Neil: I disagree with only three shots with inside...most of the "no english" shots had significant stun, indicating to me that he was very close to slight inside. I think the three inside shots you're referring to are pretty obvious inside english shots, not "TOI", because the cueball takes a steep angle off the cushion (it still has a lot of post collision spin). I think it's virtually impossible to distinguish between "TOI" and center cueball on a 2 dimensional computer screen (unless you're looking down the barrel you can't affirmatively judge the post contact angle)--you'd have to be there in three dimensions and really looking for it to really be sure, and because he's shooting so soft on a lot of them it's really hard to differentiate. Throughout the whole video, I see a lot of dead cueballs, though. He did actually use quite a bit of outside, too, mainly on his blind cuts to get the cueball to flatten out and go straight across to the opposite rail and on shots where he had to snatch it back running off the rail to get position. I don't think anyone can argue Efren doesn't use the whole CB when he has to. I will say that despite conventional wisdom, Efren spins the CB alot less than say, Earl...yet he has the reputation of spinning a CB every shot (and he clearly doesn't).
Over the past 6 months of being an adherant to TOI, I realized that I used to use it quite a bit of stun on my CB and keep it from running off the collision out of position. This was always a sub-conscious "feel" aspect I had when I was playing tight position play, it never occurred to me that I could use it as a default alignment. I think a LOT of top players use it more often than we think, so it's easy in retrospect to come in and claim they're using TOI. Although I admit I think they probably use it as a tool to keep/get in line or cheat a pocket more than as a comprehensive system. Until I have the privilege of getting a 12 hour "lesson" from Efren, I'll never know how "consciously" he uses the inside of the CB for control. As far as Efren using it for pocketing, who knows? I will say this, watching for it in top players' matches has made TOI easier for me to adopt...I'm looking for and finding a whole new dimension to the game I really hadn't considered.
It's interesting you picked up on his strange routes, too...I wonder if that's just a comfort level thing for him, or maybe he's preferring a consistent address of the cueball, opting for a tighter pathway to keep from having to adjust every other shot? What do you think?
This video proves that Efren has the best touch in history...it's absolutely beautiful to watch and I swear he's as tough as he ever was!! :smile: