Has the Secret to Pool been Cast "In the Shadows???"

[Dan White]

You need to read my post, I describe how to maximize use of your modalities so you can get the most touch and feel by diminishing your visual sense (while down on the shot) - I've written plenty of free information on this subject, you just have to be willing to look.

Let me explain what I'm trying to say. You wrote:

One of the things I teach is how to raise mental potential in various ways playing pocket billiards. The subconscious is an amazing tool when utilized correctly and can actually be detrimental {in ways} if it's not. I believe it's important to learn ways to maximize our potential, not only in our pool games, also in business, and personal areas of our lives.

Our senses tend to get stronger in one area, when weakened in another. For example, if the lights were to suddenly go out we all instantly have better touch and feel - it's proven that blind people have better hearing (and touch for reading braille) and visa versa. Many people don't "real eyes" that we can intentionally decrease and increase our senses.

We can use this phenomenon to our advantage when we get down on a pool shot. Above the ball we want to be 90% (for example only) visual and only about 10% kinesthetic (feel and touch).....we stay in that mode and concentrate mostly on the object ball until our hand hits the table and our focus shifts to the cue ball.......at this point our visual sense should be deliberately diminished (towards the object ball) so we can raise our sense of touch (and feel) to connect and fully absorb into the shot.

Understanding how this is done is a HUGE advantage because it enables the player to maximize both their visual experience AND their "feel and touch" experience on the same shot by effectively shifting back and forth from one to the other at EXACTLY the vital time, thus synergistically increasing both sense's full potential.

This information can be amazingly beneficial so give it some serious thought....you'll be glad you did and if this process "clicks" you will have a very powerful mental tool in your "pool box" that may also enhance other areas of your life. www.thegameistheteacher.com

In the first bold section above, you seem (to me) to be hinting at a way of changing your senses from less visual to more touch. Then in the second bold passage, you state "understanding how this is done...". Well at this point I don't understand how it is done or what the shifting back and forth means and what the vital time is. This led me to believe you are selling the rest of the story on your website. For the record, I have no problem with that. It just isn't clear to me whether you think you have already explained it above, or if you are intending us to go to the link you provide at the end of the sentence.

For instance, if you look at a tutorial by someone like Dr. Dave, the information is presented like a classroom lesson. You do this and this and that, and here's why. Also, it is clear that you can purchase additional information. In contrast, your posts are more poetic and artistically written. For me, that approach tends to make the transmission of information less clear.

I do appreciate your posts and your willingness to share your vast experience. I just don't really understand much of it!

 

[Ralph Kramden]

What I believe CJ is saying is that you've already aimed the shot when you get down into shooting position. You can use shadows or bright spots or reflections, whatever, to aim at as long as that spot is on the shot line that you have already established. This gives you something concrete to shoot at instead of shooting into the open space of a "ghost ball."

Correct?

I believe your assumption, as stated in your post, is a correct explanation.
My thinking to CJ's post had been that shadows were the exact aim point.
The fact is you can use partial shadow edges or reflections as references.
.

 

[CJ Wiley]

a slight movement of the shoulder will have an effect on your tip

Actually this is not correct. I didn't say you "aim" at the shadows once you're down in shooting position. The point of favoring the visual modality above the ball and transferring to the kinesthetic (sense of touch and feel) when you're down in shooting position is "the difference that makes the difference".

You don't want to be "aiming" visually at anything when in the shooting position, it's more like just being aware of the object ball. The more intent a player is on trying to "hit something" while down on the shot the less touch and feel they will have as a result....once you're down what is there to "aim" at, the shot is already "aimed" above the ball.....and maintained as you come down on the shot, or you're in serious trouble.

I'm not leading anyone to my web site for more explanation, it's really not that complicated. I pointed out that to increase one sense we can decrease another, and used turning the lights out abruptly as "sample example" of how this process works.

The process is simply being more visual above the ball and I give 90% as an example, then while getting down on the shot "turning down" your visual (by not giving the object ball visual dominance) sense and tuning in to the feel of the shot, and the experience of connecting to the cue ball, object ball and also the connection of the tip as it runs through your cue, shooting hand/wrist, up your forearm and into your shoulder.

This way a slight movement of the shoulder will have an effect on your tip.....this is how you know the connection is complete and you'll see several top players make this motion with their shoulder.....now you know why, it's to see the subtle effect on the tip.

What I believe CJ is saying is that you've already aimed the shot when you get down into shooting position. You can use shadows or bright spots or reflections, whatever, to aim at as long as that spot is on the shot line that you have already established. This gives you something concrete to shoot at instead of shooting into the open space of a "ghost ball."

Correct?

 

[GoldenFlash]

Could the wording be a little haywire??

After watching this "back and forth" for a while now, I think my comments here just might(?) be relevant.
The issue revolves around semantics. (dictionary.com is your friend)
The word "system" leads an individual to infer, in many cases, that it's a simple matter of 'push pull click click' and the ball goes in the hole.
I believe these systems should be entitled "High Percentage Guidelines to Aiming".
These words convey the message......."use these GUIDELINES and increase your percentages of making the shots".
I relate that to the books we read as a teenager on how to play poker. For example, the percentages of winning when holding three bullets and you know the other guy over there is standing raise after raise trying to "flush out" on you. How many times have you not improved the trips and watched him draw out on you?
You went in with the best percentage on winning the hand and came out busted. That didn't mean that you changed your game and stopped going for the best percentages....over the long run, the better percentages will win. People forget that a few hours at the poker or dice table or pool table does NOT constitute a long run,however.
I think the same thing applies with these 'systems'.........they are actually High Percentage GUIDELINES....something to hang our hat on to reduce the number of decisions we have to make on a shot or even a runout. Reducing choices will increase percentages of favorable hits....assuming the guidelines have been proven to be valid. C.J. Wiley discusses this at length in his video..."reduce the choices to as few as possible".
As I said somewhere else, if you're stuck with a dog stroke, bad eyesight, poor stance, and do not understand or believe in 'throw'........you can toss all the system stuff in the world right out the window until you correct those basic flaws in the physical approach to the shot.
I think you can even quit thinking about "choking under pressure" if the shot is setup with the proper guidelines.
I remember my high school baseball coach teaching us how to hit that dreaded "low and away".....he kept hammering us with "if you have a minimum of confidence grounded in FACT..then 'nerves' won't be a factor. Just execute (you're still going to strike out a lot) BUT the percentages to hit the thing are coming into play a little because you are properly prepared"
It is what it is.
Flash.

 

[Dan White]

After watching this "back and forth" for a while now, I think my comments here just might(?) be relevant.
The issue revolves around semantics. (dictionary.com is your friend)
The word "system" leads an individual to infer, in many cases, that it's a simple matter of 'push pull click click' and the ball goes in the hole.
I believe these systems should be entitled "High Percentage Guidelines to Aiming".

I don't have an issue with whether something is a system that works all the time or not. I just don't understand what the "system" is. Let me use Ralph Kramden as an example of what I'm saying (apologies to Ralph).


CJ said:

"Aiming" is done on the subconscious level, however the mind needs specific relative points to produce the desired angles. Notice I said "relative points" - this can be the "center," " the "edge," or a light or shadow on the ball or table.....there's always one that is correct, the challenge is knowing how to find it. 'The Game is the teacher'

To which I said:

I'm open to anything, but these "explanations" are so vague. Let me throw something out there and please tell me if I am wrong:...So I'm thinking about these shadows and you keep mentioning reference points and ways to connect the CB and OB. It occurred to me that maybe you are using the shadows as aiming points to stroke the cue at AFTER you have already determined the correct aim point and have lined up the shot.

CJ then seemed to concur:

So, yes, if you already know where the "shot line" is you can simply see what part of the shadow connects to that path of the cue ball (some players use the center or TOI part of the ferrule to align to this spot as well).

You can even see a light on the ball in some instances, most times there is a relative point and if not you can always use a spot (like 10o'clock or 2 o'clock for example) on the cue ball connected to either the center or edge of the object ball. I do both for a "check and balance" at times.

Then Ralph:

I now can see what you are telling us.
The ball shadow isn't the exact aim point.
The shadow can be used as a reference.

And CJ:

And the "Light" goes on.....I like it when that happens, it makes it all worthwhile. all praise goes to the game - 'The Game is the Teacher'.com

Ralph then agreed with my comment that after the shot was already aimed, you could use shadows along that aiming path to shoot at:

I believe your assumption, as stated in your post, is a correct explanation.
My thinking to CJ's post had been that shadows were the exact aim point.
The fact is you can use partial shadow edges or reflections as references.

But then CJ said:

Actually this is not correct. I didn't say you "aim" at the shadows once you're down in shooting position. ... You don't want to be "aiming" visually at anything when in the shooting position, it's more like just being aware of the object ball.

So now this leaves me wondering whether Ralph, like me, really does understand what CJ is trying to convey.

Maybe it boils down to what CJ means by using shadows as "references." Doesn't creating a reference point actually mean you are using that point to help you aim? I also don't understand "check and balance." Before getting down into a shot I see the angle between the CB-OB-pocket and then get down on the shot and shoot it. I have never noticed that shadows helped me see the correct angle. It was simply the position of the balls on the table that tells me where I need to send the cue ball to pocket the ob. The only thing that comes to mind as being a "check and balance" is maybe to walk around to see the line between the ob and the pocket and making a mental note of the contact point. Of course many people do that on back cut shots. In the same vein, I don't understand how to use shadows as a check and balance or as a reference point.

I know I'm being nit picky about this, but CJ obviously is trying to convey something he finds important, and I have no clue what it is. I would very much like to, which is why I'm being a stickler on this. I don't miss many shots in an evening due to aiming error. It's mostly something I did wrong in the stroke, but I'm always eager to learn from the people who have been there!

 

[Ralph Kramden]

I don't have an issue with whether something is a system that works all the time or not. I just don't understand what the "system" is. Let me use Ralph Kramden as an example of what I'm saying (apologies to Ralph).


CJ said:


To which I said:


CJ then seemed to concur:

Then Ralph:

And CJ:

Ralph then agreed with my comment that after the shot was already aimed, you could use shadows along that aiming path to shoot at:

But then CJ said:

So now this leaves me wondering whether Ralph, like me, really does understand what CJ is trying to convey.

Dan White:
Ralph thought he understood... Until CJ made the non-understandable statements in his last post.

It's like David Carradine playing on the Kung Fu TV show. "Walk softly on rice paper Grasshopper".

Grasshopper need not to aim.. Only imagine where is OB.. Shadows will be guide for you to pocket.
The cue, the CB and pocket are as one. Visualize and mentally remember your target Grasshopper.
.

 

[CJ Wiley]

There is no "magical" aiming process because you still have to hit the cue ball

This is why I had to make the videos, so I could explain AND demonstrate techniques and systems......it's not possible in writing because everyone puts their own "spin" on what I'm saying because I can't be specific enough, using everyone's learning preferences (the english language is limiting).

In my 'Ultimate Pool Secrets' I show the aiming system that connects the cue ball to the object ball in such a way that you can always use either the center or the edge of the object ball as a reference point. The shadows are just a "check and balance," or "double check," way of comparing, thus increasing your overall chance of success.

I won a tournament today, missing less than 3 balls all day using this "system"....I assure you it works very, very effectively. (my "Hemp Vap." helped too)

There is no "magical" aiming process because you still have to hit the cue ball precisely, therefore the cue ball is really what you're "aiming" at....the object ball serves as a reflection of the alignment / connection you have made and where you end up contacting the cue ball.

The TOI system that I use takes a lot of this guess work out of this part of the equation because you are consistently hitting the cue ball on the same side that it's contacting the object ball.....this is really simple, however, it's much easier to understand watching a 90 minute video than absorbing it in written communication. 'The Game is the Teacher' .com

Dan White:
Ralph thought he understood... Until CJ made the non-understandable statements in his last post.

It's like David Carradine playing on the Kung Fu TV show. "Walk softly on rice paper Grasshopper".

Grasshopper need not to aim.. Only imagine where is OB.. Shadows will be guide for you to pocket.
The cue, the CB and pocket are as one. Visualize and mentally remember your target Grasshopper.
.

 

[Dan White]

Why Bother?

This is why I had to make the videos, so I could explain AND demonstrate techniques and systems......it's not possible in writing because everyone puts their own "spin" on what I'm saying because I can't be specific enough, using everyone's learning preferences (the english language is limiting).

With all due respect, then why create a post about the "secret of pool being cast in the shadows" if you know you can't explain it? Why not save us the trouble and just make a few remarks, and then suggest we buy your Ultimate Pool Secrets video? If it is a good video, word will get around.

In my 'Ultimate Pool Secrets' I show the aiming system that connects the cue ball to the object ball in such a way that you can always use either the center or the edge of the object ball as a reference point.

Should have started with this...

 

[CJ Wiley]

The 'Ultimate Aiming System" uses the CENTER and EDGE, not Shadows

I believe it has been explained, just not in vivid detail like it could be on a video.

I showed the three different shadows and communicated how to use them as reference points. Shane uses the inside and center of his tip/ferrule and I use the inside part of the cue ball to create the "pocket zone" using the shadows.

'The Ultimate Pool Secrets' shows my aiming system, it has nothing to do with the shadows, I mentioned they are used (by myself) as a "check and balance". The 'Ultimate Aiming System" uses the CENTER and EDGE of the object ball as a reference and connect portions of the cue ball to create every angle....this way the distance between the two balls makes less difference, which makes sense when you think about it (because we can control the distance between our eyes and the cue ball).

With all due respect, then why create a post about the "secret of pool being cast in the shadows" if you know you can't explain it? Why not save us the trouble and just make a few remarks, and then suggest we buy your Ultimate Pool Secrets video? If it is a good video, word will get around.



Should have started with this...