TL;DR: IS POSTED AT THE END (For people who don't want to read long posts).
I looked this one up and searched for it. I haven't seen a post or anything about it, and I was very interested in this topic, so I made this post.
Pool is a game of consistency, repetitiveness, and timing. Honestly no matter how much you aim or focus, ultimately it's all about you repeating yourself in every possible way, in terms of timing, eye coordination going back and forth the same way every single time! If your eyes or hands did one little thing new, you'd miss a shot very easily. That's why it's best to do the same shot routine & same strokes before shooting, doesn't matter if it's a hard shot or an easy shot.
One thing I feel would add to that consistency is your cue, to add a cheery on the top, which is the main topic of this thread is, how would you orient your cue while playing, 99% of the people, including myself would say "oh I don't care how the cue is oriented, i just shoot." Well, I do too, but the past few weeks I've been thinking about it.
Some disadvantage to this tho is you have to look into your cue every single time to see a mark or something where you would face that mark up or down depending on your own orientation that you're used it, but I feel if you get used to one orientation, it's possible that it will benefit your game ever so slightly, because you'd have the exact same feel every single time. And yes I know maybe I am overexaggarating on this, but I think there's something into it.
Another disadvantage I also think is that the TIP shape, there's a good chance that if you shoot with a cue facing up every single time, maybe the tip will deform, or rather maybe lose its shape and wont be even, the shape would wear in a non-uniform way.
I know snooker players do it a 100%, this is a fact coming from some pro players, I've seen one time Berry speaks about it, it is said that most snooker players have their cue butt non-rounded, which means they have one flat side, one round side and it is for a reason. That reason is this topic exactly, these pros keep that flat side on the top while the rounded side on bottom, they get used to holding the cue like that and with this comes the cue orientation naturally. While in pool we use rounded butts all the time, but this still can be achievable if you mark the tip or mark the shaft.
Pool "Case study" which I noticed myself years ago, and haven't gave it another thought until today. Earl the Pearl Strickland, I think he had times in his prime where he oriented the cue a certain way every single time, you can clearly see him looking at his shaft after each shot if he chalks to see that DOT or Mark facing up. And if he doesn't chalk and doesn't move his butt, then he'll just be on his 2 stroke shot rhythm/timing and keep that cue facing the same way, here i''ll show some examples and please note him tilting his head down to the start of his shaft to perhaps find the mark and leaving it upward then proceed to shoot.
Earl checking his shaft after each shot to align it facing up,
Here ill give you the exact time/second so you dont have to watch the whole video "but he does this almost every shot",
That said, I think later in his career Earl Strickland stopped doing that, he doesn't look at his shaft anymore, probably from 1995+, maybe he developed a way of telling orientation by just holding the cue? I don't know.
I think there's something to this, and I am actually going to try it, but I'm worried about the tip wearing in a non-uniform way. I'll follow the advice of Barry on this here,
TL;DR
Having your cue facing the same way can be an advantage as I've seen some players do it and speak of it, snookers players does it using the flat side of their butts. I also noticed Earl Strickland does it. There are also disadvantages to this, such as tip shape, but Berry a snooker legend, says its good to have it deshape to where you shoot from the same orientation everytime!
Check the vids above proof of Earl doing it, also check Berry vid where he talks about it!
I looked this one up and searched for it. I haven't seen a post or anything about it, and I was very interested in this topic, so I made this post.
Pool is a game of consistency, repetitiveness, and timing. Honestly no matter how much you aim or focus, ultimately it's all about you repeating yourself in every possible way, in terms of timing, eye coordination going back and forth the same way every single time! If your eyes or hands did one little thing new, you'd miss a shot very easily. That's why it's best to do the same shot routine & same strokes before shooting, doesn't matter if it's a hard shot or an easy shot.
One thing I feel would add to that consistency is your cue, to add a cheery on the top, which is the main topic of this thread is, how would you orient your cue while playing, 99% of the people, including myself would say "oh I don't care how the cue is oriented, i just shoot." Well, I do too, but the past few weeks I've been thinking about it.
Some disadvantage to this tho is you have to look into your cue every single time to see a mark or something where you would face that mark up or down depending on your own orientation that you're used it, but I feel if you get used to one orientation, it's possible that it will benefit your game ever so slightly, because you'd have the exact same feel every single time. And yes I know maybe I am overexaggarating on this, but I think there's something into it.
Another disadvantage I also think is that the TIP shape, there's a good chance that if you shoot with a cue facing up every single time, maybe the tip will deform, or rather maybe lose its shape and wont be even, the shape would wear in a non-uniform way.
I know snooker players do it a 100%, this is a fact coming from some pro players, I've seen one time Berry speaks about it, it is said that most snooker players have their cue butt non-rounded, which means they have one flat side, one round side and it is for a reason. That reason is this topic exactly, these pros keep that flat side on the top while the rounded side on bottom, they get used to holding the cue like that and with this comes the cue orientation naturally. While in pool we use rounded butts all the time, but this still can be achievable if you mark the tip or mark the shaft.
Pool "Case study" which I noticed myself years ago, and haven't gave it another thought until today. Earl the Pearl Strickland, I think he had times in his prime where he oriented the cue a certain way every single time, you can clearly see him looking at his shaft after each shot if he chalks to see that DOT or Mark facing up. And if he doesn't chalk and doesn't move his butt, then he'll just be on his 2 stroke shot rhythm/timing and keep that cue facing the same way, here i''ll show some examples and please note him tilting his head down to the start of his shaft to perhaps find the mark and leaving it upward then proceed to shoot.
Earl checking his shaft after each shot to align it facing up,
That said, I think later in his career Earl Strickland stopped doing that, he doesn't look at his shaft anymore, probably from 1995+, maybe he developed a way of telling orientation by just holding the cue? I don't know.
I think there's something to this, and I am actually going to try it, but I'm worried about the tip wearing in a non-uniform way. I'll follow the advice of Barry on this here,
TL;DR
Having your cue facing the same way can be an advantage as I've seen some players do it and speak of it, snookers players does it using the flat side of their butts. I also noticed Earl Strickland does it. There are also disadvantages to this, such as tip shape, but Berry a snooker legend, says its good to have it deshape to where you shoot from the same orientation everytime!
Check the vids above proof of Earl doing it, also check Berry vid where he talks about it!
Last edited:
