Using side for certain pots?

[tedisbill]

My mate, who has made seven 147s and regularly has 2 or 3 centuries against me in a session, is always telling me about the importance of side.

One example is, he'd much rather roll a ball natural ball with side to gain position, than use a stun. Because the point on the cushion always remains the same natural ball and the side will then tweak the position. Whereas with stun, get the contact point on the cushion slightly wrong and you have totally lost position. Makes perfect sense when he's explaining it to me.

[Byrom]

yes I understand the shot you mean - all players including Terry will play this shot using side with the cushions and stun or follow through of the cushions - happens all the time to tweak position - it is invaluable to learn side I think.

I learnt it - side - playing pool and billiards - in snooker a good exercise is potting black off the spot - trying to pot continuous blacks and stay in position for the next black - setting a target for continuous blacks - tried 10 at first when I took up the game and found it hard to do just hitting plain ball - soon found it impossible without learning about side off the cushion - its hard but invaluable to learn cue ball control off the cushions your friend is right. I play it instinctively now getting the right line for the next shot is very important and easier to do with side.

I don't know any player of 100 break regular 50 break standard that does not use it.

[tedisbill]

Yeah, just sounds to me like people try and make it sound like side is terrible and should be avoided at all costs. I use side all the time in the balls and have no idea how I'd make 70+ breaks without it.

[Byrom]

Yeah, just sounds to me like people try and make it sound like side is terrible and should be avoided at all costs. I use side all the time in the balls and have no idea how I'd make 70+ breaks without it.

They do because they read it in some Joe Davis coaching manual and treat it as gospel - its nonsense the players that said it all use it - show me any video of any maximum break that is done using just plain ball shots - good luck finding one

If a player is comfy using it then let him I say - he will learn when and how to use it himself - less is more as you progress but you need to understand how and why it helps even of those exhibition type shots that come up every now and again - its fun to play with it at the end of a game and snooker should be fun at the end of the day - and any coach should teach it and show you why it is useful or entertaining - below is some English guy showing a Canadian what its all about.

[tedisbill]

Agreed, Byrom.

You may as well teach it from day 1. If you're serious about getting good you may as well get comfortable with side just as you would anything else. And if you're not serious and you're just having a knock with your mate, then nothing you do matters very much really. Just pot some balls and have some fun.

I also think, because it's so natural for any good standard player to play with traces of side, some of them might not even realise they do it.

[Byrom]

yes good point - I agree some including me just do it without realising as their focus is on the contact point on the object ball and the position they need so it is more instinctive after a while. Its usually when I start thinking about it or over thinking it that it all goes to pot - or not as the case may be

Vmax had a way of describing it - the instinctive bit - that I liked - something to do with catching a ball and hand eye co - ordination - cant remember now but I related it to my timing and natural rhythm on the shot and knew what he meant

[vmax4steve]

I agree, side is a must, especially on a well napped club cloth. The problem is teaching it to someone if you don't exactly know what is happening to the cue ball, but you could simply try to convey that you only need to offset your aiming and forget about what exactly is happening and just use the results to your advantage.

[Byrom]

and as if by magic the shopkeeper appears

[Ramon]

The only problem I see with your method is you have a lot more to coordinate in your backswing and delivery and as you age a bit this will become much more difficult to control efficiently. I think this one reason is why a lot of the really good younger pros fall away as they get over 35 years old or so. A case in point would be Hendry, however Ronnie looks like he's holding it together pretty well in his (relative) old age.

I think with cueing technique the KISS rule really applies (not the MISS rule) and that is 'Keep It Stupid Simple or Keep It Simple Stupid'.

Agreed !! I have a long backswing!! That gives me a better vision on the CB during delivery the cue and sense of direction the cue moves . (I hate short backswing,just does'nt looks pretty,imo ). However, I agree with you, that a short backswing leave less room for error!!

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

How did this turn into 'bash the Canadians'? I don't want to get started on tit-for-tat and start bashing the Brits as I could be here all day and I have a match to play at noon.

Just watch a few episodes of 'Spitting Image' to see what I mean. Especially 'Interesting Steve Davis'.

As for side, I don't agree with using it very much and almost never without a cushion involved but sometimes it's necessary to either get around an intervening ball (in the extreme, masse) but I would never use it to try and improve my position with no cushion involved as I think you can get to the same position if your could control stun/screw correctly. 'Helping side' is a load of bollocks

you've met max three times and you've never tuned your balls in that didn't go with a little sweet bride

Terry has had 3 maxs?

Hmmm...