Knowing the potting angles - and positional play

[DeanH]

Knowing the potting angles - and positional play

TD - when I went to see Wayne Griffiths many years ago he placed the five colours in a line across the table between the black and pink spots, and with the white at an angle to the black - then pot the black and bounce off the top cushion and cannon the called colour. A good exercise to learn the cue ball control off the black spot.

Down the club we would do the same with the wife calling the colour - good practice that I have not done for many years.

[itsnoteasy]

A very very simple one I was shown(more for pace rather than exact position ) was ,black on the spot, white at different angles, pot the black with follow through to make the white come off the opposite Cush, back out to land on the middle line(down the spots) of the table.

[Catch 22]

I happen to think that over thinking when sighting is wrong.

Knowing the angles comes from experience of playing the same shots over and over simple - thinking about sighting angles and technique when playing in a game is limiting.

Play natural give yourself less to think about not more - trying to be over precise or trying out new sighting techniques this and that always kills my game.

Do routines and practice and improve your technique by all means - but there are no short cuts in snooker just practice - better to improve your technique of consistently delivering the cue straight and keeping still than worrying about sighting I believe.

I agree . When I'm playing badly for a few days or a week or so , I start to over analys everything and my game gets worse and worse . When I'm playing against someone and we start having a laugh and having a conversation during a break and I'm not really giving my full concentration then I just walk into the shot without thinking about it , put my head down and hit the shot and my potting improves a bit ( everything else like position and power etc gets a LOT worse though ) .
I think it's sort of like when you know you have won the frame and you take on some wild pots just for the sake of it and you scream them in from all angles lol

[mythman69]

Could you explain what the bottom-left diagram is showing?

The bottom-left diagram is showing a method (Trisect system peace sign technique) for working out the cue ball path when using lots of screw. Rather than this method using your peace sign angle times 3, if you see of the potting angle (A) - imagine the same angle from the cue (A) on the left side of the diagram - then add 2A = 3A and that is the maximum amount of screw angle possible.

Having said this, I think the best way to learn where the cue ball will travel is to just try some different potting angles and practice over and over until you can work where you need to hit the cue ball to get a certain position. Over-thinking each shot will make the game more difficult.

Pay careful attention to the differences between diagram 1 and 3.

The other complicating factor is the distance from the cue ball to the object ball. Over a greater distance the cue ball might initially be hit with some backspin (rotate backwards as it travels forward), but as it travels towards the object ball it will start to lose this spin and then start to roll forward. So for longer distances you need to take this into account and hit lower and/or with more power. I hope that makes sense!

[DandyA]

The bottom-left diagram is showing a method (Trisect system peace sign technique) for working out the cue ball path when using lots of screw. Rather than this method using your peace sign angle times 3, if you see of the potting angle (A) - imagine the same angle from the cue (A) on the left side of the diagram - then add 2A = 3A and that is the maximum amount of screw angle possible.

to save having to take a protractor with you everytime you play, try this - I think it's pretty much the same thing ...

for anything around a 1/2ball shot, a plain ball rolling white will go at about 30 degrees to the line of aim ... for a stun shot, the white always goes at 90 degrees to the path of the object ball ... and for a normal screw shot (ie the normal amount of screw players generate) the white goes at the "reverse natural angle" - the white goes as far behind the stun angle as a rolling white would go forwards of the stun angle ...

so the "natural angle" is the difference between where the white goes if plain rolling ball compared to the stun angle and the "reverse natural angle" is the same amount backwards for a screw shot ...

don't know where I learned that - probably from www.EnglishBilliards.org since they go absolutely potty about 1/2ball (or so) shots ... if not, it will probably have been from Dr Dave Alciatore's great site http://billiards.colostate.edu

[mythman69]

to save having to take a protractor with you everytime you play, try this - I think it's pretty much the same thing ...

for anything around a 1/2ball shot, a plain ball rolling white will go at about 30 degrees to the line of aim ... for a stun shot, the white always goes at 90 degrees to the path of the object ball ... and for a normal screw shot (ie the normal amount of screw players generate) the white goes at the "reverse natural angle" - the white goes as far behind the stun angle as a rolling white would go forwards of the stun angle ...

so the "natural angle" is the difference between where the white goes if plain rolling ball compared to the stun angle and the "reverse natural angle" is the same amount backwards for a screw shot ...

don't know where I learned that - probably from www.EnglishBilliards.org since they go absolutely potty about 1/2ball (or so) shots ... if not, it will probably have been from Dr Dave Alciatore's great site http://billiards.colostate.edu

Agree, it is best not to 'need a protractor with you everytime you play' but the diagrams do help explain the general idea (as you explained it).



I think a good start is to see the tangent line for every shot and then imagine 2 slices of pie on each side of this tangent line. With a bigger cut angle you get smaller slices on each side. With a smaller cut angle you get bigger slices of pie.

[DandyA]

Agree, it is best not to 'need a protractor with you everytime you play' but the diagrams do help explain the general idea (as you explained it).



I think a good start is to see the tangent line for every shot and then imagine 2 slices of pie on each side of this tangent line. With a bigger cut angle you get smaller slices on each side. With a smaller cut angle you get bigger slices of pie.

yep, thank you for the diagrams, I enjoyed them and wasn't having a go at you ... just trying to explain the simpler "reverse natural angle" I use at some point probably nearly every time I play ... although readers should note it only works for shots somewhere around 1/2ball ...

[mythman69]

yep, thank you for the diagrams, I enjoyed them and wasn't having a go at you ... just trying to explain the simpler "reverse natural angle" I use at some point probably nearly every time I play ... although readers should note it only works for shots somewhere around 1/2ball ...

I know you weren't having a go at me and I really liked the way you described the "reverse natural angle". All good!

A picture tells a thousand words.

[cyberheater]

After thinking a bit about my recommendation on using a small spot of paper I had a thought. As we are really concerned with the ANGLE of the next pot then it would make sense to have the cueball end up on a line of angle from the next object ball rather than just a spot, as long as it's not too close to the cushion or the object ball.

Yes. I learning to play to a area rather then a spot. It's more helpful at my level.

I don't know what others think but for me learning how to stun the white around can bring your game on leaps and bounds.

I practise the stun shot more then any other by a long long way. Precise stun is key to good position. It also forces you to learn to hit the white a lot more accurately. It also makes the shot harder. But it's key to break building.