Who are the Best "Vertical" Players, past & presten?

Bobkitty

I said: "Here kitty, kitty". Got this frown.
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I love to watch "vertical" players. Who do you think was and is the best at that? Pros that only use English when they have to. They rely on the tangent and derivatives to go everywhere on the table. Nothing prettier (in my opinion) than a stun + 6-12" at medium to hard speed. Easy to see on a straight in but of course on an angle shot, the CB rolls just a little forward of the tangent line. Beautiful to watch and beautiful way to move the CB.
 

Bobkitty

I said: "Here kitty, kitty". Got this frown.
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Vertical? I thought you were referring to the best jumpers.

Vertical means moving the cue from top to bottom and seldom from side to side (as you knew). I've always heard the very best players keep the cue inside about a dime sized spot on the CB.
 

Lesh

One Hole Thinkifier
Silver Member
I kinda like any of the pro players....Immonen, Rocket, Morra, Big Hedd.... they all move very well. Appleton is exceptional about speed in general, I think its his best strength.

Lesh
 
My favorite players

I love to watch "vertical" players. Who do you think was and is the best at that? Pros that only use English when they have to. They rely on the tangent and derivatives to go everywhere on the table. Nothing prettier (in my opinion) than a stun + 6-12" at medium to hard speed. Easy to see on a straight in but of course on an angle shot, the CB rolls just a little forward of the tangent line. Beautiful to watch and beautiful way to move the CB.

Buddy Hall - best pattern/position player
John Morra - best mechanics/fundamentals
Jose Parica - best overall player
Mike Sigel - toughest tournament player ever
 

Bobkitty

I said: "Here kitty, kitty". Got this frown.
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Buddy Hall - best pattern/position player
John Morra - best mechanics/fundamentals
Jose Parica - best overall player
Mike Sigel - toughest tournament player ever

Watching Morra, I notice the cue is almost under his left ear. Strange way to play.
 

gogg

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I first thought the question related to stance...
like, who plays the most "vertical" or upright stance!
��
Got a friend who has to stand almost vertical as he shoots due to back issues.
Makes an already tough game, tougher!
 

fathomblue

Rusty Shackleford
Silver Member
Watching Morra, I notice the cue is almost under his left ear. Strange way to play.

After recently doing a pretty comprehensive "vision center" test/drill, I discovered that I have to put the cue along the far right side of my chin, very close to my ear.

It definitely feels strange for now, but I see an immediate improvement in pocketing. Stuff just goes in much cleaner. The big thing so far is that I keep catching myself letting the cue drift back to my "natural" or "comfortable" position, because it's simply not burned in yet.

Anyway, I'd have to think that Morra's vision center puts him there. He shoots so straight, it just has to be.
 

Straightpool_99

I see dead balls
Silver Member
Yang. Nobody even comes close. I still say playing all or almost all center ball is handicapping yourself, but with Yang that simply wasn't true. He overcame it with pure talent. He got into trouble a couple of times, because of it, and quite unnecessarily IMO, but with his record, who am I to argue with him?

I'm sorry, but Sigel and Hall do not figure into it. Sigel used a lot of outside english in his game, and also other types of sidespin. I modeled my straight pool game on his, as best I could from studying his patterns on video. Trust me, he played sidespin quite a lot. Buddy Hall invented "The Clock System" for crying out loud! I do agree that he's the best position player of all time. If you think I'm full of it, then simply watch the old Accu-Stats tapes, from back when Grady was still around. Back then, the commentators discussed shots in detail with english used, Hall and Sigel both commentated. Notice what english they recommend. Not all center, that's for sure! However, they were products of their times...

Modern tables have completely changed the way in which the game is being played. Modern rails are much faster, which not only makes english less necessary to get around, but also causes the rails to bank short and the english not to grab properly. The game will get more and more center ball oriented, this will be especially true if the chineese 8 ball tables catch on. These have snooker cushions, which react completely differently to english. I do not like these developments, I find them to make the game more boring and less knowledge oriented, with the focus more on ball pocketing than position. Several types of shots have gone completely out of use. For instance, on the tables in my club, it is close to impossible to "kill" the cueball in the corner (2 rails). I haven't ever seen that shot being made or even attempted since the "modern" cushions were installed, because there is no point. The cushions just throw the cueball out too hard and fast and the kill english will only alter the angle slightly rather than kill the ball. Several other types of shots are going out of use as well, mostly shots where the cueball glides along the cushion with spin. It comes off the cushion so hot that there is no time for the spin to grab. I guess you could say that it makes speed control more important, and the tighter pockets certainly makes pocketing balls more difficult. So pool, traditionally somewhere in between carom and snooker, has moved a lot closer to snooker. Heck, many of the carom type diamond system simply do not work properly, or need huge adjustments on modern pool tables. I for one, do not like it.

That being said, pros use sidespin. Even Yang does, albeit less than many others.
 
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marek

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
John Morra - best mechanics/fundamentals

John Morra has amazing fundamentals but i believe that Albin Ouschan is THE player to watch, both John and Albin have similar fundamentals, but it is Albin who is tiny bit closer to the perfection. ;) Also Niels Feijen is almost robot-like when it comes to fundamentals, thats why he is so solid.
 

Bobkitty

I said: "Here kitty, kitty". Got this frown.
Gold Member
Silver Member
After recently doing a pretty comprehensive "vision center" test/drill, I discovered that I have to put the cue along the far right side of my chin, very close to my ear.

It definitely feels strange for now, but I see an immediate improvement in pocketing. Stuff just goes in much cleaner. The big thing so far is that I keep catching myself letting the cue drift back to my "natural" or "comfortable" position, because it's simply not burned in yet.

Anyway, I'd have to think that Morra's vision center puts him there. He shoots so straight, it just has to be.

Where do you get a "vision center" test?
 

Bobkitty

I said: "Here kitty, kitty". Got this frown.
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Silver Member
John Morra has amazing fundamentals but i believe that Albin Ouschan is THE player to watch, both John and Albin have similar fundamentals, but it is Albin who is tiny bit closer to the perfection. ;) Also Niels Feijen is almost robot-like when it comes to fundamentals, thats why he is so solid.

I have never heard of Niels but I'll be looking him up. I have enjoyed watching Albin. Have you ever watched "The Billiard Brothers" on Youtube. Some Russian academy is teaching these guys to be monsters! I think we'll be seeing them in the major tournaments soon.
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
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Silver Member
People on the internet keep saying the name Buddy Hall when asked who stays on the vertical center or uses just a little english. Enough people say it, it must be true...

But I've watched Buddy Hall in person as much as anyone, and since I'm not staking him, betting on or against him, or playing him, I am/was always watching his stroke mechanics, his patterns, and where he hit the cueball. And I emphasize, I've watched him live countless of hours over the years at bar table tournaments in TN, the US Open 9-ball, and the Derby City Classic.

My observations are that Buddy Hall uses as much extreme english as anyone who's ever played the game. A case can be made that he is a pioneer of the use of extreme english to make his patterns simpler (yes, I said simpler).

He teaches the Clock System, a system that shows how to use every part of the cueball.

He was on ESPN (it's on Youtube) where the announcer remarked just how far off center he was shooting on so many shots. In his post-match interview, he said matter-of-factly that (paraphrase) you have to be able to all parts of the cueball to be able to play this game.

For me, Buddy Hall has been the icon that I first viewed as shooting as far away from center was humanly possible in order to make the position so easy.

So, my simple question is: why do so many people have a different observation. Surely, he doesn't switch to extreme english just for me (as shown on any ESPN match of his). Do you think he switched to center ball just for everyone else on the internet? Doesn't make sense.

My theory is that he always made it look so easy that players just assumed he must be hitting closer to center. He just isn't/wasn.t. That's reality by every method of real observation, including recorded actual matches (instead of some kind of teaching clinic).

Freddie <~~~ loves reality
 

Bobkitty

I said: "Here kitty, kitty". Got this frown.
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Silver Member
Good players would never beat anyone if they used center ball all the time.

Of course that is true, but there are players that spin almost every cue ball to get where they are going. Take the "ball in jaws" shot. There are two ways (as far as I know) to move the cue ball to different coordinates on the pool table. One player might hit 1/2 ball every time and spin the CB. Another might calculate tangent off the OB, hitting it thick or thin accordingly with a center struck CB. There are many shots that come up where the only way to get position is one way, the other or both. I think the compete player knows all.
 
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