Three-Cushion Exam

Assessment: Unknown — —

Shot List

Basic

Big ball in the corner

An easy shot with many variations of thickness and spin all leading to the corner. This is the primary pattern in three cushion, played with running side.

Ticky

An easy shot with many variations of thickness and spin all leading to success. Once you can judge the cushion angle then you can vary spin and speed for position play.

Making it long

The ball will naturally head for the corner, so learn how to make it go long by hitting fuller ball or thinner.

Short angle

A very important pattern, a supposedly easy shot, but watch out to avoid the cue ball curving after the first cushion if hit too hard.

Intermediate

Short angle with draw

Finding the right amount of backspin takes some practice, when you get the feel for this shot it becomes more forgiving.

Rail first double rail

Can be an easy shot when it is at max spin, practice how much spin you need depending on the angle of attack.

Three-Cushion Break

Half ball, medium pace and not too much spin, you will get good at this in no time, but it takes some patience to learn a repeatable setup.

Standard rail first

All players love this shot, all players will have made this shot, but if you want to make it reliable you will need to learn a system.

Long cushion double rail

Avoid hitting the long cushion too near the corner as it makes it sensitive to spin. Top spin helps make short cushion less wild.

Outside plain ball

Best played with pure topspin, the final cushion will pick up side from the trajectory.

Five cushion

An easy shot if you can avoid the kiss. Often in three cushion it is easier to find a five cushion solution.

Advanced

Long plain ball

Taken from a Korean system video, speed is all important here, slower makes it longer.

Full ball short angle

Sometimes it is easier to hit a fuller ball with more spin to create more angle on the final cushion.

Force follow double rail

Lots of top spin and the cue ball will hug the rail

Draw to long cushion

Force the cue ball onto the natural line with draw

Short-long-short center table

This frequently occurring shot is very sensitive to aim. Ideally you want to hit the long cushion perpendicularly and allow the spin to hold to the third cushion. When aiming pick a target on the third cushion with a big angle into the target ball.

Rail first shallow angle

For shallow angles top spin will make it more reliable.

The drop in

A very difficult starting position, this shot is hard to judge but nice when you do

Big ball with position

An easy shot with many variations of thickness and spin all leading to the corner. Try to get the red into the opposite corner to improve positional chances for the next shot. (positional bonus)

Three-Cushion break positional

Half ball, medium pace and not too much spin, you will get good at this in no time, but it takes some time to learn the setup. Try to get the red around to the same side of the table as the yellow for perfect position.