11-4-16 Edit:
The Wei Cuetable diagrams no longer come up, so I made some new diagrams that can be viewed in a recent thread:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=5712487&postcount=12
I hope you get as much out of this as I have so far. The patterns are popping out like crazy since I found this. I was futzing around with patterns on the cuetable last night hoping to find a recurring theme for getting on break balls, and I found an easy way to locate patterns for the last 3 or 4 balls in a rack. Blackjack and John both talked about the triangle that's formed by the break ball, key ball, and key to the key ball. The following is just a different take on that. It gives you an easy method to find not only the ideal triangles but all of the workable end pattern triangles on the table.
Basically, you're looking for the shape of the lower case letters "y" or "h" and their mirror images. To create these shapes you include the pockets where the break ball and key ball will be pocketed. For what most straight pool players would consider the most desirable end patterns, the lines connecting those pockets and balls form the shapes of these two letters. Look at the pages in the cuetable sequence below. All of the patterns drawn form some sort of a "y" or "h":
The letter shapes only have to be close, not perfect. The line drawn from the key ball pocket through the key ball to its setup ball can be slightly crooked to include more potential setup balls:
Once you've created this "y" or "h" shape, look for a ball that lines up the key-to-the-key-ball straight to a pocket. This gives you one more ball to include in the end pattern. Thinking backwards this allows you to decide on which "group" of balls should be pocketed before your 4 ball end pattern. For example, if the ball that lines up the key-to-the-key to a pocket is down table, you may want to pocket a group of balls that are down table just before your end pattern, so you can be close to that 4th ball leave. Like this:
When the "h" or "y" aren't available there's the slightly less desirable "d", "b", or "p". You could also picture these as a diamond like on the last page here:
Again you'll want to find a ball that lines up with the key-to-the-key and its pocket for the 4th ball before the end.
By picturing these letter shapes, you see many ways of safely getting to the break ball that wouldn't normally be considered. Like this:
I hope it helps.
The Wei Cuetable diagrams no longer come up, so I made some new diagrams that can be viewed in a recent thread:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=5712487&postcount=12
I hope you get as much out of this as I have so far. The patterns are popping out like crazy since I found this. I was futzing around with patterns on the cuetable last night hoping to find a recurring theme for getting on break balls, and I found an easy way to locate patterns for the last 3 or 4 balls in a rack. Blackjack and John both talked about the triangle that's formed by the break ball, key ball, and key to the key ball. The following is just a different take on that. It gives you an easy method to find not only the ideal triangles but all of the workable end pattern triangles on the table.
Basically, you're looking for the shape of the lower case letters "y" or "h" and their mirror images. To create these shapes you include the pockets where the break ball and key ball will be pocketed. For what most straight pool players would consider the most desirable end patterns, the lines connecting those pockets and balls form the shapes of these two letters. Look at the pages in the cuetable sequence below. All of the patterns drawn form some sort of a "y" or "h":
The letter shapes only have to be close, not perfect. The line drawn from the key ball pocket through the key ball to its setup ball can be slightly crooked to include more potential setup balls:
Once you've created this "y" or "h" shape, look for a ball that lines up the key-to-the-key-ball straight to a pocket. This gives you one more ball to include in the end pattern. Thinking backwards this allows you to decide on which "group" of balls should be pocketed before your 4 ball end pattern. For example, if the ball that lines up the key-to-the-key to a pocket is down table, you may want to pocket a group of balls that are down table just before your end pattern, so you can be close to that 4th ball leave. Like this:
When the "h" or "y" aren't available there's the slightly less desirable "d", "b", or "p". You could also picture these as a diamond like on the last page here:
Again you'll want to find a ball that lines up with the key-to-the-key and its pocket for the 4th ball before the end.
By picturing these letter shapes, you see many ways of safely getting to the break ball that wouldn't normally be considered. Like this:
I hope it helps.
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