Blind Pocket Shot

X Breaker

X Breaker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have two questions:

1. Why is a blind pocket shot 'blind?" I can actually see the pocket when I am shooting those shots, but somehow the pocket location cannot really be determined in my mind with certainty, why?
2. Is there a difference between left handed and right handed players when it comes to which shot is "blind?" i.e. is there a difference in which shots are "blind" depending on which hand the player shoots with?

Let me explain my questions:

1. I am right handed, with a shot that is say like 30 degree, if it is a cut to the left, it is not as "blind" as if it is a cut to the right. But I can actaully see the pocket in both incidents. Then when the object ball is in the middle of the table, it does not matter which side it is cut.

Is there a scientific explanation to why our eyes will play this trick on us?

Is it because of where the rails are located that some shots are more "blind" than others?

Or is it because there is a "blind spot" in our vision? If that is the case, does that have to do with which hand we use to shoot?

2. I tried to shot left handed a few times, and something very weird happened. On some shots that used to be very "blind" for me, they actually look much more natural. I am not sure why, but I noticed the difference distintively.

Thank you.

Richard
 
Lun@ticfringe

Lun@ticfringe

Registered
Not sure why...think it has something to do with inside peripheral vision as opposed to outside peripheral of the dominate eye.I'm very interested in a definite explanation tho.I play scotch doubles with my wife,I'm right handed and she is left which adds greatly to the thought process of playing position for the other.Not only is it necessary to position the cue to avoid difficult bridging situations we also have to take into account the "blind spot" is opposite for the two of us.
 
bruin70

bruin70

don't wannabe M0DERATOR
Silver Member
the rails create an optical illusion...in particular, the rail nearest you.

you can take that very same angle to the pocket but place the cb/ob in a more common position, and you will see the shot.

you have to figure out your own way of "eliminating" the near rail OR aim short of the pocket.
 
F

FLICKit

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Isn't really all a matter of simple perspective?

It's called blind because when stroking the shot, in order to see the contact point on the object ball, you have to look away from the pocket. Whereas with most of your other shots you can see the object ball and the target pocket all within the same view.

Along with the pocket being blind, there are also additional difficulties due to throw effects and factoring english.

And on top of that, most lower level players have a difficult time contacting the outer edge of the target ball, which a blind pocket shot requires.

Any such shots require a higher degree of accuracy than typical shots. As a result, players will often select alternative shots. This in turn, results in players being even more unfamiliar with blind pocket shots, because they've avoided them, and thus have shot very few of them. In other words they are more likely to have not practiced and learned how to shoot that shot with confidence.
 
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X Breaker

X Breaker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I practise this shot quite often now on the snooker table, the blind pocket shot on the black ball.

I have been thinking about this a lot, and I just really want to know why is this shot "blind."

I can see the pocket on this shot, but it is like the pocket is in a blind spot or something. When I switched to shooting left handed, the blind spot was no longer there!

I like to aim with the "fraction of the ball system" used by the UK snooker players. A lot of the blind pocket shots are just a simple 1/4 or 1/2 ball shots.

I am not tryign to know how to make them, but more of an explanation on why the shot is blind.

I also find it helpful if I imagine a rail next to the ball going to the pocket, so it becoems like shooting a ball down the rail.

Thank you.
Richard
 
CreeDo

CreeDo

Fargo Rating 597
Silver Member
Not sure if this is the phenomenon you're describing, but I notice a simple preference for cuts that move the object ball in the opposite direction of my stroking hand. So I am leftie, and any cut going to the right will feel nicer and more natural to me than any cut going to the left. I'm positive I make those right-direction cuts more consistently and get better position from them too. I also favor rail cuts, and I've heard a few commentators talk about this phenomenon. If I have, say, a 40 degree cut heading down the long rail (object ball close to the rail, cueball further from the rail), I'll cinch it from pretty much anyway. Take the same 40 degree cut and make it a backward cut (cueball close to the rail, o.b. further) and it freaks me out, even though the angle is the same, distance is the same, etc. I think we use the rail as a guide subconsciously and having that reference makes the shot easier.

Naturally I'm also more uncomfortable with shots that go into a pocket that's more in my peripheral vision (like the backward cut described above) than shots where I can see the pocket easily. I think banks would be so much easier if we could see both the pocket and the OB at the same time.
 
C

cheesemouse

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Maybe I'm just lucky but the blind shot is easy and feels natural to me and always has. I don't have a system. Lucky for us they leave the pockets in the same place on all tables. You have to just trust your instincts...You know where the corner is and the farthest point on the ob from that target pocket is a make; play the ball to the inside titty and let'er go. After you hit enough of these shots you will feel very confident shotting them with authority. The farthest point on the ob from the target pocket is alway the contact point for a good make.....it is a feel/trust thingee...LOL
 
P

pdcue

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
X Breaker said:
I practise this shot quite often now on the snooker table, the blind pocket shot on the black ball.

I have been thinking about this a lot, and I just really want to know why is this shot "blind."

I can see the pocket on this shot, but it is like the pocket is in a blind spot or something. When I switched to shooting left handed, the blind spot was no longer there!

I like to aim with the "fraction of the ball system" used by the UK snooker players. A lot of the blind pocket shots are just a simple 1/4 or 1/2 ball shots.

I am not tryign to know how to make them, but more of an explanation on why the shot is blind.

I also find it helpful if I imagine a rail next to the ball going to the pocket, so it becoems like shooting a ball down the rail.

Thank you.
Richard
Click to expand...

I think you will find that this, and many other problems will go away if
you just stop looking at the pocket when you aim.

To pocket a ball, you need to contact it at a certain point. If you aim your CB to hit the target on the OB - it will go in the pocket. You don't need
to see the pocket

Dale
 
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