New Method to Demonstrate BHE

Colin Colenso

Colin Colenso

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I made this video this evening to try to demonstrate how Back Hand English works with a cue's pivot point.

I was intending to demonstrate how little stroke can influence the result of a pot, but only got about half way, as trying to hold my camera in my left hand above my head and getting everything in shot, made my stance and cueing very difficult, such that when trying to swipe, my cue jumped out of the bridge.

While this posed some problem in trials for an hour before, I can assure you, that whenever I kept the cue in the fixed bridge V, I made the shots. I made about 50 shots in a row blind in practice, without seeing OB or pocket with various amounts of speed and spin and swiping, using my insights into squirt and throw and how BHE compensates for them.

I hope this methodology is a useful guide for future testing.

Here's the video: http://youtu.be/mNKXUQYKckA

Note: I tried to make some adjustments to the V, by deepening it after this clip, but ended up altering the set up, and re-tapping became awkward without doing a complete new set up, so please enjoy this video, incomplete as it is, for what it can offer.

Colin
 
Though this is a 7' table with small CB, the same can be replicated on the 9' table with US balls, but it's harder for me to create a clamping mechanism on my US table, which you could see at the start of the video.
 
Colin, just what exactly is "back hand English"? Is that being both physically and verbally reprimanded in the Queen's tongue?

:p
-Sean <-- I'm here all night, folks
 
sfleinen said:
Colin, just what exactly is "back hand English"? Is that being both physically and verbally reprimanded in the Queen's tongue?

:p
-Sean <-- I'm here all night, folks
Click to expand...

That would make as much sense Sean. lol

I think Aim & Pivot is a better term, but BHE has historical recognition.
 
Colin Colenso said:
I made this video this evening to try to demonstrate how Back Hand English works with a cue's pivot point.

I was intending to demonstrate how little stroke can influence the result of a pot, but only got about half way, as trying to hold my camera in my left hand above my head and getting everything in shot, made my stance and cueing very difficult, such that when trying to swipe, my cue jumped out of the bridge.

While this posed some problem in trials for an hour before, I can assure you, that whenever I kept the cue in the fixed bridge V, I made the shots. I made about 50 shots in a row blind in practice, without seeing OB or pocket with various amounts of speed and spin and swiping, using my insights into squirt and throw and how BHE compensates for them.

I hope this methodology is a useful guide for future testing.

Here's the video: http://youtu.be/mNKXUQYKckA

Note: I tried to make some adjustments to the V, by deepening it after this clip, but ended up altering the set up, and re-tapping became awkward without doing a complete new set up, so please enjoy this video, incomplete as it is, for what it can offer.

Colin
Click to expand...
Colin,

That's a great idea for others to try to help them determine whether most misses are caused by stroking errors or by aim/alignment errors. It is also nice to be able to see the effects of speed and spin. For example, the slow follow shot you hit was a little "thick" because there is more throw at the slower speed (although, a stun shot at that speed would throw even more) ... I think you described this incorrectly in the video. Also, by changing speeds, people will see the importance of swerve and how it varies with speed and the type and amount of spin. It is also interesting to look at the effects of a swooping stroke to apply english vs. aim-and-pivot back-hand english (BHE). Good work. Please let us know if and when you create a better and/or expanded video.

Regards,
Dave
 
Thanks for posting the video.

You make an interesting point about possible placing too much blame for our misses on stroking errors.

I'll have to rethink some things.
 
dr_dave said:
Colin,

That's a great idea for others to try to help them determine whether most misses are caused by stroking errors or by aim/alignment errors. It is also nice to be able to see the effects of speed and spin. For example, the slow follow shot you hit was a little "thick" because there is more throw at the slower speed (although, a stun shot at that speed would throw even more) ... I think you described this incorrectly in the video. Also, by changing speeds, people will see the importance of swerve and how it varies with speed and the type and amount of spin. It is also interesting to look at the effects of a swooping stroke to apply english vs. aim-and-pivot back-hand english (BHE). Good work. Please let us know if and when you create a better and/or expanded video.

Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Thanks Dave,
Yes, a soft stun shot would throw more, though it's tricky to execute the slow stun over that distance without a very well timed drag shot.

I forgot to execute BHE touch of right english, which worked consistently in warm ups. A tip or more of right english throws the OB too far to the left of the pocket though, unless played at very high speed, in which case swerve and throw are reduced. Throw in this case being to the left of the line of centers. It gets a little tricky talking in terms of just more or less throw.

I think this set up proves that I don't need to look at the OB during delivery when using BHE aim and pivot. Doing so may assist in determining positional play, but I usually have visualized the stroke (speed and spin) I require for shape before I hit the CB.

I would like to see if CTE players can play to a blind OB by dropping a curtain or other such barrier to sight, after they've perceived the required visual, or prior to pivot. This would answer a lot of speculation about intuitive adjustments during the final pivot.
 
BasementDweller said:
Thanks for posting the video.

You make an interesting point about possible placing too much blame for our misses on stroking errors.

I'll have to rethink some things.
Click to expand...

Glad you pointed that out BD,

It's a shame I couldn't execute the swiping shots in the video with my left arm over my head and standing awkwardly so I could glance back and forth at the phone to see if I had cue and OB and pocket in shot, but I was able to execute over a hundred shots from a more stable position before I shot this video and even I was surprised at how hard it was for me to miss this shot with any stroke, no matter how jerky or swoopy or swipey if I could keep the cue in the V of the bridge during execution.

The only exceptions were the ones I expected, such as considerable right (outside english), which throws the OB too far left, and slower shots with any english, which resulted in swerve... that's because the effective pivot point needs to be longer for slower shots.

I'd assumed that swiping across the face of the CB would lead to up to 2mm of difference in contact point on the OB, but it would appear to be significantly less, which leads to this conclusion:

If you're aligned well, with a bridge length + or - an inch from your required pivot point for any given shot, then it's nearly impossible to miss with a firm shot hit anywhere between 1/4 tip of outside to extreme inside english, regardless of the straightness of the stroke.
 
Last edited:
Colin,

Stan has done a curtain aiming/pocketing video as you mentioned, and I think if one were using SEE, 90/90, etc. one could do the same thing. Obviously Stan is well versed with the system, but if you haven't seen those videos, check them out on Youtube, he makes a variety of shots and banks with no direct visibility to the pocket.

Scott
 
BasementDweller said:
Thanks for posting the video.

You make an interesting point about possible placing too much blame for our misses on stroking errors.

I'll have to rethink some things.
Click to expand...

I'm slowly coming around to the idea my misses are not just stroke errors. The question is, would knowing the physics stuff help or hinder?

I generally trust feel.
 
scottjen26 said:
Colin,

Stan has done a curtain aiming/pocketing video as you mentioned, and I think if one were using SEE, 90/90, etc. one could do the same thing. Obviously Stan is well versed with the system, but if you haven't seen those videos, check them out on Youtube, he makes a variety of shots and banks with no direct visibility to the pocket.

Scott
Click to expand...
Hi Scott,

Yes I've seen them. They are blind pocket shots, not blind OB and pocket. A few had done those, including one by a player using traditional aiming, which demonstrated that many of us can predict the pocket position, hence angle of cut, by seeing the table rails.

If all rails were hidden and base cut at a random angle, and the table could be rotated a few degrees between attempts, then CTE could not work.

If the OB was covered pre-pivot, it would test if the pivot is just to the CB as claimed or if players are intuitively adjusting by observing the OB during the pivot, which I suspect is happening on most shots.
 
Ron Swanson said:
I'm slowly coming around to the idea my misses are not just stroke errors. The question is, would knowing the physics stuff help or hinder?

I generally trust feel.
Click to expand...

Good point Ron. No doubt trying to think through the physics during a shot can hinder a player.

That said, some physics knowledge can be very useful. I'll give an example which my video demonstrated. Lets assume a cut between 7/8 ball and 1/4 ball with about 4 feet between the OB and CB.

If I know my cue's pivot point and bridge at that distance, using feel to align the shot for a medium speed rolling pot, then physics tells me I can use this exact alignment to trust making the shot with firm stun, draw, touch of outside and any degree of inside english, pretty much independent of how I stroke it, provided my bridge doesn't move and my cue stays in the bridge to the point of hitting the CB.

When I use BHE, my aim is to reduce the amount of alignment lines I need to learn, and avoid shots that require aligning to edge of pocket.

On the odd occasion I need to aim to edge of pocket, such as fullish pots with side english, heavy outside english shots and slow rolling shots. So 90% of my game is aligning imagining I'm playing medium speed natural roll, which by a fortunate coincidence, has very similar throw to most shots we need.

Knowledge of one's effective pivot point for any shot basically eliminates the many alignment variables needed to adjust alignment for squirt and swerve. Without that knowledge, a great deal of feel is required to guestimate the required alignment.
 
Last edited:
If I get to see the edge of an OB and get to set my bridge pre-pivot, you can make everything but the CB invisible and I'll still make the shot after I pivot. Even if we set that up and I did it, PJ would say it didn't prove anything, so it's a pointless test.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top