Cue ball close to the second diamond on the rail and 3/4 object ball hit.
Spot Shot Aiming Methods
- Thread starter SpiderWebComm
- Start date
Cue ball close to the second diamond on the rail and 3/4 object ball hit.
I guess you play Virtual Pool 4.
I mostly use it to make illustrations or do analytical stuff - it has great graphics and physics for that kind of thing.
pj
chgo
I like the undo feature on a shot so you can try lots of different approaches for getting shape.
Not so much at odds, just looking at it two different ways. My way accounted for throw.
Anyway, there's a somewhat large area in the kitchen where the halfball aim pockets the spot, not just one specific spot for the cb. I will make a video tomorrow showing this. There is wide window the cb can be in from this distance, so it's not surprising that the 30 outside can be used from within this window. Fractionally, nose dead behind ccb, the same aim line can also pocket those shots. But when Stan moves the cb farther from the side rail, it is no longer in that same window of aim. It is in different window, just as wide as the first one, but a thinner aim line is used. He could've kept moving the cb over, inch by inch toward the centerline of the table, and the 30 inside would've worked up to a certain point also, at which point a thinner perception (45) would've needed to be used. Fractionally it works the same way.
I will post a video to show how it works fractionally. The most important thing is pocketing the ball. As far as I'm concerned I don't think it matters how you do it as long as you can consistently do it.
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Here's one for you to try while you're doing the others. Has noting to do with CTE
but it does involve a pivot. Set the CB edge about 1 1/4" or so to the right from the second diamond on the left rail. With the CB in it's position, the shot line should be straight into the first diamond to the left of the pocket.
Your left hand or at least a couple of fingers will be on top of the side rail while you shoot it. Set up with your tip center CB aiming to the center of the OB which would
hit the OB into the diamond left of the pocket.
Now pivot your cue to the OUTSIDE on the CB about 1/2 tip so the right side of the tip is now at the center of the CB. If you use a small mm tip it might have to be a smidge more. No need to look where the cue is now pointing on the OB. Just stroke the shot on the new cue line. The OB will (should) go in. Might take a few shots to do it until you get used to the pivot especially if you don't or never use one.
Another way to do it is the same CB/OB setup but this time set up the INSIDE edge of your tip on the center of the CB and aiming it to the center of the OB. Pivot the middle of the tip back to center on the CB and take the shot. It will go IF and once you get used to pivoting.
A third way is a 90/90 but I'll hold off on that one because it's a larger offset and then pivoting back to center. You gotta get used to pivoting in small increments first.
Let me know if you nail the shots.
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The first is sort of like backhand english. I use backhand english on some shots. Sometimes I pivot to apply the spin, but most of the time I just bring my cue right onto the line it needs to be on. Having done it so many times over the years, I just know how much to offset the original line in order to account for shaft deflection.
I'll try these. But results vary based on shaft deflection, at least anytime the cb is hit off-center.
No sweat on deflection. See above. I'd be more interested in what size tip you use and if more adjustment is needed for that.
I'll give this entire forum the 7 on Virtual Pool 4
You play the online version?
Oh....And....
What you wanna do for a dollar or two? :thumbup:
I shot the shots you described. The first one, lining up center to center and using the backhand english worked just fine at a firm speed, not so well when I shot it with a medium/normal speed. My tip is 13mm with a Mezz LD shaft.
The 2nd shot you described didn't work for me. It was late, way passed my bedtime, so I only tried it a couple of times before recording my spot shot video.
In case your "margin of error" explanation isn't clear to everybody, here's a simple graphic showing the same thing: all 30° (halfball) cuts, but "pivoted" on the ghost ball to cheat the pocket. In particular, this illustrates how there's more "margin" the farther your CB is from the ghostball "pivot".
pj
chgo
If you were interested in learning it, you would be better off shooting with less distance between the two balls and less angle and then increasing the angles a little at a time as well as distance.
Example: Place the balls close about a diamond apart around the kitchen area shooting into the corner pocket. Align the two balls so a center to center aim and hit would impact the end rail halfway between the pocket and first diamond.
When that becomes automatic with inside alignment and pivot back to center, move both balls so a center to center hit impacts the first diamond on the end rail from the pocket. Then take your inside tip alignment straight down the line inside of center and pivot back to center. Your shaft angle will be slightly angled but take it back on that line and shoot.
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Thank you. This illustrates it very well. Of course, when using the entire pocket you have to be more accurate, more focused, on that aim line, because you are using that margin of error purposefully to pocket the ball, not as a safety net.
In the video I stuck to shooting either a 5/8, 1/2, 3/8, 1/4, or 1/8 aim, and also the in-between aims, showing basically how every spot shot from a 5/8 to a 1/8 hit can be shot using one of only 9 aim lines.
I used quarter tip aiming adjustments for the in-between shots that fell outside the margin of error for the standard aim lines, but with practice a player can incrementally aim thinner or thicker from one of the stsndard eight aim lines and always be close to center pocket. In other words, the 1/2 ball shot is nearest to going center pocket when the cb is about 7 or 8 inches off the side rail at the head string. This is the middle of the 4° window. So if you only aim a dead 1/2 ball from there, and make slight adjustments thicker or thinner when the cb is to one side or other of that 4° window, then you can use that margin of error as a safety net in case you're off a little on aim or delivery, as I was on 3 of those shots.
That's a good way to develop an eye/feel for applying backhand english also -- starting close then working farther and farther away.
Thank you, Larry. It was after 3am, after a late "quarantine" jam session with a couple of other musicians. I could've slowed down on 2 or 3 of those shots. Watching it now I see why I missed the ones I did.... I determined where to aim and immediately bent down to shoot, no psr at all. On the last shot I simple aimed it too thin, twice to make sure, before aiming a touch thicker to pocket it.
This geometry seems a little off. The true half ball cut angle (30°) to center pocket is when the CB's center is about 10 1/2" from the side rail on the head string. My first illustration above puts it at 10 1/16" from the rail, which gives a little overcut for throw.
Am I misunderstanding you?
pj
chgo
By "little overcut" do you mean 2 to 3 degrees overcut? Because that's what it needs to be. Illustrations are fine to show information, but the reality of shooting the shots provides more accurate information. The very least amount of throw that naturally occurs for a halfball shot causes tge 30° cut angle to come out right around 28°. With the cb about 7in off the side rail, aiming a halfball aim puts that 28° result at center pocket.
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