Towards Perfect Cue Ball Control - The D Test

[tetricky]

Can't imagine myself bothering. Loads more important for me to be doing, to get myself up to competent.

Of course if you enjoy being goaded into ever more pointless exercises, knock yourself out.

[alabadi]

Totally agree with you. I always say to my kids a saying in my culture ( ask someone who's been there and done it rather than a wise guy )

Which translates (Experience without learning is better than learning without experience)

[tomwalker147]

I'd like to see people clear the 6 colours first, there are a hell of a lot of people giving advice who would probably struggle to do that! I'm not talking only about people on the forum, the amount of people you meet in snooker clubs who 'know it all' and have 'had centuries', who when put in a match situation with the colours on their spots mess up is astounding.

People are missing the point though, I understand the exercise and why not have a go? You'd be much better doing this the other end of the table with 2 reds and the pink between them though.

[barrywhite]

I'd like to see people clear the 6 colours first, there are a hell of a lot of people giving advice who would probably struggle to do that! I'm not talking only about people on the forum, the amount of people you meet in snooker clubs who 'know it all' and have 'had centuries', who when put in a match situation with the colours on their spots mess up is astounding.

People are missing the point though, I understand the exercise and why not have a go? You'd be much better doing this the other end of the table with 2 reds and the pink between them though.

Yes mate, but we'd have to draw a semi circle (or other shape) on the table with chalk which wouldn't go down too well. lol The pink is also easier to pot than the brown and the red next to a pink would be easier as well. The D is there so it's useful for some exercises.

[barrywhite]

I'm not saying there's no place for a bit of fun in practice and to be fair to BW he did say just try this once a sesh, but I know what folk are like and they will be at this for half an hour ,when all said and done it is trivial ( maybe that's a bit harsh)
I just feel we should maybe listen a bit more, when a top ,top player takes time out to offer us a wee insight into how they go about the game, otherwise they won't bother, I know I wouldn't if I was at the top end of the game, worked my nuts off to get there, been through all the ups and downs learned through the hard knocks, offer a bit of advice and a casual player says, nah your wrong there lol, it would be my last input.

If he wants to do it and share it and show folk how a pro does it, that would be great and if he wants to share some of his practice routines; brilliant!

I know a former pro who got to the semi of a ranking event and has hit hundreds of maxis and thousands of tons, + two other friends who have hit multiple maxis, one had a year as a pro. They like this test, as does a WS coach, so if one pro player doesn't like it, no bother. There are loads of T and Cross break-buidling set-ups on this forum for people to view and use; there's no point me repeating the same old post and wasting people's time. Keep it fresh. As for Frazz's suggestion of the black and five reds, ok, but they will never line up like that in a game. Most of the pottable reds will be outside of the pack and as such, at acute angles. The other problem with B+5R is that players on here who don't like middle bags will do anything they can to pot the reds in the black pockets which ruins the point of the exercise. If you can't pot acute angle reds, you're stuffed. Now if we had a routine of potting multiple acute angle reds with colours as well, that would be ideal and useful for frame conditions (I'll do one next time I'm at the club and then set it up here)

If you can't do this test, you're going to struggle to screw the yellow into the middle and come back off the baulk into the middle of the table to continue the break on a loose red, having potted a shot to nothing and landed in baulk. The tests I'll do in collaboration with talented mates will be about improving middle pocket potting, position and confidence. Folk on here who have been playing quite a few years and still haven't made a 50 generally find middle pockets a mystery. Let's get them to love middle pockets and get that 50 or if they have a 50 but generally hit 30s, let's get them hitting 50s regularly. Always work on your weak points first, it's the only way to expand your game.

[frazz]

So people hate middle bags n u want them playing the brown going round 2 or 3 cushions for the blue or screw brown into the middle and up for the blue? Lol. If your doing this exercise as a bit of fun then fine knock yourself out but it ain't gonna do much for u break building wise, blacks and pinks are where breaks are made, not baulk colours into the middles. The 5 reds and black in the Vale shape are the usual reds and angles you will need to use if your gonna get good round about the black, running white off back cushion back out for the black, stunning down for the black, getting used to always leaving an angle on the black to make it easy to get position for next red.

[golferson123]

So people hate middle bags n u want them playing the brown going round 2 or 3 cushions for the blue or screw brown into the middle and up for the blue? Lol. If your doing this exercise as a bit of fun then fine knock yourself out but it ain't gonna do much for u break building wise, blacks and pinks are where breaks are made, not baulk colours into the middles. The 5 reds and black in the Vale shape are the usual reds and angles you will need to use if your gonna get good round about the black, running white off back cushion back out for the black, stunning down for the black, getting used to always leaving an angle on the black to make it easy to get position for next red.

Frazz you are 100% right---but i have to defend bw here,just like i defended mb lol this forum needs silly challenges ,silly post ect how many posts do you want to see about the same old rubbish, at least its new rubbish

[Catch 22]

So people hate middle bags n u want them playing the brown going round 2 or 3 cushions for the blue or screw brown into the middle and up for the blue? Lol. If your doing this exercise as a bit of fun then fine knock yourself out but it ain't gonna do much for u break building wise, blacks and pinks are where breaks are made, not baulk colours into the middles. The 5 reds and black in the Vale shape are the usual reds and angles you will need to use if your gonna get good round about the black, running white off back cushion back out for the black, stunning down for the black, getting used to always leaving an angle on the black to make it easy to get position for next red.

Hi Frazz . Can you explain vale shape please

[barrywhite]

Frazz you are 100% right---but i have to defend bw here,just like i defended mb lol this forum needs silly challenges ,silly post ect how many posts do you want to see about the same old rubbish, at least its new rubbish

Every exercise you do on a table is of use. All sorts of shots come up on a snooker table, not just balls lined up perfectly! And I think Frazz needs to think about the club player here who isn't completely obsessed with winning or having 147s or trying to break into snooker; they play the game primarily to enjoy themselves and if a test puts a smile on a face, you've achieved something. Even Ronnie likes to smile and he's the best ever. It's not all about polka faced serious robots. Have fun! And as I've said, if you've got the touch of Ding Junhui, this test is a piece of cake anyway. If you haven't, ask yourself why?

[tetricky]

Here's my issue....although of course people are entitled to do what they want. It's a level of control and precision in an artificial environment, to achieve a goal you will never need. look at Mark williams....his cue ball control and position is often terrible. He just concentrates potting the balls from where they lie.

I have no need to tie myself in additional knots, I'm rubbish enough as it is. I am going to spend my time concentrating on basics, and potting the balls from where they lie.

Maybe those of you who are good, and get to play regularly, can afford to muck about with it. For me, the anxiety and pointless failure of adding this to my two hours practice a month makes it not worthwhile. As someone suggested, I'd rather get back to being able to consistent pot the colours off the spots way before I get around to this sort of thing.

I understand the challenge/game aspect of it.....that's what it is. It's not a useful practice routine.

[frazz]

Hi Frazz . Can you explain vale shape please

V shape mate, auto-correct on phone does my head in lol.

[frazz]

Every exercise you do on a table is of use. All sorts of shots come up on a snooker table, not just balls lined up perfectly! And I think Frazz needs to think about the club player here who isn't completely obsessed with winning or having 147s or trying to break into snooker; they play the game primarily to enjoy themselves and if a test puts a smile on a face, you've achieved something. Even Ronnie likes to smile and he's the best ever. It's not all about polka faced serious robots. Have fun! And as I've said, if you've got the touch of Ding Junhui, this test is a piece of cake anyway. If you haven't, ask yourself why?

The things I am saying to do are far more likely to come up in a match situation, maybe not the exact position of the balls but the pot on the red to get on the black will come up all the time, same with the black to come high on a red to get back for the black. I would think that would happen more often than screwing the brown or yellow into the middle to come back down for a red? Maybe that's why am not in top 64 tho because I don't play they shots in tournament play

[barrywhite]

The D test has no point except can you do it? Actually, it does have a point, if you can do it you've got the skills to pot any pink or red in the middle and gain fine position when you don't have 2 square feet to play with or more than one on ball to play for, many occasions we have to play for a single ball not out of choice.

The difference in any match can come down to just one shot. Not because those few points make a diff but because it gives the player huge confidence to pull that pot out and carries them fwd in momentum. And if you get stuck, you know you've always got that shot in your locker. You ain't gonna play it in any match, am or pro unless you're 9/10 on it. And if you don't practice them, you won't and shouldn't play them. I love playing fine cuts to the middle pocket fall. I can do this down to a 5 degree angle. This can keep a break going or start a new one. The look on your opponents face when you do it, one up in the table war. Now they're wandering what else you can do. Next time they go for something, they're thinking what's he capable of if I miss and leave him in? They've got doubt in the mind. Snooker is as much psychological as physical. People are scared stiff of the aura of Ronnie, even though many players could and should beat him. They're scared of what he can do. Folk like Selby know they can beat him by taking him on but they have to play amazing snooker to do so. For me, a ton break consists of 4 recovery pots, sometimes, they can be difficult shots, sometimes not, but tons or even frame clinching single visits rarely go perfectly to plan. So long reds to the far corners or cuts to the middles are necessary.

Now why would I encourage folk to pot to the middle, browns, yellows, greens. Firstly because you can make a break out of them after the shot to nothing. Secondly, because it gives you another weapon, thirdly because it increases your confidence. Fourthly, if you can screw them into the middle like Judd/Jimmy etc, you suddenly realise that stunning them or soft screwing them into the middle isn't difficult and in form, it's easy. So overkill your skills and the shots you thought were hard aren't hard anymore and your confidence on those little stuns to the middle is high because you're not afraid anymore because you've smashed and screwed them in like a top pro and your cueing is dead straight to have done so. You will have the right to believe that you can play certain shots as well as anyone on the planet, so there is no reason why you can't play as well on your day as anyone you come across. You have more belief in yourself. When an opponent fears what you're capable of, you've won half of the mental battle. And word gets around quick when you pot those wee gems. You get more respect.

In a way, these are arrogant shots but arrogance is good, it feeds confidence. It's that attitude of watch what I can do, this is my stage, look at this. Match snooker at any level is like that, look at me and see how special I am, see what I've been practicing and what I can do. People smile and clap and the player gets a lift and feels more appreciated and comfortable and at home. But then I'm a fan of ROS, Alex and Jimmy so that's bleedin obvious Barry you daftie.

And lastly because it's a buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

*But yeah, I agree with Frazz, I'd say this sort of practice on rare shots should only take up 5% of a player's time if that. It's gonna be just as productive if not more so to spend at least as much time with the rests. But there are so many opportunities in frames of snooker that you can't just ignore shots that could be made because you didn't practice them; practice them!

Here's an example from last night. The Hawk is looking at a really tricky acute pot to the yellow pocket and the pink is over to the left of the table, the white about a foot away.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/35288198

He'll probably take those on because he knows he can pot them on tight tables at SWSA. He gains automatic position on the black into the middle. I doubt he'd take it on if it's not a 9/10 shot in his locker. We know players will use the classic Davis set up and pot long balls from across the middle of the table into the far corners from baulk at varying angles, some acute and some players will practice 3/4 length table long balls and close up balls into the far pockets, that's how folk like Trump become so good and confident at them. So when the Hawk takes the pink, it's not brand new to him, he's played loads of them before. Not spent his whole time doing that but enough time to make it work when he needs to. Some folk say to me, why practice the Trump deep screw into baulk, you'll rarely use it. Ask Judd about his Ferrari and how he got it.

Snooker is primarily about two weapons, ability and the mind; they feed each other in a virtuous circle. If you've got better weapons, you've got more chance of winning the table war. Look at the potting of Bingo at the Worlds; that's the product of long days covering every shot. Us ams can't do that, we've got jobs but that doesn't mean we should simply play percentages all the time when our livelyhoods don't depend on it. We should be able to go for outrageous shots and enjoy the buzz because it's back to work tomorrow. Others will disagree with me and maybe they're more successful but I don't want to go home thinking I played a lovely league game of percentages tonight.

I'll be spending some time on the Vale tomorrow, so thanks for that Frazz, I'd forgotten it - duh! I will also set up a middle pocket routine I like and do a photo so folk can see it, yes, it's more relevant to open play than the D test. It will be a good test for members to do. It's probably on here in another post by someone but I'll post it anyway, just in case.

[frazz]

You argue that the brown to the middle will help in potting the pink to the middle? No it won't, it's a different angle, practise pinks to middles to get good at pinks to middles, u need to train your mind on that potting angle so as it don't matter if your straight on it or a 5 degree cut as u described, u know the point of the pink u need to hit to make it go in. As for having to cue straight to pot these balls? Are u having a laugh? Watch trumps action from the face on angle the camera shows on tv, he ain't cueing at the potting angle then on his delivery he cuts across the white to send it on the right line, it's perfect timing with his adjustment, not perfect cueing

[guernseygooner]

Hawkins took that pink on because there wasn't much chance of leaving it if it waggled, not because he had practiced that particular shot.

It was a 2 in 10 shot at best. Get a grip MB, it's matchplay