Now that we have covered one-rail kick shots, let’s move on to two-rail kicks.
Here we have an object ball along the rail on the bottom right. We want to shoot two rails into this ball for a shot in the bottom-right corner pocket. How do we aim this shot? Same as one-rail kicks, we will use a known reference line, find a distant spot on that line, then line up the cue ball on that aim spot.
We can use the Plus System for finding an initial reference line for a two-rail kick. So let’s place a ghost-ball where we want to hit our object ball, and a ghost-ball on a spot we can create a reference line from the Plus System:
We will place a ghost-ball exactly four diamonds up the rail from the target ghost-ball. Then we count to four on the short rail as diagrammed. This is our aiming point to make the two-rail kick. Again, we put our cue on that line and look at a spot off into the distance. This is now our aiming spot for the cue ball.
This should work for most any cue ball position that can be played into the same two starting rails. Be sure to chose a reference line close to the cue ball. Also notice the distance to the aim spot, it is always the same distance the cue ball takes from the first rail to the target ghost ball (green dotted lines are the same distance.) On a two-rail kick the exact distance to the aim spot is a bit more lenient than one-rail kicks, as the convergence is very close together at that distance. Anything within a few feet should work for a hit on the object ball. For exactness, a perfect distance and close reference line will work the best. Be sure to blend the same running english into the shot that you do for the reference shot.
For shots where the object ball is away from the rail, just extend a line through the object ball to the nearest rail, and figure your shot from there.
Now on to three-rail kicks.