Sidd, the tinker master, reached the final of club tournament- Daily Telegraph ;)

[vmax4steve]

Indeed Just tell me one thing here... I have read on this forum in a few threads that even BOB has to come subconsciously and not as a conscious effort... If it is done consciously it does not work right... But for me doing it on purpose and consciously is what I do in order to keep my focus on the pot and freeze my mind on BOB so I dont think of other things... Please do clarify this as well...

For those top players who do it naturally on a subconscious level, to think consciously about it will ruin their timing is the theory, and I would agree with that.
You are not a top player Sidd, at least not yet
Keep it up until it becomes natural and you no longer do it deliberately. When that happens you will still take your eye off BOB now and again, everyone does, but at least then you will know that that is indeed what you do when you miss as your problems with stance, sighting and elbow drop have been sorted with your new cue.

And yes having a back pause helps me put all my efforts on BOB and I start doing that and they both compliment each other. I tried it tonight and made a 35 break in my opening frame... it was not an easy break I tell you and I really had to do some effort in terms of placing to get that I am happy about that.... But do let me know!

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[Sidd]

.................

.................

All right. Thanks. Got it.

yes i have observed this thing pretty clearly yesterday that whenever I keep myself calm and nice and easy my flow is natural .. all I have to do is to have a nice little back pause as that gives me two benefits:

1. I dont rush the shot and put my cue to stop before starting the forward motion. This helps me cue straight.
2. It helps me in locking my eyes on BOB at the very last moment i.e. back pause and then till the CB hits the BOB.

I will try to keep this in mind and try to do BOB to the extent possible aided by a final back pause...

[itsnoteasy]

Well done on the tourney Sidd. I'm glad your cue seems to be working, hey even if it just a mental thing, a lot of sport is between the ears anyway.

[Sidd]

Well done on the tourney Sidd. I'm glad your cue seems to be working, hey even if it just a mental thing, a lot of sport is between the ears anyway.

Indeed. It took me a long way to finally get to relax my mind. Im enjoying my game after a long time. Thanks mate....

[j6uk]

All right. Thanks. Got it.
yes i have observed this thing pretty clearly yesterday that whenever I keep myself calm and nice and easy my flow is natural...

hold on! were've i heard that before? oh yeah from mrT. so your working with nic, terry, itsnot, cyber, and mrT now sid?

[itsnoteasy]

You have missed yourself and Vmax off that list J6, along with Terry that's where the most work has been done, so take the credit where it's deserved.

[j6uk]

You have missed yourself and Vmax off that list J6, that may have been deliberate along with Terry that's where the most work has been done, so take the credit where it's deserved.

yeah i think i know were your coming from with this.

[Sidd]

Indeed J6UK the list is huge... However, when I came here a few years ago my actual reason for coming here was to find out why I am not being consistent and why is it that I play good for a day or two and then my form is gone for the next week or two and then this repeats again. Before coming here on this forum I learnt the game through personal effort and playing the game without any coaching. I just had read a booklet called try snooker and while that was a good booklet with references to Joe Davis, I could not pick up the details but just from the surface.

When I came here I found out through Terry that I do not have a pre-shot routine and yes I did not have it so I learnt that and hten started seeing the potting angle before getting don, then locked my head on the angle and hten moved in to the shot. By the way I had scored my highest break of 67 and those two in the 50's before coming to this forum. Since I was that tiny bit of potential in my game so I came here to improve seriously and learn more. I used to play with a top pro in my club and he used to give me a handicap of 50-70 in a frame and then we played... I lost each and every single frame but I did learn a lot from him with regards to positioning while I used to put the balls back for him... I would ask him things but he would seldom reply, these top pros never help for free I guess unlike on this forum

Anyway, then I started to learn from different people here including Steve, Nrage, others mentioned above and of course from you too... ! Another mention here is of course Nic Barrow who really helped me in a few things... I also watched his videos and all that to learn from them.

I found out that I am dropping my elbow before the strike and am twisting my grip on delivery, all thanks to Terry and then Steve who really helped me in identifying this ... Terry used Kinovea and analysed my technique frame by frame ... So I found out my biggest problems- premature elbow drop, stance not down or flat against the table and twisting the grip.... So I started working on correcting these.... this whole process took me a long long time and durign that time my game went to pieces but I kept on and then finally somehow it came to my mind that perhaps my cue is smaller for me and Steve helped me in understanding properly that it was.... The day I have got a longer cue, I am cueing with more confidence, I can sight properly and the biggest thing is that my premature elbow drop seems ot have been controlled a bit if not fully removed... I feel better.

I think coming to this forum and spending time here improves your game provided that you understand something that Nic calls the Snooker Sandbox... not all tips are for you and you dont have to take in to account everything... just understadn what is hampering your straight cueing and then concentrate on getting those things removed from your technique one by one... !!!

Last but not the least, the grip hahahhaa well well now if only I can get it right just kidding.... there is nothing wrong with my grip but somehow this has become my OCD thing ... to have that perfect grip and then once I can have that I can make a century I know its not like that and my grip is ok but how to enalbe my mind to accept it is beyond me still trying to accept that I know how to grip hahahha yes it might tighten prematurely during pressure situations but hey whose doesnt

Love ya all on this forum .... !!!

[Sidd]

hold on! were've i heard that before? oh yeah from mrT. so your working with nic, terry, itsnot, cyber, and mrT now sid?

If Terry is Terry then who is Mr T yes I guess I am working with all these guys and lets not forget Steve and yourself and Pottr and Nrage and others too

[j6uk]

If Terry is Terry then who is Mr T yes I guess I am working with all these guys and lets not forget Steve and yourself and Pottr and Nrage and others too

don't know about vmax or potter, but sorry, i don't belong there

[j6uk]

Indeed J6UK the list is huge... However, when I came here a few years ago my actual reason for coming here was to find out why I am not being consistent and why is it that I play good for a day or two and then my form is gone for the next week or two and then this repeats again. Before coming here on this forum I learnt the game through personal effort and playing the game without any coaching. I just had read a booklet called try snooker and while that was a good booklet with references to Joe Davis, I could not pick up the details but just from the surface.

When I came here I found out through Terry that I do not have a pre-shot routine and yes I did not have it so I learnt that and hten started seeing the potting angle before getting don, then locked my head on the angle and hten moved in to the shot. By the way I had scored my highest break of 67 and those two in the 50's before coming to this forum. Since I was that tiny bit of potential in my game so I came here to improve seriously and learn more. I used to play with a top pro in my club and he used to give me a handicap of 50-70 in a frame and then we played... I lost each and every single frame but I did learn a lot from him with regards to positioning while I used to put the balls back for him... I would ask him things but he would seldom reply, these top pros never help for free I guess unlike on this forum

Anyway, then I started to learn from different people here including Steve, Nrage, others mentioned above and of course from you too... ! Another mention here is of course Nic Barrow who really helped me in a few things... I also watched his videos and all that to learn from them.

I found out that I am dropping my elbow before the strike and am twisting my grip on delivery, all thanks to Terry and then Steve who really helped me in identifying this ... Terry used Kinovea and analysed my technique frame by frame ... So I found out my biggest problems- premature elbow drop, stance not down or flat against the table and twisting the grip.... So I started working on correcting these.... this whole process took me a long long time and durign that time my game went to pieces but I kept on and then finally somehow it came to my mind that perhaps my cue is smaller for me and Steve helped me in understanding properly that it was.... The day I have got a longer cue, I am cueing with more confidence, I can sight properly and the biggest thing is that my premature elbow drop seems ot have been controlled a bit if not fully removed... I feel better.

I think coming to this forum and spending time here improves your game provided that you understand something that Nic calls the Snooker Sandbox... not all tips are for you and you dont have to take in to account everything... just understadn what is hampering your straight cueing and then concentrate on getting those things removed from your technique one by one... !!!

Last but not the least, the grip hahahhaa well well now if only I can get it right just kidding.... there is nothing wrong with my grip but somehow this has become my OCD thing ... to have that perfect grip and then once I can have that I can make a century I know its not like that and my grip is ok but how to enalbe my mind to accept it is beyond me still trying to accept that I know how to grip hahahha yes it might tighten prematurely during pressure situations but hey whose doesnt

Love ya all on this forum .... !!!

you've got all the words and pleasantries fella, all you need now is to stop all the bs and start playing and practicing properly

[itsnoteasy]

J6 I can understand how you get frustrated with us, but try and remember we can't do what you can and as much as we feel we try hard it doesn't come, or we get little glimpses of it but then it goes,so we come on here for a moan or a bit of help, I know it's the same questions over and over, and you will feel we aren't listening, and maybe we don't listen enough, but don't give up on us lol, you helped me a lot there when my cueing went and it is honestly appreciated, but be warned I will be back asking for help again(I hope not but I'm realistic) it's not because we deliberately haven't taken the advice on board , it's because we just can't do it, I'm sorry if you feel your help is not taken on board, but from my point of view I genuinely try and take on board the help offered and I'm in no doubt everyone else is the same.

[j6uk]

please don't worry yourself itsnot there are some really good people here, on my part, iv got a very healthy relationship with tsf. i know many here have a one season interaction and go along to get along, but for me i prefer a four season approach. you know like: give and take some good advise, banter, a bit of confrontation, and tongue and cheek.

[vmax4steve]

J6 I can understand how you get frustrated with us, but try and remember we can't do what you can and as much as we feel we try hard it doesn't come, or we get little glimpses of it but then it goes,so we come on here for a moan or a bit of help, I know it's the same questions over and over, and you will feel we aren't listening, and maybe we don't listen enough, but don't give up on us lol, you helped me a lot there when my cueing went and it is honestly appreciated, but be warned I will be back asking for help again(I hope not but I'm realistic) it's not because we deliberately haven't taken the advice on board , it's because we just can't do it, I'm sorry if you feel your help is not taken on board, but from my point of view I genuinely try and take on board the help offered and I'm in no doubt everyone else is the same.

I watched Ding yesterday afternoon suffering against Ronnie when he had been playing great all week. The fear of playing Ronnie after what Ronnie did against Hawkins made him anxious enough to take his eye off the object ball on the stroke at crucial moments. I was watching his eye movements just like I do when coaching someone so I know what I saw. It's a split second glance away to the pocket or the ball he wanted to cannon just before the strike on pots, and the same to the cue ball when playing long safeties.
He came out in the evening already resigned to defeat and so was relaxed and knocked in two consecutive tons, that gave him a gilmmer of hope and that's when he started taking his eye off the object ball again.

I know I hammer on about this all the time but it's the most fundamentally important thing in snooker, everything else comes after this is in place.
Remember that when you miss you have taken your eye of the object ball at some point during the stroke or pre shot preparation.
It might not feel like you have, but you most certainly have, and it leads to other faults like movement of the head and body on the shot.
Fix this one thing first and you will find that you have fixed your game.

[itsnoteasy]

I watched Ding yesterday afternoon suffering against Ronnie when he had been playing great all week. The fear of playing Ronnie after what Ronnie did against Hawkins made him anxious enough to take his eye off the object ball on the stroke at crucial moments. I was watching his eye movements just like I do when coaching someone so I know what I saw. It's a split second glance away to the pocket or the ball he wanted to cannon just before the strike on pots, and the same to the cue ball when playing long safeties.
He came out in the evening already resigned to defeat and so was relaxed and knocked in two consecutive tons, that gave him a gilmmer of hope and that's when he started taking his eye off the object ball again.

I know I hammer on about this all the time but it's the most fundamentally important thing in snooker, everything else comes after this is in place.
Remember that when you miss you have taken your eye of the object ball at some point during the stroke or pre shot preparation.
It might not feel like you have, but you most certainly have, and it leads to other faults like movement of the head and body on the shot.
Fix this one thing first and you will find that you have fixed your game.

Generally I would totally agree with you Vmax, does anyone know how you stop this, or is it just practice. The help I got from J6 about hitting from the elbow , which I finally understood, fixed my cueing this time, one really good thing that came out of it for me was I realised I cued like this, when playing well, anyway, but now that's fixed I'm back to having the old wandering eyes as my last thing to overcome, I have tried different times locking on, at different points in the cue action etc etc, but I know I still do it, for one I don't know where I have hit the object ball but I know where it has gone, and two when I don't have wandering eyes all I see is the potting point and couldn't tell you where the object ball hits in the pocket(unless on long shots which gives the eyes time to move.)