Long Straight Blue Challenge

[OmaMiesta]

I think I must be wired incorrectly as in match play I would rarely turn down a long straight(ish) pot lol and I'd honestly say I get more than I miss - it's all confidence with me.

Routines like this, for me at least, drill the shot into the muscle memory.

Also, as per Vmax's post, I tend to overlook angle shots now.

My former coach used to have me doing the 'clock' thing around the pink - full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 balls potting the pink into the top 2 and middle bags. Highlighted that I sighted half and 1/4 balls to the left middle consistently thick. A bread and butter shot but a missed shot in a match. VMax is spot on!

Yea its always a good idea to play the percentages with long pots. I really like the way Trump goes about with long straights, plays the pot and screws back for a good cue ball. He usually gets em too with considerable regularity. And yea thats a very good angle routine for the middle pockets.

[j6uk]

anyone who knows anything about this game loves a blue off its spot into the corner. good to watch man, makes me wanna get me cue out

[OmaMiesta]

anyone who knows anything about this game loves a blue off its spot into the corner. good to watch man, makes me wanna get me cue out

Cheers dude, do it up! Post a video, always a treat seeing the master in action

[3000up]

I disagree, getting the straight shot down is the basic fundemental necessary for all angles as with any pot you must cue perfectly straight to contact the desired point required to make the pot. In theory, aiming at any specific point on an object ball to make a pot is a straight shot. The whole idea of this excersize is to ensure that youre always cueing center cue ball with no unintentional spin that can potentially throw you offline. That being said I agree in practicality its always good to practice every angle in a similar repitition routine. Break down all the angles in variations of ( quarter, half, 3/4, and full )
Anyway at least thats what works for me I find.

Straight cueing is the ultimate and will allow you to pot that long blue into half a pocket off the bumper with another ball obscuring the other half. When you are this good, you know you have it.

My challenge: close you eyes before you deliver and pot the ball. Requires true confidence in your action. If you have dead straight cueing, you don't need eyes to pot that blue.

[j6uk]

or, step back as you do to find your line, and before you drop down close your eyes and only open them when youve completed the shot an hopfully potted the ball

[bolton-cueman]

Straight cueing is the ultimate and will allow you to pot that long blue into half a pocket off the bumper with another ball obscuring the other half. When you are this good, you know you have it.

My challenge: close you eyes before you deliver and pot the ball. Requires true confidence in your action. If you have dead straight cueing, you don't need eyes to pot that blue.

go on MB, put a video up of you doing this...

still waiting for the 24ft screwback back video you never did xx

[OmaMiesta]

Haha you guys are talking about some next level stuff! Ill give it a crack tonight but I sense some impending failure on its way ;p

[3000up]

Haha you guys are talking about some next level stuff! Ill give it a crack tonight but I sense some impending failure on its way ;p

The hand does the talking. By closing your eyes and missing, you will feel if you pull or push the cue on delivery or as you take it back. When you take it back perfectly straight and deliver like a laser, you will feel it. You will feel it because your eyes are closed. You will hear Chopin better with your eyes closed. Now your brain is concentrating on less things and understanding more. I love zis shot, people are blown away by it, it can win you drinks! No-one believes. I say, put a card in front of my closed eyes then. They say wow because they can't pot the blue anyway. Formidable! I feel you are a good player and you will do it. I bet you will. And you will be amazed. And then it is, wow, I really can cue perfectly and use only the force!

[vmax4steve]

I disagree, getting the straight shot down is the basic fundemental necessary for all angles as with any pot you must cue perfectly straight to contact the desired point required to make the pot. In theory, aiming at any specific point on an object ball to make a pot is a straight shot.

So you don't disagree at all really do you ?

As I said in my post once you know you have a straight cue action then the long straight practise shot isn't doing you any favours when it comes to match time. Train your eyes as well as your hand, practise keeping that focus on the object ball.

I still practise the long ball off the blue spot but with the cue ball on the yellow or green spot with varying degrees of spin to control the cue ball for black or pink position. A far better shot for match practise than trying to be like Judd Trump. In fact anywhere along the baulk line in between the dead straight positions; just a tad off straight is the hardest one of all as it's so very easy to look to the pocket.

If you're not being watched by a coach or a friend you need to rely on the outcome to deduce what went wrong; providing that you set the shot up correctly in the first place, hit the pot too thick and you can be almost certain that your eyes flicked to the pocket, too thin and you can be almost certain that your shoulder dropped too early or you decelerated and you cued across the cue ball.

Don't play practise routines where you can't work out that you're taking your eye off the object ball, a video won't show it and it can look like everything was played correctly yet still the pot missed by a foot and you're left in the dark as to why.

[Leo]

I once hit twelve in a row, screwing back into the green pocket on six of them and thought I'd cracked it. Played a frame afterwards and I was terrible.
Too many play this exercise and think they're playing well, but snooker is all about angles, recognising them and keeping your eye on the object ball when playing them. I no longer practise straight shots as you can take your eye off the object ball to the pocket and still cue straight, which is fatal on an angled pot as your hand will follow your eye.

I'm not saying don't, but once you know you have a good straight cue action always give yourself an angle on potting exercises, even a slight one; train your eyes as well as your hands.

Totally agree I've said it before, waste of time exercise. Potting long blues all day is completely different snooker altogether.

[bolton-cueman]

Totally agree I've said it before, waste of time exercise. Potting long blues all day is completely different snooker altogether.

omg 2nd time we'll disagree here Leo.... sure you're not really MB after all! Reveal yourself.

[Leo]

omg 2nd time we'll disagree here Leo.... sure you're not really MB after all! Reveal yourself.

Well it's only 2 mate if we get to 5 we will have to fall out

[ace man]

Nice shooting Oma. If that is your normal average, than this is truly amazing for a club player.

Watch this. John Higgins practises. At around 4 minute mark he starts with long blue routine. It is just sickening how straight he cues. And yet even he misses a few.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuL87TeAwas

I think I got around 40 pots or so out of 100 attempts once. With only 10 attempts, I could get better than average result due to sheer luck, or I might miss all of them
My record is 12 pots in a row. Also 14 misses in a row. Would not want this shot to be frame ball winner. Average could get down to 10% or less in a match with people watching.

[bolton-cueman]

Nice shooting Oma. If that is your normal average, than this is truly amazing for a club player.

Watch this. John Higgins practises. At around 4 minute mark he starts with long blue routine. It is just sickening how straight he cues. And yet even he misses a few.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuL87TeAwas

I think I got around 40 pots or so out of 100 attempts once. With only 10 attempts, I could get better than average result due to sheer luck, or I might miss all of them
My record is 12 pots in a row. Also 14 misses in a row. Would not want this shot to be frame ball winner. Average could get down to 10% or less in a match with people watching.

nice find AceMan.

One of the things I've noticed when I've watched videos of pros practice is that when they miss an easy ball, like higgins at about 1:10 in the video he doesnt moan / complain / pull his face.

I'm sure most amateurs, even good standard regular players would moan and groan. Perhaps we could learn something from that little facet of the game?

[Terry Davidson]

Although I do 3 or so long blues a day I think the really true test of straight delivery is where you make both blue and cueball in the top pocket. Steve Davis once said if you can do this 10 times in a row then your cue action would be better than his (meaning I guess he was having trouble with 10 in a row).

When I do the long blue screwing back to the baulkline or better I use the spotted cueball and I notice when I shoot hard I get a very slight rotation from some unintentional left side. Very upsetting as I get that on most of the ones where I use a lot of power.

I also practice a long red into a top pocket with cueball a couple of inches from the baulk cushion to end up on the black. This is a situation that comes up frequently in a frame and especially at the start of one and it's a very good shot to practice.