[mosconiac]

Now that we've had a healthy discussion on SVB's break, let's talk about another great breaker and how he compares to the other top rack-crushers.

I shot a pair of clips of Johnny Archer breaking at the 2007 DCC 10B ring game. Fortunately, I was able to get him from two different angles. Here are the two vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXTA2n-qkwY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmWyiZ73ymg

The more you study the break techniques of the best breakers out there, you will find distinct similarlities. Buste, Hohmann, SVB, Nevel, & JA for example all have distinctly different looking forms, but they ALL have significant commonality. I will point out these common factors out in this thread. These specific items are what we have to pull into our own natural rhythm to develop the most productive break.

SET:
Johnny sets up for the break very low...just as Buste, Hohmann, SVB, & Nevel do. You will note his arm position is vertical and looks as if he could be shooting a normal shot. From here, Johnny takes a series of quick practice strokes and you will note how loose his arm appears...NO TENSION! Interstingly, JA does not use the forward hand position that Buste, Hohmann, SVB, & Nevel do.



BACKSWING:
Johnny takes his final backswing and although it is difficult to see in the video because it all happens so fast, Johnny's hand opens up (wrist cocks) and stays near motionless as he transitions into the forward swing. I have noticed this same pause (no matter how brief) in ALL of the top breakers. Note the hand position has raised the butt of the cue significantly. I have noticed this same elevation in ALL of the top breakers.



TRANSITION:
As Johnny starts his forward move, his body starts to rise up and his elbow slides behind his body. I have noticed this same elbow movement in ALL of the top breakers.





FOLLOW-THRU:
You will notice here that Johnny's body has risen straight up so there is nowhere for the arm to go but around his body on the follow-thru. This is what gives Johnny his charactersitic (exaggerated) elbow-out follow-thru motion. You will notice many similarities in Jon Kucharo's break video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O21AsO3g9Ms






Now take a look at these vids and see if you can see the common elevated baskswing, elbow tuck, pause at the back as the body rises, and wrist cock...

Buste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1lGmxqPNd8
SVB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YCBs6T2kMI
Nevel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMmq2UXrNf0
Hohmann: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txpzb8wpuKY

BTW, no one tops Buste's elevation & wrist cock!!



EDIT: I've added evaluations of Charlie Bryant's and Larry Nevel's breaks here:

CB: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=125466
LN: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=126254

[cajunbarboxplyr]

Very cool stuff!!

Check out How Hillbilly transitions his body when breaking......Generates LOTS of power!

[sfleinen]

Originally Posted by cajunbarboxplyr

Very cool stuff!!

Check out How Hillbilly transitions his body when breaking......Generates LOTS of power!

Yup! And another *powerful* breaker is Evgeny Stalev:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PkCG3q2PDa4

(Go to 9:20 in the video, to see the first of Evgeny's bone-crushing breaks. And, the cueball doesn't hop around on the table either!)

Evgeny's break seems to originate more from the arm and chest (pectoral muscle), rather than from body momentum, because his body doesn't seem to move all that much.

-Sean

[Drew]

How about these hard-hitters

Jeff De Luna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyvNI13xH8o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLDCn...eature=related

Wu Chia-Ching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APpsm3as3-w

[Bigkahuna]

Originally Posted by sfleinen

Yup! And another *powerful* breaker is Evgeny Stalev:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PkCG3q2PDa4

(Go to 9:20 in the video, to see the first of Evgeny's bone-crushing breaks. And, the cueball doesn't hop around on the table either!)

Evgeny's break seems to originate more from the arm and chest (pectoral muscle), rather than from body momentum, because his body doesn't seem to move all that much.

-Sean

He and Busty really have a big backswing and high cue elevation. Probably would take a lot of time to make that effective.

[9 ball]

Can someone tell me what cue exactly it is archer uses for playing here's a video of the cues he uses his playing cue is the one closest to him, you get a good view of it at 1.09, the reason I ask is because he says he gets all his cues from the scorpion factory as made no modifications but I can't find it on the scorpion cues website:

Anyway here's the video

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuh2VAFCpjs

[gregthcarpenter]

Johny giving a lesson on breaking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffkl-zp96N8&NR=1

[mosconiac]

Bump for those that haven't had a chance to see this....

[Texas Prez]

Wow...Jeff de Luna....wow...enough said

[Gatz]

Im not Johnny Archer, but I will add my 2 cents into this thread. From my experience breaking keeping your hand on the table while your cue follows through all the way gets way better results than lifting your cue into the air.

I like the way shane does it, less power lots of follow through. He keeps his hand ON the table, and does not raise his bridge hand into the air. I think this is very important, for getting the best results, and power.

When I keep my hand on the table and follow through like shane does I get amazingly good results. If I lift my bridge hand off the table after my follow through I lose so much power and get very poor results.

Bringing your cue into the air can't help anything. But keeping your cue straight, and inline with the shot all the way through the follow through can only help.

When I get a really good break going I usually follow through all the way sometimes passed the Joint, and the tip is almost at the cueball where it contacts the 1. I have never hit a ball following through that much, and I usually pull away in time if something like that occurs.

[AnitoKid]

Coolness! And I kid you not!
Thanks for sharing!

[Olive]

I'll kid you all the way

[JayBaltimore]

nice post and a cool read....imma have to try the elevated elbow mess...but nevel's and archers are almost identical in those vid's posted. thanks for taking the time to post these...cool story.