Potting Angles

[S Davis Fan]

High there

Watching a video on You Tube by a pool coach under the name Forcefollow, and he said that you can't line up against the ghost ball, as the object ball comes off the angle later than expected resulting in a thiner contact than expected. He gets around this by applying a little running side to the angle. Is this true in Snooker because I have found that often I have to hit it thicker than expected in order to pot it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLd5r...e=channel_page

Many Thanks Paul

[DandyA]

High there

Watching a video on You Tube by a pool coach under the name Forcefollow, and he said that you can't line up against the ghost ball, as the object ball comes off the angle later than expected resulting in a thiner contact than expected. He gets around this by applying a little running side to the angle. Is this true in Snooker because I have found that often I have to hit it thicker than expected in order to pot it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLd5r...e=channel_page

Many Thanks Paul

Forcefollow is a member of this fine forum so I'm sure he will reply himself when he sees your question ...

But in the meanwhile, here is my answer ... first of all, don't take things too literally or too scientifically ... just play the angle you think is right - if it misses too thin or too thick, hopefully you'll learn for next time ...

Secondly, I think you've got it the wrong way round ... pots tend to play thicker than theoretically correct due to the friction of the balls on the cloth ...

If you want to play at the exact ghost-ball angle, I think the advice is to use a little bit of outside english - ie, if making contact with the object ball to the left of it's centre, put a little bit of left hand side on the cue ball or vice versa - that will throw the object ball thinner to counteract the natural thicker line caused by friction ...

I personally wouldn't do that - the game is hard enough as it is without worrying about side spin!

Have you seen Dr Dave's videos ... surely the most scientific person ever to play the game? http://billiards.colostate.edu/index.html

[PompeyRedSox]

Practice, Practice, and more Practice, the perfect way to learn potting angles.

The more you play, the more the angles will just be engrained into your memory.

Exactly as the poster above said, play it how you think. If that's wrong, adjust next time, and after you have played the shot successfully 10-20 times in a row, you'll have lined up the angle before you've even had to think about it.

Potting angles and Practice are actually the two easiest things to combine, and to get right relatively quickly, IMO.

[DandyA]

Practice, Practice, and more Practice, the perfect way to learn potting angles.

The more you play, the more the angles will just be engrained into your memory.

Exactly as the poster above said, play it how you think. If that's wrong, adjust next time, and after you have played the shot successfully 10-20 times in a row, you'll have lined up the angle before you've even had to think about it.

Potting angles and Practice are actually the two easiest things to combine, and to get right relatively quickly, IMO.

yep completely agree with that Pompey especially your last paragraph ... I play snooker once a week and UK 8-ball three or four times a week ...

at UK 8-ball, I don't even think about the potting angle - all I'm thinking about is where I want the cue-ball to go - I take it for granted that I'm going to make the pot except on really really difficult pots ...

but at snooker, I'm still very much at the stage of trying to hit the object ball in the hole - I do try for position but I still very much worry about the potting angle ...

[JoeNut]

Im lost, what's ghost ball, and whats english, lol?

[lkomarci]

ghost ball is when you imagine how the cueball should be alligned with the object ball to make the pot, and english is basically the spin on the cueball, left-right spin etc etc.

[lkomarci]

Watching a video on You Tube by a pool coach under the name Forcefollow, and he said that you can't line up against the ghost ball, as the object ball comes off the angle later than expected resulting in a thiner contact than expected. He gets around this by applying a little running side to the angle.

When you say applying a bit of running side to the angle, are you talking about the myth that the cueball transmits the spin onto the object ball?

[DandyA]

When you say applying a bit of running side to the angle, are you talking about the myth that the cueball transmits the spin onto the object ball?

iko - I've just replied on your "transmitting side" thread but I think we should be thinking about "throw" on the object ball rather than transmitting side ...

although I think the original poster has it the wrong way round ... say you have to hit the object ball 1/2 ball on it's left hand side ... I believe the theory goes you should put a little bit of "outside english" (left hand side in this case) on the cue ball to make the ghost ball angle ...

the reason being all pots play slightly thicker than you think but the left hand side will throw the object ball slightly to the right in the case I mentioned ...

I personally would never ever use it as the side on the cue ball is far more likely to make me miss the pot at my level of skill ... well except in this circumstance ... say you have a dead straight black one foot from an open pocket, the cue ball is one foot from the black but there's a ball minutely blocking the dead straight line so playing plain ball, the best you could do is put the black on the jaw ... put a bit of outside english on the cue ball and you'd be amazed what happens if you get it right (not much english and not too hard) ...

[ace man]

That video demonstrates how a pool player should think about potting the ball. When I get to a snooker table after a month of playing 9ball pool, I have to discipline myself not to use sidespin so much. At pool, we use little running side to help cut shots go in very often. At snooker I think it is much better to use plain centre ball as much as possible.
Of course running side can be used on a snooker table, but I think it is too missable especially from a distance.
Besides, this effect of throwing the object ball using spin is much more pronounced on american pool table than on a snooker table. Bigger balls may have something to do with it. It is more makeable not only due to bigger pockets, but also because the cloth on an american pool table is usually a lot slicker, i.e. it has less resistance and no nap effect which allows you to shoot more softly without roll off than you ever could on a snooker table.
I'm watching a lot of pro level 9ball and snooker. Let's just put it this way. There is a very good reason why snooker players use very little spin compared to 9ball guys.

[vainparasite]

Ha ha i would be happy if i could just roll them in consistently instead of missing blindingly easy pots and nailing some more difficult ones.
As for position of the cue ball :snooker: its often laughable watching me.
It seems the more i practice the more silly it gets

[poolqjunkie]

I think(I could be wrong) that forcefollow was saying you need a bit of outside english (spin) to compensate for thin fine cuts.
I look at it like a gearing effect, with very small gears on the surface of the balls--when the balls are in contact and the cut is thin, the cue ball seem to drag the object ball a bit over to make it thinner than you think would be the ideal case.
With outside english applied to the cue ball, the spin will compensate for this gearing effect. The common understanding in pool is that the outside gets tranfer to inside english on the object ball, throwing it toward the pocket.

[Mike P]

One thing that always confuses me is the statement that without using side, Ghost ball aiming is not accurate. I have read this statement many times especially on pool forums. To eliminate using side to compensate for cling(or whatever you want to call it), do you not just aim the object ball towards the near jaw of the pocket?

Mike