I think you may be surprised by some of Mosconi's statements in "Winning Pocket Billiards."
My theory is aiming means nothing...
- Thread starter iusedtoberich
- Start date
Here is my theory...
If you knew EXACTLY where to hit to make a shot, for every shot, you would not play any better than your current level. My contention is that there is SO MUCH to this game, that the theoretical aiming point, line, ball, whatever, is an almost insignificant portion of your overall performance as a player.
How can we prove (or disprove) this theory?
1. Place one of Joe Tuckers ghost ball training aidsunder every single ball in a rack of 9 ball. This will tell you the perfect "ghost ball" location for each ball.
2. See if you can run the rack.
3. Repeat 50 racks, keeping score of how many balls you ran each rack.
4. Repeat 50 more racks, without the aid, and keep score.
5. Compare your results.
Let me place the aiming aid for you. Obviously aiming means SOMETHING because when I deliberately place the aiming template in the WRONG position and tell you to shoot exactly over the ghost ball center then you will have a far lower make percentage.
OF COURSE AIMING IS NOT EVERYTHING. It is the BEGINNING of the shot. Execution FOLLOWS aiming and determines whether you have success or not with the goal in totality. Just making the ball doesn't mean you will run out. You have to get position and continue to execute each shot.
But anyway, since you asked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMNs82JOumU&t=1s
Hi John , you are Spot On..! If you can't shoot straight, knowing where to aim is NOT going to do you any good. You have to be able to shoot STRAIGHT from A to B in order for anything else to be successful. Then you have to learn what APPLIED SPIN is going to do to the attempt.
If it were easy, we'd all be good, but not great, that requires some feel & talent.
If it were easy, we'd all be good, but not great, that requires some feel & talent.
The importance of aiming is oversold, both figuratively and literally.
What is important is creating a consistent setup that makes the CB behave the way you want it to. If you can do that, aiming is almost an afterthought.
Lou Figueroa
Yeah, you’re probably right. I guess I don’t understand. Probably shouldn’t even try to play.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jRNPz_CEszE
Lou Figueroa
Nah, the importance of aiming is finally being understood.
Your approach is the wrong way. Yes, you need to be able to be physically consistent but the very act of setting up to "make the CB behave the way you want it to" MUST begin with aiming. Whether you admit it or not your eyes determine where your body goes.
It's romantic to think of pool as some sort of holistic unconscious experience where you hit enough balls and suddenly you just understand what to do. Everyone has been in the zone at times where it feels like the cue ball is on a string and every decision is perfect.
But the fact is that pool is simply mechanics and physics. The mechanics are the aiming, the bridge, the stroke....the physics are the friction, the force, the tip placement, the cue, the tip, the chalk.
Understanding how these factors interact allows for a much better clarity when it comes to consistently being able to set up so that the cue ball will do what you want it to do. The more you know the more you can practice with deliberation and knowledge.
Is it possible to learn everything about making the CB obey without knowing the physics and without understanding the mechanics? OF COURSE it is. That's amply seen by the comments of some high-level players who try to describe what they can do without knowing how those results are really obtained. Yes they "just do it" but that doesn't mean that actual knowledge of the mechanics and physics can't help anyone else to get better than they might otherwise be if they only had to rely on what they could learn by endlessly hitting balls.
There is nothing that you do in pool that you didn't learn how to do through practice and observation and hopefully some instruction. Aiming is not any different, it takes technique and practice to hone one's eyesight to zero in on the correct aiming in order to get correctly aligned to the shot. The major difference between your holistic "just do it" approach and the modern approach to aiming is that the modern aiming methods are objective and consistent. Applied with deliberation they can help to shorten the learning curve for all other aspects reducing the need to use brute force and rote to gain an understanding of the touch required to have the level of CB control you rightly say is necessary.
On another note: I will be in Memphis this coming weekend and will happily play you one pocket for 10 or 20 thousand, 10 ahead. I know that it's unlikely but if you want to play then I will there.
Bob Jewitt is right. Stun will produce the maximum amount of contact induced throw. Draw or follow will reduce this throw some. Throw will alter the path of the object ball. If the path you want leads into a pocket, you will need to adjust your contact point accordingly.
KMRUNOUT
Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums
Thanks on the run, ceebee
I've heard the "looks like you were aiming" and its variants like, "you aim, you just don't know it." But really I don't. I just see the shot and shoot the shot. To me it's like a series of free throws and if I stand at the line right, look at the basket, and do my setup right, I'm going to drain it. I call it shooting by feel.
Lou Figueroa
Sure, John.
I have to be doing it wrong. I must be aiming (I just don't know it, lol). I'm dreaming. I must be zeroing in on an aiming point.
As to Memphis:
I am not traveling to play you.
I am not playing a potentially endless 10 ahead.
I don't have a need to play you at all.
I once traveled halfway across the country to play you and beat you fair and square, which is more than anyone can say about your conduct during our match. And you know very well I heard of your offer to play in Memphis over two months ago. I don't know why you're woofing about it here and now, at the last moment, other than to feed your endless need to be the drama queen.
Lou Figueroa
Laubach.Baguio
Registered
This is great, no more aiming....Thank you.
all I have to do is know EXACTLY where I wanna hit.
God bless - iusedtoberich- you are the new hero of pool.
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Just letting you know where I will be. I don't v care why you don't want to play. Scared or some other reason is all the same to me.
As for aiming. You aim. Everyone aims.
Flew 1,000 miles and proved I wasn't scared of you.
Took your soul and your money too.
Lou Figueroa
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Lol, you were SCARED TO DEATH. The only reason you played is because you were backed.
Anyway, it doesn't matter, in pool when you win and then refuse to play a rematch you're considered to be a nit.
As for the money, yes, you got a small part of my money, a tiny part of the bet because you had to divide it up with the backer. But I made so much more from the marketing before and after the match so it was no big deal.
I can only make the offers and you can continue to refuse them and make up whatever excuses you need to. We all understand what type of person wins and refuses to give a rematch.
And as for you silly soul claim....if you ever did get any part of my soul you would automatically become a better person with heart enough to step up and play.
But we already know you duck EVERYONE no matter where you go. No heart, no class, no game. I would give you ODDS ON THE MONEY if you would ever step up and play Stan Shuffett.
So here is the deal, and I am not talking to YOU, I am talking to your backer. I will bet $30,000 to your $25000 if you can get your boy to play Stan one pocket in a race to 30. Stan will go to St. Louis and play on ANY table you want to play on.
I admit it, you're too good for me. Playing me is easy money for you. So play Stan and show some heart. We all know that you won't do it. And furthermore we all know that you can't get the backing to play Stan. But in the event that I am wrong and your backer can arrange for you to get a heart transplant, my money is ready.
Have a good one Louie. The boys at Hollywood billiards say hello as well. And hopefully you're not still barred from Cue and Cushion, such a wonderful historical room, hard to believe that such a "great" guy as you could be barred from any pool room. Maybe after all these years they will forgive your "attitude" and let you back in.
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Son, I will make the pot sweeter for ANYONE who will back you. I will bet $35000 to $25000 if you play Stan a race to 30 in one pocket.
Is there anyone reading this who is willing to back Lou in this match? If you can get your boy to the table I will give you an extra $1000 bonus once the money is posted.
Come on little buddy. Show us some heart and pick on someone your own size. I stepped up to play and your little hustle group divided up the 10k. Thanks for all the footage though it's still paying off for me. But now it's time to really play and show us all how great you are when you play someone good. You claim aiming is oversold... ok.... then step up and play the person you defamed incessantly.
You lied about Stan, insulted his wife and have been consistently immoral throughout the years. So why not go ahead and beat him on the table and prove to everyone that your approach is superior? Unless you think you can't win. Unless you're scared. And of course unless you can't find any backing because no one else thinks you can win either.
Ok cue up the excuses from the former professional government mouthpiece.... 3.2.1.....
Is there anyone reading this who is willing to back Lou in this match? If you can get your boy to the table I will give you an extra $1000 bonus once the money is posted.
Come on little buddy. Show us some heart and pick on someone your own size. I stepped up to play and your little hustle group divided up the 10k. Thanks for all the footage though it's still paying off for me. But now it's time to really play and show us all how great you are when you play someone good. You claim aiming is oversold... ok.... then step up and play the person you defamed incessantly.
You lied about Stan, insulted his wife and have been consistently immoral throughout the years. So why not go ahead and beat him on the table and prove to everyone that your approach is superior? Unless you think you can't win. Unless you're scared. And of course unless you can't find any backing because no one else thinks you can win either.
Ok cue up the excuses from the former professional government mouthpiece.... 3.2.1.....
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This is fantastic. The jawing between the two of you is legendary... Appreciate the entertainment as always.
Cheers to whoever revived this 7+ year old aiming thread. It always brings out the best in people!
Cheers to whoever revived this 7+ year old aiming thread. It always brings out the best in people!
It's posts like this that make people hate CTE users.
Lou is a POS, but stop acting like a child.