An elderly gentlemen taught me general billiards principles and he would always speak of "feeling the simple angles in your bones" before attempting to create what he called compound angles. He made it really clear to me right from the beginning that not just side, but even things like rolling a shot between roughly ¼ and ¾ ball rather than punching it in at medium pace(especially playing against the nap), or even a good dose of screw can cause significant throw. That really helped me set a solid baseline, because in reality throw is a complex blend of factors that can be difficult to unravel if you don't know exactly what the ball would have done on a plain ball, medium speed shot. And in the end, you just have to build your intuition as you said, because even the table conditions can complete throw off your calculations if you don't have a feel for how to compensate.
As usual, thank you for a fantastic video. I love the purity of the idea of no side and delivering straight, but even as a novice I'm finding it really hard not to use side to assist in ½ to ¼ ball pots. If I don't, then what I see as the potting angle, can see me miss countless more shots. In fact, this whole side/no side/throw and shot speed variability, really should makes us modern players truly appreciate those of the pre modern game, who without the science and slow motion cameras, still made century breaks!
I was taught that if I think the ball will be thick or thin ,don’t adjust , play the shot and if you call it correct then it counts and if you’re wrong then you start again , the worse thing to do is adjust or overcompensate
Hello Steve, thank you very much for your videos please. Can you make a video for us with exercises to no longer lower the elbow but I think a lot of players need it. Thank you so much
Probably the best advice here, but I reckon the problem players have with learning angles is that the ghost ball method doesn’t work for all shots. The point on the object ball farthest from the pocket is not always the place to aim due to throw. Countering throw can be done with both aim (so not using ghost ball farthest point from pocket - and aiming thick or thin) or with countering outside spin or helping side, where you can aim for the ghost ball farthest point on object ball from pocket with the correct amount of side to counter the spin induced throw. I don’t think you can reduce aim to one method, as there are so many variables, but understanding when the side is working to counter throw is super important.
Cheers! I think the other problem is you can't have too much knowledge about: cut induced throw, screw and stun causing the ball to throw thick, side causing the ball to throw thick or thin. It's just way too much for someone learning angles to process. Even though I know about all of these effects, I never once considered them while learning angles. By repetition of shots, your brain just learns what looks good depending on the type of shot you're playing. If you're trying to pot and factoring in whether you're playing top, or screw, or ghost ball aiming or using side, I think a player would just be completely confused. Think of it like reading a green in golf and playing a putt, the player has a look, reads the line, plays the shot with feel and the required power, and it hopefully goes in. It doesn't matter if Tiger Woods picks the perfect like for me to make the putt, I won't get it, because I can't feel the exact power required to make that putt work. His brain can subconsciously factor in 10 things and make the shot successful.
I think your advice to pick a line and stick with it to learn the angles is the very best advice you can give, but I personally got so frustrated using a lot of time pre-shot to visualise the white striking the exact point on the object ball that is in line with the line it takes to the pocket, just to find that I miss the shot. Coach talked about feel and touch, but I never understood it. I gave up. When I found out that there was throw on a ball, it revolutionised my thinking about which line to take and I started aiming thick or thin centre ball striking and getting a feel for how much there is. That works, but I didn’t like aiming thick or thin on almost every shot. When I started adding a touch of side to counter the throw, I went back to aiming ghost ball method, which is obviously a more logical and consistent aiming point on the object ball. Only after this did I start to get a really nice feel for how much side I should add to counter the throw, it also helped my white ball position.
@@123mailashish check out Dr Dave’s videos on spin induced throw, or coach Brando has a video where he shows quite clearly that aiming ghost ball on a 1/2 ball shot perfectly plain ball no side that you will miss it. If, like me, you have spent many hours aligning perfectly to a ghost ball, missing and building frustration, you will start to second and third guess your ability to aim. The problem is, that you are aiming in the wrong place to start with. Throw is only apparent when you know it’s there, and when you start to understand the principles of how it works, then you will start to gain confidence in your aiming again. For me, that’s what happened, and the magical feel that everyone talks about, only came when I started to feel how much throw would be happening on a shot, and account for it. Aiming ghost ball plain shot, never helped me feel anything but frustration.
@@123mailashish I would also add, that it is important to understand that you can either aim your way out of it (in other words aim slightly thin), or add counter outside spin, and aim for the perfect ghost ball spot. These days I do both, depending on what I want the white to do afterwards. There is a difference between adding just enough ‘helping’ side, which will help you keep a consistent aiming spot, and adding too much, which will throw the object ball thin. When you know that point, then you can judge where the object ball will go and how the white reacts better, and that is IMO the object of the game.
If I watch the cue ball really intently, all the way from my cue until it hits the object ball. I can usually tell why it missed. If the cue ball drifts off the line I expected it to go down, then it usually means my cue wasn't pointing in the same direction as my head (most common reason for missing for me). If the cue ball goes down the line perfectly, hits the object ball where I expected and then it misses, it usually means that I wasn't in the center of the cue ball and it's imparted some spin induced throw on the object ball (second most common reason for missing). Lastly if I follow the cue ball with my eyes, and it goes down the line perfectly, but then as it hits the object ball I suddenly think, oh that doesn't seem like the right contact point. Then it means I aimed wrong, i.e. the balls weren't correctly aligned (least likely reason for missing). For me the hardest thing about fixing aim, is that it's never aim in the first place. At least if you define "aim" purely as how the cue ball and object ball are visually aligned.
I've thought this myself with various resources now available online...but then I realised, the rest of the entire world of people also has access to all this. I may have improved a lot more at things but so would millions of other people, so it wouldn't have really been any personal advantage like that. 😅
@AD-kv9kj That's such blinkered thinking. I got myself to 90 break standard and never really progressed. Watching these videos, I now realise the kind of things I was doing wrong and where I could have improved. This would definitely have improved my game a lot. But any will help those who already possess natural ability for a certain thing. Not everyone has natural ability
Thanks Steve, I have to say though I still don’t get this concept of helping side, where it is played to ‘help’ the pot and not for position. For me playing with a trace of side is no problem for most shots but why overcomplicate it when it doesn’t help with position? I must be missing something 😂 thanks for the vid as always
Thank you for another video but through this video I wanted to ask you one thing that you had told in your alignment video that your shoulder should not be visible during the address position but your shoulder is clearly visible in this video Actually I follow your videos completely so I thought it important to ask you. I have learned a lot from you and want to better myself through your videos and my practice. Love and blessings from India ❤
I'm just getting down on the shot lazily because I'm making a video. Earlier on the green you will see I bend both legs. Just busy presenting and explaining.
hi, how to hold the grip on line of aim? while standing should the grip hand be already on line of aim above the right leg? seems that as i am getting down and my body turns my grip hand goes offline ??? tnx
Sir, Thanks for your kind reply. BUT I need to know you griping with your index finger or middle one?. I already watched your gripping video but particularly I wanna know your grip.
Is the 'Helping Side' you refer to counteracting the throw? If not what's it's purpose? In America this is referred to as 'gearing outside english'. There's a certain amount of outside side that will result in no throw, so you can aim at the ghost ball position. You obviously need to be able to aim well with side and the amount of side required to cancel the throw with vary with cut angle and speed of the shot, so it is a bit complex. I tend to pot centre ball (unless side is needed when the cue ball hits a cushion) and adjust for throw in my aim, with knowledge of how much throw you'll get for a particular shot.
Yeah, that's it. It send the object ball a little thinner. So counteracts the ghost ball position resulting in a thick pot. But as you say, it relies on someone having very good fundamentals and basics and being able to hit at the correct speed with just a tiny bit of outside English (or side).
I’m chuffed if I get a 20 break. So I never really use side on pots but use it in safety. The theory being it’ll help me learn side but most the time you don’t need to be accurate.. saying that, that might be why I’m a bad player?
Sir, Thanks for your kind reply. BUT I need to know you griping with your index finger or middle one?. I already watched your gripping video but particularly I wanna know your grip.
Thanks for making a video clearly explaining why Michael Holt is just talking half-baked nonsense when he tries to be all clever claiming decel isn't a problem or helping side doesn't do anything etc. Holt really is the Alan Partridge of snooker, desperate for attention.
An elderly gentlemen taught me general billiards principles and he would always speak of "feeling the simple angles in your bones" before attempting to create what he called compound angles. He made it really clear to me right from the beginning that not just side, but even things like rolling a shot between roughly ¼ and ¾ ball rather than punching it in at medium pace(especially playing against the nap), or even a good dose of screw can cause significant throw. That really helped me set a solid baseline, because in reality throw is a complex blend of factors that can be difficult to unravel if you don't know exactly what the ball would have done on a plain ball, medium speed shot. And in the end, you just have to build your intuition as you said, because even the table conditions can complete throw off your calculations if you don't have a feel for how to compensate.
Well said and solid advice 👍👍
You're a really great instructor. That was te best lesson about side I've ever seen. Congratulation!
As usual, thank you for a fantastic video.
I love the purity of the idea of no side and delivering straight, but even as a novice I'm finding it really hard not to use side to assist in ½ to ¼ ball pots. If I don't, then what I see as the potting angle, can see me miss countless more shots. In fact, this whole side/no side/throw and shot speed variability, really should makes us modern players truly appreciate those of the pre modern game, who without the science and slow motion cameras, still made century breaks!
Clear and helpful as ever, thanks for the time you put into this Steve!
Great valuable advice on angles, speed and spin. Great video Barton snooker
Great video again Barton, please keep em coming!
Thank you very much!
From Casablanca, Morocco 🇲🇦
Very good video, perfectly explained as usual.
excellent advice, indeed
Great sensible advice for begginers Steve👍👍
Thank you Sir! One day I wunna come to watch snooker tournaments in UK and hope to meet you ❤🙏🙏
I was taught that if I think the ball will be thick or thin ,don’t adjust , play the shot and if you call it correct then it counts and if you’re wrong then you start again , the worse thing to do is adjust or overcompensate
Hello Steve, thank you very much for your videos please. Can you make a video for us with exercises to no longer lower the elbow but I think a lot of players need it. Thank you so much
Probably the best advice here, but I reckon the problem players have with learning angles is that the ghost ball method doesn’t work for all shots. The point on the object ball farthest from the pocket is not always the place to aim due to throw. Countering throw can be done with both aim (so not using ghost ball farthest point from pocket - and aiming thick or thin) or with countering outside spin or helping side, where you can aim for the ghost ball farthest point on object ball from pocket with the correct amount of side to counter the spin induced throw. I don’t think you can reduce aim to one method, as there are so many variables, but understanding when the side is working to counter throw is super important.
Cheers! I think the other problem is you can't have too much knowledge about: cut induced throw, screw and stun causing the ball to throw thick, side causing the ball to throw thick or thin. It's just way too much for someone learning angles to process.
Even though I know about all of these effects, I never once considered them while learning angles. By repetition of shots, your brain just learns what looks good depending on the type of shot you're playing. If you're trying to pot and factoring in whether you're playing top, or screw, or ghost ball aiming or using side, I think a player would just be completely confused.
Think of it like reading a green in golf and playing a putt, the player has a look, reads the line, plays the shot with feel and the required power, and it hopefully goes in. It doesn't matter if Tiger Woods picks the perfect like for me to make the putt, I won't get it, because I can't feel the exact power required to make that putt work. His brain can subconsciously factor in 10 things and make the shot successful.
I think your advice to pick a line and stick with it to learn the angles is the very best advice you can give, but I personally got so frustrated using a lot of time pre-shot to visualise the white striking the exact point on the object ball that is in line with the line it takes to the pocket, just to find that I miss the shot. Coach talked about feel and touch, but I never understood it. I gave up. When I found out that there was throw on a ball, it revolutionised my thinking about which line to take and I started aiming thick or thin centre ball striking and getting a feel for how much there is. That works, but I didn’t like aiming thick or thin on almost every shot. When I started adding a touch of side to counter the throw, I went back to aiming ghost ball method, which is obviously a more logical and consistent aiming point on the object ball. Only after this did I start to get a really nice feel for how much side I should add to counter the throw, it also helped my white ball position.
Looks a grt discussion.
But throw point was not understood fully.
Can you explain what u exactly felt which revolutionised ur game?
@@123mailashish check out Dr Dave’s videos on spin induced throw, or coach Brando has a video where he shows quite clearly that aiming ghost ball on a 1/2 ball shot perfectly plain ball no side that you will miss it. If, like me, you have spent many hours aligning perfectly to a ghost ball, missing and building frustration, you will start to second and third guess your ability to aim. The problem is, that you are aiming in the wrong place to start with. Throw is only apparent when you know it’s there, and when you start to understand the principles of how it works, then you will start to gain confidence in your aiming again. For me, that’s what happened, and the magical feel that everyone talks about, only came when I started to feel how much throw would be happening on a shot, and account for it. Aiming ghost ball plain shot, never helped me feel anything but frustration.
@@123mailashish I would also add, that it is important to understand that you can either aim your way out of it (in other words aim slightly thin), or add counter outside spin, and aim for the perfect ghost ball spot. These days I do both, depending on what I want the white to do afterwards. There is a difference between adding just enough ‘helping’ side, which will help you keep a consistent aiming spot, and adding too much, which will throw the object ball thin. When you know that point, then you can judge where the object ball will go and how the white reacts better, and that is IMO the object of the game.
If I watch the cue ball really intently, all the way from my cue until it hits the object ball. I can usually tell why it missed. If the cue ball drifts off the line I expected it to go down, then it usually means my cue wasn't pointing in the same direction as my head (most common reason for missing for me). If the cue ball goes down the line perfectly, hits the object ball where I expected and then it misses, it usually means that I wasn't in the center of the cue ball and it's imparted some spin induced throw on the object ball (second most common reason for missing). Lastly if I follow the cue ball with my eyes, and it goes down the line perfectly, but then as it hits the object ball I suddenly think, oh that doesn't seem like the right contact point. Then it means I aimed wrong, i.e. the balls weren't correctly aligned (least likely reason for missing). For me the hardest thing about fixing aim, is that it's never aim in the first place. At least if you define "aim" purely as how the cue ball and object ball are visually aligned.
Pls show the point cue ball.
If as a youngster, I'd had a tool like Barton Snooker, I could have been a contender. Having access to this, for free, is invaluable.
I've thought this myself with various resources now available online...but then I realised, the rest of the entire world of people also has access to all this. I may have improved a lot more at things but so would millions of other people, so it wouldn't have really been any personal advantage like that. 😅
@AD-kv9kj That's such blinkered thinking. I got myself to 90 break standard and never really progressed. Watching these videos, I now realise the kind of things I was doing wrong and where I could have improved. This would definitely have improved my game a lot. But any will help those who already possess natural ability for a certain thing. Not everyone has natural ability
I heard from snooker coach saying "we see from brain and not from eyes in snooker"
As always sir ❤
Thanks Steve, I have to say though I still don’t get this concept of helping side, where it is played to ‘help’ the pot and not for position. For me playing with a trace of side is no problem for most shots but why overcomplicate it when it doesn’t help with position? I must be missing something 😂 thanks for the vid as always
Thank you for another video but through this video I wanted to ask you one thing that you had told in your alignment video that your shoulder should not be visible during the address position but your shoulder is clearly visible in this video
Actually I follow your videos completely so I thought it important to ask you.
I have learned a lot from you and want to better myself through your videos and my practice.
Love and blessings from India ❤
I'm just getting down on the shot lazily because I'm making a video. Earlier on the green you will see I bend both legs. Just busy presenting and explaining.
hi, how to hold the grip on line of aim? while standing should the grip hand be already on line of aim above the right leg? seems that as i am getting down and my body turns my grip hand goes offline ???
tnx
Sir, Thanks for your kind reply. BUT I need to know you griping with your index finger or middle one?. I already watched your gripping video but particularly I wanna know your grip.
One more thing wanna ask. 😂 Sorry to bothering you... Slow shorts I missed with your grip (middle finger grip) but long shorts I did well. Why?
Is the 'Helping Side' you refer to counteracting the throw? If not what's it's purpose?
In America this is referred to as 'gearing outside english'. There's a certain amount of outside side that will result in no throw, so you can aim at the ghost ball position. You obviously need to be able to aim well with side and the amount of side required to cancel the throw with vary with cut angle and speed of the shot, so it is a bit complex.
I tend to pot centre ball (unless side is needed when the cue ball hits a cushion) and adjust for throw in my aim, with knowledge of how much throw you'll get for a particular shot.
Helping side is indeed the British name for gearing english.
Yeah, that's it. It send the object ball a little thinner. So counteracts the ghost ball position resulting in a thick pot. But as you say, it relies on someone having very good fundamentals and basics and being able to hit at the correct speed with just a tiny bit of outside English (or side).
sorry I meant do you visualize the cue ball edge hitting the object aiming spot
No I don't.
I’m chuffed if I get a 20 break. So I never really use side on pots but use it in safety. The theory being it’ll help me learn side but most the time you don’t need to be accurate.. saying that, that might be why I’m a bad player?
I would definitely avoid it on pots at your stage
do you visualize the cue ball edge when aiming
No
Please explain your index finger work.
czcams.com/video/-G5ZEyzG9k8/video.htmlsi=APPKTPh2yDqDzATt
Sir, Thanks for your kind reply. BUT I need to know you griping with your index finger or middle one?. I already watched your gripping video but particularly I wanna know your grip.
@@rizwanr3985 I am gripping with my two middle fingers. The index finger is just a helper. Same grip as Ronnie O'Sullivan & Stephen Lee.
@@BartonSnooker Sir. so kind of you. We're big fan of your educational channel.
0:45 buy some paper reinforcers (white sticky rings). much better that drawing on your table
Thanks for making a video clearly explaining why Michael Holt is just talking half-baked nonsense when he tries to be all clever claiming decel isn't a problem or helping side doesn't do anything etc. Holt really is the Alan Partridge of snooker, desperate for attention.
When did Michael Holt ever say that? Lol
lol you think you know better than a pro player ?
That’s the thing u won’t pot them all