Aiming by Fractions.

Mathew

Registered
Im a little bit of a pool nut/geek and what I wanted to talk about is something that has been wrongly discredited by what I would call esoteric knowledge builders who oftentimes say things that are correct but have little to no value to you as a player and is completely the wrong way to play this game. People such as Bob Jewett and Dr Dave do fall into this category and your both in your own right intelligent people however you just don't know how to play the game, im sorry im just trying to be honest as it is how I feel when I read your stuff online and here on these forums which I've read for a long time. This is my first post and I feel like participating in this discussion with anyone that is willing.

Now I'm going to explain how you use this as a process to getting better at potting in pool in the real world so it makes perfect sence to you and I'll explain to you what the Full Ball, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 ball Fractional Ball Aiming technique really is.

Imagine your Joe x., he's a low down league player who can kinda cue in a straight line with enough precision where he has the accuracy to pot the easy balls but can't pot a ball if his life depended on it just because he doesn't know where to aim.

First thing he needs to do is shoot every cut angle as a 1/4 1/2 or 3/4 balls. He makes the decision up high before he shots perhaps visualising with a ghost ball technique as to which he thinks is closest until he knows where these references shots go. Sure his game is going to go down as this obviously is not enough angles, nobody is disputing this but what he's learning is basically reference points. He needs to do this for a few months until he learns exactly where the OB is going with all of these reference points as well as he does Full Ball. Even an idiot isn't going to cut the OB on the wrong side because the full ball straight reference line is there and its intuitively and empirically obvious. The same goes for these other hits if you learn them.

At this point the player will recognise if one of these reference points is totally on or whether he has to play within a zone. He has improved his accuracy to within the quarters of the object ball. He has gotten that much better and chances are he'll be potting the easy to medium difficulty shots consistantly. When he needs to improve his aiming again and he can do the same process to divide the hits into eighths with the added bonus that his game won't go down quite as far as it did the first time through.

It also allows you in practice to set up your reference shot and just control cue ball speed and spin so much better as you'll have a mental register from your reference shots of how the cue ball reacts to that cut angle. Even knowing and acknowledging these reference cut angles burned into your memory, you'll start seeing the cue ball deflection angle in your mind and your position game will get that much better too. A player should do this primarily with the full ball, 7/8, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 shots. Theres basically six shots you need to master all around the table to be amazing at position. You got to ask yourself questions like, if I hit this a 1/2 tip above center what happens.

Thats how you play pool, not some vague ghost ball visualisation which is intuitive guessing when your down on your shot. Pretty soon you don't even have to think about it - you know the shot or the zone and you let your mind do its thing to concentrate on other matters like position and speed.

From this point, the player should be pretty good by now and be getting a little respect in his pool hall, can then move from vertical ball striking now he has the ability to keep the ball in line without english so he doesn't need to use side on the cue ball to get it to do what he needs it to do if he is clever enough to play the correct routes with the correct speed and because he is used to moving in specific amounts this ability will also help him learn to adjust for the deflection when he does have to hit those shots that needs side spin.

Man, guys like Bob Jewett and Dr Dave (sorry just using you guys as the classic example) are just so out of touch of reality. I mean for crying out loud nobody is saying there is only three cut angles, one of which will line up to the pocket yet you created that strawman arguement to back up your opinion without even understanding what it is you were critiquing.

This is what is written in pool magazine

"#12 ranked Nesli O'Hare explains
what she was taught. "The technique I use
was taught to me by Efren Reyes.
According to Efren, there are three kinds
of hits on any object ball. First, there's
looking at the center of cue ball to the
point of aim if the shot is a full ball hit. If
not, you can divide the object ball into four
quarters, sighting your cue ball edge to the
point of aim"

Now if Efren Reyes is saying this, you should listen. You must realise when it comes to playing this game in comparision to him you are a school boy and when he says something, you have to listen. Do you seriously think that someone of Efren Reyes class and intelligence thinks there is only three cut angles, one of which will line up to the pocket???? I mean by your actions, you think your better than Efren Reyes for critiquing things he says and you use strawman arguements to achieve this. Let me tell you this, Efren Reyes would wipe the floor with you on the pool table every day of the week and twice on sundays. You don't even put the effort in to understand. Get a grip and get a reality check... You want to be working out what the best players are doing... not your over-theoretical hogwash.

Thanks - I got that out my system :D been wanting to write this for months. :D
 
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I think you make some reasonable points and have some reasonable descriptions. I'm not quite sure where the negativity about Bob Jewett and Dr. Dave comes from. I suspect they would more or less agree with what you say. I don't see them discrediting fractional ball aiming, for example.



Im a little bit of a pool nut/geek and what I wanted to talk about is something that has been wrongly discredited by what I would call esoteric knowledge builders who oftentimes say things that are correct but have little to no value to you as a player and is completely the wrong way to play this game. People such as Bob Jewett and Dr Dave do fall into this category and your both in your own right intelligent people however you just don't know how to play the game, im sorry im just trying to be honest as it is how I feel when I read your stuff online and here on these forums which I've read for a long time. This is my first post and I feel like participating in this discussion with anyone that is willing.

Now I'm going to explain how you use this as a process to getting better at potting in pool in the real world so it makes perfect sence to you and I'll explain to you what the Full Ball, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 ball Fractional Ball Aiming technique really is.

Imagine your Joe x., he's a low down league player who can kinda cue in a straight line with enough precision where he has the accuracy to pot the easy balls but can't pot a ball if his life depended on it just because he doesn't know where to aim.

First thing he needs to do is shoot every cut angle as a 1/4 1/2 or 3/4 balls. He makes the decision up high before he shots perhaps visualising with a ghost ball technique as to which he thinks is closest until he knows where these references shots go. Sure his game is going to go down as this obviously is not enough angles, nobody is disputing this but what he's learning is basically reference points. He needs to do this for a few months until he learns exactly where the OB is going with all of these reference points as well as he does Full Ball. Even an idiot isn't going to cut the OB on the wrong side because the full ball straight reference line is there and its intuitively and empirically obvious. The same goes for these other hits if you learn them.

At this point the player will recognise if one of these reference points is totally on or whether he has to play within a zone. He has improved his accuracy to within the quarters of the object ball. He has gotten that much better and chances are he'll be potting the easy to medium difficulty shots consistantly. When he needs to improve his aiming again and he can do the same process to divide the hits into eighths with the added bonus that his game won't go down quite as far as it did the first time through.

It also allows you in practice to set up your reference shot and just control cue ball speed and spin so much better as you'll have a mental register from your reference shots of how the cue ball reacts to that cut angle. Even knowing and acknowledging these reference cut angles burned into your memory, you'll start seeing the cue ball deflection angle in your mind and your position game will get that much better too. A player should do this primarily with the full ball, 7/8, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 shots. Theres basically six shots you need to master to be amazing at position. You got to ask yourself questions like, if I hit this a 1/2 tip above center what happens.

Thats how you play pool, not some vague ghost ball visualisation which is intuitive guessing when your down on your shot. Pretty soon you don't even have to think about it - you know the shot or the zone and you let your mind do its thing to concentrate on other matters like position and speed.

From this point, the player should be pretty good by now and be getting a little respect in his pool hall, can then move from vertical ball striking now he has the ability to keep the ball in line without english so he doesn't need to use side on the cue ball to get it to do what he needs it to do if he is clever enough to play the correct routes with the correct speed and because he is used to moving in specific amounts this ability will also help him learn to adjust for the deflection when he does have to hit those shots that needs side spin.

Man, guys like Bob Jewett and Dr Dave (sorry just using you guys as the classic example) are just so out of touch of reality. I mean for crying out loud nobody is saying there is only three cut angles, one of which will line up to the pocket yet you created that strawman arguement to back up your opinion without even understanding what it is you were critiquing.

This is what is written in pool magazine

"#12 ranked Nesli O'Hare explains
what she was taught. "The technique I use
was taught to me by Efren Reyes.
According to Efren, there are three kinds
of hits on any object ball. First, there's
looking at the center of cue ball to the
point of aim if the shot is a full ball hit. If
not, you can divide the object ball into four
quarters, sighting your cue ball edge to the
point of aim"

Now if Efren Reyes is saying this, you should listen. You must realise when it comes to playing this game in comparision to him you are a school boy and when he says something, you have to listen. Do you seriously think that someone of Efren Reyes class and intelligence thinks there is only three cut angles, one of which will line up to the pocket???? I mean by your actions, you think your better than Efren Reyes for critiquing things he says and you use strawman arguements to achieve this. Let me tell you this, Efren Reyes would wipe the floor with you on the pool table every day of the week and twice on sundays. You don't even put the effort in to understand. Get a grip and get a reality check... You want to be working out what the best players are doing... not your over-theoretical hogwash.

Thanks - I got that out my system :D been wanting to write this for months. :D
 
I think you make some reasonable points and have some reasonable descriptions. I'm not quite sure where the negativity about Bob Jewett and Dr. Dave comes from. I suspect they would more or less agree with what you say. I don't see them discrediting fractional ball aiming, for example.

You have to remember that I read everything. I'm not trying to be negative to them but I am trying to tell them what the articals make me feel about them when I read them. I'm not trying to be mean but im just trying to be honest.

On Dr Dave's site he has this.

"A common aiming system based on fractional-ball aiming claims there are only three different aims for all cut shots: a "15 degree cut," a "30 degree cut," and a "45 degree cut." Here, I show that these aims are equivalent to 3/4-, 1/2-, and 3/4-ball-hits, and I show the 15 and 45
degree angles are not exact. Also, I show an example shot "in between" two of the aim references to show a deficiency of the method."

He's talking like he's throughly discrediting it. If your bad at aiming this is the way to get it better. How do you define a good shooter? You define him by the margin of his range and how much he can miss by. This is the way to increase your accuracy because by its very definition this is accuracy.

He does mention in the passing 'reference shots' but then he just continues like he's just totally destroying it making diagrams to show a shot between a half ball and a quarter ball that neither of them will make... yeah, but nobody said that....

Im just really passionate about pool and I'm a very blunt but honest person. This is something I base my whole game around and I find it funny when they say something against it in that fashion to discredit it when even Efren Reyes is using all the things I just said.
 
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Now if Efren Reyes is saying this, you should listen.
You're assuming Efren really said that.
 
You have to remember that I read everything. I'm not trying to be negative to them but I am trying to tell them what the articals make me feel about them when I read them. I'm not trying to be mean but im just trying to be honest.

On Dr Dave's site he has this.

"A common aiming system based on fractional-ball aiming claims there are only three different aims for all cut shots: a "15 degree cut," a "30 degree cut," and a "45 degree cut." Here, I show that these aims are equivalent to 3/4-, 1/2-, and 3/4-ball-hits, and I show the 15 and 45
degree angles are not exact. Also, I show an example shot "in between" two of the aim references to show a deficiency of the method."

He's talking like he's throughly discrediting it. If your bad at aiming this is the way to get it better. How do you define a good shooter? You define him by the margin of his range and how much he can miss by. This is the way to increase your accuracy.

He does mention in the passing 'reference shots' but then he just continues like he's just totally destroying it making diagrams to show a shot between a half ball and a quarter ball that neither of them will make...

Im just really passionate about pool and I'm a very blunt but honest person.

I'm a no body, but just wondering here mathew, so what is your background? Other than being a nerd/geek billiard enthusiast, what credentials do you have if you don't mind me asking. I am not trying to offend you by any means nor am I trying to stir the pot, I'm just curious because we know nothing about you giving this is your 2nd post on the forum. Most people start with a, "Hi, New Here" or "Newbie", Thanks

Happy shooting! :)

Chino
 
Now if Efren Reyes is saying this, you should listen.

If Efren somehow "forgot" this system today,do you imagine he would start missing all kinds of simple shots?

It may be a great tool for the dedicated banger to up his game and a solid stepping stone to a better understanding overall,but it's not an end all solution to missing shots.

Its just one way to approach what the the player sees.For some it will work and others it will not.

One thing is for sure,the proponents are the most vocal of the two groups.

When its all said and done,its one OB and one pocket and one direction (give or take a few degrees) that ball must be moving in to be played.

I'll admit (again) that this "system" or approach is lost on me for the most part. I know others find it helpful or even monumental in how to play the game.
 
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Im a little bit of a pool nut/geek and what I wanted to talk about is something that has been wrongly discredited by what I would call esoteric knowledge builders who oftentimes say things that are correct but have little to no value to you as a player and is completely the wrong way to play this game. People such as Bob Jewett and Dr Dave do fall into this category and your both in your own right intelligent people however you just don't know how to play the game, im sorry im just trying to be honest as it is how I feel when I read your stuff online and here on these forums which I've read for a long time. This is my first post and I feel like participating in this discussion with anyone that is willing.

Now I'm going to explain how you use this as a process to getting better at potting in pool in the real world so it makes perfect sence to you and I'll explain to you what the Full Ball, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 ball Fractional Ball Aiming technique really is.

Imagine your Joe x., he's a low down league player who can kinda cue in a straight line with enough precision where he has the accuracy to pot the easy balls but can't pot a ball if his life depended on it just because he doesn't know where to aim.

First thing he needs to do is shoot every cut angle as a 1/4 1/2 or 3/4 balls. He makes the decision up high before he shots perhaps visualising with a ghost ball technique as to which he thinks is closest until he knows where these references shots go. Sure his game is going to go down as this obviously is not enough angles, nobody is disputing this but what he's learning is basically reference points. He needs to do this for a few months until he learns exactly where the OB is going with all of these reference points as well as he does Full Ball. Even an idiot isn't going to cut the OB on the wrong side because the full ball straight reference line is there and its intuitively and empirically obvious. The same goes for these other hits if you learn them.

At this point the player will recognise if one of these reference points is totally on or whether he has to play within a zone. He has improved his accuracy to within the quarters of the object ball. He has gotten that much better and chances are he'll be potting the easy to medium difficulty shots consistantly. When he needs to improve his aiming again and he can do the same process to divide the hits into eighths with the added bonus that his game won't go down quite as far as it did the first time through.

It also allows you in practice to set up your reference shot and just control cue ball speed and spin so much better as you'll have a mental register from your reference shots of how the cue ball reacts to that cut angle. Even knowing and acknowledging these reference cut angles burned into your memory, you'll start seeing the cue ball deflection angle in your mind and your position game will get that much better too. A player should do this primarily with the full ball, 7/8, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 shots. Theres basically six shots you need to master all around the table to be amazing at position. You got to ask yourself questions like, if I hit this a 1/2 tip above center what happens.

Thats how you play pool, not some vague ghost ball visualisation which is intuitive guessing when your down on your shot. Pretty soon you don't even have to think about it - you know the shot or the zone and you let your mind do its thing to concentrate on other matters like position and speed.

From this point, the player should be pretty good by now and be getting a little respect in his pool hall, can then move from vertical ball striking now he has the ability to keep the ball in line without english so he doesn't need to use side on the cue ball to get it to do what he needs it to do if he is clever enough to play the correct routes with the correct speed and because he is used to moving in specific amounts this ability will also help him learn to adjust for the deflection when he does have to hit those shots that needs side spin.

Man, guys like Bob Jewett and Dr Dave (sorry just using you guys as the classic example) are just so out of touch of reality. I mean for crying out loud nobody is saying there is only three cut angles, one of which will line up to the pocket yet you created that strawman arguement to back up your opinion without even understanding what it is you were critiquing.

This is what is written in pool magazine

"#12 ranked Nesli O'Hare explains
what she was taught. "The technique I use
was taught to me by Efren Reyes.
According to Efren, there are three kinds
of hits on any object ball. First, there's
looking at the center of cue ball to the
point of aim if the shot is a full ball hit. If
not, you can divide the object ball into four
quarters, sighting your cue ball edge to the
point of aim"

Now if Efren Reyes is saying this, you should listen. You must realise when it comes to playing this game in comparision to him you are a school boy and when he says something, you have to listen. Do you seriously think that someone of Efren Reyes class and intelligence thinks there is only three cut angles, one of which will line up to the pocket???? I mean by your actions, you think your better than Efren Reyes for critiquing things he says and you use strawman arguements to achieve this. Let me tell you this, Efren Reyes would wipe the floor with you on the pool table every day of the week and twice on sundays. You don't even put the effort in to understand. Get a grip and get a reality check... You want to be working out what the best players are doing... not your over-theoretical hogwash.

Thanks - I got that out my system :D been wanting to write this for months. :D

The bold in the quote above, the ghost ball aiming system is created by the great late Mosconi correct (May he R.I.P.) ? Correct me if I am wrong.

I am not arguing or disagreeing, but here is my piece. The ghost ball aiming system actually is very widely used until this day. I started out very similar to what you described above, I wouldn't be able to make a shot unless it was straight in. After reading about the ghost ball aiming system, I practiced it and learned how to shoot that way and now many shots are embedded in my mind, but without the ghost ball system, I don't think it would be possible. If Willie Mosconi was willing to teach me how to shoot, I doubt I would argue with him about how he teaches me to aim. Just a thought though, I could very well be wrong, it happens pretty often :embarrassed2:.

Chino
 
I'm a no body, but just wondering here mathew, so what is your background? Other than being a nerd/geek billiard enthusiast, what credentials do you have if you don't mind me asking. I am not trying to offend you by any means nor am I trying to stir the pot, I'm just curious because we know nothing about you giving this is your 2nd post on the forum. Most people start with a, "Hi, New Here" or "Newbie", Thanks

Happy shooting! :)

Chino

It doesn't matter who I am. Im just a player who can beat the hell out of the average player but I'm certainly not "amazing" or in the top class of players simply because I just don't put in the time to become better than what I am. What seperates me from these players is what I'm telling you right now. I know 4 reference lines so well that I can tell you exactly where the OB is going if you hit these set cuts and I can tell you where the cue ball is going on every one of these set cuts. Nobody knows how to pot a ball. Now If I practiced and I improve my ability to know the 1/8, 3/8,5/8 and the 7/8 well with the precision that you and everyone reading this probably knows full well on a straight in hit. How could I not get better? Your ability in pool is judged on the things you memorise... its a memory game and then you realise that you get what you put into this game.

It doesn't even matter if I wasn't that good basically you argue against me with pure logic and common sence because people are not good at coming to intellectually practical solutions. People come out with fantasy that is never going to work in real life. I've been through that and come out the other side knowing this and I'm really trying to help people here break free of that.
 
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It doesn't matter who I am. Im just a player who can beat the hell out of the average player but I'm certainly not "amazing" or in the top class of players simply because I just don't put in the time to become better than what I am. What seperates me from these players is what I'm telling you right now. I know 4 reference lines so well that I can tell you exactly where the OB is going if you hit these set cuts and I can tell you where the cue ball is going on every one of these set cuts. Nobody knows how to pot a ball. Now If I practiced and I improve my ability to know the 1/8, 3/8,5/8 and the 7/8 well with the precision that you and everyone reading this probably knows full well on a straight in hit. How could I not get better? Your ability in pool is judged on the things you memorise... its a memory game and then you realise that you get what you put into this game.

It doesn't even matter if I wasn't that good basically you argue against me with pure logic and common sence because people are not good at coming to intellectually practical solutions. People come out with fantasy that is never going to work in real life. I've been through that and come out the other side knowing this and I'm really trying to help people here break free of that.

So..... are you offended?
 
The bold in the quote above, the ghost ball aiming system is created by the great late Mosconi correct (May he R.I.P.) ? Correct me if I am wrong.

I am not arguing or disagreeing, but here is my piece. The ghost ball aiming system actually is very widely used until this day. I started out very similar to what you described above, I wouldn't be able to make a shot unless it was straight in. After reading about the ghost ball aiming system, I practiced it and learned how to shoot that way and now many shots are embedded in my mind, but without the ghost ball system, I don't think it would be possible. If Willie Mosconi was willing to teach me how to shoot, I doubt I would argue with him about how he teaches me to aim. Just a thought though, I could very well be wrong, it happens pretty often :embarrassed2:.

Chino

Lets face it, ghost ball aiming has been around since people questioned how do I pot the ball in pocket billiards... Dr Dave is a nice example of this because he said before he read anything on the subject of pool he thought he invented this concept. I mean Dr Dave must of seriously thought that the rest of the world was stupid or something but whatever. People would of learned this concept very quickly as soon as the game existed.

However in his book, Mosconi tells how he uses his parallel contact point system which isn't ghost ball but it kinda is. It just shows you where the ghost ball actually is when your standing and evaluating your shot but the player still needs the reference points to evaluate it against from the true line of the cue ball to OB. The narrower the reference points the more accurate you are. You cannot aim a shot as well when your down on it. Playing 1000s of games of Cue Club (2d pool simulator) and then virtual pool 3 (3d simulator)... which is harder to pot on... without a shadow of a doubt virtual pool. Now when your down on it your just feeling that zone! - If you think about it aim would be impossible from the horizontal plane parallel to the table half way up the cue ball which the contact points lay on you have to use what little overhead view with your eyes and what information you got whilst standing in reference to these reference lines and you have to judge it thats just the natural part of the game. Thats when you let your ability free and its all about concentration.
 
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So..... are you offended?

No dude, its a genuine enough question. The first thing you always want to know is the source of information before you try it. I did this because Efren said it and I've never looked back. I started to understand what it was he was talking about and what those snooker books were talking about.

Its totally natural to want to know that and I take no offence in the slightest. What I'm saying to you has been around for at least 200 years all the things that I'm saying to you right now. How many times do you hear an ex-snooker world champion commentating and saying something like "This looks like a perfect 1/2 ball cut into the corner but he might just be careful not to cut this too thick as it would leave a shot for xyz". You hear it all the time and yet no one listens to these players. They have their heads in fantasy land coming up with this impractical boring stuff that isn't going to help anyone.
 
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No dude, its a genuine enough question. The first thing you always want to know is the source of information before you try it. I did this because Efren said it and I've never looked back. I started to understand what it was he was talking about and what those snooker books were talking about.

Its totally natural to want to know that and I take no offence in the slightest.

Cool, because I had no intentions to offend you. :thumbup:
 
Now if Efren Reyes is saying this, you should listen.
You're assuming Efren really said that.

You got to ask yourself, why would the interviewer lie when he says after the bit I quoted "Efren Reyes, ranked #5 and winner of last month's Sands Regency title, further explains." - meaning he asked Efren and Efren concurred. So basically he's saying Efren said it himself and Efren must of told this also to another player. A magazine like that will have access to all the top players and he asked all of the famous players what they thought. I don't see how someone would lie about something like that. Its pool and billiard magazine and he's a reporter who's doing his job and probably plays a little bit of pool and might even be an 'ok' player (he's not amazing otherwise he would be on tour) but he's got no hidden agenda.
 
If Efren somehow "forgot" this system today,do you imagine he would start missing all kinds of simple shots?
Efren has been playing so long that he just does it instinctfully but it is a learned habit but I think yeah, if he didn't learn that way as a player he would of never developed the game he did. Thats why over all the games, he's the best player that ever lived because of the precision not only on pocketing balls but he has learned how to control the cue ball perfectly from every one of these hits from doing it this way.

Efren Reyes learned cue ball control by set hits from 3-cushion which he could play a very respectable game of. His routes are amazing from learning this way.

It may be a great tool for the dedicated banger to up his game and a solid stepping stone to a better understanding overall,but it's not an end all solution to missing shots.

Your trying to discredit again because its not the way you do it but Efren gave this advice to a good player so trust me its good enough for you. This is about improving your accuracy to miss less shots. No one said that you can't miss a shot.

Its just one way to approach what the the player sees.For some it will work and others it will not.

Tell me, how can not memorising these angles not help your game!

One thing is for sure,the proponents are the most vocal of the two groups.

What two groups, theres tons of aiming systems and I know more than most on this. The vast majority are junk that are impractical in real world situations whilst possibly being correct in terms to geometry.

When its all said and done,its one OB and one pocket and one direction (give or take a few degrees) that ball must be moving in to be played.

But thats hardly narrowing it down. From the totally obvious straight in full ball reference point a player can pretty much send the OB ball to an 89.999999 degree range (actually theres a reason for it to be less and I'm just throwing out a figure because Im not going to go into all that - all you need to know is its large). If you wish to play that range without any other reference, good luck!

"I'll admit (again) that this "system" or approach is lost on me for the most part. I know others find it helpful or even monumental in how to play the game.

Thats because you've never took the time to learn these angles to make it a part of your game. If you did what I told Joe x needed to do and learned these reference points, to begin with your game will suck big time but when you can hit these reference points to the point it resembles the accuracy of a full ball hit. Its just a piece of knowledge that improves your game so much.

Now I don't know you, so you might play by feel alone and be pretty good but your probably limited in your ability to be consistant day in day out because you don't have a way to be consistant day in and day out. If your a player that differentiates eighths, your potting is realllly good and you will never play that **** ever again. Theres only certain things you can ask of yourself as a human being. I ask myself to be within that margin of error everytime!
 
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There are many pros that use fractional aiming. It actually helps you visualize cut shots without "aiming in the air" or ghostball. The way I was taught was a simple method.

You have only three aim points on the OB. Center ball and the two OB edges. Four lines left off center on the CB and four lines right on the CB and obviously center ball for straight in shots. Thick shots are easy to see the aim points because they are the exact equal opposite contact points.

So, for thick shots you line one of your fraction lines on either the left or right side of the CB to the center of the OB. For thin shots you line up a fraction line on the CB to the OB edge. Once you find the fraction you want you connect the dots from CB to OB and bring yourself down on a parallel line to CB center.

I think this is similar to what you are talking about with the 1/2 1/4 1/8...and so on. It's a great method to use for those of us that have never been able to see the ghost ball. Why do you think Jewett wouldn't agree with fractional aiming?
 
Although I think maybe you should lighten up a little, you do have a valid point. When it comes to aiming, pool's engineering division falls apart.

On the other hand, I've got the aiming thing pretty well nailed, but still have a straight pool game (10 ball rack, 7' table) that consistently gets stuck on 8 and 9 ball runs. And that is about as far as superior aiming will take you. The better you get at aiming, you find out it isn't as important to a good pool game as you thought.
 
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