sjm said:
Bravo! Efren's pattern is superb. Three cushion knowledge really is the key here, because the naked eye doesn't give a true sense of how big this path is. What makes it bigger than it looks is the fact that the cue ball will have reverse english when it hits its fourth rail, simplifying control of the shot. A three cushion background is a big edge when building a pattern like this one.
i agree with you that three-cushion knowledge is key, as well as your observation that getting on the eight going four cushions short off the two is quite big. however, i'm not sure i agree with your reasoning, although this could be that i'm misinterpreting what you are calling reverse english.
off the two ball, the cue ball will have running english (right english in this case). the running english will carry through off the first (left short cushion) and probably the second (top long) cushion as well. now on a heated billiard table with 300 rapide cloth, the cue ball would still have right english when it hits the third (bottom long) cushion. this english would reverse off the third cushion, which is what i think you mean by reverse english. whether or not it would still have this reverse english when it hits the fourth (right short) cushion will depend on how hard it's hit. this is the classic "back-up" pattern in three-cushion. the back-up angle will change with the speed of the cue ball mainly because of how much english is retained after it rubs off the long rail.
this is all well and good for a well cared for billiard table. but on a pool table, with much slower cloth (even 860), i doubt that the cue ball will have much, if any, english left when it hits the bottom long cushion, and in fact it will pick up running english (left english in this example) when it comes off of the bottom long cushion which will widen the angle off the fourth (short) cushion, i.e. make it go slightly more towards the top long cushion, than it would have had if it had reverse. this is what makes it big. if it had reverse, the ten ball would pose a problem. that fact that the cue ball will be spinning in the opposite way from when it left efren's cue is what makes the shot big. in fact, it would be hard not to get the cue ball the go between the ten and fifteen after hitting the fourth (right short) cushion, unless you hit the ball ridiculously hard.
sorry about the long-winded explaination, but i think the analysis is worth pointing out.
william