Is the Geometry of the Game of Pool Really Perfect?

CJ Wiley

ESPN WORLD OPEN CHAMPION
Gold Member
Silver Member
From my experience playing pool, the geometry is perfect. This is a story of how I started to research and study the Game to find our how {it's perfect}, and why {it's perfect}. 'The Game is the Teacher' CJ Wiley

And the story happened like this:

There was an elderly gentleman that "appeared" in my life over 20 years ago for a brief "parenthesis in my reality," and gifted me with a present that I'm now starting to realize was ironic, or was it the irony of "fate". Hmmm, I wonder..... ;)

I was standing behind the bar talking to the day bartender in my pool room 'CJ's Billiard Palace', which was unusual, especially during business hours. He came through the door unassumingly, and quietly sat down at the bar in front of us "would you like a drink, I'm a champion bartender," I said, cracking a smile, as the bartender chimed in "as long as you just want a bottled beer or Pepsi."

The gentleman beamed, seeing we were enjoying some kind of "private joke," and replied "I'll just have a bottle of water, thanks." The bartender reached in the cooler the for water as the man directed his gaze back to me. "I think you might be a better pool player than bartender, would you agree?"

"I think you have a good point there, partner, if I had to rely on my bar-tending skills I'd be sleeping in the street," also smiling, but a little uneasily, the man's eyes were clear and very bright, it almost seemed like he was looking inside of my mind, at the "TV" of my thoughts. That's ridiculous of course, no one can "see our thoughts,or read our minds" and quite frankly I'm glad. I wouldn't want to be on either side of that ability{would you?}, life's confusing enough {sometimes} the way it is.

"You are the professional pool player that owns this place, I've seen you play before," I nodded still adjusting to the intensity of the man's crystal blue eyes, his voice remained soft, almost soothing. "What, may I ask do you expect to achieve from your pool Game," he ask motioning to the Brunswick table, just left of the front door where he had entered only minutes before.

"I guess I would like to compete with the world's best players and maybe even beat a couple of them," I again smiled, but on the inside my mind was busy running through thousands of past memories, it seemed like I had known this man before, but from where? No memories seemed to match, I instead had one of those strange déjà vu sensations, like "this has happened before."

The man lay his opened napkin on the bar in front of us and looked back at me, "you know that game is perfect don't you," he looked back at the napkin on the bar, then quickly back to me.

"Perfect, I ask, what do you mean, if you're asking do I play the game perfectly, the answer is no, but I do have these moments, my eyes lost focus as I instinctively reminisced a feeling of being in the 'The Zone'."

He shook his head and chuckled slightly, "you're human young man, perfection is not in your nature, however, it is in the Game, the Game is perfect at the highest level," the man picked up the napkin on the bar and lifted it up, appearing to look under it for something, "you just have to uncover that perfection."

He looked back into my now refocused eyes "do you understand{?}, he lifted the napkin up again as if there were treasure buried underneath "the perfection is in the Game, and you have to be the one to uncover It, and that perfection will play through you, the Game can only express it's perfection though people that play."

Other things were said, but the memories trail off like a dream, in my memory the man just disappeared, but I'm sure he got up and walked out of the pool room that day like a regular person.....or did he{smile}?

It took me a number of years to understand what that intriguing man with those crystal blue eyes meant by "the perfection of the Game playing through me," however, the seed began to grow, and over the course of time started making more and more sense, and it led to the most satisfying discovery of my career. - The Game became my teacher, and I couldn't have picked a better one. I've learned in my later years, some of our greatest teachers in life aren't chosen, they "somehow" choose us. "The Game is the Teacher" CJ Wiley


The Game is the Teacher You Tube Intro - The Touch of Inside
 
Good story, but...
 

Attachments

  • deep.jpg
    deep.jpg
    41.5 KB · Views: 745
CJ how many times have you been called mysterious?

You've been working this forums for months with philosophies and concepts I don't think the majority of the community has ever seen before. I use a lot of english when I shoot, but the thought of using only one type of english on EVERY shot? That blows my mind.

We've never played and you already have me stuck for some posters, DVD's, and now some pay-per-view on a concept my brain is seriously questioning. Off to watch the TOI PPV...
 
With all respect to Mr. Wiley, his skill and his knowledge (which I do not posess), I do not know what he means when he says "the geometry of the game of pool is perfect."

The table is a rectangle made up of two squares. That's about where "perfection" ends.

Each table is different:
some tables play long, some play short
some rails are dead, some are lively,
some balls are dirty, some are clean,
Room air can be humid or dry,
Cloth can be new or old, fast or slow,
Pockets can be tight or loose,
Ball speed changes rebound angles so the angle into a bank often (by this I mean usually) does not exactly equal the angle out,
Balls - even of "matched" sets - can vary in size, weight and spherocity
Every cue stick is different from every other cue stick............

I think part of the art of pool is dealing with at least some of these imperfections.

JMHO
 
The reality is...............

:rolleyes:

The "game" is life. Life is like pool, and pool is like life.

I'll have a sasparilla............. and could you please bring me a new napkin, I think someone used this one. :wink:


td


p.s. thanks for the stories... they are enjoyed!
 
the perfectly round Spheres - this is where lies the "secret" of my TOI Technique

With all respect to Mr. Wiley, his skill and his knowledge (which I do not posess), I do not know what he means when he says "the geometry of the game of pool is perfect."

The table is a rectangle made up of two squares. That's about where "perfection" ends.

Each table is different:
some tables play long, some play short
some rails are dead, some are lively,
some balls are dirty, some are clean,
Room air can be humid or dry,
Cloth can be new or old, fast or slow,
Pockets can be tight or loose,
Ball speed changes rebound angles so the angle into a bank often (by this I mean usually) does not exactly equal the angle out,
Balls - even of "matched" sets - can vary in size, weight and spherocity
Every cue stick is different from every other cue stick............

I think part of the art of pool is dealing with at least some of these imperfections.

JMHO

Remember, there's perfection elsewhere in the Game :wink:


The TOI system works because of the perfect geometry,{click picture} however, it's not only the table that has the perfect {geometric} squares, rectangles, triangles, etc., the perfection is also in the perfectly round{and mysterious} Spheres - this is where lies the "secret" of the TOI Technique - if the Spheres weren't round TOI would not have the effectiveness that it does. 'The Game is Our Teacher'


Watch this video off You Tube it tells more about "pools perfection".
 
Great story CJ. I don't think CJ was suggesting the equipment or even the players are perfect, only the game is. jmho
 
Do we express our perfection through the Game of Pool, or does the Game of Pool......

Great story CJ. I don't think CJ was suggesting the equipment or even the players are perfect, only the game is. jmho

You are certainly correct, we are only human....the question is this:

Do we express our perfection through the Game of Pool, or does the Game of Pool express it's perfection through us? 'The Game is the Teacher'


CLICK
 
You are certainly correct, we are only human....the question is this:

Do we express our perfection through the Game of Pool, or does the Game of Pool express it's perfection through us? 'The Game is the Teacher'


CLICK

Mr. CJ,
All I am going to say is good, better, and best!!!
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.
 
the outcome will happen when the time is now.

:rolleyes:

The "game" is life. Life is like pool, and pool is like life.

I'll have a sasparilla............. and could you please bring me a new napkin, I think someone used this one. :wink:


td


p.s. thanks for the stories... they are enjoyed!

A young boy wanted to be the best pool player in the world....he researched and found a Master Instructor to learn from and called on him.

The Master agreed to meet, and the boy said "Master, I want to be the Best Pool Player in the whole world, how long will it take me?" The Master said 10 years, the boy, troubled, said "what if I practice more than any of your students, how long will it take?"

The Master said 20 years, even more disturbed the boy ask "what if I practice day and night to be the best, how long will it take?" The Master said "30 years," the disappointed boy said "how come when I say I will practice and work harder, you say it will take longer?"

The Master took a sip of his tea
Snapseed_1.jpg
and said "the reason is simple young man, with one eye on your destination you only have one eye to achieve your
goal - to be the best we must focus both eyes {our full attention} on "how," and the outcome will happen when the time is now.
 
A young boy wanted to be the best pool player in the world....he researched and found a Master Instructor to learn from and called on him.

The Master agreed to meet, and the boy said "Master, I want to be the Best Pool Player in the whole world, how long will it take me?" The Master said 10 years, the boy, troubled, said "what if I practice more than any of your students, how long will it take?"

The Master said 20 years, even more disturbed the boy ask "what if I practice day and night to be the best, how long will it take?" The Master said "30 years," the disappointed boy said "how come when I say I will practice and work harder, you say it will take longer?"

The Master took a sip of his tea
Snapseed_1.jpg
and said "the reason is simple young man, with one eye on your destination you only have one eye to achieve your
goal - to be the best we must focus both eyes {our full attention} on "how," and the outcome will happen when the time is now.

I knew one of the 'Masters' a long time ago. I wish that I would have had both my eyes focussed then!!;) But, I am glad just for the experience of knowing him and the many others on the journey.

Great story, and so true.

td
 
Perhaps a definition...

With all respect to Mr. Wiley, his skill and his knowledge (which I do not posess), I do not know what he means when he says "the geometry of the game of pool is perfect."

The table is a rectangle made up of two squares. That's about where "perfection" ends.

Each table is different:
some tables play long, some play short
some rails are dead, some are lively,
some balls are dirty, some are clean,
Room air can be humid or dry,
Cloth can be new or old, fast or slow,
Pockets can be tight or loose,
Ball speed changes rebound angles so the angle into a bank often (by this I mean usually) does not exactly equal the angle out,
Balls - even of "matched" sets - can vary in size, weight and spherocity
Every cue stick is different from every other cue stick............

I think part of the art of pool is dealing with at least some of these imperfections.

JMHO

Maybe this will help...or maybe confuse...

geometry, n. the study of the properties and relations of points, lines, faces and solids.

The basic rules of geometry (as taught) are a fixed system and are in that sense, perfect. Conditions of a pool table and a few other variables affect how we apply geometric principles. This application can never be perfect, because conditions are not static.
 
if the Spheres weren't round...
Am I the only one who had a vision of CJ pushing around little phenolic footballs on a pool table?

I think we've finally figured out how to take the game to the next level and really make it a challenge for the pros.
 
the perfection of the geometric shapes in the game of pool

Maybe this will help...or maybe confuse...

geometry, n. the study of the properties and relations of points, lines, faces and solids.

The basic rules of geometry (as taught) are a fixed system and are in that sense, perfect. Conditions of a pool table and a few other variables affect how we apply geometric principles. This application can never be perfect, because conditions are not static.

I think the context is more about the perfection of the geometric shapes in the game of pool. The two major and many minor squares, the one major and many minor rectangles, the many
images
triangles, major and minor.

The balls being perfectly round spheres is why the TOI Technique is so effective. I just think it's interesting how these geometric figures all connect and align to bring out the perfection that's in the game of pool. imho



 
Back
Top