Kick Shots in Pool

Video Transcript

"In this segment we're going to talk about kick shots. Now kick shots are what many people term bank shots. Because they look a lot like a bank shot and they are actually lined up the same as you line up a bank shot. But, for serious pool players, they like to make a distinguishing difference between the two of them. In that a kick shot, to a pool player, means that your driving the cue ball to a cushion before it approaches an object ball, with a set up like this. So, if I drive this cue ball into that cushion, as such, to come over the hit that ball, then I'm said to be kicking at it rather than banking it. So, it's just a difference in the terminology. But, again, with serious players, if one of them is telling the other one, "You need to play the kick shot here." Then that other player knows exactly what they're talking about. It means drive the cue ball off of a cushion towards an object ball before doing that. But, outside of that, as far as how you determine where to hit the cushion, it's just like a bank shot. So, if I wanted this ball to come in, this cue ball to come off that cushion over to here, I have to figure out my angles so that I get my contact point going in so that I try to get the correct angle coming out to pocket my ball. "