The Simplest Aiming Systems to Visualize and Use

[SpiderWebComm]

Hal Houle developed over 20 aiming systems that had nothing to do with contact points or fractions. Obviously CTE was one of them and Shiskabob was another. Both are deadly ways to pocket balls, contrary to what has been claimed by a small group for 25 years on multiple pool forums but have found a home on this forum since 2003.

Little Mike has developed his own version of Shiskabob using the center of the OB, the 1/4/ - the 3/4 - and edges along with a MANUAL PIVOT to the outside for ALL shots. Yeah, I know it doesn't compute to the scientists and mathematicians, so they'll blast it to death because it can't be put into a 2D drawing and explained by arithmetic, algebra, geometry, or trigonometry. It can't possibly work, so they'll say.

I'm not going to go into the details of Shiskabob but there are only a few differences regarding tip placement at address and where to pivot the tip. It's so simple, yet deadly. Try it for yourself. Here are the videos. (soon to be dissected by math wizards with claims this can't possibly work) LOL!

VLOG# 26: Training in Session 2 - YouTube

 

[Thresh]

You do realize every shot he sets up in this video is half ball and quarter ball hit right?

Anyone who knows Poolology could easily recognize his system doesn't work at all and only works for the 2 shots he set up over and over again.

 

[xX-Wizard-Xx]

am i playing an individual or somebody else's system. please people learn your own way and be your own person ...

 

[BC21]

Too funny.....he says, "No more options... There's only three options."

Let's see. The 3 options he shows are:

1... For cuts that are about 15 degrees, aim for a center ob hit then use a backhand pivot (which is applying outside spin) to throw the ball in.

2... For shots that are too thin for option 1, aim for the edge of the ob. This is a halfball shot and works for angles near 30 degrees, give or take a couple.

3... Aim cb edge to ob edge. This roughly creates about a 75 to 85 degree cut, depending on how accurately you can do it.

There's a lot of gaps between these options. Lol. But, honestly, they are great starter references to help with finding the correct aim line. With enough experience, people can make anything work.

 

[Dan White]

Nobody could be this big an idiot, especially not one who has so many years of playing pool. It a troll post.

 

[Thresh]

Too funny.....he says, "No more options... There's only three options."

Let's see. The 3 options he shows are:

1... For cuts that are about 15 degrees, aim for a center ob hit then use a backhand pivot (which is applying outside spin) to throw the ball in.

2... For shots that are too thin for option 1, aim for the edge of the ob. This is a halfball shot and works for angles near 30 degrees, give or take a couple.

3... Aim cb edge to ob edge. This roughly creates about a 75 to 85 degree cut, depending on how accurately you can do it.

There's a lot of gaps between these options. Lol. But, honestly, they are great starter references to help with finding the correct aim line. With enough experience, people can make anything work.

At one point I did watch the video and do the Poolology "call outs" for each shot.

10/20, 10/20, 7.5/15...

Then all his quarter ball hits.

Then entire video was the same cut angle over and over again from different spots on the table.

At least he didn't disguise his pivot....

 

[cookie man]

Has anyone watched the video and tried the shots on the pool table?

 

[BC21]

Has anyone watched the video and tried the shots on the pool table?

It's obvious the shots go exactly as shown and instructed. The laughable shots are all the shots that fall in-between these 3 options. They rely on experienced judgment to tweak the options as needed.

Of course, using the backhand english pivot method he uses on the slight cut is something that a player can tweak (using various bridge lengths) to make what whatever cut angle needed, and if outside spin is needed for position.

And on his halfball aim it will only send the ball into the pocket if it happens to be a 30° shot, give or take a couple of degrees.

 

[SpiderWebComm]

Nobody could be this big an idiot, especially not one who has so many years of playing pool. It a troll post.

I didn't say Little Mike had a perfect aiming system the way he explains and strokes it. But once again, ALL of you are just looking at what he's doing and saying and not getting on the damn table yourselves to check what the extent of the pivot and original aim points are really producing.

But I have proven to a lot of players that Hal's version of Shishkabob which uses different parts of the ferrule to help close down or expand the angles from an INSIDE initial alignment pivoting back to center or beyond can pocket all angles. But it can also be done the way Little Mike does it with ferrule/tip visuals and the aim points on the OB. All I know if Fred Agnir has posted on here that he doesn't use CTE but DOES use Shiskabob. Fred is certainly not some kind of dummy or hack player.
He's extremely bright and knows pool.

You're calling it a 1/4 or 1/2 ball HIT. It's not. It's a 1/4 or 1/2 ball AIM with a pivot expanding it. On more extreme cuts it's also different.

Just like with CTE, have at it. I could give a rat's ass what you think or what you post. You just don't know what there is to know but think you do along with everything else in this world.

 

[SpiderWebComm]

Has anyone watched the video and tried the shots on the pool table?

Please allow me to answer for them. NO!!

 

[SpiderWebComm]

It's obvious the shots go exactly as shown and instructed. The laughable shots are all the shots that fall in-between these 3 options. They rely on experienced judgment to tweak the options as needed.

Of course, using the backhand english pivot method he uses on the slight cut is something that a player can tweak (using various bridge lengths) to make what whatever cut angle needed, and if outside spin is needed for position.

And on his halfball aim it will only send the ball into the pocket if it happens to be a 30° shot, give or take a couple of degrees.

Wrong! Go string some donuts across your table for the OB and CB and see what happens. (as long as you're doing it correctly)

 

[BC21]

At one point I did watch the video and do the Poolology "call outs" for each shot.

10/20, 10/20, 7.5/15...

Then all his quarter ball hits.

Then entire video was the same cut angle over and over again from different spots on the table.

At least he didn't disguise his pivot....

It looked more like 3 cut angles. 15, 30, and about 70 degrees.

 

[BC21]

Wrong! Go string some donuts across your table for the OB and CB and see what happens. (as long as you're doing it correctly)

 

[Thresh]

It looked more like 3 cut angles. 15, 30, and about 70 degrees.

Might have been. The video is old, I'm going off of memory. I see no need to watch it again, as you stated, it was very obvious the same shots over and over

 

[BC21]

Might have been. The video is old, I'm going off of memory. I see no need to watch it again, as you stated, it was very obvious the same shots over and over

Watch the last one (VLOG #26). There are more than 3 options. He is doing fractional aiming, traditional fractional aiming, where you simply have to be able to recognize when to "split the difference" between ob center and edge (3/4 ball aim), or split the difference between 3/4 and edge (5/8 ball aim), or aiming directly at the edge (1/2 ball aim), etc....

Basically, he put new terminology to the old traditional 5-lines fractional aiming method, which involves trial and error until you're able to recognize which line to use.

 

[cookie man]

It's obvious the shots go exactly as shown and instructed. The laughable shots are all the shots that fall in-between these 3 options. They rely on experienced judgment to tweak the options as needed.

Of course, using the backhand english pivot method he uses on the slight cut is something that a player can tweak (using various bridge lengths) to make what whatever cut angle needed, and if outside spin is needed for position.

And on his halfball aim it will only send the ball into the pocket if it happens to be a 30° shot, give or take a couple of degrees.

So that’s a no I believe

 

[SpiderWebComm]

Watch the last one (VLOG #26). There are more than 3 options. He is doing fractional aiming, traditional fractional aiming, where you simply have to be able to recognize when to "split the difference" between ob center and edge (3/4 ball aim), or split the difference between 3/4 and edge (5/8 ball aim), or aiming directly at the edge (1/2 ball aim), etc....

Basically, he put new terminology to the old traditional 5-lines fractional aiming method, which involves trial and error until you're able to recognize which line to use.

Actually, he doesn't need to do anything with additional fractions. What can be done from the start is an offset of the tip from CCB lined up to an offset of COB and THEN make the pivot to the specific spots on the OB. It can also be done from an original inside offset of the tip on the CB to a specific spot on the OB followed by variable pivots. You probably don't know what I'm talking about but what else is new when it comes to something Hal created. All of your eyes and brains are mired in seeing fractions or contact points and that's all that registers.

 

[phreaticus]

Watch the last one (VLOG #26). There are more than 3 options. He is doing fractional aiming, traditional fractional aiming, where you simply have to be able to recognize when to "split the difference" between ob center and edge (3/4 ball aim), or split the difference between 3/4 and edge (5/8 ball aim), or aiming directly at the edge (1/2 ball aim), etc....

Basically, he put new terminology to the old traditional 5-lines fractional aiming method, which involves trial and error until you're able to recognize which line to use.

That’s exactly my take on it. Works fine, nothing wrong with it, and he also gives decent stroke tips to his student. All good.

I think some powerful breakthroughs can come to folks when you realize that 1/8b fractions can be visualized and implemented at the CB, as minor inside tip/ferrule fraction offsets applied against one of two very simple primary CB/OB visual alignments: CTC & CTE. CJ teaches it as TOI. One is simply always only looking at the center or edge of OB. Huge simplification & eliminates all the pivot and A, B, C, D stuff from the equation. From what I gather, the old Shishkabob took a somewhat similar approach. I personally find the use of a secondary visual reference line which I call the Inside Edge Reference Line, to be a very useful augment; its inside edge CB to inside edge OB on CTC alignment, and inside edge CB to center OB on CTE alignment. Sort of borrowed that concept from the CTE guys.

Any & all of it has to be worked out on the table! Pretty hilarious to me how contentious this stuff has been, and apparently so tor 20+ years and 400 page books written about it. Wow!

Happy Aiming

 

[BC21]

So that’s a no I believe

I always take it to the table. He's doing basic fractional aiming. For slight cuts he uses ob center as a starting perspective, then from there shifts to aiming at the 3/4. He calls it a pivot, but he's really just realigning the shot to aim (noser...lol) at halfway between ob center and ob edge. And he uses outside spin when he recognizes that a 3/4 aim will be a little too thick.

If anyone takes it to the table they'll see that a halfball aim only works for a 30° cut, and a 3/4 ball aim only works for a 15° cut.

The 3rd video link tells all. It's fractional aiming with new labels.

 

[One Pocket John]

Hal Houle developed over 20 aiming systems that had nothing to do with contact points or fractions. Obviously CTE was one of them and Shiskabob was another. Both are deadly ways to pocket balls, contrary to what has been claimed by a small group for 25 years on multiple pool forums but have found a home on this forum since 2003.

Little Mike has developed his own version of Shiskabob using the center of the OB, the 1/4/ - the 3/4 - and edges along with a MANUAL PIVOT to the outside for ALL shots. Yeah, I know it doesn't compute to the scientists and mathematicians, so they'll blast it to death because it can't be put into a 2D drawing and explained by arithmetic, algebra, geometry, or trigonometry. It can't possibly work, so they'll say.

I'm not going to go into the details of Shiskabob but there are only a few differences regarding tip placement at address and where to pivot the tip. It's so simple, yet deadly. Try it for yourself. Here are the videos. (soon to be dissected by math wizards with claims this can't possibly work) LOL!

VLOG# 26: Training in Session 2 - YouTube

Thanks Dave. Forgot all about those videos and I'm the one that posted them about 3 years ago. They are interesting and do simplify aiming for beginners. Easy to remember and easy to execute.
later.
John