After my 13 year old DVD player died on me, I upgraded to a Blu-Ray, so pool video instruction is back up and running at my home table. 
I've worked on the chapters up to, and including, 2-Diamond banks. Spent probably 2 hours with it the other night. Watched a chapter. Re-watched it. Worked on the shot, over and over. Made adjustments. Went to the next chapter, and so on.
At one point I started to get ahead of myself, and blow thru to the next chapter, without fully be comfortable with the previous one, and quickly realized it was a mistake. Ya gotta crawl before you can walk.
In this case.....ya gotta kick, before you can bank.
CJ knows what I mean, as he gives you a simple drill to get yourself acclimated to proper tip connection to the CB.
Things I've learned from this so far:
1. Well, tip placement and contacting the CB where intended is PARAMOUNT. I can't emphasize that enough. Now, I'm not saying this to deter anyone at all. But, if you have a 1-diamond bank, you can't just go in there willy-nilly and give it a 1/2 tip or 1 1/2 and expect to pocket the ball consistently.....unless you compensate in other ways, such as using draw or follow. How the table is playing that session comes into play, of course, but that's what warming up is for.
2. Footwork is KEY. CJ talks about it a bit, but I can't emphasize this point enough either. I had a problem getting down on the shots in the beginning and just being a bit "off". Like it didn't feel "right". Then I reviewed a chapter and the footwork thing sunk in. Now when I step into the shot and go down, I shuffle my feet just a bit to get the proper alignment. It honestly makes a big difference.
3. This system makes 1/2 diamond banks stupid easy. And they SHOULD be easy. But, how many times have you seen a player dog a nice, easy 1/2 diamond bank? They're gimme's, right? But, it happens.
Once I got the body alignment, tip placement and footwork down.....it was just lethal. I probably shot 45 balls at the 1/2 diamond mark, at one point, and made about 40 of them. I never could quite run the entire rack of 15 in a row, but I got close.
Also, I was NOT using the paper reinforcer donuts either, where every shot was EXACTLY the same. I would just make sure that I had a 1/2 diamond bank, but sometimes the CB-to-OB distance would vary some. The balls' distance from the rail would be different. I wanted to see if I could get the "feel" of it down and make the adjustment. After a very short while, I could.
It made those shots so easy, in fact, that after I got on a roll, I started varying my tip-to-CB angle to......for example to "shorten a bank", but then I hit it with a bit of draw to lengthen it back out for position play purposes. Worked like a CHARM. So, I was actually making the bank and moving the CB around to an area where I needed it to be. Doing that began to get more difficult later, as........
4. .....well, the shots get progressively harder. A 1-diamond isn't bad. When it went to 1 1/2 diamonds, I noticed my consistency went down. At the 2-diamond mark, well, it got tough. That's known as "the transition point" and it's going to simply be a matter of table time to get that to work for me.
5. Banking is fun! But, then again, I've always loved banks.
6. I want a "Makin' Bacon" hat. And a house cue with no tip or ferrule......just to see if I can make it work. You'll have to buy the video to know what I mean.
The video quality and presentation is great, as always, with CJ and Mary. I'm convinced Mary is the brains of the operation, but I'll never tell CJ that to his face. Have you seen the guy? He's pretty buff now.
I'll check back in when I've watched/learned more. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but that's how far I've gotten. There are LOTS of chapters. Some are pretty short. Some are longer.
You definitely, definitely get your money's worth, however, as this is a STRONG method of banking.
I've worked on the chapters up to, and including, 2-Diamond banks. Spent probably 2 hours with it the other night. Watched a chapter. Re-watched it. Worked on the shot, over and over. Made adjustments. Went to the next chapter, and so on.
At one point I started to get ahead of myself, and blow thru to the next chapter, without fully be comfortable with the previous one, and quickly realized it was a mistake. Ya gotta crawl before you can walk.
In this case.....ya gotta kick, before you can bank.
CJ knows what I mean, as he gives you a simple drill to get yourself acclimated to proper tip connection to the CB.
Things I've learned from this so far:
1. Well, tip placement and contacting the CB where intended is PARAMOUNT. I can't emphasize that enough. Now, I'm not saying this to deter anyone at all. But, if you have a 1-diamond bank, you can't just go in there willy-nilly and give it a 1/2 tip or 1 1/2 and expect to pocket the ball consistently.....unless you compensate in other ways, such as using draw or follow. How the table is playing that session comes into play, of course, but that's what warming up is for.
2. Footwork is KEY. CJ talks about it a bit, but I can't emphasize this point enough either. I had a problem getting down on the shots in the beginning and just being a bit "off". Like it didn't feel "right". Then I reviewed a chapter and the footwork thing sunk in. Now when I step into the shot and go down, I shuffle my feet just a bit to get the proper alignment. It honestly makes a big difference.
3. This system makes 1/2 diamond banks stupid easy. And they SHOULD be easy. But, how many times have you seen a player dog a nice, easy 1/2 diamond bank? They're gimme's, right? But, it happens.
Once I got the body alignment, tip placement and footwork down.....it was just lethal. I probably shot 45 balls at the 1/2 diamond mark, at one point, and made about 40 of them. I never could quite run the entire rack of 15 in a row, but I got close.
Also, I was NOT using the paper reinforcer donuts either, where every shot was EXACTLY the same. I would just make sure that I had a 1/2 diamond bank, but sometimes the CB-to-OB distance would vary some. The balls' distance from the rail would be different. I wanted to see if I could get the "feel" of it down and make the adjustment. After a very short while, I could.
It made those shots so easy, in fact, that after I got on a roll, I started varying my tip-to-CB angle to......for example to "shorten a bank", but then I hit it with a bit of draw to lengthen it back out for position play purposes. Worked like a CHARM. So, I was actually making the bank and moving the CB around to an area where I needed it to be. Doing that began to get more difficult later, as........
4. .....well, the shots get progressively harder. A 1-diamond isn't bad. When it went to 1 1/2 diamonds, I noticed my consistency went down. At the 2-diamond mark, well, it got tough. That's known as "the transition point" and it's going to simply be a matter of table time to get that to work for me.
5. Banking is fun! But, then again, I've always loved banks.
6. I want a "Makin' Bacon" hat. And a house cue with no tip or ferrule......just to see if I can make it work. You'll have to buy the video to know what I mean.
The video quality and presentation is great, as always, with CJ and Mary. I'm convinced Mary is the brains of the operation, but I'll never tell CJ that to his face. Have you seen the guy? He's pretty buff now.
I'll check back in when I've watched/learned more. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but that's how far I've gotten. There are LOTS of chapters. Some are pretty short. Some are longer.
You definitely, definitely get your money's worth, however, as this is a STRONG method of banking.
