I feel that for us mere mortals there's what I call the learning curve with any new to us shaft or cue , for myself I need to play quite a few racks to start to get the hang of it so to speak while some others claim that the learning curve happens nearly without much effort .

For myself I find that old favorite cue combination and use it when the proverbial chips are down .

This is one of the main reasons why I miss having easy access to a 9 ft table where I can set up a shot or drill and work my way through the course of becoming more familiar with the new cue / shaft .

Yes it can be accomplished on a bar table if you have a pocket full of quarters ha ha but the 9' hour table is more enjoyable for best results .

In other words when a person wonders about this or that shaft or cue they need to try it for them selves because there isn't a one size fits all as we all know but refuse to admit to when it comes to pool cues , so bite the bullet and crack out the wallet and spend the cash until someone opens up a supply house when a person can go and try each and every new cue out there which I'm not holding my breath until it happens .

As always you're results may vary !

Up

lfigueroa said:

With a time limit players will game the clock.

Any decent player knows how to go into lock down mode. If you don't need anymore balls you can just stall and bunt balls all day long and give your opponent nothing. Two and a half hours into the match one guy can shut it down and win.

Lou Figueroa

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Sounds like a pretty easy tournament to win then if you're capable of getting a lead on someone.

Next weekend bump

Hammie, that clears it up for me. So the main one is the flatter setup, three fingers off the second diamond, a touch of low right, and you are cutting the wing ball into the bottom right corner. The other one is the tight one, right up against the rail with only your middle finger down, high right, and the cue ball comes around the bottom of the rack to the middle of the table.

I can picture both of them now. The part I keep coming back to is the cue ball finishing in the middle on that second one. When you play it, are you mostly watching where the cue ball ends up, or are you trusting the high right to do that work and just focusing on the wing ball?

Bump

pooldawg8 said:

I`ve dealt with both of these guys, it doesn`t get much better than these 2 jay birds.
Straight up good people

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Thank you Sir.

My main 2nd ball is cue ball about 3 fingers off the second diamond rail with a slight low right English hitting the second ball full basically trying to cut the wing ball in the bottom right corner. My other 2nd ball break is cue ball over enough from the second diamond to have only my middle finger bridge hand on the table. High right English hitting the second ball full trying to make the wing ball in the bottom right and have the cue ball come around the bottom of the rack to end up in middle of the table.

Thanks maha, that actually simplifies it for me. I was adding a touch above centre on those kicks because I thought it would help the cue ball run cleaner, but from what you are saying the height is not the lever at all — it is dead centre and getting the speed right.

On a longer one-rail kick where the cue ball has a long way to travel, do you still just stay dead centre and change nothing but the speed?

Thanks for this, Hammie. Having a system like that is exactly what I have been missing. I basically have the one break, and when it goes dry I just start messing with speed and swinging harder, which never ends well.

Having a second 2nd ball break ready to go before you touch the head ball break makes a lot of sense. What is the difference between your two 2nd ball breaks — is it where you put the cue ball, or where you are hitting the second ball?

And you are right about the pressure part. When the break stops giving you anything, every other part of the game suddenly feels heavier.