Center Pocket Music, the long-awaited CTE Pro One book, by Stan Shuffett.

Useless for practical use, lol.

Try two DVDs and a book several hundred pages long.

Lou Figueroa
So what? The amount of information on a given method doesn't make that method impractical. People learned it and used it successfully before the DVDs.
 
JB - did you ever consider taking a more Zen approach to pool? Based on these photos you are way too concerned with the outcome. Make the focus of your game more about your body during the stroke, trying to execute the perfect stroke, and pay less attention to whether the ball was pocketed. I know this was a high pressure situation, but that is when you really need to focus even more on yourself rather than the shot.
If you're referring to the match with Lou the situation was about as tense as it gets for me. I understand what you are saying and I have taken that approach with good results at times. In this match however I was pretty wound up and had come into it with about the worst kind of preparation physically and mentally that I could have done. But I stepped up and it took a village to defeat me. Their "champion" had to be cattle-prodded to play and for his efforts they gave him the smallest share. So, yeah I looked like an idiot who never played before pretending to be a dancer who stumbled into a pool match.....my only regret is that I was a poor example of CTE in match play. Had I changed a few things going into it then perhaps I would have showed better form.
 
So what? The amount of information on a given method doesn't make that method impractical. People learned it and used it successfully before the DVDs.
Err, yes it does .
Lord , before the DVD came out , there was all the hype from the houligans about .
Then the dvd jiust confused the crap out of most people .
Then another DVD .
Then a book that took 6 years to get out .
On how to freaking aim.
Tor Lowry spends 14 days with bangers without teaching a fancy aiming system and bangers come out as much better players .
If you met Tor instead of Hal, you'd be tens of thousands of dollars ahead and couldn't care less about half-tip pivot , air pivot or disguised pivot .
 
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Err, yes it does .
Lord , before the DVD came out , there was all the hype from the houligans about .
Then the dvd jiust confused the crap out of most people .
Then another DVD .
Then a book that took 6 years to get out .
On how to freaking aim.
Tor Lowry spends 14 days with bangers without teaching a fancy aiming system and bangers come out as much better players .
If you met Tor instead of Hal, you'd be tens of thousands of dollars ahead and couldn't care less about half-tip pivot , air pivot or disguised pivot .
Um, no it doesn't.
Learn more produce more.
Why would I be ahead?
What if I had met both?
I bet any banger who spends 14 days with me or you would come out as much better players.
HAMB gets results. Doesn't mean CTE doesn't.

Why do you care what amount of time someone spent writing their book?
 
Matching the reciprocal section is a well known method called equal/opposite. Joe Tucker calls it Aiming by The Numbers. Easy to diagram, hard to execute over a wide range of shots.
I use what Jimmy Reid called equal angle opposites. The way I locate the cue ball is I pivot the stick from the bottom tangent on the object ball to the reciprocal on top of the cue ball. There might be a slight error but I haven't needed to compensate for it. It's easy enough locating the front of the cueball by projecting through the side you're shooting anyway.
Joe Tucker is an oddball in this regard. He abandoned contact geometry for fractions was it? Fyask me, all he had to do was stick with the geometry and tough out the aiming part. Works for me.
 
So what? The amount of information on a given method doesn't make that method impractical. People learned it and used it successfully before the DVDs.

The issue at hand was: practical use.

A system that needs several hundred pages of explanation would pretty much be at the bottom of any list.

Lou Figueroa
 
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If you're referring to the match with Lou the situation was about as tense as it gets for me. I understand what you are saying and I have taken that approach with good results at times. In this match however I was pretty wound up and had come into it with about the worst kind of preparation physically and mentally that I could have done. But I stepped up and it took a village to defeat me. Their "champion" had to be cattle-prodded to play and for his efforts they gave him the smallest share. So, yeah I looked like an idiot who never played before pretending to be a dancer who stumbled into a pool match.....my only regret is that I was a poor example of CTE in match play. Had I changed a few things going into it then perhaps I would have showed better form.

It only took *me* to beat you and your coach.

Lou Figueroa
 
The subject here is not physics. I understand appeal to authority and you did exactly that, without a valid basis for doing so.

That's the problem. It is physics you just don't know it. Passing it off to some undefinable perception thing is simply a coping mechanism to rationalize what is not possible. You are trying to say that the 2x1 dimensions of the table allow you to shoot or bank into any pocket, which is clearly geometry and physics, but somehow to make it work you have to leave geometry and get into the undefinable idea of "perception." If geometry allows it then geometry should be able to explain it.

STFU? And what then would define OBJECTIVE for you? What percentage satisfies you? 99.99% 85% What's the scale? Sayiing things like hit the rail and ball at the same time are examples of references intended to give a general idea of what to look at. A player who practices that way will quickly learn the nuances of the shot and how to hit it. Dr. Dave has done excellent work to show the effects of rail first and ball first hits. That is an example of taking conventional wisdom and applying ON TABLE examples and analytics to prove the concept. Keep the cue level IS simply a way to tell the shooter to develop a comfortable and consistent stroke for shots that don't require raising the cue into uncomfortable positions. And it is possible to shoot with a level cue on a lot of shots.
According to Stan it is 100% objective so that is my standard. If you think hitting the ball and rail at the same time is like CTE then what are we arguing about? That's all we've been saying for 20 years. You think you are hitting the ball and rail at the same time when you are pocketing balls but you really aren't. Same with CTE. You think you are using objective aim points but you are not. Perfect analogy, thank you.

snip

How SHOULD one describe such a method other than OBJECTIVE? You want to nitpick because someone said it works for shots at all angles but when people find that to be true when they apply it why are they wrong? Because you think it's impossible? You're fond of dissecting video frame by frame. So show us where the subjective/subconscious adjustments are. The fact is that you can't but using the subconscious as a cover-all for what you can't prove is convenient.
The controversy with the word objective is not with seeing the lines on the ob. It is with the idea that those lines send the ob to a pocket for all shots and the player doesn't have to use any judgment to make those shots go.

Well if you have never tried to pocket two and three rail banks then maybe this conversation isn't for you. Yes there are students of Stan's who can duplicate his curtain demos. Are you willing to pay to $500 to find out? I am willing to pay you if you can do it without CTE. You do however miss the point. If Usain Bolt (greatest runner name ever) were to come out with a set of instructions on how to run faster those instructions would not and could not guarantee that those following them would or could achieve his level of speed. But they could make a lot of people faster and if that were the case someone like you who wanted to quibble about the terminology used wouldn't change the fact that the instructions work. Unless Bolt is straight up lying and made up a bunch of nonsense that at best could have a placebo effect on some people the default position would be for me that the instructions are his best way to communicate what he does. That's my point.

As I have said, the proof is on the table. As one student last night said to me when I asked him how he felt after learning and applying basic CTE for two hours, "it feels like cheating". So for you to tell me that that person IS NOT capable of understanding the before and after results of his effort is really crappy. And that is exactly what you are saying when you use the religious zealot remarks and when you attack based on descriptions that are far closer to accurate, such as IS OBJECTIVE and HANDLES ALL SHOTS than the knocker contentions of impossible/must be subconscious adjustment.
If you want to say the main benefit is a placebo effect, or maybe just introducing a consistent PSR then I agree.
 
I use what Jimmy Reid called equal angle opposites. The way I locate the cue ball is I pivot the stick from the bottom tangent on the object ball to the reciprocal on top of the cue ball. There might be a slight error but I haven't needed to compensate for it. It's easy enough locating the front of the cueball by projecting through the side you're shooting anyway.
Joe Tucker is an oddball in this regard. He abandoned contact geometry for fractions was it? Fyask me, all he had to do was stick with the geometry and tough out the aiming part. Works for me.
So i have a question for you. Since you have now knocked Joe Tucker, who by the way is a world class instructor, and said he should have stuck to your way. Who exactly ARE YOU? What are your credentials in pool and aiming. Surely you are a household name, one that even the casual poolplayer would know. Enlighten us with your true name.

PS and please start a brand new thread so we discuss the deep dark secrets of "your way" I mean just saying "works for me" doesn't cut it around here. We need details Hello and goodbye
 
So i have a question for you. Since you have now knocked Joe Tucker, who by the way is a world class instructor, and said he should have stuck to your way. Who exactly ARE YOU? What are your credentials in pool and aiming. Surely you are a household name, one that even the casual poolplayer would know. Enlighten us with your true name.

PS and please start a brand new thread so we discuss the deep dark secrets of "your way" I mean just saying "works for me" doesn't cut it around here. We need details Hello and goodbye

That’s pretty funny —. the CTE crew has been saying, “works for me,” without explanation, for years and years.

Lou Figueroa
 
So i have a question for you. Since you have now knocked Joe Tucker, who by the way is a world class instructor, and said he should have stuck to your way. Who exactly ARE YOU? What are your credentials in pool and aiming. Surely you are a household name, one that even the casual poolplayer would know. Enlighten us with your true name.

PS and please start a brand new thread so we discuss the deep dark secrets of "your way" I mean just saying "works for me" doesn't cut it around here. We need details Hello and goodbye
Just an opinion about Joe Tucker. Doesn't diminish anything he's accomplished. I stand on what works. BFD about your sense of hierarchy.
 
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Me claiming you core with wadded up newpapers in your cues would obviously not be true. Me not getting cores glued in like you instructed would not invalidate your method. I hope you have the grace to think about it.
My videos are not instructional videos they are for information so people who may have an interest in my cues can have a general idea how I build them. And then make their own decision as to whether it's appealing or not.

I neither expect nor care whether other cue builders do any part of their construction the same way or even if they think what I'm doing is wrong.

CTE on the other hand seems to have a huge ego.
 
In regards to this book, it's like poker. I can make a 1-page summary so anyone and their grandmother can learn how to play poker. If you want to play well and have a full study, you'll likely buy something like Super System by Doyle Brunson --- which is 624 pages long.

I learned CTE in one session with Hal. One session. I think most people can learn the very basics in one session - it's one of the easiest and most accurate ball pocketing systems one can learn. If you want a full study, try Stan's book. He gives away his knowledge for free on his YouTube channel. If you can't learn from that then systems probably aren't for you -- that's all -- not a big deal.

To read some people knocking Stan's book due to the length.... if my eyes could rotate backward 360 degrees at 3000rpm, they would.

Here's everyone's CTE lesson in 2 mins:

For thick shots:

Sight straight down the CTEL and then poke your head to the outside of that line slightly and offset your cue to outside as well and lock in that offset. Pivot to center... and fire away.

For thin shots:

Sight straight down the CTEL and then poke your head to the inside of that line slightly and offset your cue to inside as well and lock in that offset. Pivot to center... and fire away.

For really thin shots:

Sight straight down the CTEL and then poke your head to the inside of that line slightly and offset your cue to inside as well and lock in that offset. Pivot past center... and fire away.

The above will make a ton of shots. That was basically my first lesson with Hal. It's nowhere near as precise as what Stan is teaching, but there ya go... you learned the gist within a 1/4 page. Hal introduced the edge to quadrants later on in follow-up lessons, which was basically his 3-line content. He knew the super basic stuff above was enough for a lot of shots for those just learning the system. If you want to expand from a ton of shots to all of the shots, 10 years' worth of study on the topic, then study Stan's book.

CTE is basically a preshot routing that is build around perfect eye placement. If your eyes are locked into the very best position and you have a repeatable objective manner to get to that point every time, you'll improve at a far quicker pace. If I have someone with good, solid mechanics who is plateaued, they'll break that plateau with this knowledge. As sure as God made apples, they'd begin to improve again because even though they think they're doing the same thing as a routine, they're not. Before everyone comes out of the woodwork saying "There are many reasons for plateaus yadda yadda whatever" --- the one root cause that's invisible is eye position. To me, everything else is observable in regards to variations in setups and execution. Nothing fixes that better than CTE.... nothing. Absolutely nothing, period. For those who play well based on raw talent and feel -- you have a visual intelligence and acuity that's far above that of a normal person. Somewhat of a gift. Not many can. People play and practice their entire lives and play like dogsh1t. It's a fact. For those who lack that visual gift, might as well learn something new.
 
Sure you can paste my words. Enthusiasm is not a crime. I went in a different direction and became a top pool cue case maker. I can honestly say that objective aiming has kept me interested in playing pool so at the very least pool has retained one enthusiast who has spent a lot of money to play pool since learning how to aim objectively.
I'm not a doubter or knocker of CTE. Have you read the books? The reason I ask, I've watched some of the Truth Series on YouTube, and I'll be honest, I am confused as hell. I'm not blaming the system, I might just be being dumb or it's not clicking at the moment. Does the book do a more systematic introduction of the system? I feel like the video might be for folks who already have some insider info on the system, or have read the book/took a lesson? Again, not doubting but I'm having a tough time parsing the info. I'm honestly interested in buying it but wonder if the book will help it "click" or if I will just remain dumb. :)

P.S. I'm loving my 2X5/3X4 Rugged case. It's a BEAST, thanks for making such a great product. (y)
 
That’s pretty funny —. the CTE crew has been saying, “works for me,” without explanation, for years and years.

Lou Figueroa
How does it work ?? Why does it work ??
To quote your darling President of the US....."Come on Man".
How does it work? Answer: It works by putting the cue ball at the proper place to pocket the object ball better than your way. That's how it works.
Why does it work? Answer: It works because it puts the cue ball at the proper place to pocket the object ball better and more efficiently than your way.
Duhhhhhhh.
Come on Figueroa, wake up and smell the coffee for a change. You've been wandering in the woods like a lost dog for years and years.
Since you don't like it, since you think it's BS, since you think anyone who believes it works is a screwball, why don't you just leave it alone and turn your phoney "discussions" (ala the Great White) toward something you approve of??
There is a 428 page encyclopedia out there that can teach even a prejudiced bigot like yourself HOW to do it. So, Figueroa, you and The Great White can learn it or just leave it alone. Neither of you have any intellectual or moral superiority in this issue due to your ignorance.
Your bashing is reported.
 
How does it work ?? Why does it work ??
To quote your darling President of the US....."Come on Man".
How does it work? Answer: It works by putting the cue ball at the proper place to pocket the object ball better than your way. That's how it works.
Why does it work? Answer: It works because it puts the cue ball at the proper place to pocket the object ball better and more efficiently than your way.
Duhhhhhhh.
Come on Figueroa, wake up and smell the coffee for a change. You've been wandering in the woods like a lost dog for years and years.
Since you don't like it, since you think it's BS, since you think anyone who believes it works is a screwball, why don't you just leave it alone and turn your phoney "discussions" (ala the Great White) toward something you approve of??
There is a 428 page encyclopedia out there that can teach even a prejudiced bigot like yourself HOW to do it. So, Figueroa, you and The Great White can learn it or just leave it alone. Neither of you have any intellectual or moral superiority in this issue due to your ignorance.
Your bashing is reported.

If I didn’t know better I’d guess you’ve been possessed.... or perhaps just your AZ account.

Here’s how Joe Lee Bush used to post.

Lou Figueroa

For some reason, you have hostility toward my inquiry. My inquiry makes perfect sense. It doesn't deserve personal attacks at me.
You're the instructor, I am not.
I'd like to know how it works but I can see you're not interested in supplying any facts on how it works.
Goodbye.
I hope whatever is causing you to have a bad day will get better for you.
 
I'm not a doubter or knocker of CTE. Have you read the books? The reason I ask, I've watched some of the Truth Series on YouTube, and I'll be honest, I am confused as hell. I'm not blaming the system, I might just be being dumb or it's not clicking at the moment. Does the book do a more systematic introduction of the system? I feel like the video might be for folks who already have some insider info on the system, or have read the book/took a lesson? Again, not doubting but I'm having a tough time parsing the info. I'm honestly interested in buying it but wonder if the book will help it "click" or if I will just remain dumb. :)

P.S. I'm loving my 2X5/3X4 Rugged case. It's a BEAST, thanks for making such a great product. (y)
Have you ever walked into a classroom, listened to the teacher speak and red flag alarms went off his your head that the speaker was for lack of better words.. blissfully ignorant and egotistic of the subject at hand and/or fails to communicate intelligently and thought you'd better change classes? Or listen to the now President who's now being cut off from answering any questions..Einstein put it best "if you cant explain it simply, you dont understand it well enough". Brings another to mind," if you cant dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS" I pay no attention to people who attempt to plagiarize another's original ideas and call it their own no matter what they claim otherwise. Theres alot more to pool than aiming as JB cases discovered. And no one best way to aim
 
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