CTE at long distances

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
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Cte privides a quicker learning curve...just the opposite.
Cte has been around for awhile now, an many still having problems. Lou nails it on the head with his post.
You don't understand what it takes to make the ball until you understand that. That being said, add that to cte an you have a much longer learning curve. Lets be honest.

Fair enough. There's definitely more involved in pocketing balls than just aiming, but I believe knowing where to aim can make all the other stuff easier to figure out.
 

8pack

They call me 2 county !
Silver Member
Fair enough. There's definitely more involved in pocketing balls than just aiming, but I believe knowing where to aim can make all the other stuff easier to figure out.


How you strike the cb is everything. You dont know where to aim until you learn where to aim..:wink:
 

LAMas

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Fair enough. There's definitely more involved in pocketing balls than just aiming, but I believe knowing where to aim can make all the other stuff easier to figure out.

Yup
CTE is a process that arrives at position/stance to aim at the center of the CB without the shooter knowing what to aim at on the OB or to the outside of the OB down table.

Double the distance aiming calculates/shows one a spot on or to the outside of the OB or a vertical line to aim at.

Which is easier and will accept is up to the shooter.
 
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BC21

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How you strike the cb is everything. You dont know where to aim until you learn where to aim..:wink:

Hmm.... I think a player could learn the fundamentals of a good stance and a good stroke without ever shooting the cue ball into an object ball. Those are things that are learned through repitition, eventually becoming routine. Aiming should be the easy part. It shouldn't be something that a player has to learn. Instead, you take what you've learned, the stance and the stroke, and you use it to send the CB toward a known​ target. From there, the only learning that remains is how english and speed affect the shots and positioning of the CB.

This should be a new post, but I'm sure it's been covered thick enough already. :)
 
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8pack

They call me 2 county !
Silver Member
Hmm.... I think a player could learn the fundamentals of a good stance and a good stroke without ever shooting the cue ball into an object ball. Those are things that are learned through repitition, eventually becoming routine. Aiming should be the easy part. It shouldn't be something that a player has to learn. Instead, you take what you've learned, the stance and the stroke, and you use it to send the CB toward a known​ target. From there, the only learning that remains is how english and speed affect the shots and positioning of the CB.

This should be a new post, but I'm sure it's been covered thick enough already. :)
I've seen many good players with great fundamentals but yet struggle with getting out. Problem is many understand center cb but fail going outside center cb.
Constantly killing the run by lack of knowledge of what takes place in doing so. A half ball shot doesn't always mean your going to shoot at the edge of the ob. Many things consider before hand. Center cb aiming is just the beginning..outside center is the rest of the story.
 

Neil

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My only negative observation with CTE is this: A player with a good stroke may have lousy visualization skills, as far as determining cut angles. If that player expects CTE to be user-friendly, meaning a system that will allow him to use his good stroke and quickly begin pocketing balls, he or she will be very disappointed because the system does not provide immediate results. I have friends that have bought into this method, only to discover that it takes weeks to months before it starts clicking for them, if it ever does. It's because of the varying changes in the distance between CB and OB. That speaks volumes about the subjective nature of it. If it takes a lot of practice and repitition to get your brain locked on it, it's called rote, which is old-school learning.

Though I'm sure using CTE could provide a quicker learning curve for those that stick with it, a truly objective method for aiming would not require a player to spend hours upon hours trying to find consistent results. Now, if you have a good stroke and I say "aim here", while pointing to a spot on the OB or table or wherever, and you do it and get immediate results, that would be an objective aiming method.

When it comes to aiming, there are two ways to learn: Rote or System. Pick a system and work on it for an hour. If it doesn't provide positive results, pick another one. If that one doesn't provide results, then try another. If you can't seem to find one that shows immediate potential, pick one (the easiest to understand would be good idea) and stick with it until it becomes natural. Eventually you'll get it working because your brain will begin to compensate for all the little things that seemed unworkable when you started it. In the end, the whole process ends up being a branch right out of the old rote tree after all.

Sorry to go off topic, Sacman.

I take it from your post that you aren't a proficient user of CTE. CTE does provide immediate results when applied properly. The really only hard part is learning to let go of all the other ways of aiming, and just follow the steps for CTE.

I find it amusing that you state that one should give up a system if it doesn't provide results within an hour, but then applaud the rote system which can take years to learn.
 

BC21

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I take it from your post that you aren't a proficient user of CTE. CTE does provide immediate results when applied properly. The really only hard part is learning to let go of all the other ways of aiming, and just follow the steps for CTE.

I find it amusing that you state that one should give up a system if it doesn't provide results within an hour, but then applaud the rote system which can take years to learn.

You are correct, I'm not a CTE user. I watched a video of Stan shooting what he calls a standard 1/2 ball shot, then he illustrates how CTE lines you up for the same 1/2 ball hit. The funny thing is, the shot isn't a 1/2 ball hit....it's a 3/8 hit. A 1/2 ball hit would put the OB into the end rail, but Stan was drilling the corner pocket. He's a great shot maker, but there's no way he was center CB at the 1/2 ball aim, because the ball would've hit rail instead of the pocket. That was enough of a CTE lesson for me.


I'm not convinced that the bulk of CTE users are proficient with the system as an objective aiming method. Usually when something is difficult to grasp right off the bat, or takes days or weeks to work out the individual inconsistencies , it's because there are non-objective components at work, which causes proficiency to become a struggling process. . Eventually, through trial and error and repetition, your brain might figure out how to get done what your eyes and hands can't quite understand. That's why I mentioned *rote", which is not a system. Rote is the natural slow process of programming your brain's memory, through repetition, like missing enough 30° perception shots to eventually know how to compensate for the fact that some of those shots are a little more or a little less than 30°.

But I'm a strong supporter of players using whatever​ works for them, regardless of whether or not it works for me or anyone else.
 

sacman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hmm.... I think a player could learn the fundamentals of a good stance and a good stroke without ever shooting the cue ball into an object ball. Those are things that are learned through repitition, eventually becoming routine. Aiming should be the easy part. It shouldn't be something that a player has to learn. Instead, you take what you've learned, the stance and the stroke, and you use it to send the CB toward a known​ target. From there, the only learning that remains is how english and speed affect the shots and positioning of the CB.

This should be a new post, but I'm sure it's been covered thick enough already. :)

I'm enjoying the exchange between the CTE faithful and the not so faithful.

I would state that the difficulty in shot-making on a pool table is in direct proportion to the distance between CB & OB. In other words, for me - any shot 7 diamonds apart is extremely tough. Add the mystical ghost ball cut shot ... forget it - unless you spend thousands of hours on that shot. For the past 30 years I have aimed with the CB (contact points not center CB) unless it's a straight shot for which I use the cue stick line and aim through center CB to the contact point of the OB that touches the cloth of the table (Steve Mizerek's method).
 
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BC21

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I'm enjoying the exchange between the CTE faithful and the not so faithful.

Hey, did you check out DVD2, chapter 15, to resolve your original question about CTE at a long distance? Just curious. Thanks.
 

sacman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hey, did you check out DVD2, chapter 15, to resolve your original question about CTE at a long distance? Just curious. Thanks.

Yes - I've viewed it twice. It really identifies the challenges that I have with CTE:

- Seeing the dual lines from CTE to CTA or CTC from a long distance (or for any distance at that).

- Choosing the correct "solution to the shot", i.e. visual & sweep.

- The time involved for a beginning CTE user to determine the shot angle 15/30/45 and which sweep to use (inside or outside - i.e. - does the shot need to be thinned or thickened).

- The time involved for a beginning CTE user to see the visuals for said unique shot.

At home - since I have no pool table - I practice "seeing" the lines that arrive at the fixed CB on an empty TV stand (I have a CB and a marked OB) as Stan does in his DVD2-Chapter 12. I also practice my stroke as well. Next I will be practicing the bridge placement (looking carefully at DVD2-Chapter 20 and YTube video CTE PRO ONE Visual Sweep Support video.
 

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
At home - since I have no pool table - I practice "seeing" the lines that arrive at the fixed CB on an empty TV stand (I have a CB and a marked OB) as Stan does in his DVD2-Chapter 12. I also practice my stroke as well. Next I will be practicing the bridge placement (looking carefully at DVD2-Chapter 20 and YTube video CTE PRO ONE Visual Sweep Support video.

sacman, I know you don't respond to my posts, but I'll try again anyway. Does it bother you that CTE says you can use the same visual like ETA but if you do that the object ball will go in different directions based on where the balls are on the table? mohrt's explanation for this is that the table rails and the 1 by 2 dimension of the table creates an optical illusion, or tricks your eye so that the system works. Given that, are you concerned that your practice on your TV table is for naught because you are not on a 1 by 2 dimension table?
 

sacman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
sacman, I know you don't respond to my posts, but I'll try again anyway. Does it bother you that CTE says you can use the same visual like ETA but if you do that the object ball will go in different directions based on where the balls are on the table? mohrt's explanation for this is that the table rails and the 1 by 2 dimension of the table creates an optical illusion, or tricks your eye so that the system works. Given that, are you concerned that your practice on your TV table is for naught because you are not on a 1 by 2 dimension table?

No, I'm not bothered. 'nough said.
 

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
No, I'm not bothered. 'nough said.

I think you are a perfect fit for CTE. If you figure it out let the rest of us know.

You didn't really answer BC's question, BTW and FWIW. He was really asking whether the video answered your question about how to make the 7 diamond long shot. You replied that you viewed the video and that it identifies some challenges. Does it also provide a solution so that you know what to do with these shots?
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
At home - since I have no pool table - I practice "seeing" the lines that arrive at the fixed CB on an empty TV stand (I have a CB and a marked OB) as Stan does in his DVD2-Chapter 12. I also practice my stroke as well. Next I will be practicing the bridge placement (looking carefully at DVD2-Chapter 20 and YTube video CTE PRO ONE Visual Sweep Support video.

We do what we have to do! Lol. When I was 17 I had a Valley bar cue and a full set of old pool balls given to me by the owner of a bar that'd burned down. I had no table. Ended up carrying the balls in a leather satchel/briefcase, and I'd sneak in through an unlocked window at the local college dorm, after hours, where I'd knock the balls around on a beautiful 8ft Brunswick Goldcrown. A couple of years later I had a student ID and didn't have to climb through the window anymore. Damn... those were the days!

Good luck friend.
 

sacman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
We do what we have to do! Lol. When I was 17 I had a Valley bar cue and a full set of old pool balls given to me by the owner of a bar that'd burned down. I had no table. Ended up carrying the balls in a leather satchel/briefcase, and I'd sneak in through an unlocked window at the local college dorm, after hours, where I'd knock the balls around on a beautiful 8ft Brunswick Goldcrown. A couple of years later I had a student ID and didn't have to climb through the window anymore. Damn... those were the days!

Good luck friend.

Great story! I'm surprised no one heard the balls knocking around.

I played a lot in college at the 9' table and got to be very good - when I should have been studying. Love the game. In '93, my wife and I opted to settle on a house that wasn't large enough for a table as no one would ever see me again if I had one in-house... know what I mean?

Since returning to the game a few months ago I've developed a few techniques to compensate (aforementioned). I'm 54 and play only for fun - Monday night billiards with my son is something I look forward to.
 
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LAMas

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Gee, I don't have a table either but I do have a pair of elephant balls, I guess I need to buy an empty TV table to aim the 2 lines at.
 

mohrt

Student of the Game
Silver Member
sacman, I know you don't respond to my posts, but I'll try again anyway. Does it bother you that CTE says you can use the same visual like ETA but if you do that the object ball will go in different directions based on where the balls are on the table? mohrt's explanation for this is that the table rails and the 1 by 2 dimension of the table creates an optical illusion, or tricks your eye so that the system works. Given that, are you concerned that your practice on your TV table is for naught because you are not on a 1 by 2 dimension table?

It's not so much a "trick" as it is an existing visual phenomena that Hal Houle originally discovered. It is possible to put your eyes at a specific offset to CTEL such that the perceived CCB from that offset is a pocketing solution. This offset can be accurately and repeatedly determined from a given set of aim lines (15,30,45,60, and the CTEL) The "trick" is recognizing exactly what this offset looks like for each of these perceptions, and getting consistent at landing on it. Explaining it is one thing, doing it takes some practice.

It's like taking an avid gun marksman to a bow and arrow range, then explaining to them exactly how to draw the bow, aim at the target and hit it. Although they may be quite good with a gun, using the bow may be a bit different at first, but they will need some practice to iron out fundamentals and recognize how things look and feel from behind a bow and arrow to make it work consistently.
 
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LAMas

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It's not so much a "trick" as it is an existing visual phenomena that Hal Houle originally discovered. It is possible to put your eyes at a specific offset to CTEL such that the perceived CCB from that offset is a pocketing solution. This offset can be accurately and repeatedly determined from a given set of aim lines (15,30,45,60, and the CTEL) The "trick" is recognizing exactly what this offset looks like for each of these perceptions, and getting consistent at landing on it. Explaining it is one thing, doing it takes some practice.

I don't think that I heard it explained that well. If I aim at say CTE with the shaft and tilt my head a bit there after, I need to move the shaft so that it is again aimed at CTE - this will give me a different cut angle. I can tilt my head with my eyes to the left for thick and to the right for thin or visa versa. Am I close?
 

stan shuffett

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It's not so much a "trick" as it is an existing visual phenomena that Hal Houle originally discovered. It is possible to put your eyes at a specific offset to CTEL such that the perceived CCB from that offset is a pocketing solution. This offset can be accurately and repeatedly determined from a given set of aim lines (15,30,45,60, and the CTEL) The "trick" is recognizing exactly what this offset looks like for each of these perceptions, and getting consistent at landing on it. Explaining it is one thing, doing it takes some practice.

It's like taking an avid gun marksman to a bow and arrow range, then explaining to them exactly how to draw the bow, aim at the target and hit it. Although they may be quite good with a gun, using the bow may be a bit different at first, but they will need some practice to iron out fundamentals and recognize how things look and feel from behind a bow and arrow to make it work consistently.

Hal likely discovered it and then Stan rediscovered it or actually discovered it himself and shared it with me and he will be sharing the details of it with the whole world soon, soon as in ABOUT book release time with a free online video series that frameworks out real CTE.

Stan Shuffett
 
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mohrt

Student of the Game
Silver Member
Hal discovered it and then Stan rediscovered it and shared it with me and he will be sharing the details of it with the whole world soon, soon as in ABOUT book release time with a free online video series that frameworks out real CTE.

Stan Shuffett



Yes, Stan has refined the system into a set of distinct steps, I should have mentioned that. Looking forward to the book!
 
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