I Stopped Obsessing Over The Pocket And Got My Groove Back

Brookeland Bill

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I’ve been playing pool since 1961 and have tried all the aiming techniques over the years. None of them worked for any length of time. It’s what we call in golf WOO. Works Only Once. I finally stopped the insanity and just focused on the ball. I know in my subconscious where the pocket is located. I’ve been playing for 57 years and don’t need to obsess over the pocket. I just started looking at a point on the object ball were I felt comfortable and my game has improved to the point where I was in my 20’s before all of this CTE, fractional ball and ghostball nonsense came came in to vogue.
 
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Get_A_Grip

Truth Will Set You Free
Silver Member
I’ve been playing pool since 1961 and have tried all the aiming techniques over the years. None of them worked for any length of time. It’s what we call in golf WOO. Works Only Once. I finally stopped the insanity and just focused on the ball. I know in my subconscious where the pocket is located. I’ve been playing for 57 years and don’t need to obsess over the pocket. I just started looking at a point on the object ball were I felt comfortable and my game has improved to the point where I was in my 20’s before all of this CTE, fractional ball and ghostball nonsensecame came in to vogue.

I've got to tell you, when I'm in dead stroke, I noticed that I really only need to look at the object ball for the most part. I only glance at the pocket.




_______
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I've got to tell you, when I'm in dead stroke, I noticed that I really only need to look at the object ball for the most part. I only glance at the pocket.


_______

Same here.....just look at the ball and shoot.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
And not one of the participants in this thread has ever won a tournament of any significance against pro players or plays close to pro level.

Pro players do aim and can explain what they see and how to link up the two balls with any shot angle to a pocket. They use various methods but individually have settled on one that works the best for them when the heat is on. And the heat is always on when playing for money gambling or a high finish with money as the motivator in a tournament.

Btw, I'm included in the first sentence of this post. I just happen to know a whole bunch of pros and have discussed it with them. They can slap balls around without much forethought and make them, but they didn't get where they are and stay there by doing it like pool forum amateurs want to lead you to believe.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
I’ve been playing pool since 1961 and have tried all the aiming techniques over the years. None of them worked for any length of time. It’s what we call in golf WOO. Works Only Once. I finally stopped the insanity and just focused on the ball. I know in my subconscious where the pocket is located. I’ve been playing for 57 years and don’t need to obsess over the pocket. I just started looking at a point on the object ball were I felt comfortable and my game has improved to the point where I was in my 20’s before all of this CTE, fractional ball and ghostball nonsense came came in to vogue.

So in other words, you use CONTACT POINTS to aim at. (I can't wait for the double talk and denials) LMAO
 

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And not one of the participants in this thread has ever won a tournament of any significance against pro players or plays close to pro level.

Pro players do aim and can explain what they see and how to link up the two balls with any shot angle to a pocket. They use various methods but individually have settled on one that works the best for them when the heat is on. And the heat is always on when playing for money gambling or a high finish with money as the motivator in a tournament.

Btw, I'm included in the first sentence of this post. I just happen to know a whole bunch of pros and have discussed it with them. They can slap balls around without much forethought and make them, but they didn't get where they are and stay there by doing it like pool forum amateurs want to lead you to believe.

Seems to me like Brookeland Bill is on to something. The pro's aim like Bill does. Here's what your pal Allen Hopkins has to say:

Allen Hopkins: "I aim at a spot on the OB with center cue ball. A lot of it is feel, when you play as often as I do. you start finding that spot real easily. Occasionally I'll aim the cue stick toward the pocket through the ball to find that spot.

Here's what a bunch of other pro's have to say:

http://xcuepool.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-pros-aim.html

Oh, I forgot. All these people are lying because they don't want you to know that they actually do something different! LOL Dave knows better because he's actually talked to a lot of pro's and they tell him the real secret. It's probably something like, "Sure, sure Dave, whatever you say. Here's a cookie now go away."
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
Seems to me like Brookeland Bill is on to something. The pro's aim like Bill does. Here's what your pal Allen Hopkins has to say:

Allen Hopkins: "I aim at a spot on the OB with center cue ball. A lot of it is feel, when you play as often as I do. you start finding that spot real easily. Occasionally I'll aim the cue stick toward the pocket through the ball to find that spot.

Now you know Allen better than I do and think we've never talked about it, huh? When have you ever talked to him face to face or spent as much time at the table with him as I have? He doesn't know you from the "man in the moon" and could care less to ever meet you.

What you have posted above is CLASSIC CONTACT POINT AIMING. You really can't be THAT CLUELESS as to what CONTACT POINT AIMING IS, COULD YOU?


Here's what a bunch of other pro's have to say:

http://xcuepool.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-pros-aim.html

How many more times do we have to go through the old article from two decades ago? It was proven more players used aiming systems than didn't in a count by Brian and myself.

Oh, I forgot. All these people are lying because they don't want you to know that they actually do something different! LOL Dave knows better because he's actually talked to a lot of pro's and they tell him the real secret.

There are NO SECRETS. It's either CONTACT POINTS, STICK OR FERRULE AIMING TO A CONTACT POINT OR FRACTION, EQUAL AND OPPOSITE OF CB TO OB, OR PARTS OF AN OB WITH DEFLECTION CALCULATED INTO IT WITH PARALLEL ENGLISH OR BHE. AND EDGES AND CENTERS OF THE CB TO PARTS OF THE OB.

It's probably something like, "Sure, sure Dave, whatever you say. Here's a cookie now go away."

Mr. Dan "TROLL" White at his finest. Looking to start a flame war and cry like a baby behind the scenes to report posts. Get lost.
 
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SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
I've got to tell you, when I'm in dead stroke, I noticed that I really only need to look at the object ball for the most part. I only glance at the pocket.
_______


This is a post I can agree with 100%. When "DEAD STROKE" decides to pay a visit
nothing in the world tops it in pool. Unfortunately it's all too fleeting.
I LOVE dead stroke times.
 

Brookeland Bill

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In response to the post questioning that I don’t use a contact point, yes I do. You have to pick a contact point but it’s not something solely based on center pocket location, the cue ball or object ball edges, shifting the cue stick, the fractional ball hit, my wife’s temperament, weather or not I have gas in my system, the phases of the moon or watching videos from guys in their basement in front of their cheap pool tables wearing t-shirts and cargo shorts and flip flops with no credentials and promising to take you to the promised land. Paralysis from analysis.

It’s feel brother. I’m feeling it.
 
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Brookeland Bill

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I guess you don't believe in any of that FRACTIONAL bunk, huh? Neither for yourself or anyone else.:D

Fractional ball! Well if you have a protractor, compass, t-square, various drafting triangles, a math degree and understand the theory of relativity then go for it. Don’t forget the materials the balls are manufactured from, the temperature and relative humidity, wind direction, high or low tide and the phases of the moon. Go for it.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
Yes that’s obvious. You have to pick a contact point but it’s not something solely based on center pocket location,

Doesn't matter. It's still CONTACT POINT AIMING. That IS an AIMING SYSTEM and probably the original one.

the cue ball or object ball edges, shifting the cue stick, the fractional ball hit, my wife’s temperament, weather or not I have gas in my system, the phases of the moon or watching videos from guys in their basement in front of their cheap pool tables wearing t-shirts and cargo shorts and flip flops with no credentials and promising to take you to the promised land. Paralysis from analysis.

It’s feel brother. I’m feeling it.

I understand now. You paid your entire college tuition off from playing pool, amassed a fortune over your working years via pool, and now live in complete comfort in your days of retirement through pool.

Btw, whether or not you have gas in your system and what you do with it will definitely affect your wife's temperament. Women just don't appreciate a good long, loud well timed bomb like men do and laugh.
 
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Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Mr. Dan "TROLL" White at his finest. Looking to start a flame war and cry like a baby behind the scenes to report posts. Get lost.

Sorry Dave but facts are facts and your insults and misdirection won't change that.

As the article clearly shows to anybody without an agenda, the pro's "just know" subconsciously how to pocket the ball. They don't have to think about any particular sequence of tasks to achieve the proper line up. It just happens. If you want to say they line up the edge of the shaft to this or that or contact point to another contact point then fine. Maybe that's how they initially started playing, like putting the tip of the cue on the cloth before shooting. It's just a routine that they do for every shot, but it is not the reason they pocket all the balls. They are able to do that because they are professionals and it is all they do.

I can drive down the road with hands at 10 and 2, or I can put one hand on the top of the wheel and the other holding a cheeseburger. Either way, the method I choose does not prevent me from driving off the road. I stay on the road because I've done it so many times that my subconscious takes over. It's no different in shooting pool. Aim any which way you want, but if you do it enough times, your subconscious is the real reason you pocket balls.

None of us here are pro players, but many of us play well enough to know that if we can do it 95% of the time then they can do it even better. It's just a matter of putting in the table time.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
Sorry Dave but facts are facts and your insults and misdirection won't change that.

Do you mean like the insult you threw out? "Here's a cookie now go away"

As the article clearly shows to anybody without an agenda, the pro's "just know" subconsciously how to pocket the ball. They don't have to think about any particular sequence of tasks to achieve the proper line up.

I agree about not having to think very much because it's ingrained with the eyes keying on the visuals in a couple of milliseconds from playing their entire lives. But it doesn't mean they AREN'T using or doing what they originally learned over all the years.

It just happens. If you want to say they line up the edge of the shaft to this or that or contact point to another contact point then fine.

Then what's the problem? Because that IS what I'm saying and what they're doing. It happens because of millions of repetitions and training the brain/hand/eye coordination. THEY are the ones saying what they do when aiming. You're claiming they DON'T do what they say. Are they all LYING and only YOU knows the truth?

Maybe that's how they initially started playing, like putting the tip of the cue on the cloth before shooting. It's just a routine that they do for every shot, but it is not the reason they pocket all the balls. They are able to do that because they are professionals and it is all they do.

Are you a pro? Am I a pro? For the most part, no pro posts here to tell what they do because they get pissed off and run off. CJ tried explaining things he and other pros do and got castrated.

Aim any which way you want, but if you do it enough times, your subconscious is the real reason you pocket balls.

I agree about aiming any way you want. There are many ways to do it. What is the subconscious telling you? I would imagine what you learned over all the years to aim. As I said above, it doesn't mean we aren't doing or using what got us there. If we thought about it then it would be conscious. And I think we all flip flop between subconscious and conscious based on various factors and times at the table or who we're playing.

None of us here are pro players, but many of us play well enough to know that if we can do it 95% of the time then they can do it even better. It's just a matter of putting in the table time.

95% of the time is a fantastic shooting percentage for a top level pro to achieve and is usually a little less. There is NO AMATEUR, NONE, who can achieve that number in a set to 7, 9, or 11. NONE. That's why we need anything and everything available to us.
 
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Brookeland Bill

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I understand now. You paid your entire college tuition off from playing pool, amassed a fortune over your working years via pool, and now live in complete comfort in your days of retirement through pool.

Btw, whether or not you have gas in your system and what you do with it will definitely affect your wife's temperament. Women just don't appreciate a good long, loud well timed bomb like men do and laugh.

No Spidey, I amassed a small fortune playing pool. I invested all of it in Apple when it was a star-up and took millions of dollars from my Apple investment and now live comfortably in Trump Tower and have threesomes with Ivanka and Melania. Pool has been very very good to me.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
No Spidey, I amassed a small fortune playing pool. I invested all of it in Apple when it was a star-up and took millions of dollars from my Apple investment and now live comfortably in Trump Tower and have threesomes with Ivanka and Melania. Pool has been very very good to me.

You might consider starting a consulting firm to lead pro players down the path to success in investing because very few of them can say pool has been very very good to them when old age hits with too little money and many years left to live.
 

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
95% of the time is a fantastic shooting percentage for a top level pro to achieve and is usually a little less. There is NO AMATEUR, NONE, who can achieve that number in a set to 7, 9, or 11. NONE. That's why we need anything and everything available to us.

You are wrong about that. Don't confuse 95% ball pocketing ability with run out ability. If your ball pocketing ability in straight pool is only 95% for each shot you are unlikely to make it through even one rack.

Otherwise, you are impossible to have a discussion with because you refuse to learn how to quote other posters properly. Let's just agree that no matter what method you use to line up the ball, the important thing is that you use "feel" to make the shot, just like your pal Allen explains.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
You are wrong about that. Don't confuse 95% ball pocketing ability with run out ability. If your ball pocketing ability in straight pool is only 95% for each shot you are unlikely to make it through even one rack.

Otherwise, you are impossible to have a discussion with because you refuse to learn how to quote other posters properly.

I have a great idea for you. DO NOT have a discussion with me ever again. Nothing would make me happier. I quote based on what you write and what I perceive.

I can't read your mind or any body else. You did nothing to specify what game was going through your skull. Not 9-ball, not 10-ball, not 14-1. Are you a 100 ball runner in 14.1? Have you ever run 100 balls? If not, why not since it's the only game you now play? Do you miss shots because you aim like a "feel" hack or just not know enough about positioning the CB to peck away at the rack?


Let's just agree that no matter what method you use to line up the ball, the important thing is that you use "feel" to make the shot, just like your pal Allen explains.

NO, I don't agree at all. It's VISUAL. Watch any pool match on youtube and key on their EYES once they get down on the ball until taking the actual stroke. Their EYES are going from the CB (or cue tip) to the OB, back to the CB, back to the OB, back to the CB, back to the OB, back to the CB, back to the OB and then STROKE. The EYES are SEEING and LINING UP known as AIMING. The HAND and STROKE is FEELING.


Here's what Allen said in the article. What you want to do is CHERRY PICK one word.

Allen Hopkins: "I AIM at a spot on the OB with center cue ball. A lot of it is feel, when you play as often as I do. you start finding that spot real easily. Occasionally I'll aim the cue stick toward the pocket through the ball to find that spot.

NICK VARNER SAYS: "Nick Varner: What I do is use parallel lines. The first line I SEE is a line FROM THE EDGE OF THE CUE BALL toward the CONTACT POINT on the OB. I keep my shaft on a parallel line to that and if you're cutting the ball to the left of that line, it will be on the right. But if you're using left English, it will be the same line, and with center or right English, it will be parallel. Once I shoot, my eyes are actually focused on THE CONTACT POINT ON THE OB.

NESLI O' HARE: AIMING WITH WHITEY
Another theory, aiming with the cue ball: The technique I use was taught to me by Efren Reyes.
According to Efren, there are three kinds of hits on any OB. First, there's looking at the center of cue ball to the POINT OF AIM if the shot is a full ball hit. If not, you can divide the OB into four quarters, SIGHTING YOUR CB EDGE TO THE POINT OF AIM. When using inside English with a medium to hard stroke, you don't change the POINT OF AIM.
With outside English, you aim a sixteenth of an inch fuller on the OB than you normally would. But, all bets are off when using a soft stroke, because of deflection, etc.
 
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Brookeland Bill

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
NO, I don't agree at all. It's VISUAL. Watch any pool match on youtube and key on their EYES once they get down on the ball until taking the actual stroke. Their EYES are going from the CB (or cue tip) to the OB, back to the CB, back to the OB, back to the CB, back to the OB, back to the CB, back to the OB and then STROKE. The EYES are SEEING and LINING UP known as AIMING. The HAND and STROKE is FEELING.


Here's what Allen said in the article. What you want to do is CHERRY PICK one word.

Allen Hopkins: "I AIM at a spot on the OB with center cue ball. A lot of it is feel, when you play as often as I do. you start finding that spot real easily. Occasionally I'll aim the cue stick toward the pocket through the ball to find that spot.

Amusing back and forth. Better than the LPGA on Golf Channel.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
Fractional ball! Well if you have a protractor, compass, t-square, various drafting triangles, a math degree and understand the theory of relativity then go for it. Don’t forget the materials the balls are manufactured from, the temperature and relative humidity, wind direction, high or low tide and the phases of the moon. Go for it.

You're preaching to the wrong person about fractional aiming. BC21 (Brian Crist) has a fractional aiming system for sale called Poolology. Maybe you should buy it and it'll change your mind. (or maybe it won't)
 
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