In WPA ranking trick shot tournaments, players select shots out of a shot program. The shot program is divided into eight disciplines. These are general shot categories (although shots can certainly fit in to more than one) which are loosely defined below. Click on the title to take you to those shots!
1. Trick and Fancy: Setup shots usually involving multiple object balls going in on the same shot.
2. Special Arts: Novelty shots involving skills not used in normal pool games such as shooting for speed or shooting a moving ball.
3. Draw: Shots requiring backspin on the cue ball.
4. Follow: Shots requiring topspin on the cue ball.
5. Bank and Kick: Shots requiring balls to bounce off multiple cushions.
6. Stroke: Special or advanced stroke techniques are required for these, such as extreme spins or shooting the cue ball while it’s frozen to or very close to other object balls.
7. Jump: The cue ball gets airborne in jump shots.
8. Masse: Curving the cue ball down the table.
Further, in each discipline, there are 5 degrees of difficulty ranging from 6 through 10. For each difficulty level, there are three shots a player can choose from. If you’re scoring at home, that’s 3 choices * 5 difficulty levels * 8 disciplines which equals 120 total shots. However, since a player only chooses 1 of the 3 choices, they only shoot 40 shots throughout the tournament.
The same shot program has been in use since 2013, which itself has only been slightly modified since 2008. While learning 120 shots may seem daunting and even downselecting to 40 shots isn’t easy, I present to you all of the 120 shots on video hoping to make things easier for new players. I don’t have full tutorials on all of these shots, but if you need help on any of them, feel free to ask!