Folks, I have to get CTE out of my head so I get back to work and also just play when I go to play.
With that in mind I have put a lot of thought into WHY does CTE work. I can't really stand to use something where I don't really understand why or how it works. Given the choice to use Ghost Ball or pure feel which I do understand 100% or CTE which I don't ( or didn't) but with which I am a better player I chose CTE.
But truly it's been a really emotional drain to continually defend something I can't explain. I fully understand the references to religion and tin foil hats etc.... I do think that if some of the people who were being fairly mean about it had instead tried CTE and put their intelligence to work figuring out HOW it works then they could have not only learned a method that might have helped them to play better but also they could have been part of helping everyone to be better.
But that's all water under the bridge. Since they have maintained a contrary position it has forced those of us who are committed to this method of aiming to figure out how and why it works and be able to explain it on demand.
So as a result we now have a comprehensive video out by Stan Shuffet. We have many videos on YouTube where CTE aimers are trying to help others to use the system and we have plenty of other resources with good advice.
We have several top instructors who teach CTE in various forms.
But even after all that there is still not much that reconciles CTE with Ghost Ball.
Stan Shuffet makes the claim that CTE is a "Center Pocket" system. Meaning that proper application beings the player to the shot line which should result in the object ball going into the center of the pocket, in others words to the perfect Ghost Ball position.
JoeyA has said that CTE is mechanically perfect.
These are two claims that have rankled the opponents of CTE because they have asked for and seen no geometric proof that CTE results in providing a shot line that reconciles with the shot line that Ghost Ball gives.
And myself and others have said that it cannot be diagrammed in 2d. We have said that you have to see it on the table and a lot of other stuff to dance around the fact that we have been unable to make CTE reconcile with GB. We know it must because the balls go in. We know that we are not subconsciously adjusting to the shot line. But until now we have not been able to say why and how.
So, I think I have discovered how and why CTE works and how it reconciles with the Ghost Ball method of aiming.
____________________________________________________________
Let me start by saying that this theory has it's orgins in diagrams I did many months ago. And those diagrams were done at full size, with the table and the balls and the cue represented at real size.
What I discovered back then is that the Ghost Ball Line or better said the SHOT LINE and the CTE Line converged across the center of the cue ball and where they exited the back of the cue ball there was VERY LITTLE space between the lines. I don't have the diagram handy and the thread where I first posted a partial rendering of it has been closed or erased due to fighting.
The important thing that came from it is that there was VERY LITTLE difference between the CTE Line and the Shot Line/Ghost Ball Line AT THE CUE BALL's exit point coming towards the shooter.
So, from that point I knew that I had to look at CTE from well behind the cue ball to understand it.
So the next important point is that for any shot where the object ball is going to be shot directly into a pocket the distance between the CTE LINE and the Shot Line is NEVER more than half a ball and is almost always less than a quarter ball AT THE OBJECT BALL.
So if you then go BACK to the cue ball from there you will see that the SHOT LINE and the CTE LINE converge at the Cue Ball and then they diverge out the back of the cueball. BUT they are very close together at the cue ball.
What this means is the if you stand and point down the Center to Edge line from behind the cue ball then it's only a very slight movement to bring your cue to the SHOT LINE. Even if the Shot Line and the Center to Edge line are the full half-ball distance apart at the object ball, which would represent a very thin cut shot, the lines are almost together at the cue ball.
So with these facts in mind I think it's easy enough for everyone to see that it's POSSIBLE to start with a Center to Edge Line for any shot and be jsut a tiny movement away from having the cue pointing through the center of the cueball directly at the Ghost Ball.
This covers all angles and all distances. No matter where the two balls are placed IF it's possible to shoot the object ball directly into a pocket with a dead center cueball then starting with the Center to Edge line works.
Let me stop here and say that THIS is how using the CTE Line works despite moving either of the balls in any direction.
Opponents have often said that it cannot work if you move the cue ball six inches over. Or cannot work if the cue ball is stationary and the object ball is moved along the CTE string.
It is important to note that EVERY SHOT stands alone and no other shot has ANY BEARING whatsoever on the shot being faced. When the balls are moved then it becomes a completely different shot where the shooter MUST move to a different position. Every shot has only ONE shot line that works to pocket the ball.
The Cue Ball has only ONE center. The object ball has only TWO outermost edges that the center can align to. These edges are at 3 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock as measured from the center of the object ball and the center of the cue ball.
This is very important because you must completely forget about cut angles.
The question is asked how can a person do the same thing on two different shots and get the same result?
In this framework the "same thing" refers to using a system where the steps are the same and "same result" refers to pocketing the object ball.
The example is given of two shots with different cut angles and it is said that the shooter cannot follow the same steps and make both shots.
So, remember that every shot stands alone and has ZERO relationship to any other shot.
If you were able to project a ghost ball onto the table which gave you the exact GB position then you could in fact do the same steps for every shot on the table. In fact you MUST do the same steps and those steps would be to place your cue along the line through center cue ball which goes through center GB in order to make the shot with no sidespin. You cannot do anything else and make the ball.
You can move the CB and OB to any position and the steps are exactly the same regardless of cut angle.
The exact same is true of CTE and I will show you why.
Ok.
So now we have established that the CTE line and the GB Line are no more than a half ball apart at the object ball and a fraction of an inch apart at the exit point on the cue ball.
We have established that every shot is unique and has no bearing on any other shot. For every UNIQUE shot there is also a UNIQUE GB/SHOT LINE.
NOTE: This is a SUPER IMPORTANT POINT. - Shots can share a Center to Edge Line but NO TWO SHOTS share a Ghost Ball/Shot Line.
We have established that there is one center and two edges which can be used to determine the CTE Line.
___________________________________________________________
So here it is - this is how the CTE System aligns with the GB system to be geometrically correct and why it works.
When you establish a Center to Edge line that is AWAY from the pocket you are shooting towards then you can place your bridge hand so that the V-groove where the cue rests will be to the right or left of the CTE LINE and then pivot to center cue ball and your cue tip will be pointing to the dead center of the ghost ball through the center of the cue ball.
See my video on this here: It's 20 minutes and boring as hell. The first five minutes are spent drawing lines on the table. Forgive me but I am not able to spend the time doing proper videos with overlays and editing and such. I have a limited amount of time at lunch when it's quiet in the shop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhla1mQd9LU
---------------------------------------------------------------
The steps as I use them;
1. find the CTE Line and stand with it coming right through my body.
2. put my bridge hand down on the CTE Line with my cue tip pointing at the edge of the cue ball. (This puts your V-groove cue rest just to the side of the CTE Line)
3. Pivot to center cue ball.
4. Take the shot with a true stroke through the object ball.
What Bridge distance to use for any particular shot should come to you naturally. I find that the farther back my bridge distance is the smaller the pivot to center.
This is where practice and development of touch comes in. Using the CTE Line puts you within a half ball AT MOST of the SHOT Line. You MUST develop your own sense of what distance to use for any given shot. But WHERE your bridge goes will NEVER be more than a tiny bit to the left or right of the CTE Line.
In general you will see the line easily and know that you can bridge five inches or 12 inches or 18 inches away. You will develop an excellent "feel" for the shot and what your parameters are.
When I play I do not ever think about how far away from the cueball I am bridging for the purpose of aiming. I only bridge at the distance which is needed for the shot according to what the the layout of the table allows me.
Shots where you have two pocket choices:
When you use CTE you will find that there are certain shots such as when the ball is laying such that you can cut it to the corner or cut it in the side. You can still use CTE for both shots but you will not be using the exact same CTE Line. It becomes EASILY apparent what you have to do when you are facing the shot. The motions are the same.
Feel:
It has been said many times that the CTE User is getting to the shot line through feel. Another way to say it is that they are filling in the space between the CTE Line and the SHOT LINE by guessing what's right based on experience. OR their subconscious is taking over and guiding them to the SHOT LINE.
Because there is not any SET distance where the V-groove of your hand sits to the side of the CTE Line it allows for a certain margin of error. I can set my bridge hand down with the cue tip lined up to the edge of the cue ball and pivot to center and NOT be in line with the Ghost Ball yet be so close as to not know the difference. I can do it right five times and do it wrong three times due to this variance.
This is the biggest variable with using CTE - WHERE to put the bridge hand down.
My experience is that if you simply put your bridge down so that the knuckle on your hand sits right on the CTE Line then the V-Groove will sit just to teh side of the CTE Line and when you pivot you will be right in line with the GB.
Does this ALWAYS work? No. It does not because as a human I can misjudge any part of the process. I can misjudge the CTE Line. I can put too much weight on my bridge and cause it to be too far over, I can screw up my delivery.
BUT for me it works very consistently and for all shots. Doing it this way allows me to make shots that I formerly used to miss VERY badly due to truly being uneasy about where I am aiming. Now if I mess up a shot then I can really pinpoint where it went wrong.
With that in mind I have put a lot of thought into WHY does CTE work. I can't really stand to use something where I don't really understand why or how it works. Given the choice to use Ghost Ball or pure feel which I do understand 100% or CTE which I don't ( or didn't) but with which I am a better player I chose CTE.
But truly it's been a really emotional drain to continually defend something I can't explain. I fully understand the references to religion and tin foil hats etc.... I do think that if some of the people who were being fairly mean about it had instead tried CTE and put their intelligence to work figuring out HOW it works then they could have not only learned a method that might have helped them to play better but also they could have been part of helping everyone to be better.
But that's all water under the bridge. Since they have maintained a contrary position it has forced those of us who are committed to this method of aiming to figure out how and why it works and be able to explain it on demand.
So as a result we now have a comprehensive video out by Stan Shuffet. We have many videos on YouTube where CTE aimers are trying to help others to use the system and we have plenty of other resources with good advice.
We have several top instructors who teach CTE in various forms.
But even after all that there is still not much that reconciles CTE with Ghost Ball.
Stan Shuffet makes the claim that CTE is a "Center Pocket" system. Meaning that proper application beings the player to the shot line which should result in the object ball going into the center of the pocket, in others words to the perfect Ghost Ball position.
JoeyA has said that CTE is mechanically perfect.
These are two claims that have rankled the opponents of CTE because they have asked for and seen no geometric proof that CTE results in providing a shot line that reconciles with the shot line that Ghost Ball gives.
And myself and others have said that it cannot be diagrammed in 2d. We have said that you have to see it on the table and a lot of other stuff to dance around the fact that we have been unable to make CTE reconcile with GB. We know it must because the balls go in. We know that we are not subconsciously adjusting to the shot line. But until now we have not been able to say why and how.
So, I think I have discovered how and why CTE works and how it reconciles with the Ghost Ball method of aiming.
____________________________________________________________
Let me start by saying that this theory has it's orgins in diagrams I did many months ago. And those diagrams were done at full size, with the table and the balls and the cue represented at real size.
What I discovered back then is that the Ghost Ball Line or better said the SHOT LINE and the CTE Line converged across the center of the cue ball and where they exited the back of the cue ball there was VERY LITTLE space between the lines. I don't have the diagram handy and the thread where I first posted a partial rendering of it has been closed or erased due to fighting.
The important thing that came from it is that there was VERY LITTLE difference between the CTE Line and the Shot Line/Ghost Ball Line AT THE CUE BALL's exit point coming towards the shooter.
So, from that point I knew that I had to look at CTE from well behind the cue ball to understand it.
So the next important point is that for any shot where the object ball is going to be shot directly into a pocket the distance between the CTE LINE and the Shot Line is NEVER more than half a ball and is almost always less than a quarter ball AT THE OBJECT BALL.
So if you then go BACK to the cue ball from there you will see that the SHOT LINE and the CTE LINE converge at the Cue Ball and then they diverge out the back of the cueball. BUT they are very close together at the cue ball.
What this means is the if you stand and point down the Center to Edge line from behind the cue ball then it's only a very slight movement to bring your cue to the SHOT LINE. Even if the Shot Line and the Center to Edge line are the full half-ball distance apart at the object ball, which would represent a very thin cut shot, the lines are almost together at the cue ball.
So with these facts in mind I think it's easy enough for everyone to see that it's POSSIBLE to start with a Center to Edge Line for any shot and be jsut a tiny movement away from having the cue pointing through the center of the cueball directly at the Ghost Ball.
This covers all angles and all distances. No matter where the two balls are placed IF it's possible to shoot the object ball directly into a pocket with a dead center cueball then starting with the Center to Edge line works.
Let me stop here and say that THIS is how using the CTE Line works despite moving either of the balls in any direction.
Opponents have often said that it cannot work if you move the cue ball six inches over. Or cannot work if the cue ball is stationary and the object ball is moved along the CTE string.
It is important to note that EVERY SHOT stands alone and no other shot has ANY BEARING whatsoever on the shot being faced. When the balls are moved then it becomes a completely different shot where the shooter MUST move to a different position. Every shot has only ONE shot line that works to pocket the ball.
The Cue Ball has only ONE center. The object ball has only TWO outermost edges that the center can align to. These edges are at 3 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock as measured from the center of the object ball and the center of the cue ball.
This is very important because you must completely forget about cut angles.
The question is asked how can a person do the same thing on two different shots and get the same result?
In this framework the "same thing" refers to using a system where the steps are the same and "same result" refers to pocketing the object ball.
The example is given of two shots with different cut angles and it is said that the shooter cannot follow the same steps and make both shots.
So, remember that every shot stands alone and has ZERO relationship to any other shot.
If you were able to project a ghost ball onto the table which gave you the exact GB position then you could in fact do the same steps for every shot on the table. In fact you MUST do the same steps and those steps would be to place your cue along the line through center cue ball which goes through center GB in order to make the shot with no sidespin. You cannot do anything else and make the ball.
You can move the CB and OB to any position and the steps are exactly the same regardless of cut angle.
The exact same is true of CTE and I will show you why.
Ok.
So now we have established that the CTE line and the GB Line are no more than a half ball apart at the object ball and a fraction of an inch apart at the exit point on the cue ball.
We have established that every shot is unique and has no bearing on any other shot. For every UNIQUE shot there is also a UNIQUE GB/SHOT LINE.
NOTE: This is a SUPER IMPORTANT POINT. - Shots can share a Center to Edge Line but NO TWO SHOTS share a Ghost Ball/Shot Line.
We have established that there is one center and two edges which can be used to determine the CTE Line.
___________________________________________________________
So here it is - this is how the CTE System aligns with the GB system to be geometrically correct and why it works.
When you establish a Center to Edge line that is AWAY from the pocket you are shooting towards then you can place your bridge hand so that the V-groove where the cue rests will be to the right or left of the CTE LINE and then pivot to center cue ball and your cue tip will be pointing to the dead center of the ghost ball through the center of the cue ball.
See my video on this here: It's 20 minutes and boring as hell. The first five minutes are spent drawing lines on the table. Forgive me but I am not able to spend the time doing proper videos with overlays and editing and such. I have a limited amount of time at lunch when it's quiet in the shop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhla1mQd9LU
---------------------------------------------------------------
The steps as I use them;
1. find the CTE Line and stand with it coming right through my body.
2. put my bridge hand down on the CTE Line with my cue tip pointing at the edge of the cue ball. (This puts your V-groove cue rest just to the side of the CTE Line)
3. Pivot to center cue ball.
4. Take the shot with a true stroke through the object ball.
What Bridge distance to use for any particular shot should come to you naturally. I find that the farther back my bridge distance is the smaller the pivot to center.
This is where practice and development of touch comes in. Using the CTE Line puts you within a half ball AT MOST of the SHOT Line. You MUST develop your own sense of what distance to use for any given shot. But WHERE your bridge goes will NEVER be more than a tiny bit to the left or right of the CTE Line.
In general you will see the line easily and know that you can bridge five inches or 12 inches or 18 inches away. You will develop an excellent "feel" for the shot and what your parameters are.
When I play I do not ever think about how far away from the cueball I am bridging for the purpose of aiming. I only bridge at the distance which is needed for the shot according to what the the layout of the table allows me.
Shots where you have two pocket choices:
When you use CTE you will find that there are certain shots such as when the ball is laying such that you can cut it to the corner or cut it in the side. You can still use CTE for both shots but you will not be using the exact same CTE Line. It becomes EASILY apparent what you have to do when you are facing the shot. The motions are the same.
Feel:
It has been said many times that the CTE User is getting to the shot line through feel. Another way to say it is that they are filling in the space between the CTE Line and the SHOT LINE by guessing what's right based on experience. OR their subconscious is taking over and guiding them to the SHOT LINE.
Because there is not any SET distance where the V-groove of your hand sits to the side of the CTE Line it allows for a certain margin of error. I can set my bridge hand down with the cue tip lined up to the edge of the cue ball and pivot to center and NOT be in line with the Ghost Ball yet be so close as to not know the difference. I can do it right five times and do it wrong three times due to this variance.
This is the biggest variable with using CTE - WHERE to put the bridge hand down.
My experience is that if you simply put your bridge down so that the knuckle on your hand sits right on the CTE Line then the V-Groove will sit just to teh side of the CTE Line and when you pivot you will be right in line with the GB.
Does this ALWAYS work? No. It does not because as a human I can misjudge any part of the process. I can misjudge the CTE Line. I can put too much weight on my bridge and cause it to be too far over, I can screw up my delivery.
BUT for me it works very consistently and for all shots. Doing it this way allows me to make shots that I formerly used to miss VERY badly due to truly being uneasy about where I am aiming. Now if I mess up a shot then I can really pinpoint where it went wrong.
