Aside from the break and the shot on the 9-ball, one of the most important shots in a game of 9-Ball is the first shot after the break. This shot sets the tone for the entire rack. As player skill levels progress, this shot becomes more and more important. The consequence of missing, or not correctly executing this shot, is more detrimental because your opponent is more likely to run out and rack up a good amount of points. Unfortunately, you won’t always have an easy, open shot at the 1-ball.  In most 9-Ball breaks, the 1-ball will go towards the side pocket, and if it’s not pocketed, it’ll move up table to the middle of the top rail.

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In my first year playing in the APA, I began taking lessons with a well-recognized instructor, Rod Gustafson, who taught me most of what became my foundation of pool knowledge. I’ve previously mentioned that before he ever taught me other concepts, we focused on the idea of controlling the table rather than just learning how to run out. This particular layout was one of the very first things I learned— it made a world of difference in my scores because it gave me more opportunities at the table.

This month’s article will focus on several routine safeties that can be played right after the break. If you pay attention in your matches, this layout or something similar will come up quite often. Many times the “wing balls,” which in the diagram are the 2-ball and 6-ball, will likely be pocketed in one of the corner pockets.

One-Ball Bank Safety

For our layout, let’s say the 2-ball goes in off of the break and you’re left with the layout below.

Since we don’t have a good shot to pocket the 1-ball in this layout, the goal of this safety is to bank the 1-ball down table with just enough speed to get to the bottom rail. You want to aim the 1-ball straight into the rail so it’ll go down table and stay as close to the middle of the rail as possible to not leave a good offensive shot at the 1-ball.  Be sure to aim with follow/top spin on the cue ball.

Many players think that you can’t practice safeties, but all of these safeties are shots that you should set up over and over again to get the right feel for where to aim and how much speed to hit. In this shot, we’re more concerned about where the 1-ball goes than the cue ball. If you hit this at the right speed for the 1-ball to stay near the end rail, your cue ball will naturally stay within a foot or so of the other rail. In this shot, it’s okay to allow your opponent to see the 1-ball; we’re simply trying to leave your opponent with no clear offensive shot.

Thin 1-Ball Cut Shot

This shot is essentially the opposite of the last shot and takes a little more speed control with the cue ball. Shoot the cue ball with a thin cut on the right side of the 1-ball so that the cue ball follows the path similar to the diagram below.

This shot has a higher level of difficulty because rather than controlling just one ball, you’re trying to control two balls. This may be a shot reserved for higher skill level players, although I recommend all skill levels try to learn. You want to try to leave the 1-ball as close to its original position as possible. More importantly, you want to focus on getting the cue ball to the area covered by the red box to keep it behind some blockers.

When practicing this shot, you’ll notice that you have a lot of options on where exactly you can put the cue ball based on how thin you cut the 1-ball, and whether you aim with follow on the cue ball or you aim with a little bit of top right.

Hiding the Cue Ball

In this shot, we’re again trying to control both the cue ball and the object ball (1-ball in this case). Shoot the 1-ball on the left side and aim at placing it behind the two blockers while driving the 1-ball up table.

This is not a thin cut like the last shot—aim more full at the 1-ball. Of the three shots, this is the most deadly of the safeties because you have the potential to lock up the cue ball tightly to the back of the blockers. In attempting to hit the 1-ball, your opponent will most likely have to kick off one or two rails. While it’s important to hide the cue ball behind the 3-ball and 5-ball, it’s equally as important to make sure you drive the 1-ball as far down table as possible. At minimum, the 1-ball needs to pass the side pocket in order for this to be a safety. Otherwise you might leave your opponent a shot in the side pocket.

All of these shots are good to practice. Once you can successfully execute each shot consistently, try moving the cue ball to a different angle and play around with the different ways to aim the shot to get the same results. Or, you can move the blockers around a bit, and practice getting the cue ball to different positions. The next time you watch a pro match on TV, look for these shots, you’ll see some variation of them quite often.

In most cases, the player that has control of the table first will gain the most points in that rack. So be patient, and don’t hesitate to play a good safety rather than trying a crazy bank or other low percentage shot.