Technique

Straight Blue Drill: Test Your Cue Action

The straight blue is a pure technique drill. With the cue ball and blue dead in line with a middle pocket, there is no hiding a crooked cue action: any unintended sidespin or a twist on delivery shows up immediately, either as a missed pot or a cue ball that drifts off line.

Snooker table top viewTop-down view of a full-size snooker table at 1mm = 1px scale.100 mmFull-size snooker table · 3569 × 1778 mm · 1 px = 1 mm
Table layout for the Straight blue drill

Setup

  1. Place the blue on its spot.
  2. Place the cue ball directly below the blue, in a straight line with the blue and the far middle pocket (see the diagram).

Rules

  1. Pot the blue straight into the middle pocket, playing with enough follow for the cue ball to run through to the other side of the blue spot.
  2. Re-spot the blue. You should now be straight on the blue into the opposite middle pocket. Pot it the same way.
  3. Keep alternating middle pockets. The attempt ends on a miss or when the cue ball drifts too far off line for a straight pot.
  4. Your score is the number of blues potted in a row.

Targets by level

Beginner
3–5 in a row
Club player
10 in a row
Advanced
20+ in a row

Tips

  • Hit the cue ball exactly in the vertical centre line. Any side you put on by accident makes the cue ball drift sideways after contact.
  • Keep still on the shot and let the cue follow through straight along the line of aim.
  • Watch where the cue ball finishes: if it consistently drifts to one side, that tells you which way your cue action is going.

Common mistakes

  • Playing it too softly, so the cue ball stops short of the blue spot and you cannot re-spot the blue cleanly.
  • Steering the cue on delivery to "help" the ball in, which puts unintended side on the cue ball.
  • Rushing the shot after a miss instead of resetting your stance and pre-shot routine.

More drills

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