mikemosconi said:

90% of an effective break, IMO, is a tight rack, a direct center hit on your object ball in the rack, your break cue speed, and proper timing/technique of the break cue stroke to the CB.

If you have ALL of that perfected, the break cue that is most comfortable for you will add the final 10% to your break. Experiment - yes- I have experience with the Li'l Monster break/jump, the BK Rush, and the BK3 shaft on a sport wrapped plain maple cue butt.

For me, I like the BK3 first, and I saw no difference between BK Rush at $800 new and Lil Monster at about $125 used. I like a hard leather tip on my break cue, I found the cue ball difficult to control with anything but that on the end of my break shaft. Just my 2 cents.

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It took a while for me to try the Bulletproof Break tip, there are good and bad reviews just like with every piece of gear, they hold chalk great and perform great on hard and soft breaks, you can even draw the cueball with this tip if you are so inclined.

preacherman said:

I understand what you're saying and sometimes I thought of going that way with a softer break since all I do is spread them out and normally not get a ball in on break but I spread them so well I'm still trying to find my spot to break from that seems to yield the most breaks with getting a ball in.

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Check out Dr Dave's Breaking video

90% of an effective break, IMO, is a tight rack, a direct center hit on your object ball in the rack, your break cue speed, and proper timing/technique of the break cue stroke to the CB.

If you have ALL of that perfected, the break cue that is most comfortable for you will add the final 10% to your break. Experiment - yes- I have experience with the Li'l Monster break/jump, the BK Rush, and the BK3 shaft on a sport wrapped plain maple cue butt.

For me, I like the BK3 first, and I saw no difference between BK Rush at $800 new and Lil Monster at about $125 used. I like a hard leather tip on my break cue, I found the cue ball difficult to control with anything but that on the end of my break shaft, although the Kamui control break tip and the White Diamond break tip rank high in my liking as well.. Just my 2 cents.

CeaseLess said:

I didn't realize they weren't normal. I figured it was because I've owned shafts at those specs, the meucci pro for example is 12.5, 14 inch taper. Is there a way to achieve that size tip with a longer pro taper that is not prone to warping?

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I think you should switch to carbon fiber shaft. If you insist on that zero taper for 17 inches.

mjantti said:

Been breaking with Mezz Kai with many years now, looking suggestions and options going to a CF break shaft/cue. I have tried a few including a JFlowers, Finnish brand Dominus but without extensive chance to compare. If anyone can give some insight here, especially if you have had a chance to compare. I am not looking to spend way over $500, does CF provide enough extra punch with control? Shaft diameter? Adjustable weight bolts? Does the JB option bring more value as I don’t own a proper CF jumper at the moment either? I am a decent shooter with a realistic Fargo around maybe 700 so I am looking for a pro level cue, and good value for money as at the moment I don’t have time to play much. JFlowers seems promising with their under 500 pricing.

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Becue cues are made in Italy and are the first cue to be made totally of CF, Check out their website and look up technology, these guys are experts in CF who wanted to bring to pool what CF brought to golf, I own both their break cue and playing cue, in my experience there are 2 things that make Becue's CF better than wood cues, 1) they transfer energy better than most wood shafts, there are some really good wood shafts out there but they are dependent on how long the wood was grown, water content and a bunch of other factors, CF shafts built by Becue are engineered for several types of hit, do you want lowest deflection, more feedback, a combination of both? They know not every player wants the same type of hit, so it brings me to the next point, consistency, I will say that in Becue cues you will get a consistent hit from shaft to shaft and Cue to Cue, I like having a spare shaft in case a tip pops off, when I had wood shafts I had my "main" shaft and my spare, while the spare shaft played well it did play different, with my Becue's I find they play the same, I don't have to make any adjustments unless I was changing the type of shaft I was using, This my 4th year owning my Becue's and I love them more now than when I first got them, that's my 2 cents.

First time I played Cole he was traveling with David Sizemore.
SIU Carbondale IL....
He came into 4 table room, all 8 foots at a downtown bar.
It was 69 or 1968 with Janscos a 1/2 hr away.
We played again in 89 in Palm Springs.
Saw em a few times at the Bike Club.
Nice guy, great player.
I liked his game more than McCreadys in his prime yrs.

Patrick Johnson said:

On the other hand, if your tip is too flat you can't hit at the miscue limit on the CB without miscuing. Best to shape your tip so it has at least 60° of arc (dime or nickel shape), which allows you to hit all the way to the CB's miscue limit (halfway from center to edge = 30° per side) without hitting right on the edge of your tip.

pj
chgo

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Yes, I’m not advocating a flat tip. I’m just trying to point to a possible explanation for the apparent miscue with a dime rather than a nickel.

Patrick Johnson said:

Thanks. That's my understanding too of the common definition. ...

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Koehler defines it in a glossary on page 202 of his One Pocket book. The minimum speed definition is also in Nick Leider's book.

I might put the speed up very slightly from the absolute minimum to where the ball might bounce off a couple of jaws before dropping.

George Fels recommended a practice technique where you had to never let the object ball hit the back of the pocket. That feels about right.

Speaking of the Accu-Stats Luat vs Dickson one-pocket match ,Cole was responsible for Luat having that final match winning shot. Even if you never heard of Cole Dickson, just from watching that video, you know Cole had excellent cue ball control and consistently placed it with impeccable forethought. I believe Cole left Luat that shot intentionally to tempt him. Cole knew that to make that bank would take a world-class effort. Cole was gambling so as to get another chance to win the match.

On the other hand, now, you may be thinking, what about those two terrible blunders Cole made earlier in the match: missing one shot badly and scratching on the other?

Were they really mistakes? Pretty flagrant, possibly. But I wonder if Cole got any action outside of tournament competition. You know: hay, I'm a senior, losing my game, I'm dogging it regularly, I like to bet high, you can win... A gunslinger hustler like Cole... Who knows? I'd like to find out.

Texas Carom Club said:

I should have known better

Mike gulyassy says he can do it in a few months
His reputation speaks for itself

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I have called around a bit as well and decided on a gaboon ebony Merry Widow cue and a matching jump / break cue from Gulyassy.

jeephawk said:

Almost ready to give up - they claim PPV is available and "go to digital pool" and you go there and there is nothing but various memberships which aren't really helpful - can't find any menu option for PPV for this event.

Anyone know where to find it?

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FYI, the Accu-Stats arena table is free this year on youtube.