straightline: "Can you provide the logic behind this?"

I think it is more than that. I think anyone who has played seriously as a hobby or better already just sees the angles and knows when the shot looks right. You don't have to be world class to do that.
Very true. Unless a person has some eyesight issues, everyone is very well capable of aiming a cue ball to the object ball correctly. Next, it comes to cue ball delivery (with a cue stick). Here it is the source of all the troubles.
 
I am sure he knew how, but that isn't what he was into.

Teaching someone takes time and most people aren't going to give you a large portion of their time for nothing.
Well, for real, some of sports people can not teach others. They just do what nature gave them, usually unable to even explain, let alone teach.
 
... You might think that it’s all there in the open but there are secrets to this game as some things just hide in plain sight, well it used to be… but today the knowledge is out there and you need to search for it.
You don't have to look very far. The spilling of the "secrets" started with Ray Martin's book, accelerated greatly with Byrne's books, and now info is available indexed and illustrated on Dr. Dave's site.

You do have to filter out quite a lot of ... ummm ... "less reliable" info, some of which is posted here, but you have to evaluate all info:
  1. Can you understand it?
  2. Is it true?
  3. Does it work in your game?
It took me three or four readings of Mosconi's little booklet to understand what was in it, but that's because my game was developing at the time. Much of it didn't really make sense until I had a feel for how to hit the ball. And here are two secrets about Mosconi's book: he didn't write it and there are errors in it that can hurt your game.
 
You don't have to look very far. The spilling of the "secrets" started with Ray Martin's book, accelerated greatly with Byrne's books, and now info is available indexed and illustrated on Dr. Dave's site.

You do have to filter out quite a lot of ... ummm ... "less reliable" info, some of which is posted here, but you have to evaluate all info:
  1. Can you understand it?
  2. Is it true?
  3. Does it work in your game?
It took me three or four readings of Mosconi's little booklet to understand what was in it, but that's because my game was developing at the time. Much of it didn't really make sense until I had a feel for how to hit the ball. And here are two secrets about Mosconi's book: he didn't write it and there are errors in it that can hurt your game.
Exactly but before that some secrets were hidden and unless you know physics it wasn't that obvious.
Things like hitting the rail first on a frozen ball, or throw and even deflection is misunderstood even today with so much info and buzz around it.
 
Exactly but before that some secrets were hidden and unless you know physics it wasn't that obvious.
Things like hitting the rail first on a frozen ball, or throw and even deflection is misunderstood even today with so much info and buzz around it.
Which is sad because it is all pretty simple if you go at it the right way.

As for throw... There was a guy from England who played in our 14.1 league. He had a 143 or so at snooker. He was by far the top shooter at 14.1 with a 113 on a table about like a 4.5" Diamond. He didn't know about throw. If there was a dead ball in the rack but you had to throw it, you could safely leave him up-table, because he would never shoot it. To some very good players, throw is a "secret".

Object ball/object ball throw is described in Mosconi's booklet.
 
World class pocket billiards performers still know what they know but realize there is no use explaining it.
The questions would never stop.
There are so many people who want to know.
They would never be left alone.

Gorst knows. And he could explain it.
But what for?

What were you before you were human?
Gorst: Different.
Different how?
Gorst: It would only frighten you.
-the day the earth stood still 2008

A.I. Gorst stopped communicating because humans could no longer understand it.
-Automata 2014

Gorst is not an alien
Gorst is not A.I.
But some people believe he is someone they need to exalt.
And believe others should do so as well.
Go figure.

What do any of you think he knows about aligning a cue stick to make
a shot that you don't know or wouldn't understand?
Or probably couldn't do if he explained it to you?
Get real.

He still knows what he's doing and has decided not to take the time to explain
because it is simply too much of a burden and not worth it.

But I'm sure at some level he thinks you are all very amusing.

I'm happy for him.
I just think you shouldn't sell yourself short.

What do they know?
Efficiency.
Years of practice has taught them efficiency.
In a nutshell, this is what they could teach you.
And save you an immense amount of time as a result.
What is there to explain? Explain how you align your body and cue to that 1 foot long 5 degree cut. You simply look at the shot from behind, step in and put your cue down where it needs to be. There is no magical equation, kinda like shooting a free throw, after you have missed enough times you start to develop the muscle memory to start making free throws, stick with it and eventually you become good at it because you shoot a million free throws, almost like we heard that somewhere else before. How do you explain how to make a free throw other than saying "shoot the ball through the hoop"?
 
What is there to explain? Explain how you align your body and cue to that 1 foot long 5 degree cut. You simply look at the shot from behind, step in and put your cue down where it needs to be. There is no magical equation, kinda like shooting a free throw, after you have missed enough times you start to develop the muscle memory to start making free throws, stick with it and eventually you become good at it because you shoot a million free throws, almost like we heard that somewhere else before. How do you explain how to make a free throw other than saying "shoot the ball through the hoop"?
I knew a guy for several years. He asked me once why I didn't put salt and pepper on my eggs.
I told him curtly, "Eggs don't have any taste so why should I want to taste just plain old salt and pepper."
He just looked at me sort of stunned. He remarked how I just put his shxt in the street.

A couple of your replies to my post are rather good.
 
World class pocket billiards performers still know what they know.
Just like everyone else these world class pocket billiards performers don't know what they don't know.

The individuals with the most knowledge and ability to execute that knowledge come out on top.

What if they knew more?

Scary thought
 
Just like everyone else these world class pocket billiards performers don't know what they don't know.

The individuals with the most knowledge and ability to execute that knowledge come out on top.

What if they knew more?

Scary thought
The "you don't know what you don't know" applies to everything, the people who don't understand that and think they know everything are usually the ones with the most problems.
 
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The "you don't know what you don't know" applies to everything, the people who don't understand that and think they know everything are usually the ones with the most problems.
It may apply to everything, but where does it really matter? I’d say it really matters in competitive sports.

For example I don’t have the knowledge of a medical doctor. I’m not trying to practice medicine either.
 
Missing the point, IMO. When you are good and make a living with it, there is no upside in sharing. That said, get the basics and put in the time.
SVB shares how he lines up on the shots. Him telling you and you actually doing it consistently and well are two different things. Takes time.
 
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It may apply to everything, but where does it really matter? I’d say it really matters in competitive sports.

For example I don’t have the knowledge of a medical doctor. I’m not trying to practice medicine either.
It could matter in a lot of things. Doing some electrical repairs on your home but you're not an electrician. Fixing your car but you're not a tech. First flight in your experimental aircraft but you're not a pilot, the list goes on.
 
It could matter in a lot of things. Doing some electrical repairs on your home but you're not an electrician. Fixing your car but you're not a tech. First flight in your experimental aircraft but you're not a pilot, the list goes on.
Who are you competing with in your long list of examples?
 
Knowing is the easy part.
I know 99.8% of the shots the best player in the world is playing as I watch them.

It's the execution and the high percentage you execute that accounts for ability playing pool. All these guys that make it look easy put in tremendous amounts of work and had strong mentors to emulate.
If a player can't as you say execute at a high percentage, then they don't really have the knowledge.
 
Of course.
But he still knows exactly what he's doing and he knows how he got there.
Yet he's not spilling the beans.
But I respect that.
I don’t blame them. There have been pros come on AZB in the past and some of the “I’m the smartest guy in the room” posters drive them away by arguing details about physics and stuff. I don’t think every champion can articulate exactly why they do what they do and why it’s effective. So when a 500 Fargo starts debating with them, they take off.
 
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