Speed and spin
Choose the hit and the route first. Then choose the stroke: the speed the route needs, and a tip position that helps it. A good stroke is a quiet one.
Speed: enough, not more
Speed has to get the cue ball around three cushions and into the second ball. Beyond that, every extra bit of pace costs you:
- Cushions shorten. A fast ball sinks into the cushion and comes off at a narrower angle, and the amount varies.
- Errors grow. Any slight mis-hit becomes a bigger difference in direction and spin.
- The balls travel. Object balls hit hard go further, around more of the table, and kisses become likely.
- Position goes. A cue ball still running after the point ends up far from the balls.
Some routes need power: long ones, or those around four or five cushions. But no route should need more than a strong, comfortable stroke. The Carombo engine is limited to a strong human stroke, and finds fewer shots that need it than you might expect.
A thin hit wants less speed
On a thin hit the cue ball keeps most of its speed after contact; on a fuller hit it gives much of it to the object ball. So the same route needs a softer stroke when the hit is thin, and a firmer one when it's thick. Get this wrong and the route comes up long or short.
Sidespin (english)
English is mostly about the cushions. Running english widens and steadies the rebounds; reverse narrows them and kills speed. Use running english on routes around the table and moderate amounts: maximum side is hard to strike cleanly and changes the speed. See Running and reverse english.
Follow, draw and stun
- Follow (above centre) keeps the cue ball rolling forward through the first ball. It's the normal stroke for most routes and gives the steady half-ball angle.
- Draw (below centre) brings the cue ball back or makes it take a wider angle off the first ball. Powerful, but harder to control over a long route.
- Stun (centre, so the cue ball slides into the ball) sends the cue ball off close to the tangent line, at about 90 degrees to the object ball's path. Useful when the route has to leave the first ball at a wide angle.