Room for Play - Most shots aren't as tight as you think

This thread is for those who enjoy a mathematical/technical look at pool shots.

Looking at the ob margin of error going into the pocket, and the cb to ob to pocket relationship, you can see from this sketch how much the ob or cb can be moved laterally in the shot and still be pocketed using the same fractional aim point or reference. This example uses a halfball aim.

Keeping the ob still, the cb can be moved left or right of the shot line based on the ob's margin for error going into the pocket. So with a +/- 2.1° moe, a cb setting 26" from the ob has +/- 0.95" of play room. In other words, you can move it 0.95" left or right of the aim line (the aim that sends the ob to center pocket) and still aim for the ob edge and make the shot. From 65" away (cb2) the cb has +/- 2.4" of play room, from which the same halfball aim will pocket the ob.

The ob's window for play/movement is determined from the cb's end. By keeping the cb still, the ob can be moved left or right within a window equal to the window in which the cb can go cleanly into the pocket. In other words, this halfball shot, using CB1, will always produce a 30° angle. We could move the ob left or right by 0.54" and this 30° shot angle will shift from center pocket to either the farthest point left or right of center pocket that will accept the ob into the pocket.

The farther the ob is from the pocket the less wiggle/play room there is on the cb end of the shot. The closer the cb is to the ob the less play room there is on the ob end of the shot. Still, this explains how, for most shots, one aiming reference can cover several slightly different shot angles.

duckie said:

Hope ya didn’t think I’d let this pass.......

While true............but........put a ball in such a place that the ball you want to make has only a 1mm or less room to get by it.

Next, put a ball kinda in the pocket, pretty straight in shot.........but........the angle off that ball will not put ya on the next shot, so a gotta place the OB in a certain spot in the pocket to get that angle.

Next long rail banks..........say from a spot off the short rail and long rail, going for the other side corner pocket.

Point is.........you never know when you will need to have precise ball placement, therefore exact OB placement needs to be strived for at all times.

I’ve had people swear that they had me blocked, only to have me send the OB right pass the blocking ball into the pocket.

Kinda leads into something on my mind.........the difference between a master and a instructor........cause there is one.

I’ll just keep the differences to me........

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I agree. I was just showing that on most shots, I'd be willing to say nearly 90%, just getting the ob into the pocket is all you have to do, not any certain portion of the pocket, but ANY portion of the pocket. And there is most always some play room to get that done.

Fine tuning your accuracy comes with experience. But most players would be happy just making more balls hit the pocket. And I'm not saying this info will help them accomplish that, but I think it may help to understand that shots that are very similar in cb-ob relationships can usually actually be made using the same aiming reference.

Patrick Johnson said:

A simple way (for me) to visualize what you're saying is to imagine the CB and OB glued to a board and the OB shining a laser beam at the center of the pocket (the cut angle). Now pivot the board about the OB's center as if the OB is nailed to the table - this maintains the same CB/OB cut angle while the laser beam shows how far it's safe to pivot without missing the pocket. With the whole thing pivoting at the OB, the CB also moves left and right at the other end, showing that the same cut angle will make the shot from more than one CB position.

With a 4 1/2" pocket the laser beam can move 1 1/8" in either direction (the "pocket slop" margin of error). How much the CB can move and still make the shot depends on its distance from the OB. If the CB is the same distance from the OB as the OB is from the pocket, then it will move left and right the same distance that the laser beam moves left and right at the pocket - so it can move 1 1/8" either way too and still make the shot. If it's closer to the OB it can't move quite as far, and if it's farther away it can move a little farther.

pj
chgo

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That's an excellent way to explain it. Also, you can pivot the shot from a stationary CB position. The OB will move left or right in accordance with the shifting/pivot or the shot. If you keep the table stationary you can move the entire shot (CB and OB relationship) half a ball left or right of the center pocket alignment and still pocket the ball.

My whole point with this is to show how one aiming reference can pocket several different shots with varying cb to ob to pocket relationships. When you factor in speed and spin you can manipulate the results even more, meaning that with practice one could learn to pocket almost any open shot by using just a handful of ob reference points. Of course, as Duckie pointed out, sometimes you must be more precise. That comes with experience.

SpiderWebComm said:

Most shots aren't as tight as you think

It depends. ALL pockets shrink exponentially based on the game you're in, who you're playing against, how much money you're down, and the seemingly horrible feeling you've developed
Parkinson's or Turret Syndrome.

If you've been there you know what I'm talking about. If not, you're a player who just plays casually for funzies and never experienced it. Not to speak of the fact certain tables just spit balls out unless they're perfectly hit with speed and accuracy.

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Absolutely! Your brain, either through emotions or over-analyzing, can certainly sabotage your game and make it much more difficult than it really is.

Patrick Johnson said:

Thanks.


Yes, but pivoting at the CB means the OB will always move a smaller distance than the pocket slop available.


Yes, if you move them parallel with the line between the pocket's points. Otherwise you can't move them quite as far.

pj
chgo

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Pivoting the shot line from the cb end allows the ob to move no farther than the pocket slop you get when shooting the cb itself directly into the pocket. If the cb has a 4° window into the pocket, then the ob can be pocketed with the same aiming reference as long it lies anywhere within a 4° window from the cb's position.

duckie said:

So, there is this area on the OB that if the CB contacts the OB anywhere in this area, the OB will go in the pocket.

This size of the this area varies based on distance from pocket and OB angle in to the pocket.

What controls how much of the area is available for use is the CB angle to the OB.

A straight in shot has the highest area available to use. As the the CB angle to the OB changes away from a straight in shot, the area available for use decreases.

The greater the cut angle, the less area can be used.

Now.......a question......and be interesting to see if anyone will answer.

Will knowing this and other technical aspect about aiming really help improve a persons game?

Explain........please.

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In think understanding/knowing how much you can tweak a shot and still make it could help improve aiming accuracy for a lot of players. But the same knowledge can be acquired through experience.

Knowing when you have a small margin for error vs large margin for error can help a player determine which shot option is likely to win the game, like opting for a good safety instead of shooting a low percentage shot with very little margin for error.

duckie said:

I’ve been thinking about my own question and it’s not been easy.

I’ve been thinking about learning to airbrush. As I always do , I got some books on airbrushing, reading a lot, watching videos.

While that knowledge is helpful, it is useless without real experiences, the doing.

Ok....but, is there a point of having too much knowledge? Is there a need to know how the air compressor makes the compressed air to be a airbrush artist?

Pool related.........spin........how important is it to know the technical aspect of spin v how to use spin?

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It's not important. But I've found that the more I know about something, or the more I learn about it, the more confident I am in my ability to do it.

When I first started playing drums, I thought any drum sticks would be sufficient. But there is a difference in stick action between playing a marching snare drum and playing a complete drum set. Sure, experience would've have eventually taught me that. But instead of relying on experience I read a great book on percussion instruments and learned the difference between different drum sticks right away, even before I was able to play very well.

I did the same thing with guitar. A guitarist does not need to know how to build or wire up an electric guitar.
He doesn't need to know how to ajust the neck or string action or intonation. But having that knowledge, for me anyway, makes me feel more connected with the guitar, which I believe makes me play better.

Same goes with pool or chess or tennis or baseball or whatever. Some people benefit from learning as much as there is to learn about whatever it is they enjoy doing. Some people could care less about all the intricacies involved. Some people focus too much on all that stuff and never develop the skills requires to be any good, despite a head full of knowledge. So I understand your point. But there are also many players that can flat out play great pool, and can also explain every little technical aspect about the game.

mista335 said:

Didn't realise aiming was this easy

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Lol! I hear ya. I could've just shown the shot with no math on the paper, only the two balls and the yellow and pink wiggle room areas/windows. Or I could've maybe even attributed the yellow and pink areas to some sort of table dimension phenomenon. But the math is real, so I showed it. A player certainly doesn't have to know or perform the math, but understanding the fact that there is room for variance with almost any shot can be useful information.