contacts the object ball.

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If the cue ball is struck to the left or right of center, english or side spin is imparted. Interchangeable terms for the type of english include left or right english and running english or reverse english. The latter two terms are useful to describe what happens when a ball hits a rail. If a ball has running english, it will speed up when it hits a rail, and angle of the rail will be shallower than if the ball had no english on it. If the ball has hold up or reverse english, then the speed of the ball will slow down when it hits a rail and will come off the rail at greater angle than if it did not have side spin on it. Hitting a rail in itself will impart some spin onto the ball.

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Another effect of spin is called throw. When a cue ball hits a ball, the friction between the balls can affect the path the object ball will travel. If a cue ball was hit on the left side and hits a ball fairly fully with moderate speed, it will tend to throw the ball to the right.

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If the cue ball is struck so that spin is imparted along both axes, then the effects of both can be combined. Hitting a ball with draw and sidespin can actually cause the ball to curve. A shot called the massé, when the ball is hit from above, can cause the ball to go forward, curve, and then reverse direction. This shot is quite difficult. The massé is not allowed in some places as the table's cloth can be damaged.

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Another technique known as the jump shot is allowed in some games such as nine ball. A legal jump shot requires that the ball be hit above centre driving it down into the table, such that the ball will leave the table surface. This is a difficult shot, and can also damage the table cloth. As such, this shot is also forbidden in some establishments.

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Applying a significant amount of force with a hit below centre at a low angle can also create a jump. This technique is very difficult to control and more often than not it is the result of an accidental poorly-made shot rather than a practiced technique. This is considered an illegal shot in most games, but is accepted by some in casual settings.

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