How does the cushion deform during a high-speed kick or bank, and how does one take advantage of the effect?

Here’s a good slo-mo video of this: HSV 6.1 – Cushion deformation during a high-speed kick or bank. And here’s another:

Here’s a large collection of both cushion and pocket point compression shots:

The “coin hop off the cushion into a glass” trick shot is a classic cushion-compression proposition shot example:

And here are a variety of shots that take advantage of cushion compression:

And here are some others from from Vol. V of the Video Encyclopedia of Nine-ball and Ten-ball (VENT):

For more information, see VENT – Part IX: Rail Cut Shot Effects (BD, June, 2018) and VENT – Part X: Herd and Compress (BD, July, 2018). Here’s a super-slow-motion look at the last shot in the 2nd video above, really showing how much the cushion compresses:

Here’s a bank shot (made famous by Eddie Taylor) that uses cushion compression and pocket facing stiffness to avoid a double kiss:

And here are some interesting shots with two balls frozen to a rail, relying on cushion compression and double kisses:

See also: pocket point compression shots.

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