Easy One Rail Kick System

Hello fellow PoolDawgians! This week I would like to show you a very solid one rail kicking system that I learned a long time ago. Over the years, it has proven to be extremely reliable versatile.

This system uses three points and a parallel shift. Let's get right into it, shall we? If you look at Figure A, you will see that if we want to make the 1 ball, our path is blocked by the 4 ball. We have to figure out a way to shoot the cue ball into the rail so that it kicks back into the 1 ball. There is a very reliable system to help us figure out exactly where on the rail we need to shoot the cue ball in order to achieve that goal.

The first thing we need to do is figure out where to hit the 1 ball so we have a chance to make it in the bottom side pocket. We need to find the contact point on the 1 ball as shown in Figure A. We will call this spot Point A.

Contact Point of Object Ball

In order to find the next point, we must draw a straight line from Point A all the way over the rail that we will be hitting first. This is illustrated in Figure B, we have now found our second point. We will refer to it as Point B.

Line From Contact Point of OB to Rail

Finding the third and final point is a little tricky but can be easily mastered. What we must do is imagine a straight line that would connect the cue ball to the 1 ball. We then find the exact halfway point between the cue ball and the 1 ball along this line. This halfway point between the cue ball and the 1 ball is now our third and final point. We will call this Point C as illustrated in Figure C.

Halfway Point Between Object Ball and Cue Ball

So now we have all these points. What do we do with them? The first step is to connect Point B with Point C as shown in Figure D. This shows us the angle we will need to take when we hit the cue ball into the rail.

Connect Halfway Point and Rail point for Rail Kick

Now that we have a line connecting those two points, the next and final move is to make a parallel shift to the cue ball. This gives us the point on the rail we must hit with a center ball and medium speed to make the 1 ball.

Parallel Line Shot for a Rail Kick System

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Here's a brief synopsis of how to make this kick shot:

1. Find Point A (the contact point on the object ball we want to hit).

2. Find Point B (draw a straight line across the table from Point A, to the rail we are going to hit).

3. Find Point C (draw a straight line between Cue ball and Object ball. The halfway point between them is Point C).

4. Connect Point B with Point C.

5. Parallel shift to the Cue ball (imagine a line that crosses the center of the Cue ball and is parallel to the line that connects Point B & C).

6. Hit with a center ball and medium speed.

Practice this system and you will give up ball in hand much less and even kick in a few shots in the process.

Until next time,

Mikey V