Potting With Side

[throtts]

92 blacks is good.

[tomwalker147]

92 blacks is good.

after a while throtts the counting became harder than the potting

[alabadi]

Check side on 9 ball table, aim for the near jaw and you'll pot it centre pocket, aim centre pocket and you'll still pot it off the far jaw. It ain't so on a snooker table as that far jaw will be the cushion because it's a smaller pocket, so aim to miss is the old adage and it works.
No need for any video evidence, you'll see the results with your own eyes, adjust your aiming to suit and try again until it starts working.

I have been struggling for some time hitting high blacks thick, i think i have mentioned this on numerous threads before. a few weeks ago after a coaching session again, we decided to try and aim to miss on the the thin side not much just the far jaw. although the shot looked and felt so wrong i just committed and found out i was potting a lot better.

i have now been practicing this for the last few weeks and i have to say it does work (for me), i still have to force my self to trust that this is the right line and it is going well so far

[focus]

I practised blacks off the spot last night by playing the black then trying to get back on it for another black. Repeating the process until I missed. I potted 92 consecutive blacks before missing and can honestly say I maintained position on the black by using centre ball striking only (up and down the cue ball) 99% of the time. I can only remember using side once and that was when I finished low on the black and needed to go in and out of baulk.

My point is you can maintain position without using side, of course there are certain shots that require side which have already been mentioned in this thread but it's certainly not something a lesser player should be thinking about until they've mastered centre ball striking. Just my opinion.

You've brought up an interesting point and that's playing conditions. I'd hazard a guess that you're playing on a decent table (Star) with a decent cloth (no.10?) in line with your excellent standard of play. If I brush, mist, double block and double iron my 6811T I can make it as fast as no.10 but if I'm lazy, stun and run through need a big effort to achieve the same position as using side. Some folk are on club cloths and they'll have to use side. I'd say that 50% of the cloths I've come across are crap and of the 50% good ones, half are well looked after, the others left to 'someone else', so only 1/4 are playable to a point where up and down the CB is ok. Add in crap balls and we have further problems without using side. The social clubs tend to have good cloths, the commercials may have a nice cloth on the match table but the rest will be junk. I'm guessing that folk like VMax grew up on tables with fluffy cloths and had to learn side, no choice. It will still be the same for lots of players tucked away in a backwater.

Even on fast cloths with northern rubber underneath and steel blocks (that's about 1% of the tables) we need side sometimes, swinging the CB from black to yellow, etc.

But yeah, I agree with you, become a master of up and down first, this is the bread and butter of snooker.

[focus]

I have been struggling for some time hitting high blacks thick, i think i have mentioned this on numerous threads before. a few weeks ago after a coaching session again, we decided to try and aim to miss on the the thin side not much just the far jaw. although the shot looked and felt so wrong i just committed and found out i was potting a lot better.

i have now been practicing this for the last few weeks and i have to say it does work (for me), i still have to force my self to trust that this is the right line and it is going well so far

I will guess you're R eye dominant, R handed? If so, it is the curse on high blacks. Do you pot some brilliant low black cuts from near the black pockets?

[tetricky]

So if you're already at a decent standard all this low deflection innovation is pointless as you would have to effectively retrain your brain and lose what has become ingrained over the years. So would you say MW is aiming more at the sub 50 breaker, and is it really going to improve their game not learning the ability to adjust for throw?

I don't understand why low deflection is particularly desirable if you know how your cue behaves.

To help make an angle around a ball, if you can't quite make the potting angle, or to widen the angle to open the pocket, it's a tool in your box. If you don't want the ball to bend, hit it centre ball. I am very much trying to minimise my use of side....but when I do use it, I don't want to lose one of the best things about it - the ability to bend the ball around stuff.

[alabadi]

I will guess you're R eye dominant, R handed? If so, it is the curse on high blacks. Do you pot some brilliant low black cuts from near the black pockets?

No i'm left eye dominant R hand player, its probably some sort of technique fault that i just can't sort and playing his way negates the error. and to answer your question yes i am a lot better with low black, i can even pot blacks when the cueball on on the top cushion or in the black pocket.

[j6uk]

Side or run away to baulk ? that is the question, whether 'tis nobler in the mind to stagnate against a sea of positional possibilities or take up your cue against an ocean of small time Eddie Charltons, and by opposing them become english men.

note the US pool term there biggie

ooh love that. can i borrow it

[markz]

I have been struggling for some time hitting high blacks thick, i think i have mentioned this on numerous threads before. a few weeks ago after a coaching session again, we decided to try and aim to miss on the the thin side not much just the far jaw. although the shot looked and felt so wrong i just committed and found out i was potting a lot better.

i have now been practicing this for the last few weeks and i have to say it does work (for me), i still have to force my self to trust that this is the right line and it is going well so far

Aiming the pot where you are now is just the biggest margin for error, aiming where you were before gave you a smaller margin so you were missing more. When I worked this out my black off the spots improved by miles and was easier to play position as well.

[itsnoteasy]

I have been struggling for some time hitting high blacks thick, i think i have mentioned this on numerous threads before. a few weeks ago after a coaching session again, we decided to try and aim to miss on the the thin side not much just the far jaw. although the shot looked and felt so wrong i just committed and found out i was potting a lot better.

i have now been practicing this for the last few weeks and i have to say it does work (for me), i still have to force my self to trust that this is the right line and it is going well so far

That's where I aim any way Alabadi, I thought that gave you the biggest opening.

[focus]

No i'm left eye dominant R hand player, its probably some sort of technique fault that i just can't sort and playing his way negates the error. and to answer your question yes i am a lot better with low black, i can even pot blacks when the cueball on on the top cushion or in the black pocket.

Hmmm, L eye and R hand should give you the same advantage Ronnie enjoys. Do you cue centre chin or to the left of chin may I ask?

[focus]

I will try again, can you provide evidence that the terminology you use is centuries old and has been used all over the world during that time, as you have claimed.

There's more chance of a Jehovah Witness answering why there's no mention of dinosaurs in the bible - "Read Genesis, all the answers are there"

Or in the Church of Dr Dave the answer will always be "read Dr. Dave's deflection theory and there you will find enlightenment"

The guy is just a troll, trying to wind up folk. Never answers a question that might lead you to continue probing and thus debunk his bullcrap. This is how they're trained in the Church of Dr. Dave - never give a straight answer that's not on message. The SNP are the same; you must obey. What do these three groups have in common? Yep, they're all deluded fruits.

[markz]

That's where I aim any way Alabadi, I thought that gave you the biggest opening.

The simple ideas are always the best.

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

Side or run away to baulk ? that is the question, whether 'tis nobler in the mind to stagnate against a sea of positional possibilities or take up your cue against an ocean of small time Eddie Charltons, and by opposing them become english men.

note the US pool term there biggie

And the correct, ie non capitalised, use of the word 'english'. There's hope yet.

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

Cue sports ,fifteen hundreds, nine ball ,nineteen twenties, where is your evidence that the terminology you use has been used by the whole of the world for centuries, it's just not true is it, or post some evidence, it's not a tough question.
Sorry should read cue sports fourteen hundreds( fifteenth century)

20th century, 21st century. That's two for starters.

For interest:


CAPTAIN MINGAUD - Invented the modern cue tip & Masse shots...honed the scientific edge of shotmaking
Invented the leather cue tip in the early 1800's. Imprisoned in France for political reasons. Was allowed the use of a billiard table inside his prison cell, and became obsessed with the game. Became a student of the physics of shotmaking, and truly transformed the cue into a scientific instrument. Revolutionized the "magic" one could impart on the cue ball, through the use of "spin" and "english."

Mingaud also discovered that by raising the cue almost vertically - in fact into the position in which the mace would be used - extraordinary spin effects could be obtained by striking a sharp downwards glancing blow to the left and right across the cue ball. This type of shot or stroke became known as the masse - French for mace. No other invention so dramatically affected "touch," control, positioning, and overall strategic play.

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I wonder if there was an early 19th century Monsieur Blaster, telling him a big fat NON!