Side Spin Effects
English or Sidespin is an advanced technique in billiards.We would not recommend new players to use english until they have a good understanding and enough experience with the basic (no side spin) shots, like draw (bottom spin), and follow (top spin).
Effects of English
When a ball does posses rotational momentum around its vertical axis (side spin), we can observe the following effects upon collisions:- When the cue ball with sidespin hits the object ball, the angle of the object will be different (see throw for details)
- When the cue ball with sidespin hits the rail, the rebounding angle will be different (see off rail for details)
Throw
When a cue ball with sidespin hits the object ball, the spin is transferred to the object ball but in the opposite direction. For example, a cue ball is hit with right english so it spins to the right or counter-clockwise... upon hitting the object ball, an opposite spin (clockwise) is transferred to the object ball. The spin generated by the object ball causes it to be "thrown" to the direction opposite the spin on the cue ball.
To make things simple, a cue ball with right english "throws" the object ball to the left and vica versa.
The more spin on the cue ball, the more "throw" is generated on the object ball.
A softer stroke generally results in more "throw" effect than a harder stroke.
Off Rail
when left english is applied on the cue ball, it will bounce to the left side after hitting the cushion. Similarly, when the cue ball is hit with right english, it will bounce to the right side after hitting the cushion.