The Stop Shot in Pool

Video Transcript

"Ok, our next shot on our three most basic cue ball positions shots is the stop shot. And, we need to understand what kind of an action do we need to have on the cue ball on contact with the object ball in order to get it to stop. And I'm just going to tell you, what you want to be looking for on every stop shot, regardless of distance is you want to be trying to catch the cue ball in it's slide. In other words, that's the action that we really want on the cue ball is no action at all. We don't want it to have any excess forward roll, we don't want it to have any excess backspin or side spin or anything else. What we want it to do is slide into that ball. Because if it slides straight in to the object ball what's going to happen is the cue ball is going to impart all of it's energy to the object ball, sending the object ball on its way, and the cue ball is going to lose everything it's got going for it and it's going to stop dead still. So from this position right here in order to slide this ball from there to there, it should be a simple matter of hitting it right at the center. Because when you hit it at the center, that's when it's going to slide. And on a fast cloth like this, it should be able to be hit right in the center and slide all the way over to that ball, and stop. That's what we're looking for. Sliding action for a stop shot."