Busti explains his overly complicated aiming system.

This is really no secret. I was taught by my Dad 60 years ago to shoot most cut shots short of the pocket and spin it in. Depending on the angle of the shot and the speed of the QB the OB will deflect a little to a lot. Knowing how hard to shoot and how much spin depends on where you want the QB to land. That's where the feel comes in=practice. It has worked for me for years. Johnnyt
 
mattp said:
It actually appears to me that he is doing something very similar to TOI land. It's mostly a thought process and less a shooting process. Notice, he pointed to the closest side of pocket to focus on for the object balls final destination. Although he "knows" the ball will go toward center pocket once the english is applied, the alignment and focus of aim is towards the undercut side of the pocket(exact same as TOI). All of the pro's I have talked to think about aiming this same way so I believe there must something to it. It's really the ordering of the thoughts that is important I believe.
One may think this way...I am going to use left/outside, I line up for center pocket, i feel the english with this speed will make the OB go in the pocket so I will adjust using BHE or by aiming to hit the cue ball thicker or thinner.
The thought order of better players seems to be..I will use left/outside, I line up for the thick side of the pocket. Address CB with english and ball goes in.
A subtle but very important distinction at least in my mind.;)
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I did not get this at all with the podcast. My interpretation of what he said (paraphrasing) is he aims thicker or thinner on the OB when he is spinning the CB, compared to a center ball hit. Otherwise the OB will hit to where he pointed on the rail a couple inches from the pocket. I don't know how you got TOI from that.
 
iusedtoberich said:
I'm not picking on you, but I know you and I have gone back and forth on this exact issue before with Busty and whether or not he uses any system. We've seen him now in several podcasts say he does not. You have seen him in person and got different information out of him.

One thing was clear in the podcast is there is still a slight language barrier. Busty clearly misunderstood a few of the questions throughout the entire podcast. (not just aiming stuff)

Could it be with the language barrier, the interviewer will "hear" what he wants to hear? So in your case, you "heard" the aiming system. In Justin's case, the podcast audience "heard" feel? And if I were to interview him, I'd "hear" feel?

Thoughts on this? Not debating whether he does or does use an aiming system in this post, just why we the fans (to include you of course) have different interpretations of what Busty says.
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I never had a language barrier w/ the guy. You just have to be clear in what you're asking. I asked Donny at Lambros Cues to make a post since he was there as well -- maybe he can give a better indication of what we both heard. Donny's a smart guy and I'm not the dullest blade in the block either and neither of us would extrapolate something out of a conversation unless it was overtly presented.

See, for me, this isn't a "SEE! SEE! ____ USES CTE!" thing. Long before there was such thing as AZ BILLIARDS and long before anyone knew anything about CTE and long before the "forum controversy" of the system, CTE wasn't a discussed topic at all as those who knew about it didn't share anything. I'm guessing it's not even called CTE over there as it probably has a Tagalog name for it.

My reasoning for talking to Busty and to any older pro I can is merely for historical purposes as I'm interested in learning the history behind the system.

For example, Hal is widely known as being the father of CTE (and I believe this to be true), but there are other people of interest (so to speak) that have made me want to dig deeper. For example, Fez Kasson (NM) also used to run around the country with Ralph Greenleaf and he told Blackjack that Ralph "invented a solution to pool" or something along those lines. Fez and Jimmy Moore were close as well -- when you see video of Jimmy Moore during the 10/20 TV show days compared to the ESPN Legends TV shows, his stroke was TOTALLY different: straight vs. offset and pivot to center.

It seems as though those around Ralph had the information. Was it because Hal taught them or did they learn it from Ralph? We'll never know.

So in conclusion, I'm not selling anything and CTE isn't a "product." CTE "is what it is" regardless of what people try to make it or not make it on the internet forums. I'm a history buff and if someone is offset and pivoting, I want to know where they learned it from for my own interest and knowledge.

Just to add-- I have met two players who do that and learned it accidentally on their own: Josh Brothers and Rob Saez
 
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SpiderWebComm said:
I never had a language barrier w/ the guy. You just have to be clear in what you're asking. I asked Donny at Lambros Cues to make a post since he was there as well -- maybe he can give a better indication of what we both heard. Donny's a smart guy and I'm not the dullest blade in the block either and neither of us would extrapolate something out of a conversation unless it was overtly presented.

See, for me, this isn't a "SEE! SEE! ____ USES CTE!" thing. Long before there was such thing as AZ BILLIARDS and long before anyone knew anything about CTE and long before the "forum controversy" of the system, CTE wasn't a discussed topic at all as those who knew about it didn't share anything. I'm guessing it's not even called CTE over there as it probably has a Tagalog name for it.

My reasoning for talking to Busty and to any older pro I can is merely for historical purposes as I'm interested in learning the history behind the system.

For example, Hal is widely known as being the father of CTE (and I believe this to be true), but there are other people of interest (so to speak) that have made me want to dig deeper. For example, Fez Kasson (NM) also used to run around the country with Ralph Greenleaf and he told Blackjack that Ralph "invented a solution to pool" or something along those lines. Fez and Jimmy Moore were close as well -- when you see video of Jimmy Moore during the 10/20 TV show days compared to the ESPN Legends TV shows, his stroke was TOTALLY different: straight vs. offset and pivot to center.

It seems as though those around Ralph had the information. Was it because Hal taught them or did they learn it from Ralph? We'll never know.

So in conclusion, I'm not selling anything and CTE isn't a "product." CTE "is what it is" regardless of what people try to make it or not make it on the internet forums. I'm a history buff and if someone is offset and pivoting, I want to know where they learned it from for my own interest and knowledge.

Just to add-- I have met two players who do that and learned it accidentally on their own: Josh Brothers and Rob Saez
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There is no Tagalog for CTE.
When Efren is asked on how to shoot a shot, just like Busti on this
he points the tip to where the cueball has to be.
When Busti was asked why he aims his tip to the left side of the
cb on almost all shots he said he just got used to that ( the Tagalog
word is nakasanayan ).
You cannot interview either one in depth in English.
To ask them about deflection, one has to have a great command
of Tagalog as there is pool room word for it .
 
Johnnyt said:
This is really no secret. I was taught by my Dad 60 years ago to shoot most cut shots short of the pocket and spin it in. Depending on the angle of the shot and the speed of the QB the OB will deflect a little to a lot. Knowing how hard to shoot and how much spin depends on where you want the QB to land. That's where the feel comes in=practice. It has worked for me for years. Johnnyt
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I agree.

It's about the spin to speed ratio & where one wants the QB to end up. The same is true for inside spin but naturally the aim point is different.

When I say spin to speed ratio, I am not saying that one mentally calculates that. That is what the feel is all about, putting the spin, speed & aim point together for a successful shot of pocketing that ball & putting the QB where intended.

Regards,
 
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The only TAR interview I've seen was the one with Shaw and Alcano, with Appleton there as well. When asked about aiming systems, Shaw and Appleton said all British pool/snooker players aim by feel, although Appleton made some half-hearted and unconvincing comment about the product he is involved in. Alcano said all Filipinos aim by feel. Interesting to see their reactions when asked about TOI - cue a couple of quick glances to each other and a hurrumph or two, before change of subject.
 
Pathetic Shark said:
The only TAR interview I've seen was the one with Shaw and Alcano, with Appleton there as well. When asked about aiming systems, Shaw and Appleton said all British pool/snooker players aim by feel, although Appleton made some half-hearted and unconvincing comment about the product he is involved in. Alcano said all Filipinos aim by feel. Interesting to see their reactions when asked about TOI - cue a couple of quick glances to each other and a hurrumph or two, before change of subject.
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So you think these guys use the TOI?
 
Thanks for the video but I didn't learn a whole lot except that Alex has been told unsavory things by his X....
 
Busty aiming system is no secret...if you want to learn...just grab EKKES's SEE System (very similar: http://infinite-billiards.com/en/SEE.html (well worth the money!!!). He uses the shadow on the cue ball and align to the center of the object ball to create his reference aim line. It's very unique style of play and can help you develop a very fluid stroke. He aim at the left shadow on the cue ball, the warm up strokes help him develop a visual for the reference aim line (shadow to center of object ball) and the final stroke is a parallel aim line that follow this reference line from the center of the cue ball to the object ball. Powerful system of play!!! But it's a very unique style that's not for everyone. Rob Saez system is very similar as well but I think this system of play is very unique and draws its origin from the Filipino players.

My CM360 system is very similar but I use the center of the cue ball to the shadow on the object ball to create a visual reference for my aim line...so you can use your normal stroke to develop your aim line without having to pivot, etc. Just find your line, step into the line, get down and shoot. After going through all the systems that I can find, to play consistently and not miss, really come down to hitting thousand of balls and doing drills. System help cut your learning curve but you still need to put in the hours if you want to get better and play more consistently. I find that system do help you get back into stroke, once your in stroke, your best game will always be from playing instinctively (Feel etc).

Duc.
 
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Go on believing it's all feel. I too sat with Busty when he was in NJ, played with him a few time and picked his brain a little.

If you watch him play in person then you really get a sense of how he sizes up shots. One thing he seems to do better than any other living human I know of is to run into balls for shape. He is amazing in how often he deliberately uses other balls to get perfect shape.

Best compliment from a pro to me, "You play good one pocket" - Busty commenting on my one hole game......as he was easily and creatively getting out of every trap I put him in.
 
I remember a long time ago that he said this about throwing in shots with english. Hit fuller but use english to throw it onto the right path. Its usually bottom outside that is used with busty, especially on extreme angles

Sent from my SPH-D710BST using Tapatalk 2
 
To understand Busti or any other Pinoy player how they operate you have to understand the filipino way of thinking. Filipinos, at least when it comes to pool, subscribe to pretty much "just do it." Do not overanalyze, trust your instincts, get a feel for what your'e doing.

When we talk about how so and so plays good we say "maganda ang pulso niya" which loosely translates to "he has a good feel for the game" or "he has a nice touch." I played pool in the Philippines for many years and never ever heard about aiming systems. Not to say it doesn't work just that it's not how Filipinos approach pool, as far as I know.

It's a lot like how they make cues back home. They use calipers and maybe a scale, a homemade lathe perhaps but for most of the build it's feeling with your hands to gauge balance, weight or taper and then eyeballing everything to to make sure it all fits together.
 
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First of all, I think Busti's explanation is reasonably clear, though succinct. I won't quote it here so as not to wise people up. I was actually surprised that he gave so much up.

Second, like "ENGLISH," I thought this was the way you were supposed to play pool, and have thought it ever since I figured it out forty-five years ago.

Third, if you are trying to get information out of a person who is apparently willing to talk, DON'T INTERRUPT HIM! AND DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT WHEN HE IS ON THE THRESHOLD OF GIVING UP GOLD! Ask short questions which lead him further into the point.

Fourth, I don't think Busti's English is all that weak. I always thought of him as being as silent as an Easter Island statue, but he actually comes across as fairly willing to communicate. Non-European speakers struggle against some pretty big hurdles when learning English, but Busti stumbles less that I had anticipated he would. With a little coaxing instead of interrupting he probably would have given up more.

Ordinarily I am a Ken Schuman fan.
 
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