63 Ball Run

63 ball run on buckets

Not a big run, but there are a few good patterns - I walk through identifying, examining, and making a dead ball (diagram below)- setting up for end patterns, and getting on the break ball. You will notice that I was recovering from a bad cold and that my voice is almost gone. I sort of sleep walked through this run while being tired and grumpy but I got the job done. Hopefully you will be able to pick up some pointers and apply them to your own game - or learn how to avoid shooting ugly like I do.

Part 1

Part 2


This is a diagram of the dead ball in the final rack - or at least its close enough...

CueTable Help

Note to Dave Nelson - my voice is back (somewhat) and I will finish up the last bit of info on your DVD and ship it off on Friday.

PoolSharkAllen said:

Blackjack,

In watching the second half of your video, you made an interesting comment about your break shot: "You broke the rack way too hard, so the balls hit the rails and came back in."

Rack breaking speed is something I've often wondered about. I've noticed some players try to smash the rack apart and I've noticed other players who just try to break a few balls out of the rack.

Could you provide some general comments on how hard one should break open a rack?

Thanks!

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For me, it depends on how the table is - slow or fast, etc. The table I was playing on has that slow Centennial cloth. It was damp that day (one of 3 days out of the year that we get dampness in the desert) - so I started whack the break shots - you saw how that worked out for me. That usually works better with a low break ball where you can draw into the side of the stack. Somewhere in my youtube videos I have an example of that "Thorsten Hohmann" break - it works well if you can control it. If you can't, then you merely splatter the balls everywhere - and you end up having to move the cue ball way too much. I don't like that - I was taught to keep everything up around the top area of the table, that way you have more break ball/key ball options and limit your cue ball movement.

If I am playing on Simonis, I tend to try and tap-break from the top of the stack, taking high break balls. This separates the balls pretty well for me and I can stay basically on one end of the table. That doesn't work on the smaller table with the slower cloth.

A while back, someone showed me how to control the back corner balls with a wide variety of break ball/cue ball positions. You are basically pocketing the break ball, and playing shape to play the back corner balls for your next shot. That takes a lot of practice and you need to really have control of your stroke and the table conditions.

FWIW, Thorsten does tend to whack the balls a bit harder than other players, but he has the gift of phenomenal accuracy and control - I don't - and usually when I hit the balls that hard - they go out to the rails and cluster themselves back at mid-table like you saw.

Vahmurka said:

BJ, is that another triangle on the light? Do you rack on both ends of the table?

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Sometimes I have a rack of balls on each end of the table (30 balls).

The trick is to keep the balls on one end of the table and work your way from rack to rack.

It may sound crazy (in fact it IS crazy)but its very good practice for maintaining control of the cue ball as well as the object balls on the break shot.