This shot comes up so often that it deserves your attention. For the sake of simplicity I will only discuss one variation of the shot today – the late game safe shot – but you will see some incarnation of this shot pop up frequently, and you can always use this approach to your advantage.
As you can see from the diagram, the eight ball is in position where it can be either banked into one side pocket or cut into the other. Because the cut is rather thin and the bank shot gives easy position on the nine ball many players will choose the bank shot without thinking. Study the shot and it becomes obvious that the cut shot is the better option.
Cut this ball into the side pocket and you still get natural position on the nine ball. The advantage is that if you miss the cut shot (as diagramed) you will have hit the shot with just the right amount of force to send the eight ball down to the far rail while the cue ball is safely resting nine feet away back up on the other rail. Now your opponent has to be a hero. He either has to shoot the long-rail bank shot with speed to get the cueball back down here for the nine or play a safety, and his safety is tougher than the one he will leave you with when he is through. Either way, control of the game rests with you, and controlling the table is what wins Nine Ball, not heroics.
