Interesting question about Bustamonte

dabarbr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I had the pleasure last weekend of watching him play at the Hard Times Sunday tournament in Bellflower. What an amazing player he is.

Unless someone is used to see him play on a regular basis it's hard to believe someone could play so well. His shot making skills and position play are superb.

My question is: why in his practice strokes, the the tip of his cue never seems to get any closer to the cue ball than three inches?

I have a hard time with this. It seems to me that some accuracy would be lost with this system. But it's hard to argue with the results that he gets. Has anyone noticed this before? Does anyone else do this? Any ideas as to why this is done?
 
His exact words was " mas madali kong makita ang patama".
Or " it's easier for me to see the hit".
What's odd too is, like Chico, he points the tip to the outside left, before going to the center of the cueball.
Jay said he used to watch David Howard intently b/c his tip gets so close to the cueball ( that he might fould the cueball ) then along came Bustamante whose tip is way way far from the cb.
 
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JoeyInCali said:
His exact words was " mas madali kong makita ang patama".
Or " it's easier for me to see the hit".
What's odd too is, like Chico, he points the tip to the outside left, before going to the center of the cueball.
Jay said he used to Howard intently b/c his tip gets so close to the cueball then along came Bustamante.


Jay said what?
 
When Busti lived in Germany - does he still? When he lived there, he was constantly baffling the players there as to how he could be so deadly accurate with his seemingly wild pre-strokes and looking-into-left-field aiming. The Germans pride themselves on being textbook perfect in form. Busti shatters the mold.

He handed out ridiculous spots to champions when he first got there and outran them. Half of the spot was the bewilderment on behalf of his opponents as to how he sink a ball at all.

Personally - I think that wild stroke comes from playing the Phillipines where he had to swing his cue around to make people move so he could shoot :-)

Great player - fantastic person!
 
i think it's a clear problem with his fundamentals.

The problem is, his RAW TALENT could give his fundamental problem the blueberry crush. (2 & out w/breaks).

He has so much talent he is able to overcome an slight problem in his fundamentals.
 
asn130 said:
i think it's a clear problem with his fundamentals.

The problem is, his RAW TALENT could give his fundamental problem the blueberry crush. (2 & out w/breaks).

He has so much talent he is able to overcome an slight problem in his fundamentals.

I would respectfully disagree. I think Bustamante plays way too well to have any genuine problems with his fundamentals.

I think it is merely his own idiosyncrasy. Rick Barry used to shoot free-throws the granny way, but he was a career 90% free-throw shooter and one of the best of all time.

I certainly agree with you about Bustamante's talent though. In my book he is in the top tier of most talented players ever to wield a cue stick.
 
I don't think that you would hold up Bustamante's fundamentals as a template for a new player. But there is no denying that despite his warm up strokes his cue goes through the CB perfectly straight. Watching him at Hard Times on his recent trip it was amazing how his One Hole game has improved. Nice guy and a pleasure to watch.
 
JoeyInCali said:
His exact words was " mas madali kong makita ang patama".
Or " it's easier for me to see the hit".
What's odd too is, like Chico, he points the tip to the outside left, before going to the center of the cueball.
Jay said he used to watch David Howard intently b/c his tip gets so close to the cueball ( that he might fould the cueball ) then along came Bustamante whose tip is way way far from the cb.


sounds like a well practiced club move... hide your hit from the opp....How did he make that SHOT????

you can't tell from the warm ups....


that is the gamble culture...hide your knowledge to win more money....

you don't create better players .....you hide your secrets to become a god player,,,

a legend that proves the rule


all secrets do is make more bad pool players...
 
JB Cases said:
He handed out ridiculous spots to champions when he first got there and outran them. Half of the spot was the bewilderment on behalf of his opponents as to how he sink a ball at all.

Hi John,

I still can remember those days. He once gave a German Bundesliga Spieler (top league) the following game: Race to 11 and he gave he guy 5 games on the wire....He killed him two straight sets in about 45 minutes for over 10 grand ...


He does not live here any more...by the way.

Markus
 
Thanks Marcus. Can you tell us how he (Bustamante) fared against the German topguns at the time. How's his record against Souquet, Ortmann, etc. Did he get to compete against Hohmann or is he (Hohmann) from a newer generation? Would you say that Bustamante had an impact on how Germans play the game? I'm really interested to learn more about BUstamante, especially during his years in Germany. Thanks again!!
 
I think that his fundamentals are great or else he wouldn't be a great player. He does the same thing time after time, over and over again. His stroke is so consistent, relaxed and smooth it's a joy to watch. His fundamentals are rock solid...maybe only for him, but what more could you want? The fact that you wouldn't teach a beginner this type of stroke is irrelevant.

There are many players that have what looks like a perfect textbook stroke, it looks razor sharp and you'd think they'd never miss...but guess what, they miss quite a few more than the pro's.
 
@ Renegade

I my opinion, Francisco had a great influence on the avarage German pool player. He was the first Philipino to be seen live here. Before him, the German top guns and the US top guns where known, no one else. By that time the US guys have been Sigel, Varner, Hall, Strickland. Thorsten Hohman was too young by that time. He is a later generation. As long as Francisco was here, he ran through everybody. I don't know how his track record was against Oliver or Ralph. But these 2 are the only ones who really have been a match for him.

But even back then Bustamante seemed to have a problem with winning large tournaments. In 1991 and 1992 there have been the Brunswick Munich Master. The largest tournament Germany has seen so far. Francisco made it into the finals one year and lost a dramatic match to Tom Storm from Sweden..This tournament was so interesting that even the US players came over. Strickland showed some of his temper against a young Austrian player that beat him.... Also Efren was there. When I recall it correct he lost to Oliver..

Last but not least, Francisco stunned everybody with his style of play and he sure was a nice guy. He can be seen as the founder of the German hype towards philipino players. To the average player, names like Reyes, Parica etc. where pretty much unknown.

Markus
 
Busty's fundamentals are literally perfect.

Busty's tip always is always off the cue pointing in the middle of left field on PURPOSE. It's how he aims. Without starting an aiming war on here, he's pivoting from left to right until he finds center ball--- or his english point.

His body is always referencing CTE.
 
You are correct

SpiderWebComm said:
Busty's fundamentals are literally perfect.

Busty's tip always is always off the cue pointing in the middle of left field on PURPOSE. It's how he aims. Without starting an aiming war on here, he's pivoting from left to right until he finds center ball--- or his english point.

His body is always referencing CTE.

I was at the NYC Championship last month and watched Busta very closley because you said he uses CTE. He absolutely does and he does pivot on every shot. BTW his fundamentals are sweet. His routine is exactly the same everytime and he delivers the cuestick better than everyone except efren, ronnie O and maybe Dennis. IMO
 
JoeyInCali said:
His exact words was " mas madali kong makita ang patama".
Or " it's easier for me to see the hit".
What's odd too is, like Chico, he points the tip to the outside left, before going to the center of the cueball.
Jay said he used to watch David Howard intently b/c his tip gets so close to the cueball ( that he might fould the cueball ) then along came Bustamante whose tip is way way far from the cb.

I was told by a former local pro that this is a form of strategy to catch opponents (even spectators) off guard... like bluffing. The opponent is like fixed to the idea to what he's gonna do & what's supposed to happen with that shot then suddenly he gets baffled as to why it didn't happen that he thought would happen.

Many "tiradors" or hustlers here do this as they want to keep the "magic formula" to themselves. Who wants to show their "hidden tricks" when there's a guy out there smart enough to learn these secrets just by watching and might beat them one day

Others "aim" below the center... I believe there are many ways these hustlers "protect their cards" :wink:
 
My fundamentals are nothing like his and don't think I could ever play like he does. But he's one of my favorite players. To me, he's one of the most complete players around. There's no skill in the game where he isn't near the top. Always enjoy watching him play.
 
SpiderWebComm said:
Busty's fundamentals are literally perfect.

.
I don't know how that is.
Django's tip is so far from the cueball, he drops is elbow on every shot.
Parica has the best fundamentals among all Pinoy players imo.
Even Efren says that.
This was before Manalo came in the picture.
 
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dabarbr said:
I had the pleasure last weekend of watching him play at the Hard Times Sunday tournament in Bellflower. What an amazing player he is.

Unless someone is used to see him play on a regular basis it's hard to believe someone could play so well. His shot making skills and position play are superb.


A few months back, Rodalfo Luat was hanging around our pool room for a couple of weeks and I felt exactly the same watching him, as you did watching Bustamante. I had the pleasure of playing Rudy some cheap One Pocket - with his long wavery bridge/stroke, in about 2-1/2 hours that we played, he never got out of line once, and missed ONE shot ( and that was a long shot loaded up with inside english lol )

- Ghost
 
1 Pocket Ghost said:
in about 2-1/2 hours that we played, he never got out of line once, and missed ONE shot ( and that was a long shot loaded up with inside english lol )

- Ghost

Ghost,
I normally think such posts are usually exagerrations (ie. "He never misses", "he runs every rack", "he makes 3 balls on the break every time"); but I watched 3 of Luat's matches 2 years ago at DCC when he was really hot. He missed no balls, and never got out of shape that we could tell. One of the most impressive pool performances I have ever seen. I guess his play must be slipping:) .

P.S. - did you win the game where he missed????
 
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