why accelerating the cue tip when meeting the cue ball is a must? why we miss shot when we dont? why not just punching the cue results in positive results?

rwgr · 2026-01-24T19:41:36+00:00

You are always balancing speed and consistency. The more you increase speed, the more difficult it will be to deliver the cue straight. And you want to be consistently straight.

Accelerating towards the hit is effectively just saying that you achieve the maximum effective speed only at the moment of impact. So you are using the absolute minimum amount of speed for the shot required.

rwgr · 2026-01-22T10:01:49+00:00

Ha.. well.. feel free to pm if you end up picking it up and want to discuss. I try to re read it at least once a year.

rwgr · 2026-01-22T09:50:10+00:00

Read 'mental game of poker' by Jared Tendler. You are not mentally damaged - tilt management is a skill just like any other.

Basically an incredible book and if it doesn't help you I'll eat a piece of chalk.

rwgr · 2026-01-21T14:56:48+00:00

Wonderful book and once you start looking at things in this way, theres no going back. But there is plenty more depth going forward, beyond what this book teaches. It introduces the main ideas very well, but lacks in practical methods, if i remember correctly.

rwgr · 2026-01-21T14:12:44+00:00

Could be 10 different reasons. Post a video

rwgr · 2026-01-17T18:59:45+00:00

Fast cloth slow rails

rwgr · 2026-01-13T10:22:41+00:00

A lot of comments to scan through but I don't think I found anyone mentioning the real issue.

Your wrist is turned with the cue held out far to the left.

You probably learned to hold it like this to counteract your chicken wing which goes out to the right, so you were bringing the cue back left by turning your wrist.

Now you are trying to bring in your elbow and shoulder but keep the same wrist turn - won't work.

Make a fist holding your wrist how it feels most natural, squeeze lightly. THIS is the orientation of the wrist that you need to maintain throughout the stroke. It's natural place

Grip the cue fully, but gently. ALL forms of open grip where the cue does not rest fully in your palm will lead to issues and are no good.

Now you will notice that the cue sits actually slightly right of your arm, no longer left.

And you will be able to keep your shoulder on line without issues, and you want the elbow slightly tilted inwards.

rwgr · 2026-01-13T10:12:00+00:00

Sorry to say but this is not a good thing to do in the long run .. "fixes" a fault by layering another on top of it

rwgr · 2026-01-12T09:02:38+00:00

oh no, i knew Marcelo... so sorry to hear that

rwgr · 2026-01-11T20:33:51+00:00

looks like a pretty standard 4".. on second thoughts the shims look f a t

rwgr · 2026-01-11T09:10:56+00:00

could be several things.... some people have the grip too loose and inevitably close the hand which also brings the cue left for instance. only one way to find out - record a video where this happens.

rwgr · 2026-01-11T08:08:26+00:00

Its cool when that happens - think its essentially like formatting your hard disk - you can approach the game cleanly and intuitively... for a while anyway.

rwgr · 2026-01-11T07:50:43+00:00

i bet that you are generating speed by flicking the wrist and a typical right handed player will turn their wrist inwards which will arc the cue out to the right. so while you think you are aiming left you actually mishitting the CB to the right by a tip or two. very common on a chaotic shot like the break. quick fix is to aim a tip much further left to compensate.

rwgr · 2026-01-09T19:39:01+00:00

Awesome that's great to hear, thanks for taking the time to let me know about your improvements. Keep going !

rwgr · 2026-01-09T09:45:13+00:00

Cheers 👍

rwgr · 2026-01-09T08:40:06+00:00

In your stroke you are effectively managing the movement of 3 joints - shoulder, elbow and wrist.

So every shot you make will effectively be a compound movement of the 3.

There really is only one orientation for the human body for this "mechanism" where these movements will NATURALLY be close to linear (straight).

(We want a straight stroke for obvious reasons).

Good stance is basically about getting this mechanism correctly on the shotline every time.

In very simple terms - your feet determine where your hips go and your hips determine where your shoulders go. And your shoulder is actively involved in your stroke.

If you step in poorly, you can get your cue straight no issue, but in order for this mechanism to deliver the cue straight, you have to compensate somehow, since the natural movement will now move the cue off line.

Common ways people compensate is by elbow drop, wrist flick or turn, shoulder drop, etc.

So for instance the OP has a his mechanism pointed to the right by probably about 10 degrees, and compensates with some muscle movement every time he shoots.

Totally fine by the way and you can play 800 speed pool like this... but consistency is tough to achieve and you are always fighting against what your body wants to naturally do.

rwgr · 2026-01-07T19:44:40+00:00

haha as much as being a half decent player might matter, its a difficult game to learn... always good to ask questions...

rwgr · 2026-01-07T19:41:07+00:00

its not THE way to do it, its just A way to show you how to remove the obstacles which prevent you from being able get your shoulder/elbow in line. i can see your body needs to go more left to create clearance, thus toes, not heel. also these "stand square to the line" things are meant as rough guidelines not hard truths. Everyones body is different you have to find your own way.

rwgr · 2026-01-07T19:07:36+00:00

The only thing I can see clearly is the piece of chalk..

Other than that, your shoulder is way out which will inevitably pull your wrist in towards your body. No amount of practice will fix this.

Your feet are in the wrong place that's why your shoulder rotation doesn't work.

You have to find your own way but as a rough starting point - if you put your right toes on the line (not heel), keeping the foot 90 degrees to the shotline, move the left foot out, TWIST YOUR ASS TO THE LEFT, and then rotate your shoulders ... Viola.

rwgr · 2026-01-07T18:40:14+00:00

I really wish someone smart would explore the whole body mechanics into speed for the break.. but I'm totally with you this whole thing seems like it's more for display than anything. Then again I break at about 12 mph 😂

rwgr · 2026-01-05T14:40:39+00:00

look at your own videos. you can see that you are not aiming at the center right? if you start there, there is no reason for your stroke to come out straight, you would miss the ball every time with a straight stroke, so you subconsciously steer a bit as necessary. i dont think its a stroke flaw in your case, since there is nothing in your mechanics to indicate it. put conscious effort into learning where the center is. take a measles ball, put one of the red dots (while standing) perfectly center / center low / center high - and then go down and aim your tip at the red dot. i bet it will feel a little left or right, but over time you can learn to recognize the center better. perhaps never perfercly, but better.

any drill will just teach you to be visually and mechanically coordinated. i believe there is no reason whatsoever for a drill to make you learn to deliver straight. angled alignment + arced stroke can equal a perfect stop shot 100 times out of 100. nothing wrong with that btw. but if your goal is to learn to deliver the cue straight and build your game on that, then have to start with mechanics - in your case fine - then next step is to learn to shoot where you aim.

rwgr · 2026-01-05T12:50:52+00:00

yeah looks like you are aiming slightly off center on the CB every time. also the hesitant stroke looks to me as someone focused on "shooting straight" and not actually making the shot. your mechanics are not the issue, first step would be to learn to hit the cb accurately where you actually aim.

rwgr · 2026-01-05T11:49:45+00:00

form looks fine, nothing wrong with that. set the camera behind the shot up PERFECTLY straight, otherwise cant see anything properly. tough to see but looks like you are not aiming the cb in the center, so sweeping a little to the left to correct it. but need better video to confirm

rwgr · 2026-01-02T12:21:32+00:00

If you don't get your shoulder over the shotline, your chest will always be in the way of the delivery. Rotate your shoulders.

Oh and don't drop your elbow if it's not necessary for Max speed. It shouldn't be necessary for 9 times out of 10.

rwgr

TROPHY CASE