It occurs when the ball hits four pins. For a right hander, it's the 1, 3, 5, 9 pins. For a lefty, it's 1, 2, 5, and 8 pins. The rest of the pins will fall do to deflection by pins that the ball hit.

There are two forms of a pocket hit that have a high carry percentage. Sometimes the 3 pin will hit the 6 pin and take out the 9. Other times the 6 pin may fly into the kickback and deflectout of the pit to knock down the 10 pin.

Hitting the 1 - 3 pocket(right handed) may not guarantee you a strike. On some hits, the pins may fly over the pins there suppose to hit, or roll around the ones they should hit, resulting in what we call "The Tap".

When a bolwer says he got tapped on a pocket shot, means for right handers, they left the 10 pin. The Tap happens when the ball drives the 5 pin straight back into the pit and the ball slightly deflects, missing the 8 pin(right hander) 9 pin(left hander).

There is no way to guarantee you won't get tapped, it usually means you have altered ball speed, rotation, or entry angle of the ball(perfect entry angle is 6º).

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