90-90 DVD & Book Reviews?

[Neil]

Why would you think there needs to be a breakdown of a hip pivot in the video? The cue alignments are straight forward: chocolate, vanilla or strawberry for the most part. Where to put your feet? Obviously where they should be at your final post pivot position.

If you literally invested 15 minutes at a table to dig into what Ron was saying, if you're as smart as you say... you'd pick it up instantly. If you can't, maybe you just stroke crooked?

Sorry, but I'm not insulting you... I'm calling a spade a spade. When Ron showed me a copy of his first video attempt, I told him that I didn't like it at all.... so I'm not a yes-man. When he redid his video and showed me his current video, everything one would ever need to learn this is on the DVD set if you pair it with a hair of effort.

When you say "there's zero instruction," that's so over the top one can't be that dense unless there's a vendetta of some kind. Allen Hopkins watched the set and he was enamored with it and told Ron to use his name for FREE because he liked it so much, saying how he talked about things that most instructors don't know or don't discuss.

If the DVD wasn't for you...fine. I helped him in his booth at the expo the entire time because his health is failing. I know for a fact that he handed out his card with his cell# to every single customer of his and told them to call any time with questions. I'm willing to bet you never called and I'm willing to bet you have a miniscule amount of time of the table working with the system.

Reminds me of when Lou Figueroa bought Stan's video and wrote a similar review after owning the DVD for about a day or two....clearly zero effort.

Anyways, I'm glad your day job is something that justifies that you're a smart cookie... so thanks for pointing that out. Even if you disregard the entire first DVD, to say you got nothing out of DVD2 is simply hard to imagine unless you bank and kick like God, which you might. Even so, that means you're God, not that the DVD is bad.

Dave


Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

Dave, you are totally missing the point. I understand that, being as close to it as you are. I bought the DVD. Despite knowing it very well. Well enough to make improvements on it that I haven't shared. Despite having reviewed the first DVD. I felt I owed that to Ron, so I paid for one.

To say I was disappointed, would be an understatement. Nob is not the only one with questions about it. You are right, the system is very easy to use. Easy enough, that after viewing a DVD on it, there should be NO questions about it. Yet, there are many. What does that tell you? After buying the DVD, no one should be having to call Ron for an explanation of it, not being a simple system that it is.

It's a great system, huge congrats to Ron on coming up with it. But he definitely should have spent more time showing exactly how to use it, less time showing just using it.

Once one knows the system, and can use it, it is a very easy system with very few steps to it. However, there are a number of things that can very easily be done wrong, giving bad results. None of those things were addressed, and should have been. I feel there should have been more time spent on showing exactly what to do and why, and what pitfalls to watch out for.

Sure, it's easy to say "just call Ron". Yes, he is more than willing to help anyone. Praise to him for that! But, after buying the DVD, one shouldn't HAVE to call him. CTE is a different matter, that can be complicated to actually learn, easy to use once learned.

When you say you learned it in 5 minutes in a phone call, and then tell others that bought the DVD to call him, how do you think the person feels that just paid $70 for a DVD that he didn't need to buy? Think they might feel a little ripped off by that?

That said, I'm very glad Ron did come out with another DVD, so that the public can be exposed to this great system. And so Ron can recoup some of the $$ that he has spent on it to bring it to us. Again, with this system, the DVD should be able to stand on it's own and leave no questions for the viewer. It doesn't do that.

 

[SpiderWebComm]

Dave, you are totally missing the point. I understand that, being as close to it as you are. I bought the DVD. Despite knowing it very well. Well enough to make improvements on it that I haven't shared. Despite having reviewed the first DVD. I felt I owed that to Ron, so I paid for one.

To say I was disappointed, would be an understatement. Nob is not the only one with questions about it. You are right, the system is very easy to use. Easy enough, that after viewing a DVD on it, there should be NO questions about it. Yet, there are many. What does that tell you? After buying the DVD, no one should be having to call Ron for an explanation of it, not being a simple system that it is.

It's a great system, huge congrats to Ron on coming up with it. But he definitely should have spent more time showing exactly how to use it, less time showing just using it.

Once one knows the system, and can use it, it is a very easy system with very few steps to it. However, there are a number of things that can very easily be done wrong, giving bad results. None of those things were addressed, and should have been. I feel there should have been more time spent on showing exactly what to do and why, and what pitfalls to watch out for.

Sure, it's easy to say "just call Ron". Yes, he is more than willing to help anyone. Praise to him for that! But, after buying the DVD, one shouldn't HAVE to call him. CTE is a different matter, that can be complicated to actually learn, easy to use once learned.

When you say you learned it in 5 minutes in a phone call, and then tell others that bought the DVD to call him, how do you think the person feels that just paid $70 for a DVD that he didn't need to buy? Think they might feel a little ripped off by that?

That said, I'm very glad Ron did come out with another DVD, so that the public can be exposed to this great system. And so Ron can recoup some of the $$ that he has spent on it to bring it to us. Again, with this system, the DVD should be able to stand on it's own and leave no questions for the viewer. It doesn't do that.

I don't think I'm too close to anything as I have no financial interest in Ron's DVD (stress zero financial interest). Ron packed 4hrs of instruction into that DVD set and I think it's all invaluable info. I'm sorry that we disagree if I don't think there needs to be super detailed info on moving your hip to get to center ball. If I had a choice of the 2nd DVD picking pepper out of fly shit regarding breakdowns of pivots or to have Ron cover a library of kicking and banking info, I'd choose the latter, but that's just me.



Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[gazman100]

Ron's 3 shot example on youtube.
This is an example of how brilliant Ron's 90/90 system is and how it was presented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_dJHZiN01A

I mean what more do you want.
This is an elderly guy pocketing balls with centre pocketing, all with the same shot except the last shot.
Most guys at the local pool hall would struggle to pull this off.
When I saw this on the DVD I was totally floored at the simplicity and the accuracy of Ron's system and his shooting.
Talk about impressive.
How much simpler can it be. It's the same shot over and over again, with 1 adjustment at the final ball.
What about the audio and video quality, top notch,
The viewing angle changes so you can see the entire table within the frame before he shoots.
Top Notch.
For an aiming promotion on YouTube couldn't think of a better way of presenting it.
Peace

 

[RonV]

I beg all of you who purchased the garbage created. Please return all DVD from everybody and I mean everybody.I hope this makes your and Stand day to get rid of the competition.
As for you NOB you are crude and cruel. Your fight is not a good one. All you did was pound on me personaly and praised Stan. Bob be the first one to send it back and you I will pay double.

Ps. To bad we will never meet
Have a nice day
Ron V...respond if you like but aiming know you won' t

 

[nobcitypool]

I beg all of you who purchased the garbage created. Please return all DVD from everybody and I mean everybody.I hope this makes your and Stand day to get rid of the competition.
As for you NOB you are crude and cruel. Your fight is not a good one. All you did was pound on me personaly and praised Stan. Bob be the first one to send it back and you I will pay double.

Ps. To bad we will never meet
Have a nice day
Ron V...respond if you like but aiming know you won' t

I'm sorry you feel that way Ron. I have no idea what this has to do with Stan. I have no financial connection to Stan whatsoever aside from paying him for lessons. Stan has made no comments other than to state 90/90 clearly isn't CTE/Pro One. Your name has come up briefly over lunch with Stan and he has nothing to say about you but kind, respectful words. Unfortunately, you just publicly slammed Stan for no justifiable reason. Stan's work stands on it own, the number of professional and high level players using and endorsing it speaks volumes. With all due respect, your system doesn't compete with CTE/Pro One.

When people ask questions or are critical of CTE/Pro One, the typical response is to reference numerous YouTube videos done by Stan, to augment his DVD, as well as people like Gerry and mohrt posting multiple videos of their own showing how they've utilized the system. I posted a critique of the DVD and ask some questions, the responses were that I must be too stupid to understand a simple system. Yep, I'm the one cruel and crude.

I have said nothing about you personally. I critiqued your DVD. Please reference where I "pounded on you personally". As far as I can tell, with limited exposure to you and other people's remarks, you are a remarkable and kind person who is truly an asset to pool.

I purchased your DVD hoping to learn some things that would add to my pool game. I can understand how those who already understood your system would find it to be a reasonable production. I knew absolutely nothing about 90/90 and purchased the DVD in good faith expecting a thorough explanation of how to set up the alignments and pivots would be demonstrated in detail in the DVD. The fact that content didn't exist in the DVD is the source of my critique.

This all got blown out of proportion by your own friends, advocates and it seems, some of CTE/Pro One haters. Instead of simply answering some simple questions about the 90/90 system, all I saw was attacks and insults. If that makes me cruel and crude, so be it.

 

[sfleinen]

And we have the NERVE to ask why?

Folks:

Just from an outside observer (and student of the cue sports, that is concerned about the bickering and turf-battling that is going on).

We as a species of AZB readers seem to wonder:

1. Why was the topic of aiming moved off into its own dedicated subforum, pushed several levels (parent forums) away from the Main forum?

2. Why aiming threads seem to dip their wing and do a death spiral into the ground? We actually have the NERVE to ask why threads get moved/deleted/people-banned, and why this topic is moved into its own sandbox?

The answer should be READILY apparent above, in this very thread. Even intra-aiming (i.e. within our own local topic/subject), we get into fights and turf battles. We can't even be civil among our own birds-of-a-feather.

I can say this, I do think the following points are valid:

* On the one hand, there is value to the notion that a DVD should be self-standing and not have it necessary to seek out the author / SME (subject matter expert) to answer questions about de-rigor basics that should've been covered on the DVD in the first place. This was my complaint with Stan's first DVD, where it merely was a brief explanation of the system (with a HUGE void left out of the discussion in how to position oneself / one's cue in relation to the two visuals -- which one to align to before doing the half-tip pivot to center ball). And then the rest of the DVD was merely demonstrations of Landon and Stevie Moore shooting shots with comments like "perfect visuals sweep" (whatever that means). There was no workbook included with Stan's first DVD, so really, the DVD had to stand on its own, and IMHO (emphasis on the humble part), that's where the DVD fell down.

* On the other hand, Ron's DVD *comes with a workbook*, so the messaging built into the purchase of the DVD set is that you have to reference other sources to get the complete picture. In fact, as Dave mentioned, Ron personally handed out his business card with his email address, phone number, and website address printed right on it. The messaging was VERY CLEAR to me -- the DVD wasn't a standalone learning tool, but a component of the complete system. Anyone that "merely viewed the DVD" without referencing the other sources of information -- and actually had to be told / given the URL to answer the specific question that was posted here -- demonstrated that he/she didn't "get" the complete message. They didn't extend themselves a bit -- just a bit -- to look within "the box" to get that needed info. What I'm saying here is that no "out of box" thinking was required -- it was all right in your face, from the packaging's messaging.

For me, I will continue to grab at whatever knowledge I can to improve my own, and to move up the ladder in my stance as an all-encompassing cue sports student, without judging where that knowledge came from or how it was presented or even if I will personally implement and use that knowledge.

We need to stop the bickering and posturing -- especially within our own birds-of-a-feather. Otherwise, you have no right to ask why as "red-headed step children" we were whisked-off into our own corner of the room.

-Sean

 

[SpiderWebComm]

This all got blown out of proportion by your own friends, advocates and it seems, some of CTE/Pro One haters. Instead of simply answering some simple questions about the 90/90 system, all I saw was attacks and insults. If that makes me cruel and crude, so be it.

I'm not defending Ron because he's a friend and I'm also not a blind advocate, either. I'm defending him from over-the-top and exacerbated negative feedback. I watched the entire 4 hour DVD set TWICE before I gave Ron any feedback, which drove him crazy because I took days to do it. It took days because there was so much info, I couldn't take it in during one sitting. Even then, I had to repeat the process just to double-check my notes and thoughts before letting Ron know my opinion (which was very positive).

Could Ron have done things better? Of course! No doubt. It's hard for me to view the DVD as a total novice starting from zero, because I'm not. Therefore, my opinion of the video may not be what the next player's opinion is. Even so, the negative diatribe is disproportionate to the extreme, hence why I'm defending Ron.

When Stan first came out with his video and he was vehemently attacked, I also defended him to the death because, like Ron, he basically opened himself up to the world by providing his phone number and email for the world to bounce questions off him for no additional charge. Here, like Ron, you had a top instructor saying "call me anytime you'd like with questions... all you can eat buffett" and people were b1tch1ng about the value of the DVD?!? WTF... for real??

So to be clear, I'm not posting as a friend of Ron's... I'm posting as a humble student of the game who is sickened when a top instructor gives away all of his knowledge and free, ongoing, unlimited-consulting to his customers because he loves the game, all for $70-something bucks and someone thinks it's a shit value. Really?!? You have one of the very smartest pool minds giving himself to you forever for the cost of a round of golf and a beer and you think you're getting fvck'd? THAT, sir, is why you're not as intelligent as you think you are.

Personally, whether it's 90/90 or Pro1.... the DVD is a moot point and could be used as a paper weight for all I care. The true value is being able to call Ron or Stan whenever you want to run something by them to get their opinion. If I had a dollar for each time I called Ron or Stan while driving on the highway (or RandyG... will throw him in here too because he answered a lot of questions during many a trips down the turnpike), I'd be a rich, rich man. Was that worth the price of the DVD? What DVD? .... but that's just me.

Sean: You're right as usual.

 

[BeiberLvr]

post not found

 

[RonV]

Yes that's right. Except the 90/90 is a made up name it has no math value. It means that 90% of the time you only have to use the 90/90 to shoot almost everything except half ball cuts90 to center come up 10to 15% of the time. There isn't a system on te face of the Earth that can do that.

 

[frankw]

I had a couple of questions myself. I decided to give Ron a call. After talking on the phone for a bit he said " I could show you much easier in person" " Any chance you're coming to New York?"
( Ron doesn't give lessons anymore but made an exception because I bought the dvd )

I live in Pittsburgh but was visiting Philadelphia. He said it's an hour and a half drive , why don't you come up? So I jumped on the chance.
I picked Ron up and we drove to Steinway Billiards. Had a nice dinner there ( suprisingly good food for a pool hall ) then grabbed a table for a few hours.

He asked if I was having trouble with any shots. I showed him a couple and he quickly pointed out where my mistake was and quickly fixed them.
He then explained the diamond systems and how he uses them , not just for kicking and banking but position play. Ron is a no nonsense guy and once I got it he would say " ok what's next " freely giving me any info I asked for.
There was a tournament going on and we stayed for awhile and watched. I like hanging out with a seasoned player. They point out things that I as a relative newbie don't pick up on yet. This info is priceless in my opinion.
Ron is a great story teller and trust me, he has quite a few good ones. I just met the guy and quickly felt like we were old friends. We hung out for a while longer because Ron is well known there and had quite a few people coming up and chatting with him.
But we were getting tired and I had to drive back to Philly so we packed things up and I dropped Ron off and I was on my way.
I feel we are very lucky at this point in time to have so many people offering their info and expertise.
Thank you Ron for sharing your knowledge and time and hope I can make it up to New York again!

 

[JMS]

Ron V is a genious.

I'm a former student of Ron V. His knowledge is pure gold. I will say this, when I first learned 90/90 I wasn' t nailing every shot all the time. It takes a lot of practice before it just becomes automatic. Now all I have to focus on is position play (speed control, staying in line). I incorporated an air pivot for my style of play.

I think some people expect to play like a pro just from watching a dvd. I know just speaking for myself but it took a lot of hours doing drills. But using 90/90 made learning how to control whitey a whole lot easier. It's been 6 yrs since I've met RonV, just want to say thanks Ron. Im playing the best pool of my life. Can anybody explain to me what the hell Robb Saez is doing when he lines up his shots??? (That's sarcasm btw)

Like I'm pretty sure you've heard this before but, go see a certified instructor to help fine tune your fundamentals then give the system another go at it.

P.S. Ron's kicking and banking systems are so easy to learn. That alone is worth the price of the dvd.