Equal angle aiming.

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I’m not old enough for this just yet, Dan.

I'm right there with ya, but probably still a bit closer than you are. Fortunately, knock on wood, I'm in good health and have never needed medications for anything... so far.
 

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Jesus, you always got a story to explain your insanity, no matter what I say, and here it comes boy......what you said or basically said or sort of said, is the biggest load of garbage, and I highly advise anyone who is trying to get to the high levels, like strong semi pro and higher, to not guess or rely on what you said.

You either know what you are doing or you don't.

The more you don't know what you are doing, then the more you are relying on "being in stroke" and everything else associated with it, which means less pressure or none.

It's what I call, letting a player get happy. The more i miss, the more better your type of thinking plays against me. It's totally annoying because I know that type can't bring that game when I miss less or a better player who misses much less.

What does it take to light a fire under your ass son? You remind me of Ned Flanders, except I like Ned because he wouldn't be trying to play pool and give his two cents about how it's done or probables or somes and others.

Yur damn grid be hav'nz gaps n'shit, you bes go fill dem gapples, fo'you catch'uh foo clip an'yo fam'leh reh'lee gwanna fee'let mang.

Have a okely dokely day!

Holy Inapproriate Reply, Batman! WTF?

Anyway, I do agree with one thing. I've always thought that people have too much belief in this magical thing called "The Zone" like it is some elusive thing that you can figure out and put in a bottle. My thought is that the zone is nothing more than finding, by accident, the perfect combination of variables that sends the cue straight through the cue ball. On any given night you would otherwise play perfectly except your ring finger has too much tension, or your left foot is two inches too far to the right that evening.

Of course it is complicated, but my bottom line is I think the zone has as much to do with "lucking into" proper mechanics on any given day as anything else.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
Jesus, you always got a story to explain your insanity, no matter what I say, and here it comes boy......what you said or basically said or sort of said, is the biggest load of garbage, and I highly advise anyone who is trying to get to the high levels, like strong semi pro and higher, to not guess or rely on what you said.

You either know what you are doing or you don't.

The more you don't know what you are doing, then the more you are relying on "being in stroke" and everything else associated with it, which means less pressure or none.

It's what I call, letting a player get happy. The more i miss, the more better your type of thinking plays against me. It's totally annoying because I know that type can't bring that game when I miss less or a better player who misses much less.

What does it take to light a fire under your ass son? You remind me of Ned Flanders, except I like Ned because he wouldn't be trying to play pool and give his two cents about how it's done or probables or somes and others.

Yur damn grid be hav'nz gaps n'shit, you bes go fill dem gapples, fo'you catch'uh foo clip an'yo fam'leh reh'lee gwanna fee'let mang.

Have a okely dokely day!

Insanity is trying to improve your skills without understanding how the brain works when it comes to the fine development of motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Understanding how to think in a manner that will rapidly improve any learning process is good advice. I've given lessons on guitar, piano, drums, pool, etc... and once the student understands how to think, how to learn and program the brain, their skill developing progress is outstanding. If they think it's just a bunch of "garbage" or feel-good talk, then they stick with doing the same thing over and over, always expecting different results, getting nowhere and progressing like a snail. That's insanity. ;)
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Holy Inapproriate Reply, Batman! WTF?

Anyway, I do agree with one thing. I've always thought that people have too much belief in this magical thing called "The Zone" like it is some elusive thing that you can figure out and put in a bottle. My thought is that the zone is nothing more than finding, by accident, the perfect combination of variables that sends the cue straight through the cue ball. On any given night you would otherwise play perfectly except your ring finger has too much tension, or your left foot is two inches too far to the right that evening.

Of course it is complicated, but my bottom line is I think the zone has as much to do with "lucking into" proper mechanics on any given day as anything else.


It happens. Just once in a very blue moon (with apologies to Nancy Griffin).

There you are, just bunting balls around playing, meh, OK. And then, out of nowhere, for absolutely no good reason, the pool fairy bops me on the nose and says, “Lou, go forward and play pool like a god,”

And suddenly… that’s what happens.

Slowly. Surely. With graining confidence, I, like so many before me, walk into the pool room one day and the balls begin to jet into the pockets. Then more balls drop and the cue ball behaves like something out of a Stephen King novel. The balls don’t do their usual thing and just get to the pocket. No. They “TWARP” into the hole. First on just a few shots and then another shot and then another. “FOWP. THOWP. POP.”

And so it goes, with ridiculous regularity.

It is magical. It's ecstasy. They are sounds sweeter than any other, Mozart, Sinatra, Coltrain, Sondehiem, Ella, Rodgers and and Hammerstein, Britany Spears all rolled into one. If you're like me you walk around the table thinking, “This is unreal. It cannot last." (And usually does not.)

Nowadays, being the older, wiser, more somber player that I am, when “dead stroke” blesses me with a visit, I make a list and take copious mental notes: what is in motion, where are my contact points, what is my footwork, what’s my grip doing, etc. And I am like Madame Curie trying to isolate radium. Is this something I can replicate? Will I be able to do this tomorrow? Frankly, I don't know that there's any reliable way to get into that fugue state we call "dead stroke," other than constant study and practice. (And then there’s the issue of “dead stroke” as a moving target, oy vey.)

IMO, dead stroke happens because on certain days many small physical things happen to sync up for us. Some of these little things are seemingly insignificant, but actually quite important to whatever idiosyncratic quirks make up our individual body mechanics and stroke. The mental state is just a manifestation the confidence we end up feeling and perhaps mild euphoria.


So I think dead stroke visits us when we're doing one, two, or maybe more things, differently than before. Perhaps a bit more of a step to the left, establishing contact between bridge hand and cue shaft with different motion, a slightly longer or shorter bridge, a longer or shorter grip, a slightly turned wrist there, a higher or lower head, a more level cue, a longer back stroke, a more relaxed or tighter bridge, and so on. On occasion, all this comes together to produce a precise stroke and the ability to do what we will with the cue ball.

Then, the mental part of dead stroke comes to us and we become absorbed by our ability to execute shots with sharpened precision. The next day, we go to the table and, because we're not machines, we do it a bit differently, and end up with different results.
 Way back when, I would notice that if I just played very quickly, without thinking, I could play "very well." I would run around the table, collapse into a stance, throw a hodge podge of sometimes unorthodox bridges on the table, and zip the balls into the pockets. I could run a lot of balls this way. The problem was that this "system" wasn't reliable enough to count on.



Nowadays, it's more the opposite. I find that it's when I'm concentrating on the balls and table, considering every nuance of the upcoming shot, position play, table layout, and using a very studied technique, that I play "very well."



So why the difference? I think it’s because the words "(play) very well" have a different meaning for me now than before. The lack of reliability that I experienced as a younger player was because I just wasn't good enough and didn’t have the knowledge I have today. The failure of my earlier "system" was actually my failure as a player. I could only play so well and missed the balls and position plays I was suppose to miss -- at the time -- not knowing I was suppose to miss them and blaming the "system."



Now, I think I have a better appreciation for how difficult the game can be, and can more clearly see what I don't know and might not be able to execute. I also now know, with much more accuracy, what playing "very well" means. Many times in the past, I thought I was playing "very well." Now, I have a much more narrow definition of those words and they require a much higher level of precision and consistency in execution than I would have used just six months ago.



So what does this mean? I dunno.

Perhaps it's just that "dead stroke" means different things to different people, and different things at different times in our lives. Certainly, "dead stroke" for a player that has only been playing for a year or two, means something quite different than to a player with twenty or thirty years of playing experience. And because we keep raising the bar, dead stroke always remains elusive and a very hard place to get to.

Lou Figueroa
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
I think the zone has as much to do with "lucking into" proper mechanics on any given day as anything else.
I get luckier as I improve.

I think part of improving is reducing the difference between your better and worse days, making dead stroke more likely on any given day - despite the moving goal posts that Lou described so well.

And I don't think it's just something we have to hope comes along with our general improvement - I think we can purposely develop our ability to get into dead stroke, mostly by developing our skills and focus, but also by being attentive to it when it happens.

pj
chgo
 

greyghost

Coast to Coast
Silver Member
I get luckier as I improve.

I think part of improving is reducing the difference between your better and worse days, making dead stroke more likely on any given day - despite the moving goal posts that Lou described so well.

And I don't think it's just something we have to hope comes along with our general improvement - I think we can purposely develop our ability to get into dead stroke, mostly by developing our skills and focus, but also by being attentive to it when it happens.

pj
chgo



I def agree here, dans comment is something I have no understanding of at all personally speaking.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

greyghost

Coast to Coast
Silver Member
I def agree here, dans comment is something I have no understanding of at all personally speaking.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Well maybe for some players I guess but I don’t luck into proper mechanics that’s for certain


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I get luckier as I improve.

I think part of improving is reducing the difference between your better and worse days, making dead stroke more likely on any given day - despite the moving goal posts that Lou described so well.

And I don't think it's just something we have to hope comes along with our general improvement - I think we can purposely develop our ability to get into dead stroke, mostly by developing our skills and focus, but also by being attentive to it when it happens.

pj
chgo

I agree.

I don't believe dead stroke is having everything fall in line by luck or chance. I believe it's something that happens when you are 100% in the moment, enjoying what you are presently doing without purposely trying to do it. And I believe for some people it happens more often because they are better at getting to that frame of mind where their conscious thoughts are riding shotgun instead of driving.

Most players tend to try too hard, stuck in a loop of overanalyzing cause and effect, thinking too much about the score, the previous shot or game, or looking ahead at the what-ifs in games that haven't occurred yet. The score is 7-7 racing to 9 and you need two games. If you are thinking, "All I have to do is break and run the next two racks and I move on to the finals...", then you are not in the moment. Your mind has jumped into the future and you're likely not winning the next two games unless you get back into the present and just play.
 

cookie man

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And I don't think it's just something we have to hope comes along with our general improvement - I think we can purposely develop our ability to get into dead stroke, mostly by developing our skills and focus, but also by being attentive to it when it happens.

pj
chgo

This is correct.
 

paultex

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This is correct.

I think everything said is correct and well put because of the fact that there are jimi hendrix's and there are, well, whoever plays the guitar by a "correct" proven form, therefore, a "discipline".

So, whichever it may be for the given person, there is a reason and that reason should be explored and understood by said person.

However, if that answer is not found and understood, i argue, that under pressure, it will take a miracle to find it and probably too late if found, at high level of competition or demonstration if winning is a necessary part of the equation and that part is soley a personal interest of the given player and their personal objectives.

Winning a "event" for the sake of game theory, is not a paramount thing in the big picture if there are other motives that have merit.
 

paultex

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Here is the best system imo. How does one miss.
 

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Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
15-30-45 inside/outside sweep ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.MOVE OWN
Nope. All you need to know is 90-90.

Wait. Shishkebob. That's all you need.

Nope. Nope. It's stick aiming. Yeah, that's it... stick aiming.

Changed my mind - ghost ball is the ticket.

Maybe double overlap?

Or contact points...

What was the question?

pj <- moving own
chgo
 

Valiant Thor

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
equal aiming

Pj your so confused you can't find your balls with both hands.i have seen you play,.B player at best
 

sixpack

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
1. Aim CCB 2 COB
2. Pivot cue from your grip to aim the tip at the contact point (CP)
Study the angle A created/between the aim line in step 1 and step 2
3. Pivot the cue from your grip from the aim line to CP in step 2 by the same angle A to
the outside by moving the bridge hand - as shown
4. and shoot

View attachment 488417

This works for all cut angles. Compensate for CIT caused by a center ball hit .

When the CB & OB are too close, aim further outside a bit more.:(

View attachment 488418

Enjoy:smile:

So this is kind of the natural progression from the system that I sent you a while back. Or rather, that system was a progression from this. I started out doing this. There is an easier variant:

If you aim center to center CB to OB. And then you see where the CP on the OP is on the tip. For example, if the tip is at 10 o'clock on the tip. Then you reflect that and move the tip to aim where the CP is at 2 o'clock.

It's just double the distance.

The problem is that it doesn't account for deflection and throw. But if you do it so the errors are on opposite sides of the shot then they kind of balance out and you can make a lot more shots a lot more forgiving.

For example, take a relatively short cut shot. Doesn't matter what angle. I think this only works on a non-LD shaft btw.

Line up the edge of the cue through the center of the CB to the CP on the object ball and shoot. On the inside of the shot. I.e. in on the same side as the pocket you are shooting to.

You will probably make the shot. Because the deflection from the cue moved the CB outside.

What is interesting is if you add more english. Just pivot a little and keep the edge of the CB on the contact point. You'll still probably make the shot.

Even if you are hitting two tips away from center CB. The more you pivot off that alignment, the more deflection you will get. If you pivot towards center CB then you'll get less deflection. So the ball will cut less.

In fact, with the right bar cue (this is why I play with bar cues on the road all the time) with a soft tip, you can pivot anywhere you want to put any english you want on the CB and still make the shot. Within reason.

The further you are away from the object ball the smaller the offset to the CP and the less deflection you will get. So this works well for a whole lot of shots at different distances and cut angles. Just because you are using deflection to offset an intentional error in aiming and CIB.

Try it.

IF you have a LD shaft, I think you can do something similar by moving more parallel than pivoting. Someone handed me an LD shaft the other night, first time I ever shot a ball with one, and told me to hit a full table cut shot with hard inside english. I drilled it right to center pocket because I did this but moved almost completely parallel instead of pivoting around.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
Pj your so confused you can't find your balls with both hands.i have seen you play,.B player at best
You must have caught me on a good day.

I can't be a B player because I don't use the parallel lines system... or is it the bottom of ball system... or... ?

pj <- gotta be the wrong system
chgo
 
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