BRAND NEW SNOOKER GAME COMING SOON!! SnookerQ.com Support me on Patreon! / bartonsnooker Email: steve@bartonsnooker.co.uk Website: www.bartonsnoo... Twitter: / bartonsnooker Facebook: / bartonsnooker Like and subscribe!
It’s such a useful point you make that staying down is not simply for bio mechanical purposes, but also for evaluation and modification of one’s technique, in order to lock-in desired outcomes. This is a lesson about thinking, and its invaluable. Thanks, mate!
Why was this video not created when snooker was born? Awesome job steve, "The" most crystal clear explanation about how to aim and pot. I always take the point on black and hit it too thick, now I know why. Thanks man, God bless you and Snooker.
This will surely going to help and has totally changed the way I used to get down on a line for a shot. Keep bringing more videos like these. This video is truly a masterpiece .
The idea of the ghost ball is a great idea, some days i feel like im potting really well, mainly because i feel like im hitting the ball better, other days i'm under/over cutting balls. Recently i've been dividing the ball surface into 4, so 1/4 ball, 1/2 ball, 3/4 ball & full ball which has been helping especially with normal colours off the spot.
Hey Batonsnooker,i am 62 and didn't play for 20 years and I was okay.my neighbour who I get on well with and I live in Melbourne Australia,and way I use to watch Pot Black,and I have played on the big tables when I was much younger and they are HUGE.the long shots weren't good, but was never taught, but my neighbour has a pretty decent size one, and its plays true, now explain to people what a true table is.Then explain how to use a cue stick, and then keep doing what your doing,bcause what you are doing is Fantastic as even reading the comments below, and what your teaching is what we all want to know how to line each ball up and hit the pockets without hitting the or missing the pockets,their is not much in it but we all do it.Thank you for your video and always remember the young ones want to know how to play.You are showing them this.Again I thank you, and I am learning too, and hope to blast my young neighbour away with what I am learning,62 and not over in a long stretch. ha ha ha
Well done Steve. What a great video. As an instructor I am always looking for new ways to state the basics on snooker technique. . Also your visual effects are top notch.. Thank you for this video and stay healthy.
Those other systems are more complicated and less useful. The ghost ball method works every time. The key is to visualize which part of the white ball will contact the point of aim; this part is critical when using side spin.
@@briangc1972 I always first look at the contact point then imagine where the middle of white ball should land. Then I am at the point at the table which should be the middle of the white ball. In theory sounds good but I suck anyways XD
I am pretty sure by tomorrow I can put a break of 50 , by grasping a lot of knowledge from this video , had lots of confusions while potting some regular angle balls, now it can help me on daily basis to build my break routine
@@fezzi1694 True. On my computer simulation Snooker game (PopGameBox) where I use the mouse pointer as my cue, I pot as well as Ronnie. It's only my break building brain that can't catch up.
*1. As a Brit living and playing snooker in Snooker in Berlin it is alsways good to hear from other snooker fans here. It is a great game that, sadly, not enough Germans know about.
Thanks for another great video. The mechanics of aim point vs. contact point is deceptively simple. If the contact point is 1/8 in (or 4mm) off the straight (full ball) line, then the aim point is double that: 1/4 in (or 8mm) off the full ball line (e.g., to hit a quarter ball off centre, aim the edge for the classic "1/2 ball" shot). I've never heard anyone describe aiming this way; I think because it's something that's not as easy to visualize as it sounds, so people learn to estimate this intrinsically with a ghost ball or similar, rather than thinking about it explicitly. Anyway, thanks for another great video, and I shall keep practicing walking in on the line of the shot :)
Hi! I really like the way you talk about the challenges that we all are facing when playing. 😊 It‘s helpful indeed and I appreciate your videos very much. Thanks a lot! ❤
Thanks for another great video and explanation. Is there a video when potting angle is thin? How do you pick the correct line of aim then? When potting black to a blind pocket for instance...
My method. Find the center of the pocket. Imagine a line from that point to back of the object ball. Call that point A on the back of the object ball. Look at the sphere of the cue ball. Find the point on the sphere that is closet to point A. Call the closest point on the cue ball point B. Shoot the cue to connect point A and B. You’ll never miss again.
When an engineering drawing program is used to make a diagram of a half-ball shot using this method of aiming point B to point A, the cue ball hits the object ball too thick (e.g. thicker than half-ball). For a half-ball shot, the drawing program showed the actual contact point C of the cue ball is farther around the side than point B, and the cue ball needs to be aimed thinner so point C (not B) hits on point A. The trick is to figure out where is point C for all the different angles!🤔
I think I probably do this without the technical explanation. I look at the object ball to see where it lines up with the pocket.. similar to how you would always see if a square shape is lined up with a certain point. Like if you had a cube you would always see if the outer edges are lined up with the pocket or not, but so a ball has outer edges too and from every viewpoint you can see to which point it lines up if you would hit the ball from that view point. Then its simply a matter of lining up the edges with the pocket. frankly, its a much too long explanation for how quickly you see it, which is instant if you look at the object ball like that. its really just like seeing instead of a system
Perhaps you could explore cut-induced throw in a different video? As in to what degree the cue ball throws the object ball off line (in the direction the cue ball is travelling) depending on A. the angle at which the cue ball hits the object ball, B. how hard you hit the cue ball, and C. whether you play a stun shot or one with top spin.
I'm subscribing into your channel because of this tutorial..to me this the main thing in snooker..potting the ball..no matter it's a long or shot pot..and next..control the cue ball to make the next pot..2 thing..others is optional
When he gets to why you missed, and what to do to try and remedy that, of course this assumes that the cue action sound (which I'll get to as I work my way through the series of videos!)
I love Snooker since I was a teenager but never had enough courage to play it. I finally started about two months ago and I was lucky to meet an English guy who decided to become my mentor and sparring partner. He recommended your channel to me. This is the first video that I am watching now and I admit that what you are saying now is reflected in my game and especially in the mistakes I make. Sorry for any language language mistakes I'm still a beginner in both English and Snooker.
Really nicely explained Steve. I've recently got myself a table and coming back to the game after many years away. (finally got a room big enough!) I've been playing on the table a few months now and definitely been struggling with consistency and trying routines to try to figure out where I am going wrong. It's all about cue action and aim for sure! I've been doing lots of your suggested practice routines especially around red/black and have been noticing certain angles I'm just not getting better than 50/50. This video really helps me think about exactly how I'm going about aiming... since I realize a lot of what I used to do came from just playing and playing and playing when I was younger... so almost muscle memory on the angles. Well, I've lost a lot of that and now this video is super helpful in re-learning that!! Keep up the excellent work. Post-covid I'll definitely come and book some time with you. Great videos!
We have pool tournaments every night of the week in South Carolina. No one wears masks. Everyone is fine. The only problem is they won’t permit alcohol sales after 11pm. Apparently covid attacks drunk people at night
Thank you for your video. Please show us how to find the angle of the target ball with the cue ball. And where the tip of our stick should aim in this situation and show us the right and wrong way to hit with punctuation and execution. thank you
I like your take on the ghost ball. It's not about first placing an imaginary white in exactly the "right spot" (on the line of the black to the corner, touching the black) and then trying to strike the white to exactly this position. So much can go wrong with this as you cannot keep the "right position" of the white in your head perfectly when walking back to the line of aim. Also there are friction effects that this "right position" is not accounting for. Instead, it's about visualizing the shot for different lines of aim and the corresponding moment of impact and picking the one that seems to you like it is will send the black where it has to go. This way, you do all the computations right before the shot is played and you can incorporate all your experience including effects of spin etc. at that time when selecting the correct line. To me, the most important bit in this video is about the "3D model". Because... _Visualise it, and you can do all sorts._ (Alex Higgins)
I like to look at the contact point and then imagine where the middle of white ball should end up. I sometimes even put a finger there and then walk around to white ball looking straight at the point. Then I aim exactly to the middle of imagined white ball (I suck anyways) Problem is that when a shot is not perfect, then small error may occur with big spread in the finish line shot. That's why sometimes I also - as you said - visualise few different lines how the ball may go to end up in the hole, and take the 'average' position, knowing how much of error I can do. I still suck though, as I said. I am casual player.
Watch this video for a refresh. Then get on the table and pot 50 blacks to the left corner. Then 50 blacks to the right corner. I guarantee you that if your doing your pre-shot routine consistently aswel that you will begin to teach your brain to store those angles and have a much better potting success rate. It's tested and proven. Then go on to 50 pinks to the same both pockets. You can then do the same with the blue, choose three different cutting angles from both sides and repeat until your brain starts learning and automatically storing the info. To me it's like the snooker table satnav for your brain. It really does help but it also needs to be done consistently at least a few times a week. The more table time the better. I start to come good but my back & neck are jacked up so I have to go away from the table then I loose my angle recognition on walk in. The key is to be able to play regularly and stick to all the little intricacies that work for you! Your line up, walk in, sighting the shot again, your feathering, your pause...and then following right through the white ball as if your trying to hit the contact ball on the right angle with your tip....as if the white weren't even there in the first place. Good luck and more importantly enjoy the process.👍🏼
Hi Steve. Really good informative video as usual. One thing I`ve struggled with over the years is staying down on the shot. For the most part though I`ve corrected that bad habit. One thing I can`t get through my head though is that after the tip of the cue makes contact with the cue ball, you`d think that because the cue ball is on the way, rising up quickly wouldn`t affect the shot??? I know that it does but.....Maybe you could make sense of that for me. Thanks pal. Cheers.👍😀
Steve can reply as a Pro coach, but from 40+ years playing and watching, "it's a fine line". If you're moving more than your cueing arm it'll affect the shot a certain amount, and the earlier you start lurching, swaying or ripping your body or your head uncontrollably and the speed you're doing it, will affect the results even more. Conversely, look at Alan McManus, his technique is built on slowly rising and lifting his head on every shot, and he had some great results, against the greats of the game. Keywords: controlled, calibrated, repeatable, reliable.. and in most parts, world class accurate. But as we know, if you're doing something which needs you to time the error to within small tolerances of failure, if you do it wrong, by "too much", you can miss. Like being late, if you don't plan well enough and don't give it enough thought, you'll miss the train. Exciting tho! But draining if you do it all the time. Re-watching the infamous 69 break by Alex, shows how you can move ALL OVER the shop and still pot. But, he manages to stay still until after the white has gone. Sort of like being on time for your train, sitting calmly on a platform bench looking at the carriages roll towards your stop. There's lots of doors you can choose and well before the whistle blows to signal departure, you lurch up in apparent and sudden haste, explode out of your seat to run at the train and leap aboard ripping open the door and slamming it shut and thudding yourself into a lovely fabric chair. Objective complete, train not missed. But a bit of a drama. Take the drama to the next level and at each destination of the journey to the train station. A later alarm than sensible, one more coffee than necessary and only just making the bus to town. Dillying and dallying at the terminus watching a few too many TikToks. But, just in time. "Winner !". But, the margins for error are fine. If the ultimate goal is clear, you can make up time, sometimes. But ironically, 2 wrongs*can* sometimes make a right. Aim wrong on the shot but a lurch corrects it to send the white off accurately... But only sometimes. Miss your bus, but a friend drives by to give you a lift and serendipitously you actually arrive earlier and don't even need to walk from the bus terminus. So to wrap up! If the lurching, swaying, bobbing and movement on the shot somehow still allows you to play perfect snooker... It can't last forever, the single wheel that holds it altogether will fall off and it might be irretrievably irrepairable. If you're motionless on the shot, and any movement is well after the cueball is on it's way, and that's only to move to the next shot! This is the ideal. As your final fling and potting flourish as you flinch your head up in the air starts to happen earlier and earlier. You can imperceptibly start to move before the critical tip impacting the white. Steve Davis' dad with a cue above the Nugget's head banging him on the bonce if he moved on the shot shows how important they knew keeping still before, during and after the stroke was. Steve simply used the mantra of, start down until the ball is in the hole. Sometimes a little longer. Low risk. High reward. Low stress. High energy reserves. Low maintenance. High gains. So much easier to troubleshoot... While in a match. Easier to be repeatable and reliable. If the aim is to win, cross the line, be first, then why add so much noise, randomness and unpredictability? Lack of trust in your technique and not seeing the benefits of being solid. For Alex, he had the widest range of ability for cavalier, thrusting, fire-breathing enthused technique..... Pot anything, from anywhere. Do things you'd never seen before. But like nitroglycerin, you better handle it gently or it'll blow-up in your face unexpectedly. Sometimes it was Alex expertly juggling the explosive while a storm was smashing into him, but he could react with infinite timing to avoid carnage..... And we're watching! Being entertained too! But, when the variables bubble up to distraction proportions, even geniuses can't retrieve the impossible, well, not every time! Clutching a win from ludicrous despair is exhilarating indeed, but ultimately draining and is it's not sustainable... Maybe for a tournament, but not a lengthy career. Where one thing affects another is a fine line sometimes, that twitch on the 100m start line is not allowed, nor is reacting "too quick" to the starting pistol. The latter is an empirical number, but the former is more fine perception to detect a foul start. If you ever-so slightly lurch backwards to enable some forward momentum capacity, that's going to impact the shot you're playing; especially as there's now (literally) more moving parts in the equation. 2+2=4 is easy, but bringing unnecessary differential calculus and inertia/momentum calculations into your unconscious technique is mostly too difficult, well, not all the time.... Unless you're phenomenally talented, which Alex undoubtedly was. But still, not a sustainable 100% banker to win every game forever. So, if you're moving *after* the shot and not affecting the pot, you can start to move imperceptibly during or before the shot and will introduce factors you may or may not be able to cater for. The harder you hit the shot, the smaller the margin. Going too far the other way and being a robot is an option, but has it's problems too. A happy medium to retain fluid, natural and optimised performance, without straying into ambiguity, unreliability or over-thinking excessive autonomy. Triggers. How can someone recognise what success looks like? It's in the performance, not the winning. Focus on the process and achievements invariably follow... Or at worst, hone more efficient and effective training and execution. Mixing everything together, stay planted and still on the shot, stroke through the white like it's not there, then at the finish of the shot hold still for a fraction of a second to bookend the visit to the table. Allow everything to contribute to accurate results: pre-shot, walk-in and calm execution. Slipstream a healthy lifestyle outside of the game, as much as you can. Control the variables as much as possible and feed good mental health to allow everything you've got going for you to push you forward and overcome obstacles... Maybe even use blocks as ways to spring you forward. Food for thought. Hope this helps Brian.... Until Steve gets round to you 😉
@@reverseside7387 Hi Steve. Thanks for the thorough reply. I`ll be watching some McManus videos to reaffirm everything you`ve said. Thanks for everything and keep up the good work. Cheers👍👍
@@brianbieker9321 welcome brian, this was me (dave) rather than steve "the man himself", i think as a pro coach he'd've kept it shorter !! bit hope you extract everything that's useful for you. repeating the best technique you can is the way forward, we all have our idiosyncrasies; some you can get away with, some you can't.... joe swai! wow, you'd never teach that but you can see why he does it (started VERY young and didn't use a box)... take care, dave
Thanks Steve Very useful. I always used to use the ghost ball method, and when I tried the walk around and remember the spot method it did not really work for me now I know why. I will also stay down after the shot to build memories.
Cue ball is connecting the object ball halfway - more or less. I think you aim for the middle outer edge from the centre of the cue ball. Other angles are trickier but most often they seem to be half-balls.
Regarding “angle recognition” we used to talk about the “half ball angle”… Is it a method that pro players use, as they recognise all the angles like the angles on a clockface? … the half-ball aim being 22.5degrees travel from the object ball?
Thank you for this video! One question though: listening to your hit and it sounds crisp as you’re using a hard wood tip like a jump/break tip but still you snookers achieve a lot screw back effect, what exactly hardness or type of tip you guys use? Thank you!
When he refers to repetition folks, he’s talking about hours upon hours of practice each week for 5-10-15 years of imagining the ghost ball, not 2 weeks or a couple of months. The margin for error is so great, just letting you newbie’s know so not to become frustrated… but hay this is a great video and extremely helpful.
I aim like imaginary lines or just straight pocket angles like white to object ball then object ball to pocket sometimes I can get down and u just know bye being down on the shot it doesn't look right so I just adapt accordingly, but I try and walk in to the line now on every shot so if I get down on roughly the line I sometimes adjust a small amount. After so long of playing u know the angles of by heart like there ingrained in u , I used to get down on pots thick like every object ball thick then adjust on my feathers and back swing I felt so comfortable doing it and had reasonable breaks like 70s but I felt I can trust my cue action now so I want to just cue on the line if the pot instead,I've got more confidence doing it this way I feel like I'm really in control now as before slightly guessing it felt more natural to pot thick so took me a time to change, its all about for me trusting that your cueing straight, Jack lisowski still pots thick and alters on backswing like what I just explained i think its a good way to teach beginners or kids st first because when u first start any pots are so daunting like straight blues even half ball 3 quarte ball blacks for a beginner most blacks miss thin as beginners tend to over adjust on the thin side , if u teach them to aim thick at start then adjust slightly it makes the pot so much easier and brings confidence thats my opinion anyway great vid
At 8:42, the captures mention making to hit the white in the right, look at the black... but when you actually go to striket the white, are you looking at it, or are you looking at the black?
2:00 this is exactly the problem why we try to change the line of aiming after bend over. I have to force myself to hold the line which i choosed before i got down. But it looks wrong.
I never ever ever hit my blacks off of the spot too thin when i'm high on it. I always hit it thick if I miss it. Similarly, I always hit it too thin when i'm low on it if I don't pot it. So, i'm aiming towards the bottom cushion too much. I think I probably have an idea in my mind that I have to aim for the centre of the pocket, but the trouble with this is if you catch the near jaw at all you're almost always going to miss it. Whereas if you catch the far jaw, it's almost always going in. This video helped me to recognise this.
I once had a person say if you drew a 4 inches circle (1 inch away from the ball on all sides) around the ball and focus on the furthest point away from the pocket on that circle. Of course, there's CIT and other factors but it has helped. In pool it'd 1 1/8 inches away from the ball.
Thank you for the video, it's been really helpful and I will definitely give it a go whilst playing snooker and even pool. What stance do you use when you get down on your shots
If you go on a star table meaning pro tables it’s a complete different level and extremely difficult to pot due to very tight pockets sliding cloths and so on so even when you pick the angle doesnt mean it will pot cause your cue action as to be straight at all times plus being on pro tables is a different game all together and to be any good you need to be on a star table and practice not club tables
I didn't know there was a system for aiming but i keep hearing about them. All I've ever done was, how does it go in a pocket, how do i do that, do i need english... i never heard of anything else, but for some reason aiming systems have been asked around recently.
I think problems come from knowing you're not gonna be on a red after potting the colour or vice versa. Yes, you can take the 7 points and guarantee the pit, but if you want to build breaks, you can't use plain ball every time and spin, especially side then makes me miss the pot.
Hi Steve what you are saying is absolutely true but for long pots I found it very difficult to use ghost ball method I think the best method for potting is just trial and error , repetitions and learning the potting angles, am I right?
Hi Steve, thanks so much for all the great content. I'm relatively new to snooker and your videos have been really helpful! I have an odd question, what are the dimensions of the table you're using in the videos? I practice at my local golf club (in Australia), and I'm not convinced the table is 12'. Having said that, the table you use in your videos looks about the same. Interested to hear from you, and keep up the amazing content!
All tables, Snooker and otherwise, are meant to be twice as long as they are wide. The only regulation Snooker table is 6' X 12'. I can almost guarantee that Steve's table is exactly that.
Hey, man great video! I can pot any sort of pots but I am just not consistent in break building. I can pot very difficult and my overall snooker is good but whenever I have a chance to make a good break with reds and black in a good position, I just fail in the 3rd or 4th shot and it really bothers me. Any suggestions?
Keep it simple until it's time to not keep it simple. Try not to concentrate on playing just for single red balls, play for multiple balls. IE: Play in to area's.
One other point,,if you don't mind..They talk about slide on the cushions, Could this effect happen on Long thin shots When for instance using any form of Side on the Cue Ball.?..
I think in my case my cueing is incorrect, along with the angle selection. I don't want to apply any side to the cue but I end up giving the cue ball a slight right or left side.
love your videos and i have been watching all your videos for a while and they really help me , just wish the the clubs was open so i could practice lol
Another aiming method is probably lining up the shot from memory. After some experience you have a decent judgement of what the point of contact with the shot at hand. You just get down and fire.!
