Poaching in doubles: when to cross the middle and take your partner's ball

How to Play Last reviewed April 8, 2026 5 min read

In doubles pickleball, each partner has a rough half of the court to cover. Most of the time, you stay in your half and let your partner handle theirs. But sometimes — maybe 10% of the time — the right move is to cross the imaginary line down the middle, intercept a ball your partner was about to hit, and end the point. That’s a poach, and it’s one of the most underrated ways to move from a 3.0 to a 3.5 in doubles.

When to poach

Three conditions should all be true before you commit:

The ball is high enough to attack. Poaching to hit a soft dink is almost always wrong — you create chaos without getting an attacking shot. Poach when the ball is above net height and you can hit down on it.
You have a clean angle. You should be able to cross the middle, make contact, and hit into an open part of the opponent’s court. Poaching into two opponents standing shoulder to shoulder is usually pointless.
Your partner knows you might go. Surprise poaches work once. Surprise poaches that leave your partner stranded turn into fights. Talk about it before the game.

The most common poach setup: the opposing team hits a floaty cross-court dink that’s going to end up around the middle. Your partner could hit it, but it’s an awkward reach. You, from the other side, can step across and punch it into the opening on the opposing team’s side. Done. Point over.

How to actually poach

Step laterally, don’t run. Keep your shoulders facing the net. A big running cross leaves you off-balance at contact.
Punch, don’t swing. The poach is almost always a volley, and it needs to be compact. No big backswing.
Aim for the open court. Usually that’s the feet of the opponent closest to where you’re moving from, because they’re now covering two halves with one player.
Commit fully. The worst poach is the half-poach where you hesitate mid-step. You leave your side open and don’t get the attacking shot. Go or don’t go.

Talking to your partner

This is the part that makes poaching sustainable. The agreement between you and your partner should be roughly:

“If I see a clear attacking ball drifting toward the middle, I might poach. If I do, I’ll say ‘mine’ early. You cover the side I vacated — just shift over. If I don’t say anything, you handle your balls normally.”

That one sentence, said before the first serve, makes poaching work. Without it, poaches turn into two players going for the same ball, or a player camped in the middle for no reason, or worse, a shouting match after a botched point.

When not to poach

When you’re the weaker attacker. If your partner has a stronger forehand than your backhand, don’t poach a ball that’s going to force you onto your backhand.
When you’re out of position. Poaching works from the Kitchen line. Poaching from mid-court creates chaos.
When the opposing team is at the Kitchen line. They’ll block your poach and the confusion hurts you more than them.
When your partner is in a rhythm. If your partner is dinking beautifully and winning the rally, stay out of their way. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.

The fake poach

More advanced poaching is actually about making your opponent think you’re going to poach, even when you’re not. A quick lateral step toward the middle — without actually moving to hit the ball — makes the opponent change their dink target, often into an error. This is called a “fake poach” and it’s used by high-level players constantly.

The fake poach works because your opponents are watching you peripherally while they line up their shot. A sudden motion in your partner’s peripheral vision is enough to make them mis-hit. You can fake five times per game and then really poach on the sixth — by then, they’re guessing.

Drilling poaches

Hard to drill in isolation, but one exercise helps: play “middle ball” games where any ball within two feet of the centerline is fair game for either partner. Force yourself and your partner to call “mine” or “yours” loudly and early on every middle ball. After 20 minutes of this, your communication habits will improve and your instincts on which balls are yours-vs-mine will sharpen dramatically.

Poaching well is a sign of a team that trusts each other. It’s one of the things that makes doubles more fun than singles.