Bart:
I play pool like you, and I posted this up to
the Billiards Digest bulletin board.
Thought you'd be interested. I called it "Learn
all 3 cuts!"
-------------
I was fairly shocked to learn what must be the
least understood fact about pool.
I have never read this in print. In between a
full ball hit and the thinnest glance of the edges,
there are only 3 cut angles needed to make any
cut. Once you know what they are and how to
sight them, you pick the right one, make a straight
stroke down that line, and the ball has to go down.
No guessing on the aim, an exact specified aimline,
that automatically makes the shot.
What are the three cut lines? A half ball hit,
and approximately* a 3/4 or 1/4 ball hit
(not considering the thin hit). Any cut is one
of these.
Hard to believe, but based on using it exclusively
tonight for 5-1/2 hours, I now believe this is true.
Pocketing was outstanding, convincing me this
is the real deal, unless my game jumped up a couple
of notches just when I happened to try this out.
*I say approximately because I'm not sure, but
I assume it is. I don't visualize it that way in aiming.
I take the 3/4, 1/2, or 1/4 part of the
cue ball (about 1:00, 2:00, and then half the remaining distance),
and aim that to the center or edge of the object
ball. Each one's about an additional tip over from center.
I'm guessing those aim lines generate those exact
fractional ball hits.
Working on it tonight, I'd get my line my normal
way, decide what fraction of the cue ball was on line
to either the edge or center of the object ball,
lock that in, and then take the shot. About 90% went,
including many shots I am not favored to make,
like a close slight cut that has to go a long way.
I've long heard of using ball fractions and cue
tip widths for aiming, but no one mentioned how
powerful it was. It just seemed complicated,
and hey, we all already know how to aim, right?
But this is the master course. Learn three shot
reference lines, make any cut on the table.
How much better would you play if you had absolute
confidence in your aim line pocketing the shot?
Think that might open your game up a little?
...phil
Phil, you wrote that?
I must disagree.
There are 45 degrees when you're cutting a ball.
Sorry, maybe that's 44 because you can't really hit that 45th degree
because there's not enough ball to grab the cue ball's energy
Think of the face of a clock.
The object ball is a dot in the exact center of the clock, where the
hands connect.
If the cue ball is at 6 oclock, you hit the ball 1/14th to send it
to 46 minutes,
hit it at 2/14ths to send it to 47 minutes, 3/14ths to send it to 48
minutes, etc.
Similarly, you hit it 13/14th to send it to 59 minutes, and full on
to make it hit high noon.
Hey, I may have been raised Catholic, but I knows my pool fractions!
If you think all balls cut just three ways,
I'll pay your airfare to Vegas to test your theory! :)
Sidebar:
Pool is all about geometry.
Bar tables make more money than 9 ft tables because
the pockets are the same size
but a 7 ft table, by definition, eats more balls
than a 9 ft table. There's more pocket area
per sq inch on a 7 ft than a 9 ft. That's
why they put 7 ft tables in bars, because the balls
fall faster, thus more games played per night
- more money for the bar owner. They also
put "faster" cloth on a 7 ft because nobody makes
more money when the ball runs out of gas
two inches from the pocket. Like today's
journalism, it's ll about making that extra dime.
Secret Pool Tip:
Want to really impress your friends next time you're playing pool in
a bar?
Give them some yakkety-yak about "only women bank" and then each time
you shoot,
look for that ball that WILL NOT be cut, because it's :beneath" you
to bank.
It's the 1/14th ball I mentioned earlier. The trick?
The "sweet spot" on that 1/4th shot is soooooo easy to hit.
Hell, who can tell a 6/14th's cut from a 7/1th's cut - they all look
the same to me.
But that seemingly-impossible, it'll-never-go radical cut is a gimme!
And Koresh as my witness, if you miss the ball entirely, if you grab
yourself that 0/14th spot
and whiff the shot, you just remind 'em what a tough shot it was!
They won't know you're lying unless then can whip you in a game of nine
ball,
but you'll know that loooong before you open your mouth.