Four Ball Scramble Trick Shot

This billiard trick shot tip was designed and perfected by Paul Gerni. The following is from his files archive.

Re-descovered from old files: Here is one of the many old shots which I diagrammed and sent to friends in Japan over 20 years ago. It's a 4 ball eye-catcher that you will be able to make successfully only a few minutes after reading this page. With balls heading in different directions, and then disappearing from view, it is a good attention-getter that belong in the best of exhibitions.

Start by placing balls 3 & 4 (touching each other) about 1" - 1.5" (about 2-2.5 cm to 4cm) out from the side rail near the side pocket, as shown in the diagram. (You may need to adjust this pair along the rail to make sure ball #3 can get to the opposite side pocket.) Set the line of centers of these two balls for the inside jaw (on the left as you face the corner pocket), as the broken line shows, since the contact point of ball #1 with ball #3 will "throw" ball #4 slightly toward the rail on its way to the corner pocket. Considering this "throw" and adjusting for it improves your chances of pocketing the #4 ball cleanly.

Now freeze the #1 Ball next to the #3 so that the 1-3 tangent line (the only line that can go thru the contact point of these two balls) is aimed for the right half of the side pocket, as the dotted line shows.

The #2 Ball then is placed so that it touches the #1 Ball, and is aimed toward the right hand jaw of the corner pocket (as you face it), just like the broken line indicates. The contact on the #1 Ball by the cue ball forces the "throw" of the #2 Ball toward the rail, and into the corner pocket.

Now you have the proper setup, and you know how to adjust this shot for your perfect execution and the admiration from your friends. All you need to do is hit the cue ball low with a medium draw stroke, and hit the #1 Ball slightly to the right of center (to help the cue ball to avoid the oncoming #3 Ball traffic).

paul gerni trick shot four ball scramble

I have six other finishing variations to this shot by adding more balls in various places of the table, and you can experiment with some finishing touches on your own. But first get this four-ball shot to work precisely, so you can set it up quickly and shoot it consistently with total confidence.

Thanks,

Paul Gerni