The HALF-BALL HIT is Important

[Music] a half ball hit is a 30° cut angle where the center of the Q ball is aimed at the edge of the object ball from the shooter's perspective the Q ball overlaps or Eclipses half the object ball in this video I demonstrate 10 reasons why the half ball hit is so important and useful on the resource page linked in the video description I show many ways to visualize and set up shots of various angles including a half ball hit this diagram shows an example half ball hit used a lot in this video with the object ball on the foot spot the Q ball can be anywhere on this line for a center to Edge aim to pocket the ball in the corner if you are good at aiming it is very easy to recognize a half ball hit it's one your line of aim is right through the edge of the object ball another way to judge a half ball hit is to use your P sign to check for the 30° cut angle as we will see later you can use the template Linked In the video description to calibrate your p sign if you place one finger along the line to the pocket with your hand over the ghost ball if the other finger points at the Q ball then the shot is a half ball hit you can also use a standard 306090 drafting triangle to check during practice you can also use an analog clock face or a wristwatch 1 hour is 30° now let's look at all the reasons why a half ball hit is so useful be sure to watch the entire video because there is a useful position play drill in the middle and there are some cool proposition bet shots near the end the best thing about a half ball hit is how easy it is to aim you just need to point your queue through the center of the Q ball right at the edge of the object ball which is very easy to see and focus on here's the shot at the table again the aim is right through the edge of the object ball now cut induc throw is a factor especially at slower speed notice how the object ball gets thrown to the far side of the pocket to Target the center of the pocket you need to overcut the ball just a hair you can clearly see the overcut at contact with the row sending the ball straight to the pocket a half ball hit is also a good angle to leave for position play Shots here's a good Target drill to illustrate and work on this from this single Q ball and object ball position with a half ball hit you can pocket the ball and easily send the Q ball to any of the nine Target positions around the table this is what good pool is all about pocket the ball and send the QQ ball to the desired spot on the table that makes makes the next shot easy slow stun is a good play for position one straight draw works for position two stun with outside spin is good for position three but maximum draw also works you can even go off two or three rails with follow and a touch of outside spin but this choice is not very natural on this table outside follow is very natural for position four follow with a touch of inside spin works well for position five lots of inside spin is needed for position six the natural angle is perfect for position seven slow roll with lots of outside spin works well for position eight and stun with outside spin works well for position nine if you need or want help with Q ball control and S spin see the tutorial links in the video description again a half ball hit is a good angle for Q ball control and position play the angle is not too big to make the shot difficult but it is big enough to easily move the CU ball around the table in different directions an important half ball hit principle is that the Q ball and object ball separate at equal angles and equal speeds you actually need to hit a hair thinner than a half ball for this to work best did you see both the Q ball and object ball travel at the same angles and speeds here's an example nine ball safety where the effect is useful to hide the seven behind the nine here's an eightball example with no easy shot on the last stripe for shots where you want the object ball to move more than a q ball you need to hit Fuller than a half ball and for shots where you want the Q ball to move more than the object ball you need to hit thinner than half ball one nice feature of a half ball hit is the caram angle is very constant with small changes in Cut angle here's the natural angle for a half ball hit here's a hit slightly thinner than half ball notice how the Q ball still heads very close to the Natural angle Direction This hit is slightly Fuller than half ball and the result is still very similar this makes makes it very easy to predict half ball hit carum Direction like with this eightball breakout shot where I'm trying to thin the eight on my left side this gives me an easy out the most powerful half ball hit principle is the 30° rule which states that a rolling Q ball carams off close to 30° over a wide range of cut angles between a quarter ball hit and a 3/4 ball hit even though these three cut shots have radically different angles the Q ball carum direction is very close to 30° for all three this graph shows how the qball caram angle varies with ball hit fraction the angle is largest for a half ball hit and it is smaller for a quarter ball or 3/4 ball hit but the angle is close to 30 degrees over the entire range here's a half ball hit which CS off at an angle slightly more than 30° here's a quarter ball hit which carams off at an angle slightly less than 30° the carum angle for a 3/4 ball hit is similar did you see how close each carum Direction was to 30° even with the object ball heading in radically different directions [Music] A P sign can be very useful to accurately visualize the qball carum direction for a rolling ball shot if you point one finger in the initial qball Direction the other finger will point in the final qball Direction the template Linked In the video description can help you calibrate your P sign for most people a firm but slightly relaxed P sign forms an angle very close to 30° learn this angle first since it is a good average value over the entire quarter ball to 3/4 ball hit range and if you want to be more accurate predicting Q ball direction also learn the slightly larger angle for the half ball hit and the slightly smaller angle for the quarter ball and three4 ball hits this shot is a half ball hit so I use a slightly larger P sign for a quarter ball hit I use a slightly smaller P sign for a 3/4 ball hit I also use a slightly smaller P sign again the single 30° P sign is good enough for most shots but if you want to be more accurate also learn how to stretch your PE sign a little for shots close to a half ball hit and relax your PE sign a little for shots close to a quarter ball or three quar ball hit being able to predict caram Direction accurately is very useful in a wide variety of game situations here's a good eightball example where a carum off to 13 breaks out the 811 cluster while pocketing the 11 to continue [Applause] shooting here my P sign predicts I will scratch to prevent the scratch I just need to lower my tip to make sure the Q ball does not have full Top Spin roll the P sign is very useful with ball in hand after an opponent foul here I use the P sign in Reverse to decide where to place the Q ball to get an accurate breakout shot targeting the top side of the 11 this skill can definitely help you win games here I'm using the P sign to make sure I can get through traffic for the position play uptable for shape on the eight in the side here the P sign tells me if I have room and a good direction to head up table for the eight when the QQ ball is tough to reach you can use the air P sign technique see the links in the video description for more details and examples [Music] there is also a useful to know half ball hit principle for draw shots with good action draw the Q ball will change direction by 90° this is a result of the useful three times the angle system Linked In the video description because a half ball hit is a 30° cut angle 3times that is 90° it is possible to draw slightly better than this but it is not easy so this is a good challenge drill to practice good action draw set up a half ball hit with the object ball a diamond from the side pocket and try to scratch in the corner pocket with no pocket cheating that requires slightly better than good action draw here the draw is used to get a breakout shot here's an eightball example where the 90° draw rule is useful to know the rule tells me it is possible to draw a straight up table off the 11 for shape on the eight again that was slightly better than good action draw giv me the win now for some fun proposition shots that take advantage of the natural angle of the half ball hit bet somebody that with Q ball in hand you can carum off the ball on a foot spot and scratch in the corner 10 times in a row a potential fish might think this is difficult and take the bet if you have a well- calibrated P sign the proposition bet is a sure thing just put the Q ball along the perfect line where the natural angle heads straight to the heart of the pocket obviously it is best to find this position and test it out before making the bet with the QQ ball in the right place winning this bet is so easy I don't even need to take my time or aim carefully the Q ball still heads to the heart of the pocket on every shot again slight changes in AIM and cut angle with a half ball hit do not change CH Q ball Direction very much if nobody wants to take the first bet move the object ball to the center of the table and bet you can scratch from there five times in a row again if you know where to put the qball the bet is still a sure thing here I using the airp sign technique again be sure to test the QQ ball position ahead of time I am a little more careful on this one but the bet is still a sure thing [Applause] [Applause] and if your fish still demands more bet you can scratch three times in a row shooting with only one hand with the cuq ball Frozen to the headrail surely no fish will think this is possible again if you find the best Q ball position even this bet is a sure thing although though I do need to aim carefully and use a relaxed stroke with a still head and body on this one I hit this last shot poorly dropping my elbow a little but the Q ball still finds the heart of the pocket a final useful principle with half ball hits concerns avoiding a double kiss with a bank of a rail Frozen ball when the object ball is a little more than a diamond from the target pocket the bank is on the verge of a double kiss when shooting perpendicular to the rail with a half ball hit at fast speed the half ball hit Bank goes but at slower speeds there is a double kiss causing a miss this principle can help you figure out other shots too for example if the hit is Fuller than half ball the double kiss cannot be avoided even at fast speed with a thinner hit you still need speed to avoid the double hit but not as much as with the half ball hit when the object ball is higher up on the rail the bank calls for a thinner hit so the double kiss is less of a concern but you still need enough speed to enable the object ball to compress the cushion enough to clear even farther up the rail you can clearly see the object ball still needs to compress the the cushion a little to clear the double kiss but medium speed gets the job done even higher up the rail the object ball can clear even at slow speed I want to thank Mike Paige and Bob JT for providing inspiration for several topics in this video I hope viewers now have a better appreciation for the importance and usefulness of the half ball hit hopefully some of the principles in this video will help you win more games and Bets have fun with the shots and good luck with your game from Dr [Music] Dave

Channel: DrDaveBilliards

Views: 143,316

Keywords: billiards, pool, instruction, advice, training, instructional video, Dr. Dave, how to play pool, how to play billiards, pool tips, pool tutorial, pool lessons, billiards lessons, how to play 8 ball, 1/2-ball hit, half-ball hit, CTE, center to edge aim, carom shot, how to aim carom shots, 30 degree rule, natural angle

Id: yr8jGPcyQ1M

Length: 16min 53sec (1013 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 30 2023