The Spotted Cue Ball

[j6uk]

If your on a 1/2 ball shot and the spot or stripe is rolled onto 1/4 or 3/4 how, you gonna make the shot?!
I guess you just accept the misses

That's how I learned to pot balls using spots and stripes playing pool. It works a treat as 99% of the time you do have a definate reference point that is easy to focus on.
How on earth a spotted cue ball helps anyone though is beyond me.

[allanr5]

Last time I had dots on my white balls I went to the doctor apparently they weren't helping me align my cue shaft to shoot into the pocket any better, just thought I'd pass that on as a matter of public service

[vmax4steve]

If your on a 1/2 ball shot and the spot or stripe is rolled onto 1/4 or 3/4 how, you gonna make the shot?!
I guess you just accept the misses

No matter what the angle of the shot there is a reference point somewhere on this thirteen ball that will correlate with the contact point the cue ball needs to hit to make the pot.
No need to try to memorize a myriad of different angles, simply find the contact point on the object ball.

[Leapfrog11]

Is this a Snooker Forum or a comedy forum :P

Was only wondering if anyone has used this type of cue ball.

A right bunch of jokers ye are!!

[j6uk]

after cleaning the balls use talc

Last time I had dots on my white balls I went to the doctor apparently they weren't helping me align my cue shaft to shoot into the pocket any better, just thought I'd pass that on as a matter of public service

[jrc750]

You got to laugh mate
I have a spotty white, just to see the effects of side etc, and see it make pretty patterns using deep screw, but weighed it and i must of bought a light one as about 10 g less than my tourny balls so no use really

[j6uk]

Could try making pretty patterns by slapping it around on the ping pong table.

You got to laugh mate
I have a spotty white, just to see the effects of side etc, and see it make pretty patterns using deep screw, but weighed it and i must of bought a light one as about 10 g less than my tourny balls so no use really

[old school]

Check " Pool " section of the forum . Plenty of us use spotted white for English Pool ( that includes a lot of Pro players I know , from league matches ). Personally I find them distracting as do probably a lot of snooker players . I base this supposition on the fact that the pro snooker players have the white cleaned so often for chalk marks etc ( bad contact etc ) so a marked cue ball may be a distraction , possibly ? The better players in my league say you get used to it , I reserve judgement.

[allanr5]

Because no humour is allowed apparently the truth of the dot must finally be revealed since most dots on cue balls have a surplus of Higgs Bosons then when stuck with the correct velocity vector and angular momentum the cue releases a micro black hole the object ball then follows the event horizon of the micro hole allowing a more accurate and consistant pot and the release of a photon therefore preserving the uncertainty principal which through the mysterious ways of quantum physics improves your game from the dot ---- who new the dot plays such an important role, sometimes however the object gets potted before its hit relativity allows for that but its hard to get your head around without a thorough understanding of Einsteins theories and that why your game improved with the dotted cue ball if you don't believe me phone Stephen Hawkings

Is this a Snooker Forum or a comedy forum :P

Was only wondering if anyone has used this type of cue ball.

A right bunch of jokers ye are!!

[nrage]

I don't want to start you off but, you said you only had a bendy cue and a marked white?!

Did I say "only" .. I also have a house and a car and a .. do you want me to continue

Jeez man, you over think everything !!!!
Just get on the table more often and play the game, you will soon learn what to do, practice is all that is required, not a physics degree

I don't "over think" when I'm on the table but I do like to think generally and especially I'm off the table and doing a boring 9-5

I feel for the lad cus, he ain't got time to play!!
Its not something I would do but I guess its exploring the game through toys.

I think people ought to be open minded about this sort of thing and I like to explore and test things in a fairly scientific fashion. You often discover surprising and interesting things and I believe all knowledge ultimately benefits. Of course, if we're talking about actually improving only practice will do that.

That's how I learned to pot balls using spots and stripes playing pool. It works a treat as 99% of the time you do have a definate reference point that is easy to focus on.
How on earth a spotted cue ball helps anyone though is beyond me.

Surely it helps in the same way, just less often cos there are less reference points?

[vmax4steve]

Surely it helps in the same way, just less often cos there are less reference points?

But you shouldn't be focussing on the cue ball as the object ball is your target so it doesn't help in the same way at all. Like I said before if you need a marked cue ball to find out where top, bottom, left and right are then you are on a hiding to nothing from the start.

I know that getting through to some people is like trying to herd cats, but surely everyone knows top from bottom and left from right, don't they ??
I mean if I was trying to teach someone to play a screw shot and I told him to hit the bottom of the cue ball and he didn't know where that was, I wouldn't then rush out and purchase a spotted cue ball for him, I'd sort of point to the bottom of the cue ball and hope that he understood, if not I'd tell him to p*ss off and stop wasting my time.

The only reason these spotted cue balls are used is for televised pool so that the viewers can see any spin applied to it, and even then they have to look at slo mo replays.

[nrage]

But you shouldn't be focussing on the cue ball as the object ball is your target so it doesn't help in the same way at all. Like I said before if you need a marked cue ball to find out where top, bottom, left and right are then you are on a hiding to nothing from the start.

You're right, I was imagining a spotted object ball, whoops!

I know that getting through to some people is like trying to herd cats, but surely everyone knows top from bottom and left from right, don't they ??

Yes, no-one is suggesting otherwise

I mean if I was trying to teach someone to play a screw shot and I told him to hit the bottom of the cue ball and he didn't know where that was, I wouldn't then rush out and purchase a spotted cue ball for him, I'd sort of point to the bottom of the cue ball and hope that he understood, if not I'd tell him to p*ss off and stop wasting my time.

Well.. If you chalk up before a shot then it often leaves some behind on the ball.. soo, if you place a marked/spotted ball so that there is a target spot on the bottom of the ball, and you aim to strike that spot then when chalk is left behind you can check how well you did.

I used my marked ball for this, I found chalk got left behind often enough to make this useful as feedback. It told me immediately that I was not striking as low as I thought I was - invaluable information if you're trying to get better at the screw shot. It also told me that the height I was striking was not consistent - information gold for a beginner learning, I could practice and evaluate my results.

The only reason these spotted cue balls are used is for televised pool so that the viewers can see any spin applied to it, and even then they have to look at slo mo replays.

Yeah, the ball I used had more specific markings and you can play it in such a way that it appears to have a solid stripe when you place it a certain way and then strike it cleanly, and it has a messy line or no visible line at all when you add unwanted side. This was useful in the beginning to check my cueing.