I'm an OBL player. Exceptions being when I can't naturally see both at the same time. Like Jump shots and other highly elevated shots, those I look at the cueball last mostly because staring at the cloth wouldn't make any damn sense.

I'd like to add that I BELIEVE that looking at the cueball last would encourage poor mechanics due to your focus being solely on striking the cueball only, so as soon as you "hit" it you're done. We all know subconscious plays an enormous role in our game, CBL, to me, would make it easy to give up early or "let up on it" as Jeremy Jones poignantly says. What we do between address and contact determines everything and anything that gunks that up so to speak has to be a negative addition.

Add to that I think depth perception and speed control would also suffer greatly looking at the cueball last. That was my first observation when I tried it for a month one time. Maybe that's just something in my physical or mental makeup but that's my personal experience.

I ALWAYS sand any tip including kamui clears to INSURE that the bottom is PERFECTLY FLAT! Many tips are NOT and that leads to a tip popping off.

CJ is definitely right on the stance. I had a older guy when i was in my mid 20's that tried to show me this and he was a jam up player and had a helluva stroke. I tried it for like 2 days and it just felt weird to me and i went back to my old way of lining up the shot with my right hip and stepping my left foot almost straight forward. Wish I had listened. I had always struggled with long straight ins. When i missed it was always to the right. Once i went to this stance, it put my cue more directly in the center of both eyes and helped my see the center of the cueball better. It has made a world of difference. I step out a lot farther to the side and squat more than CJ. More like my old friend that i should have listened to.

I have a Rick Howard Sneaky , where are you located