Snooker - The Two Variables - What Goes Wrong?

In this snooker coaching lesson, we look at the two things that can cause us to miss shots. By minimising what can be going wrong on the shot, we speed up our learning, and we can quickly correct mistakes.
I am a qualified 1st4Sport Level 2 WPBSA Coach. I am available for one-to-one coaching lessons and do travel to see people. If you are interested please don't hesitate to contact me!
Support me on Patreon!
/ bartonsnooker
With support on Patreon, I will be able to devote more time to filming and editing and get more videos on KZbin.
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.bartonsnoo...
Twitter: / bartonsnooker
Facebook: / bartonsnooker
If you have any questions about this video, or suggestions about future videos you would like to see, leave them in the comments below. I answer all questions!
If you would like to see more instructional videos like this one, please like and subscribe to the channel!
Like and subscribe!

[@melihegemen6033]

Great video for demonstrating that perfecting your technique comes before everything else. On a related note, there are players who insist on playing with side without having perfected their techniques (timing, follow-through, good delivery, etc), which creates all sorts of problems when accumulating the necessary experience for memorizing/understanding the potting angles. When they miss and miss, they just dismiss it as just another bad day at the table and hope things work out better the next time.

[@MattLloydTube]

Best snooker coach on youtube

[@SmijithViolin]

Do you have an exclusive video of picking up correct line of aim ? or any tips for that? btw. Great video. Thank you for that.

[@oldtimer5111]

You are really onto something there ,with the coaching yourself editing. Probably the best way of doing these coaching videos I have seen.

[@BartonSnooker]

Thank you!

[@ifiwas195]

I hope everyone takes note of these tutorials because very rarely will you see coaching videos explained in this manner. These short videos tell you exactly what you need to do in a simple to follow format. I stand by my previous comments on his other tutorials in saying that Steve will be to Go To coach of the pros. Forget about the fad coaching methods out there and stick to the basics of what Steve tells in his videos and I guarantee you’ll be a better player almost instantly.

[@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT]

Nice and clear video! Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I still think that, when practicing, the best way to know where to aim a shot we are uncertain of, is to place another ball (e.g.yellow) touching behind the target ball (e.g. black), in a straight line passing from the centre of the pocket and the centres of the black and yellow balls. This way, when aiming from the cue ball, the centre of the yellow ball, will give us exactly the point we must hit on the black, after removing the yellow (and if we leave the yellow and hit it straight on, it will too pot the black).

[@crosdad]

I’ve just started to play and found this very helpful. Thank you!

[@manofconstantsorr100]

This is very good advice. Thanks for breaking down why we miss the shot. It is the process of elimination. Keep up the good work

[@umarhasnain4953]

Your videos are very enjoyable and have helped me improve my game quite a bit! Could you please do a video about controlling the cue ball from very thin cuts on the black?

[@CaptMorteza]

Very nice video. Excellent topic to discuss. However, I usually take another variable, which is miss position. That is cueing + aiming + position check. Anyhow excellent work. Keep it up. Thanks

[@carlosmartins99]

Love your videos. They have helped me tremendously. Only criticism is that they are not in English 🙂 I'm from America and it took me a while to understand that "Over Cooked the Shot" means hit it too thin. Your tutorials are the best. You always just keep it simple and practice. Thanks again.

[@BartonSnooker]

Cheers. Great to help! Thanks so much for watching 😀

[@mav1733]

Brilliant video,i've always had the tendancy to aim right of target and ythen because i know i am doing that to adjust mid shot and come across the line with the cue to try and reach where i should be aiming . I played my best snooker when i trusted my aim and thought i was missing everything on the thin side but it so hard to do for me after twenty years of playing this game

[@rayboothroyd9221]

Very helpful thanks Steve

[@fifagameplayhk2006]

I deliberately practice in snooker 3 years ago, I still miss easy shot eg. Pink spot or even blue spot. And my highest break is 21,haha I want to give me until i found you viedo

[@linerforce]

Excellent video, this is exactly right, and definitely does help to determine a simple fault, a good confidence builder for snooker players of any age, it’s so good to know where you have gone wrong I used the techniques today and learned as I played and potted a lot more balls that would normally have been missed AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA+++++++++++++++++++

[@BartonSnooker]

That's fantastic. Good to hear 🙂

[@kevinmahboobi5256]

Thank you sir , very useful😘👍

[@addictedtonothing23]

If the cue ball is on black spot height you can aim with your tip on the edge of the object ball. If the cut is bigger make sure you aim for at least less then the edge of the object ball.. if the cut is less then aim with the tip hitting more than only the edge

[@faiyazahmad1496]

Thank you very much. Very helping. Will you please make comprehensive video on cue ball trajectory after impact on object ball. Apart from experience, is there any sort of principle which can help to know cue ball trajectory. Hope your reply.

[@Dhirallin]

I have a question. Do you think that 'aiming systems' can actually hurt one's ability to intuitively learn the angles? For example if a person is using some kind of shadow ball aiming technique, then rigidly following a conscious rule might cause a person to always miss certain shots forever? Secondly, it sounds like for aiming you are suggesting that the person just has an intuitive feel for where they are aiming without visualizing anything specifically? It must be hard for a person to remember the 'feel' of the angle from a standing up position after they have taken the shot from a low down head position. It sounds like the 'standing behind the shot' is the key here. Using your body's position as a memorization aid.

[@BartonSnooker]

Hi. Absolutely. You will get a "feel" for where you need to stand and how you need to aim to pot balls. Making sure to start from the standing position is very important. It then comes down to the more shots you see, the better your brain will become and recognising these potting angles. I don't recommend using any of these "gimmick" aiming techniques. Just get used to standing behind the shot, and then making a VERY ACCURATE judgement as to where you need to strike the object ball. This is what all the professional players are doing, very, very accurately.

[@alijohn8267]

Very useful video thanks man

[@andrewlambley9644]

Excellent videos, keep up the good work

[@corallaroc2946]

Hi, your videos are really well created and helpful. Thank you for making them! I have an unbelievably basic problem: I do not get my shoulder behind my head like you do at 4:30 and I think this is a cause of some variability in my cue action. Most good players manage to have their entire right arm (for right-handed players), their cue and their dominant eye in one plane that is on the line of the shot and perpendicular to the table. I am sure that helps greatly with cueing straight, but it just feels incredibly unnatural and uncomfortable to me. I have to approach the shot very much from the left side but it's still close to painful. Could you maybe detail the stance and where exactly your shoulder is, how you rotate your shoulder belt etc. in order to get this perfect alignment of your right arm? That would be fantastic!

[@corallaroc2946]

Ok, if anyone is interested in the shoulder-behind-head problem I now found a solution after seeking help from a local coach. Right foot on line, left food one foot in front and well to the left (shoulder width) and then it comes: _twist_ your hips out of the way of the cue, do not just shift them left. So, right hip 'upwards' to the left, left hip downwards and to the left, fold in your knee a bit. The twist of the hips also turns your back and your shoulders. Now your right leg should be straight and tilted to the left, your back goes distinctly to the left, too and the shoulder belt turned so that the left shoulder points in the direction of the shot (almost).

[@larrypowers4857]

Nice editing technique

[@sj460162]

Nice video...all sounds easy..but getting technique spot on is highly difficult

[@BartonSnooker]

That's right yeah. Just try to eliminate as many variables as you can. If someone is jumping up and not evening aiming properly, it's very difficult to know what is causing the problems.

[@sj460162]

@@BartonSnooker Yeah its a good idea to nail down technique first IF YOU CAN lol. Ive filmed myself and revealed really bad alignment. I find if I rest my cue on my chest..well nipple to be precise, im much more likely to have my cuebutt on the line. Im not sure if im consistent with this though? Without using a camera in my matches (not allowed lol) Im not sure if there is anything else I can do to be sure its online?

[@mohdhamdanabdwahab1767]

Hi Barton, nice topic. I have a question to ask regarding eye switch during striking. My superior always said that i missed my shot a lot due to wrong eye switching. I used to look at the object ball before striking. My superior asked me to look at the cue ball during the striking which it is quite difficult for me to change since ive been practicing for a long time...is looking at the object ball is incorrect or it is just another method that i can use? Please help

[@mohdhamdanabdwahab1767]

I believe i missed my shot bcause my aiming not good enough instead of wrong eye switching. Need u advise.

[@BartonSnooker]

Hi! Most professional players will be looking at the object ball the time of the strike. The exact eye pattern that a player uses will be unique to them. You need to make sure you're in the middle of the cue ball, and that you are hitting on the object ball where you want. I would try to get used to looking at the object ball last if you can. Start by potting some simple balls to the middle and practice looking at the object ball when you strike. Hope that helps 🙂

[@faiyazahmad1496]

In my experience, you have to be switching your sighting between pocket, object ball and cue ball and when you finish final backswing and about to take shot, your eye must be on object ball. ARGUMENT 1. YOU AIM ON OBJECT BALL ACCORDING TO POSITION OF POCKET, here first come pocket 2 . Certain potting angle on object ball leads to pocket, here comes object ball 3. You set aim on cue ball considering pocket position and potting angle, and you set aim on different cue ball height for required cue ball trajectory. CONCLUSION POCKET, OBJECT BALL AND CUE BALL COMES IN SEQUENCE IN EVERY SHOT. It now up to you develop rythm between pocket, object ball and cue ball. Pocketing the object ball is our main object and after all we have to hit on particular portion or point on object ball. The simplest argument I can give you to convince. When you are shooting on a target, you have eye on target not on the bullet not on gun. Bullet or gun is equal to cue Everytime in straight line which we practice to develop as an habbit. Thanks

[@mohdhamdanabdwahab1767]

Thanks for ur advice faiyaz n barton.

[@Zombies8MyPizza]

@@faiyazahmad1496 You absolutely do not HAVE to look at the object ball upon striking. Many top pro's past and present, including Stephen Hendry, Mark Allen and John Higgins can all be seen looking at the cue ball upon striking whilst break building. There are arguments on both sides of the camp on the object ball vs cue ball debate, really both are correct to a degree and the player should do what works for them. Why looking at the cue ball upon striking works, is this - when you get down to a shot, everything is in line once you're down on the table and your cue is on the correct aiming line. If you're perfectly on the correct line of aim, and you strike the cue ball in the centre of its horizontal axis, it HAS to travel down the intended line of aim. Looking at the aiming point won't affect whether that happens or not if your stance is correct as you're essentially locked into place. So it makes sense to look at the cue ball upon striking to ensure you're striking it where intended. The notion that you have your eyes on the target is exactly why, in the case of that theory, that you should have your eyes on the cue ball as you strike it. In golf, you don't look at the hole or where you want to send the ball, you look at the ball. In tennis, you don't look at where you want to send the ball, you look at the ball as you strike it and your alignment and moving your arm in the right direction makes a successful shot if the ball is struck well. In darts, you look at the point where you want to send you want your dart to strike, so in snooker it makes sense to look at where you want your cue to strike, which is the cue ball. When you're firing a gun, of course, you're not looking at the gun, you're looking at the target - in this case the cue is the gun, the bullet is your tip - you want your bullet to hit the target in the right place, just like you want your tip to hit the right place on the cue ball. To say the cue ball is the bullet is a flawed argument - in the case of shooting a target, the bullet isn't a variable as you can't affect the direction it comes out of the gun at as it always comes out straight at where you're pointing the gun - the gun is the first variable and the target is the second variable and if these are aligned then you will hit the target. The next variable to the cue is the cue ball. If you line up on the aiming point correctly and you strike the cue ball in the intended spot, you pot the ball.

[@thelondonwindowcleaner1168]

Nice one 👍🏻

[@MonkeyboyCH]

Hi can you make training or practice schedule for amature that's want to turn to professionals THANKS.

[@kyotosal]

Do you imagine a line going through the black ball to the pocket? Thank you.

[@Dhirallin]

The worst scenario is when your cueing technique is consistently putting incorrect spin on the white, and over time you've compensated in your aiming. Then you correct the technique and suddenly all your aiming knowledge is wrong and you have to start again from scratch!

[@BartonSnooker]

Hi Rajie. Is this what you have found in your own game? A lot of players cue with a touch of unintentional side spin. Minimising this is key to improving at a faster rate. As long as you don't have a big cueing error, these things can normally be corrected quite quickly.

[@qazzell]

I have noticed that if the camera isn't in exactly the right place the angles look wonky...which is strange...Hard to work out exactly why this happens.

[@ashokvarma8502]

I am getting lost in the game what should I do ????

[@prashantjain1968]

You are professor quality. I will reach out to you via email.

[@ashrafahmed2108]

You are best coachcher sir i like u

[@Batwal99onUtube]

It looks like you lined up the black to the left of the line when you were standing up but got down bang on the line

[@BartonSnooker]

Hi. My dominant eye is my right eye. So when I am in the standing position, my brain is mostly using the information from my right eye in order for me to see the line that I want. Once I am then down on the cue, my eyes are now much closer to the things I am looking at (the cue & the cue ball), so now my cue goes somewhere in the middle of my chin in order for me to see everything as a straight line again. Is also difficult to get the camera ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY positioned so that the line remains bang on all the way up the image. Remember that my sighting is also unique to me! DO NOT try to copy exactly where I stand. All of our brains work slightly differently and create a slightly different image for us. So you need to stand in the right position FOR YOU! I am also going to do another follow up video about sighting the shot. Hope that helps 🙂

[@OwaisKhan-kc5qe]

So gOod Master

[@martinrosler5432]

Great Video again Steve ... and nice greetings to your Twin-Brother ...;o)

[@BartonSnooker]

Ha! Thank you, Martin. Hope you are still enjoying the game and seeing improvements 🙂

[@navidhakimi7122]

This video does not answer the question it is hoping to answer. It basically says if you are a cueing god and you miss, you have probably aimed incorrectly. Isn't that already clear? The problem is that if you are a novice player, you have both of the problems. How can we know which one is the culprit when we miss?

[@xenoborg007]

He is doing it the opposite way really, it's very easy to mark the table or line of aim from a perfect plant, and practice getting the white to that position, it's not at all easy to know if your technique was perfect during the shot, the only way you know that is if the ball goes in...

[@arjeetaj3927]

How to make grip perfect

[@snooker_tips]

A didn't know you have a twin brother

[@alfedtron9043]

to me, there are 3 you mist throw