the rear pause

[throtts]

is getting my cue more through the cue ball. I never really had a back/rear pause as such but yesterday evening after having 6 days off practice I thought I would purposely bring it in to my cue action. It really was getting my cue even more through the ball thus giving me even more cue power.

I think because of the rear pause sort of composes you for the shot ( in a very quick way of course ) you tend to naturally cue through the cue ball. Screwing off the black from its spot for instance was even more effortless.

I note that a few on here have said they really do not have a rear pause, but after yesterdays session I think I know now why the large majority of pros have one.

Having said all the above I think for us with our own tables we can make a change and practice it more frequent than say having to wait for the next club visit. When I did not have my table I now know I was just playing the same old bad habits week in week out because you just go down there and get in as much play as you can because of the clock. So for those who use clubs, if you make a change and its for the better remember to take that change with you on your next visit.

[john woods]

If you dont have a good back pause, it can lead to a very fast, erratic and uncontrolled delivery of the cue with lots of shoulder and head movement. The other main reason for the pause is to give yourself time to focus your eyes onto the object ball before delivering the cue. Nearly all top players have this and many incorporate a front pause also.
John Woods (world snooker coach)

[Terry Davidson]

throtts:

First of all, EVERYONE has a rear pause since the cue has to change direction. However, if like mine it's almost non-existant then it does lead to the problems John describes. If a player has a very short rear pause it can be overcome if that player has a very slow backswing and then starts the acceleration of the delivery slowly, not accelerating the cue abruptly which is the real factor leading to head/shoulder movement, getting the shoulder into the delivery too early and also gripping the cue too tight and too soon.

I agree with your statement that the rear pause does help a player drive through the cueball more consistently and helps to accelerate the grip hand all the way to the chest, which is what we all should strive for.

I've never played with a rear pause and it's the last item in my laundry list of things from Nic Barrow that I have to work on however I'm having real difficulty trying to incorporate it as it throws of the rhythm and timing I've developed over the years and which have become natural to me. My question for myself is, at my age do I have the time left to try and get a defined rear pause into my cue action. With my own table here perhaps I can but I have to get all my other problems sorted first.

Terry

[throtts]

Update= I have stuck it out with the longer rear pause and by heck what a difference. When you make a change you have to give that change a good period of play which I have. Everything seems so much better now, it encourages follow through on shots and even keeping yourself still on the shot. The pause seems to just compose all aspects of my game. Scrapped ouf a 35 break tonight on a really bad ball laying table, before I started I thought lets set them up for practise but decided to see what I could muster up, break stopped on last red because I rested up on the damn pink thus snookering myself..

It's definitely worth a look at if anyone is toying with an extra bit more on the rear pause.

[karakiksi]

I think you have to be carefull with the back pause, because it could ruin your cue action. You must remember that you need to have the continuous cue action even if you kind of stop the cue at back. The cue action starts at the backswing not when you have paused at back. If you have a slow backswing and then a pause, you might lose all the rythm. This is what happened to me and ruined my game for years. I think the best is to slow down the cue before the pause and then start the delivery slowly, so you kind of create an illusion of a pause. It looks like you are pausing, but actually you are just slowing donwn and startin slowly.

[Terry Davidson]

kara:

I endorse having a rear pause (even though I don't have one myself. The reason is of the top 32 players in the world today I believe there are only 2 of them (Mark Allen and maybe Peter Ebdon) who don't have a rear pause. There may be a couple of others I can't recall right now, but certainly all the absolute best players (Ronnie, Murphy, Selby, Davis, Hendry, Maguire, Higgins, etc, etc) ALL have a rear pause.

I figure it must be doing something for them and I wish I had one. It's true that a slow back and slow start to the delivery eliminates the shoulder and head movement but a nice and short rear pause will in most cases cancel it out altogether.

Terry

[SouthPaw]

I've been trying to incorporate a rear pause into my cue action, and i have to admit i feel it's affecting my timing, how many seconds is the norm for the rear pause? from memory i'm trying to hold it just for a second, should i try to slow it down even more..?

[denja]

One little pointer about the rear pause ! I started including the rear pause into my game however I found that I was pulling the cue back to the rear pause position then unconsciously pulling it back a little further and driving forward (like very small feather motion) instead of keeping the rear pause stable in one position and then driving through the ball this little jerky motion played havoc with my game until I twigged what I was doing hope this mistake may help someone.

[tedisbill]

the rear pause

The rear pause can destroy your game.

You're much better off just having a nice controlled smooth slow backswing.

[mythman69]

I was reading 'How to Play Billiards' by Tom Newman (1923) and found this interesting quote:

"We now come to those preliminary movements of the cue so often seen before the ball is struck, that slithering of the cue backwards and forwards over the bridge which is certainly part of the game of many fine cuemen. BUT is it really necessary. John Roberts bequeathed to us a style which will serve as a model for all time, and he would have none of this preliminary swinging of the cue. He sighted the balls, shaped for his stroke, and made it with a first-sight swing of his cue which wasted neither time nor effort."

Each to their own maybe - whatever works for you!

[throtts]

The rear pause can destroy your game.

You're much better off just having a nice controlled smooth slow backswing.

Hi ted,

I started this thread and like to confirm that I still have my rear pause, which, is working very nicely for me. I find it kind of "super composes" myself before the delivery towards the cue ball, it also encourages the pushing through of the cue through the cue ball. If your grip is tight on the rear pause, then it will play havoc.

Having said the above, I do benefit from having my own table so I have drilled myself in to working right with the rear pause and of course the front pause.

Good luck guys.

[tedisbill]

throtts:

I think the problem for most players, would be that having a rear pause would take away all the natural feel on the shot (I think Terry has said he has this problem).

I could probably have a rear pause and pot single balls, what I would seriously struggle with is the little touch shots around the black spot that require excellent timing.

But, if you are finding it's working for you and it's improving your consistency, then great, carry on! It would be stupid to go back to something that doesn't work as well for you.

Also, how long is the pause? As Terry has said, everyone will have some kind of rear pause, but for most people, it's only a fraction of a second.

[Inoffthered]

A rear pause crept into my game naturally, one day i was imagining that i was Ding Junhui and i started to play like him. It was at the end of a six hour session and i think i was starting to loose it a little mentally!!! He has a rear pause of about a second

If you watch Ding he has an ever so slight, double pause. The first of these is a fraction of a second and just before his final backswing.

Technically a superb player and awesome cueist IMHO.

[tedisbill]

If you watch Ding he has an ever so slight, double pause. The first of these is a fraction of a second and just before his final backswing.

Technically a superb player and awesome cueist IMHO.

He literally one of the best technically. It's like nothing could ever go wrong.

[Terry Davidson]

There is a lot to be said for not feathering at all. We have a player here who just lines up on the shot, backswing and delivers and he pots the most amazing balls and besides a frame with him is very quick and never boring, although he does suffer on the positional side of things as he is a very fast player also.

As has been said, I have a very quick rear pause which is barely discernible and I've tried very hard to develop one as I feel it would improve my game. What happens is I can pot balls just fine but totally lose control of the cueball for positional purposes. Steve Davis told me it would take me at least 6 months to develop a rear pause and get comfortable with it but at age 67yrs, 6 months is probably a very big chunk of the time I have left to play half decent before old age and poor health overtake me. I already have a difficult time keeping up with the younger players in our tournaments as by the time my third best of seven rolls around at 8pm I've been constantly on my feet since 11am and there's just no gas left in the tank. (In addition I have to drive 2hrs to these tournaments so I have to get up around 6am so it makes for a very long day).

Terry