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Lessons

50 System · 5th Rail

The 50 System with the second ball waiting near the 5th rail: the cue ball takes four cushions and is met on its way to the fifth. Same start and aim numbers, a new finish scale on the long rail, and four tips of side.

FormulaAim = Start - Arrival + correction

50 60 70 80 90 100 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 30 40 50 70 90
  • Start
  • Aim
  • Arrival

Practise it on a real-physics table

Guided positions, practice and scored challenges for this system, free to try in your browser.

Practise in 3C Arena

How it works

The 50 System with one more cushion: far long rail (1), short rail (2), near long rail (3), short rail (4), then on towards the far long rail again — the fifth rail, where the arrival is read.

Same start, same aim, same subtraction. Only the arrival scale is new: 20 in the left corner of the fifth rail, then 28, 36, 44, 52, 60, 68 and 76 a diamond apart to the right. Start 44 to arrive at 36: aim at 8.

Four tips of running side — full side — and a medium-firm speed. Side is what carries the ball round the fourth cushion and on to the fifth.

The longest path in the family, so cloth, balls and room show the most here: check the numbers on the practice table before a match.

Reading the numbers

Start Where the cue ball's line, as it leaves the red, runs back to the near rails. On the short rail behind the cue ball it reads 50 in the corner, 60 and 70 at the first two diamonds, then 80, 90 and 100 at 2½, 3 and 3½ — the numbers close up towards the middle of the rail. On the long rail, from the same corner, it reads 5 a diamond down to 20: 45, 40, 35 … 20.

Aim On the first cushion, the far long rail: 0 at the far corner, 10 a diamond back to 50 at the third diamond, then 10 every half diamond up to 100.

Arrival On the fifth rail, the far long rail again: 20 at the left corner, then 8 more every diamond to the right — 28, 36, 44, 52, 60, 68, 76. The second ball waits just in front of it after the fourth cushion, so read where the line the cue ball is travelling on reaches the rail.

Step by step

  1. Choose the arrival: where on the fifth rail the cue ball's line must land to make the second object ball, which waits just in front of that rail after the fourth cushion.
  2. Read the start from the line the cue ball leaves the red on, traced back to the short rail — or to the long rail when it comes from below the corner.
  3. Aim = Start − Arrival. Start 44 to arrive at 36 aims at 8.
  4. The new aim moves the line, so re-read the start and work it once more. Then add the table correction.

The stroke

Four tips of running side — full side, the most the cue ball takes — medium-firm speed, a touch of follow, level cue. Side matters most on this route: with a tip fewer, two positions in five leave the route altogether and the rest finish most of a diamond off.

Other systems

All diamond systems →