Amazing physics of billiard tricks

Original author: John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro
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In the billiard room in Hoboken, New Jersey, Andy the “Wizard” Seagal leans on the table, lifts the cue in the air and hits it from top to bottom. The ball jumps into the air and lands on the felt covering, spinning and rolling backward, touching each of 10 placed in a row balls in turn before hammering the ball with number 8 into the corner pocket.

This is a machine gun strike. Welcome to the trick billiards.



For a long time, pool tricks were new. Players gathered in basements and billiard rooms, showing each other the tricks they invented. But today it has become a special sport - separate from the traditional pool. He even has his own ESPN tournament: Trick Shot Magic, where people like Seagal, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, show four hits at the same time, or Florian “Venom” Kohler, licensed optometrist , produces a “sexy” trick that sends the ball flying over the knees of a model seductively sitting on a table.



If you think that these tricks are just a test of kick skills, you don’t understand what this is all about. They are more like subjects for study in a geometry lesson or in a physical laboratory. Or at a lecture on billiards. Yes, students at Harvard are actually studying the Dynamics of Rational Billiards. At Williams University "Geometry, Surfaces, and Billiards." At Stanford "Lagrange Relations and Linear Billiards."



David Alciatore, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado, has already done a lot of work on this sport, with a focus on scientific explanations of tricks, and even includes billiards in his lectures on energy, friction and rotation. Talk to him about billiards for about five minutes, and you will drown in mathematical formulas. You will learn how the impact ball affects the one it is impacting with, how it transmits rotation, how the balance controls the jumping ball, and how various forces work during a massé.



Analytical understanding is given intuitively to stunt masters. They can visualize complex punches that ordinary players will not approach - and then practice and practice to hone them. “Imagine a swirling punch, or punch with a bounce,” says Alciatore about Kohler’s “sexual” curve and Sigal’s four-pounce jump. “Those who have not practiced their implementation will not be able to repeat them. If you do not have the technique and experience, it is almost impossible. You can understand all the physics of the world, and still it won’t help you. ”



Tim "Dragon" Chin, one of the best stunts in the world, was the champion of artistic stunts in the 2014 championship held by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). Chin, like Alkyator, has a degree, only he specializes in materials, not mechanisms. Like many modern stunts, he is not interested in the traditional pool. He was lured by analytical tasks related to tricks, and he follows his passion from one tournament to another, competing with the best players for small, relatively other sports, money (prizes here range from $ 2,000 to $ 30,000). He also organizes exhibitions and consultations.

“The first time I saw tricks on billiards at ESPN was in 2000,” he says. “It looked like a trick, but nothing was hidden - everything was in sight! It was a mystery to me, and its solution was my task. "

Alchiator, or, as he calls himself, Dr. Dave, divides these puzzles into two categories: a strike with preparation and a strike to agility. The first requires setting the balls in an ideal position so that they correctly respond to the blow - even when the novice hits. The second requires an experienced player with huge experience in terms of technology and experience.



Chin agrees with this division, but most of all he likes blows of “knowledge” - those that no one has ever seen. As an example, he cites Will DeYonker, with the unique ability to come up with new hits and quickly master them. “I don’t think you can show the hit more than in two tournaments in a row before Dayonker figure it out,” says Chin.

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Will dayonker

Dayonker, a 24-year-old videography student at Madonna University in Michigan, beat 16 rivals and took the WPA championship last month in Oklahoma. He also has an innate sense of geometry, but for an unusual reason. Dayonker, sponsored by his mother, chiropractor Susan Blaskay, was diagnosed with moderate autism at the age of 4 years. He showed typical signs: he did not meet eyes with others, avoided people, had difficulty expressing emotions. In 2006, stumbling upon Trick Shot Magic, he was fascinated by moving balls. He began to train many hours a day in his house.



Dayonker, known in the world of stuntmen as the “Gentleman,” says that his autism allowed him to immediately understand this art. He considers himself to be “more a visual person than a verbal one,” and therefore, developing a trick, he first draws it on paper - marks it out and makes calculations in his head. “I have a three-dimensional map in my head,” he says. “When I approach the pool, the card comes to life, and I just know in which direction the cue ball will move, and how to hit it, and from what angle, and so on.”

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Dr. Dave is not surprised at the success of Dayonker. “In general, geometric vision is a necessary skill for playing billiards,” he says. - People who are capable of high-quality three-dimensional visualization will be better at playing billiards. It is necessary to visualize the corners, the ball, and imagine a blow in the head. ”

Now that the tricks on billiards have taken their place, what is their future? According to many of the best performers, the competition is full of people who intuitively approach science - and have an unrivaled geometric vision. So imagine the unimaginable.

“Tricks have already evolved from the days when they were standard and well-known hits,” says Chin. - One way to stand out is to invent a new skill and master it. Take a hit with a jump - at first it turned into a blow with one hand, and this put some rivals at a standstill. Then people began to do it with their left hand, so they had to become ambidextrous. And now they are doing it with one hand behind their backs or from under their feet. "

Chin talks about favorites no more than his rival, Gentleman. “Will Deyonker managed to quickly master the blows,” he says. “He is destined to dominate this sport for the next 15-20 years.”

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