In this video I explain the only cue action you will ever need. I see a lot of people over complicating the situation when all you need is a backwards and forwards motion you can repeat. It’s really that simple.
Your snooker channel is the best one in my opinion. When so many snooker coaches explained it, it sounds so complicated that you either give up or get bogged down in all that technical nonsense. I remember when I was 14-15 I started playing and I was potting balls for fun (not thinking about cue action, stance, grip, etc.), but then I got into all that stuff and now I can't just play the game, without thinking about where my shoulder or index finger is while striking the cue ball, back pause, front pause, etc... Your tips have really been an eye opener and I would definitely try to just play the game, concentrate on the spot where I am hitting the white and play my natural game. :)
Found your videos after a pretty poor practice session down the club last night and basically watched them all. Breath of fresh air mate. Having come back to the game after 8 years away and being significantly worse, I've been down the rabbit hole to such an extent that I'm thinking about so much I miss stupid shots. Seems obvious now you've pointed it out - i.e. I never needed this before, so why am i doing it now.
You are the most honnest youtube coatch i spend many years to watch others but no improuve You freed me from that vortex thank you i will bigan from the beginning thank you a lot
Awesome explanation. Look at Alex Higgins. His cue action was ridiculous. Moved on every single shot and still managed to find the centre of the pocket more often than not. I've seen so many videos talking about grip, stance and technique using technical jargon and Michael's just like: Find an action you can repeat and just do you. Top man 👏
I start watching your channel since yesterday. And truelly the best ever. I play pool (on a descend level) and sometimes snooker for over 20 years now. I had so many discussions about my stroke/cue action, stance, delivery etc etc.. and it got into my head till this day. It went so far that I quitted pool for a few years on compatitive level now. You confirm what I always said and thought. Play the game in your one style where you are feeling good with. Thank you!
I totally agree with what you said in the video. As you mentioned Judd trump cueing up is way off line, but when he hits the ball it is spot on. Repetition is key to a good cue action 100%
stephen lee ,ronnie and shaun murphys cue action is crazy ,its so smooth and they have effortless power on tap ...nothing ever seems like it takes any power or work
Why do you need hand eye coordination? The balls are stationary. Similarly in golf. You need to connect a proper starting position with a proper finishing position, in perfect balance. The latter is a quote from the great striker of the golf ball, George Knudson
I'm an American pool player who has been afflicted with the cue action obsession, and your videos have been eye opening for me. Feel like I can actually focus on learning and improving the other facets of the game, and more importantly, it's way more fun than constantly worrying about micromanaging every part of my technique.
That’s the best explanation of a cue action iv ever heard, simplicity and straight to the point, what works for one person won’t necessarily work for someone else it’s all about finding out what cue action suits your style of play and make sure it’s repeated every time. Thank god a professional has come out and said it like this, now maybe club players will stop thinking they need this so called perfect cue action and spend that time improving their game which no doubt Will bring greater rewards.
Thank you, appreciate it. Being too focused on technique is definitely stopping people learn how to play. Hopefully I can nudge people in the right direction. 👍
Firstly, there is a lot more to the cue action than just putting the cue against your chest and moving it consistently back and fourth. Even though Judd Trump starts his cue action with his tip to the right of the cue ball, in the end he does correct this and does come through straight. If he did not come through the white straight he would not pot the ball. Also it's not as simple as putting the cue against your side which is an aid to straight cueing. There is a proper order to this in which you must always put you chest to the cue and not your cue to your chest. This is because your cue should already be online to the shot. If you put your cue to the chest it will go offline. The wrist action and grip is also tremendously important. There are many ways to do a cue action, but there are certain things that will prove extremely detrimental to consistent potting and positional play. Gripping the cue to tightly before impact if the cue ball is one, holding the cue dangling to much consistently inside the vertical is two, pulling the cue back to quickly or to slowly and decelerating on the shot is three. The cue action is very complex in that all of these things can go wrong. This includes an unstable stance which can automatically put the cue off-line causing a person to miss. Then eith the cue action you have to time the backward and forward motion with what you doing with your eyes. At what point do you look up at the object ball. During the final backspin, before the final backswing, or after the final backswing. This effect how long your feathering would be during the backward and forward process. Possibly incorporating a front or even bavk pause before final delivery. Plus many other aspects that need to be considered.
Exactly! Any player that has ever played to a decent standard knows this! The ones who just put their cue on the table and move it back and forth have probably never scored higher than 20-30 points🙄snooker overall is a very intricate, complex game. Like playing chess but in cuesports. Sounds like you already know this but just wanted to concur with your post!
I’m really enjoying these videos. They are direct and to the point. I fell into the world of technical tinkering playing golf. All that happened was stagnation or playing worse due to the amount of changes made. I will not make the same mistakes again by keeping it simple and hopefully repeatable.
Thank you. It’s similar in golf as it is in snooker. The only thing you have to get (right) is the point of contact with the ball. What happens a split second before and after that is irrelevant. (Jim Furyk & Judd Trump) If you can repeat something it can work. 👍
That's the video I've been looking for for a looooooooonng time , I've played snooker for more than 10 years and I was blocked in such a level because of some silly stuff like ohhhh cue action , rythm....., now I will turn attention to more serious stuff , thank you soooo much
Brilliant the way you remove the myths Mike. Ive always heard the pauses are important lol. And youre right..ive seen some pros go off line with their cues and still pot the balls.
So good to hear this type of advice from an actual professional. As soon as I stopped tinkering after listening to advice from ‘experts’ and just repeated what came naturally and relaxed, I improved. The single other biggest factor in improvement was to stop thinking about the cue action altogether, learn to just trust it and my aim, and just play the shot. As soon as you get all that stuff out of your head, you play better snooker.
Absolutely. All this stuff is stopping people learning how to play the game. Also, it’s just a lot more enjoyable when all you’re thinking is “pot that to get on that”. 👍
@@MichaelHoltSnookerCoaching not to mention the buzz you get when you start doing that, and it’s working, controlling the cue ball instead of it controlling you.
I wasted my 5 year making technical part perfect but still not getting the result as I used to .. I was doing 50 plus break every day but concering to much on technic I ruined my game .. you are the real coach sir🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️love from Nepal 🇳🇵
im in my 50's now, but when i was younger i bought manuals on the game. my cue action was ok, but in the books it said you had to be looking at the object ball upon striking. try as i might, i couldnt pick this up. i got despondent and thought my game wouldnt progress. now i see on stephen hendry's channel, that both he and o'sullivan are cue ball, and not object ball strikers.
Haha good! My technique probably looks terrible but when I try to follow what is the correct way it feels all wrong, I’m just concentrating on trying to stay still , which for me is tough! And the same feathering on every shot
Potting will happen if you are aiming in the correct spots. Your main focuses should on finding these spots. A lot of people don’t get round to finding them because they are distracted focusing on their cue action. Do something you can repeat and play the game. 👍
I think that’s why I strike the ball so well. I’ve never put much time into perfecting the action I just do what feels comfortable and it seems to being going well for me
I am over coming the thinking about cue action and now finding something to repeat and comfortable. By the way by not thinking about it and just finding the correct aiming point helped me during the week. But same issue happen, unintentional right spin on white. I coudln't solve it. I am potting more balls. have more clear vision and confidence of potting balls but right spin is always there.
Neil Robertson's is poker straight and very repetitive, a fine example. However, I think why some people do work so much on this is the other parts of cueing, like where their eyes should be looking during the address, to pause or not to pause at the end of the last backswing, for example. Good luck with your channel.
Thank you. All this is a distraction from where your attention should be and that’s #PotThatToGetOnThat Find something you can repeat (whatever it is) and play. 👍
What works for one person won’t necessarily work for another so it’s all about finding what works for you and repeating it, the perfect cue action don’t exist cause like I said what’s perfect for one player wouldn’t work for another.
Excellent! Were you using lots of sides on the cue ball or just helping side? Seemed like to used quite a right hand side when you were not high enough on black on one the shots.
The cue action also depends on the cue specs. You have to hit differently with a heavy or light cue. Shawn Murphy's cue is about slightly under 17 oz. So he strikes easily and quickly.
Not really. Cue specs are just about what the player prefers the cue to feel like in their hand. I have small hands so have a slightly thinner cue. It’s not something people need to think about. Find a cue you like the feel of and play. 👍
@@MichaelHoltSnookerCoaching ofcourse it is something you need to think about. You just said you have a small cue butt because you have small hands! You didn't think about that then? No? I can't figure out if your channel is actually a parody account or not🙃🤣🤣
I ran a table of 9 Ball using an Old Mans walking stick, it had a big rubber cushion as tip. It was hilarious and a miracle as I had no control over the cue ball other than speed. Shawn is an oddball with his cue fetish. Changing cue or its weight alters Cue Deflection. Witch can take time to adjust to, doing it right before a tournament is a big No No. But he does. Michael is right about the cue action. You don't need to be perfect to execute a perfect shot. Neither do you need a certain cue, tip, weight, balance. A cheap cue with a good tip works fine.
I am a new member of a pretty decent amateur club, and I've seen players so focused on deconstructing and reconstructing their cueing, it's mind boggling. One lad who was doing 80 points breaks is now barely doing 20 breaks, because he decided with his coach to have a proper wrist motion. These lads are playing for years and still think about cueing mechanics. Just pot the ball to get to the next one, chap. It's just snooker, you should be making some serious dough after so many years of play.
Hi Michael - been enjoying your videos and thinking a lot about your dog with a bone saying about how cueing straight is not the most important thing and that it’s more about aiming. I do agree with this, however for myself personally, I have a tendency to swing my arm from a slightly sideways angle when I’m cueing. When this happens I sort of see two of the cue coming through and this hinders my alignment as I’m not sure about which cue I’m seeing is the right one if that makes sense…when I get my arm more vertical I can only see one of the cue and it all looks straight. This gives me so much confidence that I’m aligned to to the correct spot and as a result play much better. Basically what I’m saying is I think straight cueing is linked to alignment, so it is important to me anyway! Would be good to know your thoughts. Cheers
@@MichaelHoltSnookerCoaching I play at decent club level - top break is 100 and on average I would count anything at 50+ to be a good break for me. I have realised after filming myself recently that I do have a grip issue which was causing the above so am trying to alter that to make it more consistent... I do think one of my main issues though is a thing with aiming which I am now coming back to more and more - my natural tendency is to aim thick as it keeps control of the white better. It's really annoying because I know that when I have my aiming on point I don't feel like I should miss, but the tendency always creeps back in. I guess that's probably a result of me only picking the game up when I was 17 and not practising on a regular enough basis to rewire what my brain is picking up as the correct point. Cheers
Another no nonsense advice on people who constantly blame their cue actions when they miss a pot and tinker and check things that dont need to mess with. Trust me this guy tells it how it is and he is sincere in his advice that could literally save you years of messing about and going round in circles. Its not rocket science but based on sound principles of good aiming (line of aim, cue on line) and keeping cue on line. If you miss, check your aiming and adjust.
Best cue action I've seen in the game is in the wrong hands at times and that's Jack. No one cue's like him, It's just effortless fluidity. He just needs better coaching.
Isn't it comical how he makes a video on how cue action is not important in the game of snooker then in the first 20seconds or so goes down onto the table and displays a near perfectly smooth cue action with everything in line, cue, chin & elbow.🙃😂😂😂😂Good one.
Well out of all the players I used to like watching up close one players cue action I liked was .....Thepchaiya Un-Nooh nice guy and very supprised he never won far more. Another question I tried imitating bits of other players to add to my game I watched and messed around too much but good for a laugh. Anyway there is one guy a blonde bloke lower ranked pro (cant remember his name alan?) He can mimic other players (his Sean Murphy is so funny) and my mate does the Mark Williams under arm thingy and a good Joe Swail, just wondered can you do anyone else? - and if you could pinch bits from other players what would it be and why? Now there's a idea for a vid ....pay me commision discount my MOT...how much are you half day rates? Weekend in Nottingham snooker tune ups...? Do I need to remortgae? Cos the last time i paid 100 an hour she was that good I only lasted ten mins
I’ve never done a case study but I’ve had some great reviews. Check out my Facebook or Instagram account to read them. 👍 facebook.com/MichaelHoltSnookerCoaching instagram.com/michaelholtcoaching?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
@@MichaelHoltSnookerCoaching no doubt, I'm not doubting coaching abitily, More a general interest, like most I've obv's been down the rabbit hole of chance this chance that. 🥹 I never see any snooker RU-vidr doing a person's before and after?? Would be nice to give us all a little hope that it's possible to kick on. Congrats on the other day also in the shootout great watch.👍 Cheers Michael. Thanks 🙏
I am from Pakistan and want to improve my game and trying my best for it. Your channel helped me in right way. Stephen Hendry's advice for looking on to contact point on object, standing behind the shot/cue ball helped me as well. Steve Devis talked about elbow position for unintentional right spin in the video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4hUcmhj-INY.html after this for tucking in or out for avoid side spin. I have 2 questions, 1. should I consider these kind of advice, it actually helped? 2. I like a guy on youtube and now he is offering a video course, I really liked his explanation of shots, technique etc, should I buy the course with distance learning? it wouldn't be physical training and on price that is very hight for me? I would really appreciate your answers.
