Trick Shot Magic

TheSniper

TheSniper

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I was just watching the trick shot magic on tsn and was loving this shot. Can any of yous get this kind of action on the cueball, if so, I applaud you.
I couldn't figure out how to draw a curved line on this thing. Obviously the cueball travels those lines not in straight lines. I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to show here.

Check it out
 
Depends if you're trying this on new or old cloth. It makes a huge difference with shots like this, where the draw creates the curve off the rail (as opposed to a masse with sidespin)

TheSniper said:
I was just watching the trick shot magic on tsn and was loving this shot. Can any of yous get this kind of action on the cueball, if so, I applaud you.
I couldn't figure out how to draw a curved line on this thing. Obviously the cueball travels those lines not in straight lines. I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to show here.

Check it out
Click to expand...
 
I also was watching Mike Massey shoot this shot on TV yesterday, and while I can't make the shot, I think I may have picked up on something I never noticed before about it, and so here's a question to the trick shot people out there:

Does the CB get slightly airborne on its way from the OB to the rail? I notice the players shoot this shot off the rail, and as such are noticeably elevated, and clearly they're stroking very hard. I never figured out how to get enough action on the CB so that it still had all that back spin AFTER hitting the rail, but I think it may be that they rely on the CB not touching the cloth for some time as it goes into the rail, so it retains all that spin which takes hold after it bounces back out.

So is the elevation a key ingredient, or is it just that the pro trick shooters can put more draw on the ball than I can fathom?

-Andrew
 
The Circle Draw

Andrew Manning said:
So is the elevation a key ingredient, or is it just that the pro trick shooters can put more draw on the ball than I can fathom?

-Andrew
Click to expand...
I think the the elevation has something to do with it, so it would be interesting if he could perform the same shot not elevated by taking off the rail. I think mostly, it's his strength and his ability to hit the spot that he's aiming (i.e., his stroke) as well as the cloth allowing the cue to slide and grab. That being said, he shot this shot at a booth at the SBE. I didn't think the table's cloth was anything special. Used, if anything.

You'll notice how many other trick shot artists cannot perform this shot. The closest I come is as close as some of the other shooters come (the ones who can't make it on tv).

I've seen a couple of professionals shoot for and get this type of action in a match. Buddy Hall for one, on a televised tournament where the APA was in attendance. I don't think he would have shot the pattern if they weren't in attendance.

Fred <~~~ can't shoot it
 
The CB does get some air which helps it to not gain a lot of forward (down-table) momentum prior to contacting the first rail. That is what allows it to rebound off the rail and back up...ultimately arching back into the rail to make the dead one in the corner. Buddy Hall demonstrates this shot in one of his videos. He used about 7:00 english (versus the 5:30 you indicate).
 
It's just a massive draw shot. Actually, I just posted a video of me shooting it yesterday, so check out my site: http://www.trickshottim.com/videos11.html

I'm definitely not consistent at it and I haven't made it going around two blocker balls yet.

I'm not entirely sure about the airborne thing. If it does get airborne, it will be very little. The obvious times I get it airborne, the cue ball will jump off the object ball and then off the rail (maybe off the table if I'm really unlucky), and bounce too far out for the draw to take. The elevation is needed because you're so close to the rail and you need a lot of draw. Personally, I only focus on hitting the cue ball low enough to get the draw I need rather than thinking about elevation and jumping the cue ball.

On a side not, Jason Lynch was trying this shot with one blocker ball at the World Championships . . . behind his back. He brought it back up table a couple times, but I think the closest he got was 1 - 1 1/2 diamonds on the short rail. Still pretty impressive though.
 
1hit1der said:
The elevation is needed because you're so close to the rail and you need a lot of draw.
Click to expand...
I would rewrite this as: "You're so close to the rail because you need a lot of draw and the elevation is needed to give the CB some time to react".

The shot works because you are forced to jack up (that is the only reason the CB is placed close to the rail) which causes the CB to bounce on its way to the rail. This permits it to retain its spin w/o gaining much "forward" momentum. If you don't believe me, I'll give you 10,000 tries with the CB a diamond or more away from the rail...
 
mosconiac said:
I would rewrite this as: "You're so close to the rail because you need a lot of draw and the elevation is needed to give the CB some time to react".

The shot works because you are forced to jack up (that is the only reason the CB is placed close to the rail) which causes the CB to bounce on its way to the rail. This permits it to retain its spin w/o gaining much "forward" momentum. If you don't believe me, I'll give you 10,000 tries with the CB a diamond or more away from the rail...
Click to expand...

OK, I definitely get the cue ball airborne. I'm not sure about your forward momentum argument. Maybe I'm just unclear of the details. But getting it in the air does help it retain its spin which is what is needed to get the draw to take after bouncing off the rail. What direction are you defining as forward/up and backwards/down?
 
This is going to be very hard to put into any more clearer words, so I made up this quick cuetable pic to help.

What I am trying to say is if the object ball is away from the rail (which puts your cue ball away from the rail) this shot can't be done. You need the CB to bounce and quickly rebound off that first rail (which can only be done with the jacked up cue required by close position to that rail).

Without that bounce, the CB will have enough time on the felt to: take its final line into the rail, gain a lot of speed, and scrub off the spin required to make that drastic reversal of direction.

http://CueTable.com/P/?@4AECp4BURI4...mWEx4mXTH4maPD4mbMy4mYIp4mUhO1mUhN1mUiA1mbKM@
 
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Obviously pool table felt is too slow to shoot the shot from the center of the table. However, even as diagrammed, near the rail, you don't have to elevate nor get the bounce if you can inflict the requisite spin. On fast cloth, you don't need to get any jump, just hit it low and hard enough to be able to slide to the rail and out fast enough that it doesn't have time to bite. A lot of the pro artistic players shoot it with a little elevation, but that's for consistency purposes. If you can have it jump consistently to the rail and out, the speed of the cloth is less of a factor. However, Mike Massey, I, and many others just play the speed of the cloth by adjusting the power of the initial hit.
-yow!
 
TheSniper said:
I was just watching the trick shot magic on tsn and was loving this shot. Can any of yous get this kind of action on the cueball, if so, I applaud you.
I couldn't figure out how to draw a curved line on this thing. Obviously the cueball travels those lines not in straight lines. I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to show here.

Check it out
Click to expand...

Hi

There are more than 2 ways to draw curve lines, please check:

http://cuetable.com/howto.html#l3
http://cuetable.com/howto.html#l4

Cool shot by the way
 
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