Diamond System Help!

Davey

Registered
I have been searching for a place on the net that would have nice pictures and explanations on the diamond system. I have not found anything except for a few pages but they dont seem to help too much. One time on this website called easy pool tutor there was one but now all they have is one that is "simplified diamond system" but it doesnt seem to help too much either. Any help would be appreciated! Oh, and also if anyone knows what and where i can get a good chalk holder at...that would be a good thing also. Thanks
 

Bob Jewett

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Davey said:
I have been searching for a place on the net that would have nice pictures and explanations on the diamond system. I have not found anything except for a few pages but they dont seem to help too much. ...
I think the best place to start is Byrne's "New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards." There are lots of diamond systems, and he covers many of them. You can get it for under $12 delivered to your door. And he has a lot of other stuff about pool that you might not know yet.
 

Davey

Registered
Thanks but..any help on the chalk holder. I would like to get one because i am tired of using my own master chalk at the hall and then it gets taken to another table and i lose out..almost a whole box in a couple weeks.
 

Troy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A whole box of chalk in a couple weeks ??? A box is a gross, that's 144 pieces of chalk. Man, you forget to pick up your chalk way too often. Are you sure a holder is the answer ??? :) If so, try Mueller's at this link http://www.poolndarts.com/search.cfm then key in "chalk".

Troy
Davey said:
Thanks but..any help on the chalk holder. I would like to get one because i am tired of using my own master chalk at the hall and then it gets taken to another table and i lose out..almost a whole box in a couple weeks.
 

Pelican

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
When I go to shoot I wear a shirt with a pocket and there is my chalk.
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On banks, the diamond system. the X system, the parallel shift system, the etc system - they are all just a starting point. A system will only work with a high degree is success if it is practiced and used on the same table because tables bank differently, balls bank differently, cloths' bank differently, and so on.

Find a system you like and use it as a starting point but do not think you are going to become Glen Rogers or Tony Fargo using a system. They got to the level they are at by doing one thing - banking balls. Throw 15 balls on the table and start banking. Ball in hand on every shot when you first start. It's not as easy as it sounds. Do five racks a day. Keep a count of how many strokes it takes to clear the table. In a month you will see that the stroke count has gone way down. Glen Rogers said something to the effect that if you want to be a great bank player - bank a million balls then you will start getting really good.

I have only recently become quite interested in banks to the piont of devoting a fair amount of effort to it. I believe it has to reach a point where it becomes instinct. Oh, I will still look at a diamond, or a mirror pocket, or a parallel line - but when I get down on the ball I want that gut feeling that it is going to go.

Keep after it. It will come. Later, Pel :)
 

Davey

Registered
Right on...Thanks a lot for the help..and i think im gonna go for the one that has the clip or the magnet thing that holds it..and when you need it you just pull it off and chalk then put back. I have seen the pros..especially karen using something that when she chalks she just puts back into her pants or whatever...thought that was weird because the only chalk holder that looks like it wouldnt get chalk on you would be the ones that have a full chalk case and just a little hole in the top..which i am not liking....anyway..thanks guys
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Pelican said:
Glen Rogers said something to the effect that if you want to be a great bank player - bank a million balls then you will start getting really good.

Reminds me of a comment once made by Jose Parica. He claimed that in about the tenth hour of a session, his nineball game always seemed to get a little stronger. Not a comment I could really relate to, but I guess Jose did play all those fifteen-ahead races in the good old days, so coming from him, the comment made sense.

It sounds like Jose and Glen would enjoy each other's company. Each believes in hitting balls until they drop.
 

bsmutz

Fearlessly Happy
Silver Member
I bought Tom Rossman's videos on banking and kicking and tried to follow along. I found that I had better results using feel or experience. It's just too hard to try to calculate without a tape measure and a piece of chalk or something to mark the correct spot on the rail. Plus I found that I missed more often trying to use the system than I do playing by what I feel is right.
There is definitely some great information about finding out how a particular table is playing. It was also useful for expanding my knowledge about what is possible or playable (helping you see shots that you may not have thought of before). But when you are actually playing a game, the balls are not often where you need them to be to use a system. You need to apply some english to avoid other balls or something that throws the whole thing out the window. Just my experience.
 

Troy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Let me provide an answer ---
If you or your kid wanted to learn how to hit a Golf ball or Baseball would you rather ask Tiger woods or his Coach, would you rather ask Barry Bonds or his Coach ???
I would go with the Coach every time !!!

Troy
DeadAim said:
Let me pose a question to you:

If you were going to have brain surgery, would rather have a brain surgeon operate on you or a college professor who wrote a book on brain surgery?

Joe
 

Billiard Architect

AzB Silver Member
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DeadAim said:
Hi Troy,

GREAT answer, let me pose the question a different way that relates to us:

Who would you rather have give you lessons; Johnny Archer or Phil Capelle.

Joe
Phil Capelle any day!

JV
 

Bob Jewett

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DeadAim said:
Who would you rather have give you lessons; Johnny Archer or Phil Capelle.
There are many things about learning and teaching pool that I'm sure Johnny Archer doesn't know. He could teach some things to some players better than Capelle, but I'm sure Capelle is far more ready to teach the vast majority of pool players.

One of my students had taken a several-day course from some top players. During the lesson, it became obvious that she didn't even understand that you have to hit the cue ball low to make it come back. A lot of the top players have forgotten how it was when they first held a stick and couldn't hit the end rail, and few of them have the patience to try to teach a beginner.

And then there are the players whose heads are filled with myths.
 

TATE

AzB Gold Mensch
Silver Member
Bob Jewett said:
During the lesson, it became obvious that she didn't even understand that you have to hit the cue ball low to make it come back.

Geeze - now you tell me!

Chris
 

Bob Jewett

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> You have to hit the cue ball low to make it come back...

TATE said:
Geeze - now you tell me!

And for a mere $2500, I'll tell you how to make it go forward. In detail. With diagrams. And lunch.
 

landshark77

------blank------
Silver Member
Ok I think I am a day late and a quarter short, but here is my question on the diamond system.

I am no where close to understanding the table. If I have to use a rail at all to kick from it is pretty much a guess/luck equation. The diamond system has been explained to me, but it is all way over my head (dumb blonde). What I figure I need to do is start my memorizing the basic diamond system. If I hit the CB with center, directly to a diamond with medium speed where is the direct next contact point. I am not trying to go more than one rail. And at this time I am not trying to concentrate on any other unmarked point on the table, just the diamond markers. I was playing around on the table last night with just the CB doing this, but I was unable to memorize every single point. It would be easier for me to memorize if I could study it on paper. I checked out the diagrams on the sites provided in this thread, but they were all to complex for what I want to know right now. Is there a diagram for dummies??

Thanx for any help.
 

bud green

Dolley and Django
Silver Member
I agree with Bob J. that Byrne's book is a good start point for the diamond system. He shows adjustments like the Seattle Kid's Allowance, and the other carom billiards info is excellent. Anyone who wants to learn to kick or use the rails should play at least a little three cushion billiards. For those who think his diamond system is too vague, Walt Harris has books out on systems, some info is in a Eddie Robin one pocket book (rare and $$$), and there are other billiard books out like Martineau's series that are real complex and take a long time to learn and understand how to adjust to nine foot tables.

I heard the Japanese are experts at systems but I don't know of any published book that people have gone through and would recommend.
 

Phylbert57

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
landshark77 said:
Ok I think I am a day late and a quarter short, but here is my question on the diamond system.

I am no where close to understanding the table. If I have to use a rail at all to kick from it is pretty much a guess/luck equation. The diamond system has been explained to me, but it is all way over my head (dumb blonde). What I figure I need to do is start my memorizing the basic diamond system. If I hit the CB with center, directly to a diamond with medium speed where is the direct next contact point. I am not trying to go more than one rail. And at this time I am not trying to concentrate on any other unmarked point on the table, just the diamond markers. I was playing around on the table last night with just the CB doing this, but I was unable to memorize every single point. It would be easier for me to memorize if I could study it on paper. I checked out the diagrams on the sites provided in this thread, but they were all to complex for what I want to know right now. Is there a diagram for dummies??

Thanx for any help.



Here is your diagram for dummys - which is the basic way I taught my son who is a true dummy!! ANyway, this is my elementary approach.

Place the CB in front of the corner pocket. Line up an object ball so that it is about an inch from the rail and when you hit it, it will hit in line with the middle diamond on a diagonal line. THEORETICALLY..... it will go in the side pocket using NO ENGLISH.

After that, Try the shorter angle the same way. That is placing the CB at middle diamond and the object ball lined up to the next diamond toward the side pocket. Then try long rails the same way. Then try using english on the same shots a little at a time so you learn what the effect is on each shot. Inside english will tend to throw toward the pocket or the angle you are shooting.

Basically, you are cutting the angles into pieces or halves. WHichever way you want to look at it or call it. ENglish is useful for all the variables like frozen or very close balls, angling around other balls, position etc.

Phyl
 
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landshark77

------blank------
Silver Member
Thanx Bud and Plyl.

Plyl...I must say that what you wrote totally confused me...I think I am dumber than your son. :eek: That was too much info. All I am really looking to understand at this point is if I have an OB setting on the table and the only shot I have is to kick of the rail first (I just wanna hit the OB, not really make it, get position, or play safe..I just wanna make contact) I wanna understand better of where I need to kick from. The basic of the basic. I realize that ithe whole system is much more complex than what I am looking for, but I figure if I start simple..going for the diamonds, center ball/ medium speed only...then maybe my blonde head can grasp what my husband has tried to explain to me for years.

Am I making it too hard on myself??? :confused:
 
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