How do you know if your cueing properly?

[aucott80]

Hi,

I play alot of 8ball and have recently took up snooker, how do i know if im cueing correctly? what are the tell tale signs?

[CeeJay147]

Cueing Straight?!

Balls will be flying in pockets!

[ruby]

Its just a feeling you have when it all comes together. Its really hard to explain but when you get that feeling you will know. Its like you feel one with the cue and your technique just feels so sound and straight that you see the pots and see the positional play.

[nrage]

If you find yourself missing a lot of pots which you were sure you had lined up correctly then you may have a cueing fault. Unintentional side causes squirt and swerve which will result in missed pots over various ranges. The truest test of straight/correct cueing is to play a straight long blue from the baulk line and have the white follow the blue into the pocket. If you can do that, you can cue straight. If you can do it 7/10 times you're doing very well. An easier place to start is blue into the side, follow with the white. If you're having trouble with this, go back to the long blue and place a video camera over the pocket you're shooting at. Record yourself, then download avidemux (free) to rotate/crop/zoom the video and kinovea (free) to play it back and analyse it. The most common fault is the grip hand moving away from the body during the stroke, causing unintentional side spin.