How Important Is it to Own/Use a Break Cue

I've seen monster breaks with a regular or house cue. I've seen terrible breaks with expensive break cues. It matters a little I think, but probably not much. If you look at stats at the pro level, it favors slightly whomever shoots first, so maybe 60% max at the pro tournament level to whomever shoots first. So if you make a ball on the break, you get to shoot first (most games), so you have a slight advantage. So if your break cue helps you to make a ball on the break, at the pro level, you have an advantage.

At the non-pro level, I don't think it matters much at all. There used to be some tours I'd follow with decent non-pro players. Several years the tour winners were just terrible breakers, but they made up for it in other areas.

Personally, I own a jump/break, but almost never use it. Maybe if I did, I'd win a few more matches. Personally though, I don't think it has mattered much.

Wright claims first (recorded) regional tour victory, goes undefeated to win Joss NE 9-Ball stop

Curtis Wright comes to us from the ‘transition school’ of pool competition, at which competitors move from the primarily amateur ranks of bar table Friday nights and small regional tours to the loftier heights of major regional tours, where competition heats up quickly. In 2020 and 2022, Wright chalked up his first two (recorded) payouts with us here at AZBilliards, both on the New England 9-Ball Series (5th and 4th). In 2023, he moved up a notch to an Open 10-Ball event at Amazin’ Billiards in Malden, MA, at which he finished as the ‘official’ runner-up (money was split among […]

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Cole Dickson's practice session routine

Coles confessed was, "I need one drink, to take the edge off. But then I can't quit at 1."
So yeah that's The Battle he was fighting at that time. I witnessed the down side of his decline. I also had the privilege to watch him work on the pool table playing Harry all night long to end up 25 grand. Not A bad overtime bonus. He corralled that demon on that occasion. 🤷‍♂️

Cole Dickson's practice session routine

Ooops almost forgot the story. 🤷‍♂️
At Harry's place playing a thousand a game 1 pocket.
Cole hit a straight back game ball from 3/4 table dead into the heart of the pocket, like a rocket. Ho hum yeah but the straight back had A Dead kiss. 🤷‍♂️ He popped whitey 12 inches in the air. The object ball jetted underneath. Easy as well That's what he could do. 🤷‍♂️
I like that. Gotta try that one.

How Important Is it to Own/Use a Break Cue

Some players keep a break cue in their pool case. How necessary is this?
IMO, it really depends on how serious you are. You can definitely play with just one cue, but almost no one does. The fact that all pros have a separate break cue (and pretty much have for decades) is probably an indicator.

In the "old days," I think having a dedicated cue was primarily so you didn't have to change shafts to break because you wanted a different tip (super hard leather or phenolic). [see Dr. Dave's advice: https://drdavepoolinfo.com/faq/break/cue/ "It is best to use a dedicated break cue, which is beefier and has a hard tip (usually phenolic)"]. Folks also believed that a separate cue kept your playing tip from flattening out.

Technology has changed and we now have CF shafts, improved plastics, and also layered tips. I personally believe CF shafts improve breaking speed and consistency, although I haven't seen any empirical data on this. But, at least from a deflection standpoint they should help you break better. Layered tips mushroom less, so maybe that counsels against a separate shaft. Although breaking with an 11.8 might not be optimal.

**edit: Dr. Dave calculated phenolic tips provide ~17% increase in breaking power. So, just that change might justify a different shaft/cue for breaking. https://drdavepoolinfo.com//technical_proofs/new/TP_A-30.pdf

All that said, if you are breaking 15-18MPH, there may not be a big difference between cues as your breaking speed/technique might be the limiting factor. But, when you start to break the balls at 23-25MPH, the increase in performance is more noticeable. And having a larger sweet spot for breaking can also improve the result at higher speeds.

-td (my $0.02; probably worth less though).

-td

Treadway cues

Quit here. Not getting back to you screw that.
A member here just got his 2nd Joss. Said the process was a quality one. The cues are 1st class... absolutely beautiful
A fucking Joss is not a Treadway, my God...

What a terrible comparison, Joss is about 15 workers banging away Josh is one fucking dude making masterpiece cues.

Jesus....

Show me your Joss that looks like this...
1000005770.jpg

Dynaspheres Tungsten 572 Pool Ball Set

The Tungsten set is on par with a Aramith premium poly-resin core with a phenolic shell. Not a great ball from a construction perspective but a great entry level set that you will get years of use out of before they need to be replaced.

Having said that I did play at a hall that used these balls in Maryland and their sets were rough, they did not deal with that level of use well at all.

But at $179 you could have gotten a set of Aramith Premier which has more phenolic resin or even a great used set of Super Pro's. I can't believe Dynasphere is charging that much for their basic ball now.

Sneak-Peek, Half-CaF Shaft

Show results of what your products' deflection is compared to others. Dr Dave has a wonderful method that takes into consideration a person's variability to measure cue-shaft deflection accurately. Use his method to prove your products are superior.
See

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You may find this interesting. These were all one and done shots. I absolutely did not play the shot multiple times then pick the best one. No practice. No warm up. Get down and cut the ball in on the first attempt. Two of these videos are from a security camera the bar owner gave me access to.

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