8 Ball Billiard

8 Ball Tip #3: Play Smart with Insurance Ball

“The game of golf would lose a great deal if croquet mallets and billiard cues were allowed on the putting green.”  -Ernest Hemmingway, 1899-1961

Insurance ball is something that you would frequently have in any given rack so you should know how to recognize it.  Let's go by definition, an insurance ball is any of your object balls that takes less effort to make that you set aside for later use. This is usually the one that either lies very close to the pocket or situated at some comfortable distance and angle to the pocket. In 8 ball, an insurance ball plays a very critical role and you should know how to use it properly and effectively.  It is usually used after a shot that has quite unpredictable outcome like when you make a bank shot or some other specialty shot where a good position play is quite unlikely after you made a shot.  One of the common uses of it is when you try to break some cluster on the table.  In this shot, you can't be sure that after you break the cluster would leave you some doable or clear shots.  Insurance ball is there to ensure that you would have one and you would use it wisely to get a better shape on your next shot, Sweet.  Well, you should be convinced by now that winning an 8 ball is knowing how to play smart.

Good Luck!