Practice Halfball Shots Using Fractional Aiming With a Road Map

[phreaticus]

you must either be really bored or just like poking sleeping lions.

 

[SpiderWebComm]

With Shiskabob you start by aligning the center of the CB to the edge, 1/4 (halfway between edge and center) and center, depending on how big of an angle you have to cut, and then pivot from there. You always start with the outside edge of the cue stick - the side away from the pocket you are cutting towards.

It's very hard to explain in text.

Yes, it is hard to explain in text. But I'm going to attempt doing it with you because it'll make more sense (I hope) since you are very well versed on Shishkabob. I discovered a slightly different way of doing it (actually somebody else probably did but I've never seen it on the internet) that aids in getting outside English when needed.

Instead of starting with the edge of the tip/ferrule from the inside at CCB and then pivoting, start with the center of the cue stick at the center of the CB aimed at the center of the OB as if all shots are a straight in shot. There's only ONE straight in shot and it's a straight in shot aligned to center pocket to begin with. Doing it this way has all other shots lined up into the rail away from the pocket. But what you do is pivot to the OUTSIDE (left if it's a right cut, right if it's a left cut) so the edge of the ferrule is now at CCB. (minor cuts). For larger cuts pivot the tip from CCB to 1/4 on the OB or pivot more to the outside so no part of the tip/ferrule is at CCB.

There's more as cut angles get thinner but I'll stop here. I think you'll get what I'm saying. If not, PM.
What you posted is the original way taught by Hal and Stan and the most consistent because you're always striking CCB.

 

[sixpack]

Yes, it is hard to explain in text. But I'm going to attempt doing it with you because it'll make more sense (I hope) since you are very well versed on Shishkabob. I discovered a slightly different way of doing it (actually somebody else probably did but I've never seen it on the internet) that aids in getting outside English when needed.

Instead of starting with the edge of the tip/ferrule from the inside at CCB and then pivoting, start with the center of the cue stick at the center of the CB aimed at the center of the OB as if all shots are a straight in shot. There's only ONE straight in shot and it's a straight in shot aligned to center pocket to begin with. Doing it this way has all other shots lined up into the rail away from the pocket. But what you do is pivot to the OUTSIDE (left if it's a right cut, right if it's a left cut) so the edge of the ferrule is now at CCB. (minor cuts). For larger cuts pivot the tip from CCB to 1/4 on the OB or pivot more to the outside so no part of the tip/ferrule is at CCB.

There's more as cut angles get thinner but I'll stop here. I think you'll get what I'm saying. If not, PM.
What you posted is the original way taught by Hal and Stan and the most consistent because you're always striking CCB.

I'm going to have to try this on a table. It sounds great and I've been looking for a good pivot to add outside spin.

You did a much better job describing this than I did describing the Shishkabob IMO.

 

[SpiderWebComm]

I'm going to have to try this on a table. It sounds great and I've been looking for a good pivot to add outside spin.

You did a much better job describing this than I did describing the Shishkabob IMO.

Thanks, but you did a good enough job to tell me that you know exactly what you're talking about. This should work out for you as easy and simple as it can be.

 

[Ratta]

Back to half-ball shots. One very powerful thing for me with Brian's system is recognizing half-ball shots. If I'm struggling a little bit on that day or it comes up in a tough situation and my mouth gets a little dry...And then I notice it's exactly a half ball hit using poolology...then I can just fire it right in!

Had 2 students a few ago-- strong 100 ball runners- so potting not really a problem for those young guns, lol. Showed them the half ball stuff (when cb/ob pointing to middle foot rail diamond and ob on the 40 line).
Both really appreciated it- just for these *pressure moments* this is a nice tool, to give you confidence .

 

[Fatboy]

For me the visual is
I can see/visualize where I have have to hit the object ball to make it go in the pocket and then I am the cue ball to hit that spot
It’s sort of like Tucker‘s aiming but I don’t think of it that way
It’s more contact point to contact point
Now I also at the same time will depending on the cut see that
this is a three-quarter ball / half ball hit or a 7/8 ball
And use the fractional aiming lines to am at

I’ve always played by feel, not math or words. The more I play the easier it feels. I haven’t played in years but the “feeling” comes back after 50 hours of deliberate play. Banging balls is the worst thing for my game-worse than not playing.

Even tho I’m a 100% feel player it’s interesting to read about aiming systems.

Best
Fatboy

 

[sixpack]

I’ve always played by feel, not math or words. The more I play the easier it feels. I haven’t played in years but the “feeling” comes back after 50 hours of deliberate play. Banging balls is the worst thing for my game-worse than not playing.

Even tho I’m a 100% feel player it’s interesting to read about aiming systems.

Best
Fatboy

I'm similar. I use feel but I obsessively learn and try aiming systems. When I'm playing though, I only use an aiming system if I can't feel the shot.

 

[Casting 9s]

In my interpretation of CJ's TOI aiming system, it's actually a very similar mental process to CTE but is essentially a 2x3 matrix that uses only 2 super obvious primary refs which only use true centers & edges of the balls (no fractions, no mid ball aimpoints), and can reuse the same 3 secondary refs which is our own cue tip totally under our control. This reduces choices and is much simpler & more efficient, among other things. Really no selection needed, if needed, one can simply step through all 3 tip fractions and pick one that looks best, it will be obvious and one calibrates to it since its our own cue tip, always in our consistent near field vision.

I’ve studied both TOI and CTE very in-depth, and used them both for many, many hours. I’ve come to find out that they are very intertwined. CJ Wiley’s version uses just Center-to-Object ball- Center and Center-to-Object ball Edge as reference points. CTE uses 3 main reference points of 15-30-45 degrees and 3 main sight lines (Aim Line, Parallax Line, Shot Line). CJ’s TOI system can be used with the 15-30-45 degree perceptions from CTE, and then you just shoot down the parallax line from the inside of the cueball. This will give you 3 reference points instead of the 2 that CJ uses. You will shoot either inside Quarter cueball to Center Object ball (15-Degree cuts), Inside quarter Cueball to Outside quarter object ball (30-degree cuts), and Inside Quarter Cueball to just inside the outer edge of the object ball (45 Degree cuts). It is very important to “gear” the balls using the perceptions from Stan Shuffet’s CTE system to make this work, however. I’ve found this combination to be more more consistent for me than just TOI or CTE on their own.

 

[BasementDweller]

It's been said here and on a few of my youtube videos that the Poolology system involves "complicated math" or "too much math". But that's simply not true, and I want to show it with an example...

View attachment 654052

This is a halfball shot. The ob is positioned on 60. Think of it as sitting on the 60-yard line of a football field. Now, looking straight through the centerline of the balls (cb center through ob center), we see that a full hit would send the ob to the 3rd diamond on the side rail. That diamond has a value of 30.

Ok...here comes the "complicated" math....

30 is half of 60, so it's a halfball shot.

How many brain cells did that fry?

Notice that I marked the rail spots that correspond to the basic quarters. This means if the centerline of the balls leads to 15, it would be a 3/4 ball shot. Or if it leads to 45 it would be a 1/4 ball shot. The system works because of math, but it's implementation is more visual than mathematical.

This is not a sales pitch or advertising ploy. It's just an example to show how the Poolology system works and how it can be used in practice.

Feel free to set up your own shots using the diagram numbers. The system is useful for shots that are about 60° or thicker.

A great way to practice your stroke, and also to help develop a good eye for probably the most common shot angle, is to set up and shoot halfball aim shots like this. If your body is aligned properly and you stroke the cue accurately, you won't miss the shots. The added benefit is that you'll be developing a good eye for determining whether or not any particular shot looks thicker or thinner than a 1/2 ball hit.

It's strange this post only had 1 like. Very nice and detailed setup here. Seems like a great way to practice these shot angles.

 

[BC21]

It's strange this post only had 1 like. Very nice and detailed setup here. Seems like a great way to practice these shot angles.

Lol....I suppose I'm not in with the popular crowd.

 

[boogieman]

Lol....I suppose I'm not in with the popular crowd.

Does poolology have these diagrams in it? I just got done reading your new book (great book btw) and figured I'd pick it up next. I saw the diagram and it looks interesting but I never really had time set aside to work with it. You know how it is

 

[BC21]

Does poolology have these diagrams in it? I just got done reading your new book (great book btw) and figured I'd pick it up next. I saw the diagram and it looks interesting but I never really had time set aside to work with it. You know how it is

Yes, that pic is straight from the book. And thanks for checking out my newest book! And thanks for the compliment!

 

[skip100]

This was a pretty cool setup shot - almost seemed like magic watching the ball plop right in the middle of the pocket. I work with numbers for a living and still think this whole concept is overwhelming in the context of real shots on the table in a game. I'll be on the lookout for half ball hits though.