How does the difficulty of a shot vary with cut angle?
The following analysis (which includes several useful graphs) shows how the margin for error varies with both shot distance and cut angle:
TP 3.4 – Margin of error based on distance and cut angle
Also, the effective size of the pocket varies with angle and speed. For more info, see: pocket “size” and “center”
All of this stuff obviously depends on table pocket geometry and facing conditions.
As proved on the last page of TP 3.4, for a straight shot, shot difficulty is directly related to the product of the distances between the CB & OB and the OB & pocket. A straight shot is most difficult when the OB is exactly halfway between the CB and the pocket.
Here’s an example (from Bob Jewett AZB post) showing how little margin for error there is with fractional-ball aims for a spot from different angles:
from Bob_Jewett:
An article that discusses how the angle increases the difficulty of a shot (which is to say, decreases the allowed error), is at: http://www.sfbilliards.com/articles/1994.pdf (April)
The article includes a simple graphical way to see how much the cut angle increases the difficulty over a straight-in shot of the same length.
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