Well I've been playing pool for maybe 17 years now. I've been reading these forums, and Cue Chalk Board before, for maybe 7 years. I've bought many instructional materials, such as Byrnes books, Byrnes videos, 99 Critical shots, Phill Capell Practicing Pool, Oysters DVD's, Scott Lee instruction one on one, Doug Carters Stroke Trainer, Joe Tuckers laser trainer, 3rd eye, Guaranteed Improvement book, All of grady's 1 pocket dvds, Winning One Pocket, Shots Moves and Strategies, Incaronas 1 pocket dvd, all the straight pool instructional (before the recent ones), and 100's of accustats matches. And of course I gambled my brains out all this time with all level players, from D to Pros.
I've not seen the information on Gene's dvd anywhere in the above materials.
Patrick mentions it was discussed on the forums. I challenge people here to honestly say they remember it. Most of the aiming threads in the past have been with Patrick, and the other science guys arguing at length with the Hal Houl supporters, or the other players who claimed they had a method. I know MANY of our regular posters would just skip over those threads, because each and every one of them just turned into a big argument with the science guys and the players. So if this information happened to be buried in one of these threads, I hardly consider that as common knowledge.
One thing about the above material I remember was in Phill Chapells Practicing Pool he had you work on the same shot from both the right side and the left side. So that you can determining if you had a weak side, and to work on it. I knew shooting cuts towards the left was way weaker than toward my right. But there was not a reason for it explained.
What Geno shows on his dvd, really explained why I had a weak side (I deduced this from the dvd, because I can build upon what I learn). Its cause my head was in the completely wrong position for those cuts. Within a matter of days of applying what Geno's dvd shows, my cuts to the left were almost as strong as my cuts to the right. And it became so obvious why I was missing them before.
Now, Patricks review is fair. I have only seen the first version of the dvd. I keep forgetting to send it back to get the second version. On the first version, the production was poor. The organization was poor. Some of the explanations were poor. It is easy to dismiss the video, and not look at it again.
But for me, I knew something was there. I made an effort to watch it, and try it on the table. THen i watched it again. Then I watched it again and took detailed notes of each section, and the sections time stamp. And then I practiced it. Then I returned to the sections I was forgetting in practice, and watched them again. In each case, I had retained slightly more information from the dvd, and was applying it correctly on the table. It really made a big difference in a week's time how well I could see the balls and make the balls.
I'd also like to talk about chances of success vs price. In my case, and the case of the other video's supporters, the help was huge. It was literally night and day for me, and others. Other people, some of whom wrote on this thread, there was no help and they felt ripped off. Now you may not agree with my reasoning, but as a gambler, I'd gladly pay 80 for something that it helped tremendously some people, but others it did not help. Because reading the peoples account that it did help, I know if it helps me, the payback would be huge. And if it didn't help me, oh well, I just chalk it up to the same as a lost set of 9 ball.
I also think Geno is a genuine person, helpful, and certainly no liar. When he says he sees the look on players' faces during personal lessons when they "get it", I can totally relate to that because I "got it". What came to mind for me is "no f.....ng way" and "you've got to be kidding me" as to how easy this was, and this was what I was missing all these years. I remember I actually was at the table when I "got it" and I just had to stop and reflect for a few minutes and do nothing. I just couldn't beleive it. He sees this reaction on his students. Unless you call the man a liar, that is what is happening. How many instructors get the same reaction from their students? I'm not saying other instructors lessons are not valuable. What I'm saying is the impact to the student when they "get it" of Genes information is eye opening and game changing. And when the student "gets it" he KNOWS this will forever change his game. That is why the student gets so excited, and either wants to tell the world, or wants to keep the information all to himself so as not to increase the game of his peers.
If I was Geno I would not be worried about divulging this information. How many instructionals are there on other aspects of the game, and in written form, and people still buy the dvds. THey want to see it first hand, and from the horses mouth.
I'd also like to say that not everyone sees the same things. I watched the Oysters videos and thought they were excellent. They had me totally rethink my stance and body alignment to the shot, and preshot routine, and eye patterns. EVEN though people constantly wrote about that stuff on here. I thought his information was jam up, and then I come on here and read that everyone thinks the guy's information sucks, because he had a poor relationship with the Shuffets.
I had a lesson with Scott Lee afterwards. He helped me more with my eye patterns, and stroke. Then he showed me SAM. I just did NOT get it at all. It just didn't click. I thought it was bulls...t. But it obviously works for other players. So that is a case of something that just didn't click for me. ANd that's ok. Scott did not cover eye alignment to the ball with me. That's ok also. Maybe he saw my stance and didn't think there was a problem (I had worked hard on my stance before my lesson with him). The lessen was a good lesson, and I'm happy I got it, and I still use the things I learned in it.
For me, by far the best instturcional materail I have ever seen was Geno's video, and Joe Tuckers $11 Guarnteed Improvment drill book. These two items did more for my game than any other thing. Now these two items cost me $91. If you add up all the money I spent in the first paragraph, you are talking multiple thousands of dollars. So yes, I think my $91 dollars of investment was a bargain. I also don't feel I got ripped off by any of the other items. They all added to my collective knowledge of the game.
Another note for Gene and everyone else is there is lots of passion on Genos information. Both for and against it. I think that is a very positive thing. It shows there is a lot of passion in our sport, and our desire to improve.
In closing, there are MANY sources of information for us. We all take in this knowledge. We understand some of the information. We don't understand other information and immediately dismiss it. We might take the information we learned, and change it to our own liking. Our games our constantly evolving. Learn all you can.
