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One aspect of pool playing that many people could use some help with is learning how to bank. If you approach the task with the following theory in mind, things should go much easier, and your shooting could certainly improve. Bank shots and kick shots are important weapons in your pool-playing bag of tricks.

The ability to bank can get you out of trouble when your opponent's balls are in the way or when you don't have a direct shot on the pool table.

Bank and kick shots are not easy to make consistently. They require a good eye for judging angles and the right touch on the cue stick.

See the Bank Shot Helper pages for angles and consistency help.

Like every thing else in pool and billiards, the best way to improve your banking skills is to practice, practice, and practice some more.

In the illustration above, I have demonstrated the difference between a bank shot and a kick shot. While some people would call Shot A a bank shot, it is actually a "kick shot". The cue ball is the ball that is bouncing off the rail instead of the yellow object ball.

In Shot B, the cue ball is contacting the red object ball and knocking it into the rail cushion. Since the object ball is bouncing off of the rail, this is truly a bank shot.

Whole books have been written about making bank shots. I will attempt to be much more brief here and only mention things that will be of use to the beginner and intermediate pool player. If you want the real nitty-gritty on how to bank, I suggest you invest in one of those books.

How To Aim cont. - How To Bank 2