aim on cue ball

Chesscat

Chesscat

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Why do some players, like Bustamente, Efren and Earl, aim one place on the cue ball and hit another? I don't know if they do it on all their shots, but they do it alot. For as long as I've been watching Filipino players, I have marveled at the fact that based on their preparation, you have very little idea of where they are going to strike the cue. Earl does this too, as I noticed when I took a lesson from him yesterday. Why?
 
Neil

Wow, that is an eye opener. I always wondered the same thing. Dang, they were sneaky devils.
 
Why didn't you ask Earl?
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Actually I did.He aims very low center preshot.

The answer was something like "well,for me,it doesn't matter...I can hit the ball wherever I want regardless of the preshot aim" or something like that.

Not really an answer to the specific question I know,but I just let it go.I got the impression that he hadn't even given it thought in a long long while.
 
I never asked any of those players but if you try it you will find that aiming very low on the CB insures that you are on the vertical axis of the CB when you are lining up the shot. From that position you can move the tip as needed.

Where the CB touches the table is the location of the vertical axis (center line) of the CB as seen from that position.

In addition, if the tip of the cue stick is on or near the table, you can easily "see through" the center of the CB to the object ball. So there are several advantages.

When deciding what amount of spin to place on the CB it would be best (IMO) to start from the same place on every shot and then move as needed. It is best to pick a spot that helps line up the shot or at least allows you to quickly determine the center line.

If these are secrets they are easily uncovered because it doesn't take a whole lot to figure it out once you get the idea that there is a reason why several players begin from the same position.

Perhaps some players know these things and others do not, they just know it makes their shots easier.

In terms of hiding this technique from others it would be a small matter to place the tip slightly to the left of center (for a right hander) to determine that the perceived center line is as indicated. In other words this allows one to see the line from the base of the ball to the top of the ball and hide what one is doing at thesame time.

When players have their stick a substantial distance off center and always in a similar loction this tells me they have a lot of speed, whether they show it or not is another matter.
 
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bell said:
Wow, that is an eye opener. I always wondered the same thing. Dang, they were sneaky devils.
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bell...That's been going on since long before you were knee-high to a grasshopper...and that was a WHILE ago!:eek: :D We prefer to teach students to aim exactly where they want to strike the CB!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
JoeW said:
I never asked any of those players but if you try it you will find that aiming very low on the CB insures that you are on the vertical axis of the CB when you are lining up the shot. From that position you can move the tip as needed.

Where the CB touches the table is the location of the vertical center of the CB as seen from that position.

In addition, if the tip of the cue stick is on or near the table, you can easily "see through" the center of the CB to the object ball. So there are several advantages.

When deciding what amount of spin to place on the CB it would be best (IMO) to start from the same place on every shot and then move as needed. It is best to pick a spot that helps line up the shot or at least allows you to quickly determine the center line.

If these are secrets they are easily uncovered becasue it doesn't take a whole lot to figure it out once you get the idea that there is a reason why several players begin from the same position.

Perhaps some players know these things and others do not, they just know it makes their shots easier.
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Ding Ding Ding...we have a winner. This is what I was told from several pros. Johnnyt
 
JoeW said:
I never asked any of those players but if you try it you will find that aiming very low on the CB insures that you are on the vertical axis of the CB when you are lining up the shot. From that position you can move the tip as needed.

Where the CB touches the table is the location of the vertical axis (center line) of the CB as seen from that position.

In addition, if the tip of the cue stick is on or near the table, you can easily "see through" the center of the CB to the object ball. So there are several advantages.

When deciding what amount of spin to place on the CB it would be best (IMO) to start from the same place on every shot and then move as needed. It is best to pick a spot that helps line up the shot or at least allows you to quickly determine the center line.

If these are secrets they are easily uncovered because it doesn't take a whole lot to figure it out once you get the idea that there is a reason why several players begin from the same position.

Perhaps some players know these things and others do not, they just know it makes their shots easier.

In terms of hiding this technique from others it would be a small matter to place the tip slightly to the left of center (for a right hander) to determine that the perceived center line is as indicated. In other words this allows one to see the line from the base of the ball to the top of the ball and hide what one is doing at thesame time.

When players have their stick a substantial distance off center and always in a similar loction this tells me they have a lot of speed, whether they show it or not is another matter.
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This in the correct answer. The best way to determine the exact cb center line is from where it sits on the table (the bottom of the cb) from there you can apply whatever hit that is required for the shot. It's done not to protect any secrets but to be sure of the exact center of the cue ball. If using back hand english it is critical. Many of the top players begin here. Some strike the cb from there but many move their cue from there to the final hitting point for their practice strokes.
 
Neil said:
Well, it's both then, because I know some of the old time players have told me what I stated.
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I think it would be a easy way to conseal what you are doing on your final delivery and maybe a practice of some and in those cases I couldn't disagree with what you have said. What I have described is also the primary purpose of starting from the bottom centerline position. So as you say it could be both.
 
When deciding what amount of spin to place on the CB it would be best (IMO) to start from the same place on every shot and then move as needed. It is best to pick a spot that helps line up the shot or at least allows you to quickly determine the center line.
Click to expand...

Aiming first with your stick at centerball can be very helpful. It ensures that your view of the correct cue ball path doesn't become more and more skewed by constantly aiming offline to correct for squirt, and refreshes your estimate of the amount of spin you need for different shots and the amount of correction you need for different spins. But I think there must be a loss of accuracy to wait until during the shot stroke to shift to the actual hit.

I'm betting that's just how they learned it and there wasn't a lot of time to discuss the pros and cons of it between talking about gambling, women and gambling.

pj
chgo
 
Patrick Johnson said:
Aiming first with your stick at centerball can be very helpful. It ensures that your view of the correct cue ball path doesn't become more and more skewed by constantly aiming offline to correct for squirt, and refreshes your estimate of the amount of spin you need for different shots and the amount of correction you need for different spins. But I think there must be a loss of accuracy to wait until during the shot stroke to shift to the actual hit.

I'm betting that's just how they learned it and there wasn't a lot of time to discuss the pros and cons of it between talking about gambling, women and gambling.

pj
chgo
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Bert Kinister addresses this approach as a method of reducing "deflection" off of the shot. If you review his videos and use his method, it actually "works"!

I personally use this method on a head rail shot, or, any other straight-in shot where I have to get to the other end of the table or need to apply excessive english. In Bert's video, he references, aiming at the ball with center ball and then applying the english to the shot as you are finalizing the shot. (IMO) I personally feel that this only works when the balls are fairly close together. I would never utilize this shot on a "half" or greater table shot.
 
klockdoc said:
Bert Kinister addresses this approach as a method of reducing "deflection" off of the shot. If you review his videos and use his method, it actually "works"!

I personally use this method on a head rail shot, or, any other straight-in shot where I have to get to the other end of the table or need to apply excessive english. In Bert's video, he references, aiming at the ball with center ball and then applying the english to the shot as you are finalizing the shot. (IMO) I personally feel that this only works when the balls are fairly close together. I would never utilize this shot on a "half" or greater table shot.
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I've heard that called a "swipe" stroke, which is a dynamic kind of backhand english. It seems to reduce squirt, but it's really a way of applying the squirt aim adjustment automatically with the tip offset for sidespin. I think it's the same as hitting the cueball with a normal straight stroke adjusted to whatever direction the tip is moving when it strikes the cue ball with the swipe stroke.

pj
chgo
 
this is a great question Chesscat! and i believe the answers that have been given are very helpful by all of the posters.

i do remember at onetime aiming up all difficult shots with low just to get a feel of where the center of the CB is. (i need to get back to that. thanks for the tip CHESSCAT!!!!)

Also if you watch many of the top filippino players when the get down on the money ball its almost always aimed up with low.

this thread is Unbelievably GREAT!!:) UNBELIEVABLY!!:eek:
 
klockdoc said:
Bert Kinister addresses this approach as a method of reducing "deflection" off of the shot. If you review his videos and use his method, it actually "works"!

I personally use this method on a head rail shot, or, any other straight-in shot where I have to get to the other end of the table or need to apply excessive english. In Bert's video, he references, aiming at the ball with center ball and then applying the english to the shot as you are finalizing the shot. (IMO) I personally feel that this only works when the balls are fairly close together. I would never utilize this shot on a "half" or greater table shot.
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Hi Klockdoc, which video did you see it in?
 
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