Tips / Systems

Maximum Plus Maximum Plus · long Plus

A rule of thumb for long Plus layouts that head toward the short rail from the far end. The key is telling the departure marks 25, 28, 30, 32 apart from the arrival marks.

Formula / route reference

First cushion A = departure S − arrival D

When to use it

Short-long-long layouts whose departure is within three diamonds of the far corner of the long rail. Don't stretch it arbitrarily to departures from the short rail.

Written and edited by TTBoys · How we write and check sources · Report an error

Sources and diagrams reviewed: 2026-10-04. Rules of thumb are practice references for a specific diamond scale and stroke. Geometric constructions are kept separate from real trajectories, and nothing was measured on a real table. On mobile, the table stays in landscape so the directions in the text match the diagrams.

Compare in the simulator

Presets are comparison examples from a physics model; they do not guarantee the formula's real-world accuracy or a point.

What do you read from the layout?

Start 30: the red number, two diamonds from the far corner.
Target 20: the white arrival number at the same spot.
First cushion 10: 30 − 20, half a diamond on the short rail.

Slope and correction: The starts 25, 28, 30 and 32 are not evenly spaced. If the cue ball moves, read the start line again, and stay within three diamonds of the far corner.

See the worked example and layout See related practice

What to know first

The white ball is the cue ball you strike. The long sides are the long rails and the short sides are the short rails. The numbers are names given to the diamond marks for calculation, not centimeters or angles. Dashed lines are reference lines you read by extending them backward; arrows show the order in which the ball travels. The name “maximum” doesn't mean using the most spin you can apply. The reference in the INPROD material used here is 3 tips of side spin at center height.

1. Tell apart different numbers at the same position

Red departure is 25, 28, 30, 32 from the corner far from the first short rail. White arrival is 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 from the same corner. Yellow first cushion is 10 at half a diamond and 20 at one diamond from the corner marked 0.

Red S · departure number: read it by extending the aiming line back behind the cue ball.
Yellow A · first-cushion aim number: the spot you calculate and aim at.
White D · arrival number: the target on the cushion you want to send the ball to.

Read departure S from the red numbers outside the bottom long rail. The spot two diamonds away is 30.
Read arrival D from the white numbers inside the same long rail. The two-diamond spot is 20. Even at the same position, swapping departure 30 and arrival 20 makes the calculation wrong.
Yellow first cushion goes up by 10 every half diamond. That differs from the 10 per diamond of the 15 System you just learned, so don't mix the tables.

2. 30 − 20 = 10: aim at half a diamond

30 − 20 = 10

Departure 30 minus arrival 20 gives first cushion 10. On this table, 10 is half a diamond from the top-right corner.

30−20=10: a layout example that meets the two object balls after short ① → long ② → long ③ at 20. The start 30 and the arrival 20 are different scales at the same spot.

Red dashed line: extend the first aim line backward to read the start number
White line: the order in which the cue ball travels around three cushions
Yellow line: an example of meeting the two object balls after the third cushion

A sketch of the worked example's ball layout and travel order. Where the ball actually lands depends on thickness, spin and speed.

3. Around the corner and back toward the departure side

① short rail at yellow 10 → ② around the corner to the near long rail → ③ toward white arrival 20. The second cushion is close to the first, but don't count them as one.

Keep 3 tips of side spin at center height consistent. This diagram uses left running English; flip it left to right and it is right. Switching to more tips or a different height changes the reference.
The source describes this as a path that comes in toward the arrival point rather than touching it exactly. Don't read the white numbers as precisely measured contact points on the cushion nose.
Keep to the departure range of up to three diamonds from the far long-rail corner. Don't arbitrarily call a cue ball on the short rail beyond the corner 20.
The source's signature reference line is 25−25=0, i.e. aiming at the corner. The beginner example changes this to 30−20=10 so you don't confuse the two cushions at the corner. This example is a concept diagram calculated from the same table, not a measured success case.
Practice problem: from departure 28, aiming at first cushion 10 gives a calculated arrival of 18. Use a direction slightly to the left of 20 as your reference and record the actual arrival.

The diagrams are concept drawings that explain the numbers and the cushion order. They do not guarantee an exact path or a successful score given ball size, spin, speed and table condition. Repeat a reference shot on a real table with the same tip position and power, and adjust.

Practice with the example layout

Back to the worked example and layout ↑

Find the first short rail with 30 − 20 = 10, then look in turn at the long rail near the corner and the long rail on the starting side. Even if the second cushion is close, count it; don’t skip it.

Point to the cue ball, the ball you hit first and the last ball, and say the cushion order.
Repeat the same layout 5 times and record where the first cushion and the calculated target actually land.
If the first cushion is already off, check your aim and thickness; if the first cushion is right but later ones drift, check spin and speed. Change only one thing for the next 5.

Sources and verification

INPROD · 3쿠션 당구 맥시멈플러스 시스템 — Checked the 25·28·30·32 departure table, the 10-per-half-diamond aim table, the center-height 3-tip diagram, and the cautions on departure range and arrival direction.

Sources may use different diamond scales and conditions. The text notes which scale it uses and the limits of what was checked; the diagrams are our own concept drawings.