mister 100

E

eze123

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I saw on Ceulemans' site that they're finally reissuing the Mister 100 book on Dec. 15. Has anybody seen the original book? I've heard good things about it, but I'm wondering if it's worth getting. What I mean is, I'm sure there's a lot of good stuff in it, but sometimes the same material gets addressed over again in other books, especially since his came before most of the others. I don't need another fifty pages on how to hold a cue and make a bridge, the difference between 1/2 ball and 1/8 ball, deflection, etc.
I have a good diamond system that I'm happy with, and it's pretty close to the one that he goes over in the book, which is a little different than the old Hoppe system. Same thing with the plus system. If half the book is explaining the diamond system, it's probably not worth it for me. What's the general content? systems, techniques, position play, what?
 
Last edited:
eze123 said:
I saw on Ceulemans' site that they're finally reissuing the Mister 100 book on Dec. 15. Has anybody seen the original book? I've heard good things about it, but I'm wondering if it's worth getting. What I mean is, I'm sure there's a lot of good stuff in it, but sometimes the same material gets addressed over again in other books, especially since his came before most of the others. I don't need another fifty pages on how to hold a cue and make a bridge, the difference between 1/2 ball and 1/8 ball, deflection, etc.
I have a good diamond system that I'm happy with, and it's pretty close to the one that he goes over in the book, which is a little different than the old Hoppe system. Same thing with the plus system. If half the book is explaining the diamond system, it's probably not worth it for me. What's the general content? systems, techniques, position play, what?
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing eze123. Well, I'm still a beginner but I already printed all the pages that the other members suggested me to study. Some of them are in spanish, from an Argentinean website, but most of them are in french. I have 629 pages of theory, 159 in spanish and 470 in french. So I was wondering if it would be a good idea for me to get the book.
 
I have the Verworst book, Caudron's, and two by this guy, which are very good but in German:
http://www.three-cushion.com/
The site has a pretty good amount of stuff in english with diagrams.
And then of course Byrne's. And some various stuff off some websites. That's why I was wondering if it would be redundant or not.
 
Say Eze, is it seriously coming out on the 15th?

I am really going to buy one of those if possible. I say both of you should get one too just for both information and as a treasure for years to come. They don't call Raymond Ceulemans "Mister 100" for nothing!
 
The original book is all diamond systems. Many of the traditional systems he has modified. Much of the book is hard to understand. Yo must be dedicated to practice the shots with the book at the table.

There is very little in the original on fundamentals. All systems. 5 system, plus 2, RC plus 2, dead ball, end rail. Long-Long-Short, SLS, LSL.......
The best parts are the adjustments rarely found in print.

I only want it for the collection of books I have. I own a xerox copy of the original. Arrest me. Never knew about the book till it was out of print.
 
Ceulemans signed a copy I picked up at the 1996 Sang Lee tournament. Sadly, I later learned it was a smaller pirated Korean version when I asked around after noticing the title on the binding actually read "MSTER 100" without the 'I'.

I finally saw an original and it was a much larger over-sized edition with a dust jacket (with the title obviously spelled correctly) - a fact which made me chuckle upon remembering Raymond's comment when signing it for me: "Hmm...I don't remember it being so small..." :) I got lucky because he's aware of them now and understandably won't sign the knock-offs anymore.

The piracy sucks, but I'm glad to finally be able to buy an original that will directly benefit the author. That said, I don't actually use any systems from the book. I have my own methods, but I still like to study other people's approaches to the game. I heard "Ceulemans says..." so many times from well-intentioned players trying to help my game that it was nice to finally read from and talk directly to the source. Not surprisingly, the grapevine didn't quite agree with reality.

Anyway, here's a favorite passage from the book (p. 156, "From Long to Long"). I keep a bookmark there for easy reference since it's clearly the most forgotten part of the system description (as it's never mentioned by the helpful 'experts' who seem blinded by authority into only see absolute perfection):

When playing a correctly calculated shot, you will notice that you will achieve a cannon but not hit cushion 3 precisely at the point that you calculated. Do not worry about this because it is normal. Remember what I told you about the ball lines, playing more directly on a cushion. If you do take account of this difference in your calculation, then I guarantee that you will miss the cannon. I could of course have saved myself the trouble of drawing your attention to this, provided that the cannon achieved eventually counts. However, I assume that careful players will have discovered this themselves sooner or later and may have had unnecessary worries about it.
Nevertheless, this was a disconcerting problem both for myself and for the draftsmen. Should we draw the ball line precisely as if it coincided with the calculation or should we take account only of the true course and its contact point?
Eventually, we opted for the first alternative because it would otherwise lead to too much confusion for a player who wants to keep some control.​


Robert
 
"Hmm...I don't remember it being so small..." ha, that's classic. I had an ex that told me that once. just kidding:)

I may have to make it an Xmas gift for myself. I'm waiting for the Robert Raiford book on ducking kisses. When are you putting something out, Robert? There's very little in English. You could ride the wave of the 3C rebirth and give all us players in the boondocks some good instruction. The next generation will talk about you like people talk about Byrne.
 
eze123 said:
I may have to make it an Xmas gift for myself. I'm waiting for the Robert Raiford book on ducking kisses. When are you putting something out, Robert? There's very little in English. You could ride the wave of the 3C rebirth and give all us players in the boondocks some good instruction. The next generation will talk about you like people talk about Byrne.
Click to expand...

Actually, I have read posts that talk about Robert Raiford but I don't know who he is or what he has done. I think eze123 just gave you a good idea so we, the new generation of players, can get to know you and talk to other people about you.
 
eze123 said:
I'm waiting for the Robert Raiford book on ducking kisses. When are you putting something out, Robert? There's very little in English. You could ride the wave of the 3C rebirth and give all us players in the boondocks some good instruction. The next generation will talk about you like people talk about Byrne.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the encouragement, eze123! :)

I agree, there is very little available in English that discusses kiss avoidance in depth or addresses modern positional ideas. This really boils down to controlling ball 2.

Many players tell me that they are so preoccupied with controlling the cue ball that they have no clue where ball 2 is going on most shots. I have some new ideas on how to approach teaching this, and am trying to get them into book form when my free time allows. Unfortunately, the more I write, the more my game suffers from lack of practice, so I'm trying to find a balance to keep my sanity. :)

Where in the boondocks are you located?

Robert
 
Hernan7 said:
Actually, I have read posts that talk about Robert Raiford but I don't know who he is or what he has done. I think eze123 just gave you a good idea so we, the new generation of players, can get to know you and talk to other people about you.
Click to expand...

short answer: me, and not much...yet ;)

I believe eze123 is referring to my commentary for the CaromTV videos from the Sang Lee International Open tournaments. What started as a last-minute favor for Ira Lee has morphed into a really fun gig for the past two years helping Jan Carl in the booth as The Voice of CaromTV (as Jan loves to call me now). Where else do you get to scribble all over the screen during important games and second-guess the champions?

Btw, CaromTV.com is a labor of love by Jan Carl who works his @$$ off to make those videos available to the billiard community. *All* profits from the DVDs and VOD downloads go directly back into prize funds for the players. Buying and watching videos is a great way to learn from the pros while supporting 3-cushion!

Robert
 
Robert Raiford said:
Thanks for the encouragement, eze123! :)

Many players tell me that they are so preoccupied with controlling the cue ball that they have no clue where ball 2 is going on most shots. I have some new ideas on how to approach teaching this, and am trying to get them into book form when my free time allows. Unfortunately, the more I write, the more my game suffers from lack of practice, so I'm trying to find a balance to keep my sanity. :)

Where in the boondocks are you located?

Robert
Click to expand...

So you are working on something. We'll have to keep bugging you, I guess. "Is it finished yet? Is it finished yet?"

I'm in CT. Between NY and Boston so it's not too bad, but there are like four or five tables in the whole state.

and yes, I was referring to your work on the CaromTV videos.
 
We will have Mister 100 book by Raymond Ceulemans in stock soon. We will also add T?z?l Billiard systems book and many DVD to our selection.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top