Recent content by Siz

I know. There are a couple of issues here. One is that in general experts in practical skills have implicit knowledge - not something that they are necessarily consciously aware of, still less able to articulate usefully. Another is that the expert feels that they are expected to know what...

Excited to find a video of this! Selby can be absolute granite! He has been off his game for a year or two, but I have long had so much admiration for him as a competitor. I remember thinking that he seemed to bring something new to the game in terms of all-round match-winning skills. In...

Bob, two questions: First, I would be very interested to see what the slo-mo analysis came up with - is this published anywhere accessible? Secondly, regarding the non participation of the hand, you suggest that softness of human flesh is the reason for this. But is it not the case that the...

Yes, it is interesting. But that it worked for CJ Willey is an empirical fact (or at least as close to an empirical fact as one can expect in the rather fuzzy world of billiards performance). So when I started thinking about it and I did not understand what the benefit was, I realised that...

Many, many years ago, I was playing snooker against a pro. In the middle of the game, after I had missed a couple of balls by quite a wide margin, he turned to me and said "Do you mind if I give you some advice?". I said "No", hoping to get some useful nugget that would improve my game. "Stop...

Yes, this rings true. I think that there can be a real issue when things are not going well, and in response you start trying too hard. What seems to happen is you start using the wrong part of the mind to orchestrate your movement. This just doesn't work. Compare with when you are in the...

I must admit, when I saw the left handed chalk title of this thread, I was expecting to have a giggle! Most expert snooker players are right hand / left eye dominant or left hand / right eye dominant (ie have contralateral dominance). When you see a pro snooker player with the same eye-hand...

To attempt to answer the question the OP actually asked: If you ignore consistency / likelihood of making the shot (ie what actually matters!) there are probably very few shots that are impossible to make with a 'poor' stroke (in the same way as it is not impossible for an infinite number of...

Also fatigue affecting the bracing of the back and shoulder can be an issue if you down on the shot for a long time. But it is not only posture that can deteriorate with age; also concentration. Not giving yourself time to mentally get in your own way can be helpful also, especially under...

Not sure that I am directly answering the question, but.... I sometimes practice playing without using any rehearsal strokes. So I place the cue, pull it back and fire. The reason I do this is that it encourages me to prepare (aim, align, visualize etc) properly, both when I am standing behind...

I seem to remember reading that Mark Selby moved up from being a jobbing professional to one of the real monsters on the pro snooker circuit when he shortened his stroke (although it is still one of the longer ones). [Edit - I should say that I cannot now find any evidence to back this up]...

That was also my reaction when I first read some of CJ Wiley's posts on this subject a few years back; and I am not advocating this approach. But when I hear a top player explain something they do (or think they do) that does not seem to make sense, I often treat it as a puzzle rather than as...

I have long been puzzled and disappointed by the lack of Middle- & Old-English references in AZB forums. Thank you, Patrick, for going some way to correcting this glaring omission. And long may this continue.

Outside can be useful in cut shots, especially banks. But I think that the critical point in CJW's TOI is the 'Touch of' piece. I believe that what this contributes is nothing to do with aiming, or physics: it is more along the lines of a golf 'swing thought'; something that you can...

My father an anesthetist, but lucky enough to work for the National Health Service in England, so never had to think about charging anyone. Grandfather was a Chopdoc - eye surgeon. Used to do a dozen cataracts before breakfast. (That was in Burma, when things got a bit hot during the day, and...