The Great Break Discussion.

DistinguishedBilliards

DistinguishedBilliards

Member
Hello everyone,
I am posting this here as a discussion, I have witnessed the amount of knowledge and ability from all the members to help each other and even myself. I searched for info here on this and did not find anything robust. MY break is ok, I can thunder clap the pop and typically drop a ball but the layouts are about 50/50 on weather or not I should get an applause or a stoning. I learn best myself by filling in gaps of missing knowledge likely like alot of people. So I am asking the question for anyone who wants the info or wants to share their knowledge on a solid break. Below are the factors I feel I need help with and likely others. Thank you all.!
Factors:
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1). Table size 7-8-9 footers.
2). Game 8-9-10-One pocket-Straight pool.
3). Cue ball placement location and hit.
4). How do we factor in pocket size, table speed and ball conditions.
5). What am I or anyone still progressing upwards, not thinking about.?
 
Myself persoanlly i use a more controlled break. I try to make a wing ball on the break and have the CB land in the center of the table. That goes for 8, 9, 10 ball. Power breaks don't work for me I have no control over things. With a controlled break i can continue my run. Power breaks to me are more of a poke and hope

As far as placement of the CB i like to look at how the table is worn. People are only going to break in spots that are sucessful and this only works with older cloth, New cloth i'm experimenting.

As far as One pocket and Straight pool those games have well established traditional breaks and I'm not reinventing the wheel on those. These games i would rely on cloth speed and table conditions.

In the end your whole goal is to win. You need to do what continues the run or puts the table into your favor.
 
Straight pool...make sure you have a tight rack especially in the back row.

One pocket ...make sure the side row is tight on the side opposite of breaking.
 
Zerksies said:
Myself persoanlly i use a more controlled break. I try to make a wing ball on the break and have the CB land in the center of the table. That goes for 8, 9, 10 ball. Power breaks don't work for me I have no control over things. With a controlled break i can continue my run. Power breaks to me are more of a poke and hope

As far as placement of the CB i like to look at how the table is worn. People are only going to break in spots that are sucessful and this only works with older cloth, New cloth i'm experimenting.

As far as One pocket and Straight pool those games have well established traditional breaks and I'm not reinventing the wheel on those. These games i would rely on cloth speed and table conditions.

In the end your whole goal is to win. You need to do what continues the run or puts the table into your favor.
Click to expand...
I am working to get myself into the controlled break game for 8-9-10. So I am researching how to find those sweet spots. My one pocket break is ok but iffy on scratching if I don't get the hit right. my straight pool needs alot of work.
 
DistinguishedBilliards said:
Hello everyone,
I am posting this here as a discussion, I have witnessed the amount of knowledge and ability from all the members to help each other and even myself. I searched for info here on this and did not find anything robust. MY break is ok, I can thunder clap the pop and typically drop a ball but the layouts are about 50/50 on weather or not I should get an applause or a stoning. I learn best myself by filling in gaps of missing knowledge likely like alot of people. So I am asking the question for anyone who wants the info or wants to share their knowledge on a solid break. Below are the factors I feel I need help with and likely others. Thank you all.!
Factors:
-------------------------
1). Table size 7-8-9 footers.
2). Game 8-9-10-One pocket-Straight pool.
3). Cue ball placement location and hit.
4). How do we factor in pocket size, table speed and ball conditions.
5). What am I or anyone still progressing upwards, not thinking about.?
Click to expand...
The Great Break Shot - Charley Bond (AZB Member and creator of the Break Rack)
Racking Secrets - Joe Tucker (longtime internet forum member, pioneer who called for a shift to tournament10-ball, inventor, all-around great guy)
Dr Dave has an excellent video on the 9-ball break. Search it as well as all of his other videos.

Breaking with great control trumps breaking hard/fast with less-than-great control.
 
I’ve recently gotten my 10 ball break really good after watching all the videos and practicing in different spot with different speeds and even different cues for months on end, hrs and hrs each day before league of just breaking
and my break went from maybe I’ll get lucky and see a ball after the break and maybe not scratch to

80-90 percent success at making the side or corner balls seeing the one and keeping the cb on the same half of the table with a shot at it
And it’s with all focus on control

Making two balls the majority of the time quite a few 3 balls and even a couple 4 balls off the break
Upping my bnr from almost never to several times a week in practice


Went from oh the house cue is good enough for me to oh man the predator bk rush is more than just hype

A great cue with tons of educated practice

On the diamond bar table for break and run pots
 
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Its a trick shot, just practice setting up smaller parts of the cluster until you find the solution point.

Getting the predictable paths on the top 3 is easy in nineball, fine tuning the rack is what matters the most.

That is why top pros are so picky when RYO.
 
I think the one thing that trumps everything else on the break is accuracy. For me at least my breaks are much better when I concentrate on a perfectly square hit by sacrificing some speed. I get a more wide open break that I am likely to pocket a ball on with a slower square hit than I would with more speed and a not so square hit. I found this out practicing with my break-rak. When I get a nice square hit and successfully park the cue ball between the side pockets Im likely to make a ball and have a nice run-able spread.
 
fastone371 said:
I think the one thing that trumps everything else on the break is accuracy. For me at least my breaks are much better when I concentrate on a perfectly square hit by sacrificing some speed. I get a more wide open break that I am likely to pocket a ball on with a slower square hit than I would with more speed and a not so square hit. I found this out practicing with my break-rak. When I get a nice square hit and successfully park the cue ball between the side pockets Im likely to make a ball and have a nice run-able spread.
Click to expand...

Agreed:: The break is a precision shot not a power shot.
 
Bob Jewett said:
And just to pound this home, scratching once on the break cancels several good breaks with position on the one. Giving up ball in hand is huge.
Click to expand...
I lost 5 sets to 7 in a row on Tuesday. I don't think I've ever been beaten that bad before. ha ha. I looked back, and must have scratched 8 or so times on the break, he ran out almost all those games.
 
8/10 ball, controlled power (nearly max, but not quite - not trying to kill anyone with the cueball) and a squat cue ball centre table. Two cue widths off centre to start, and hitting the headball dead on. Really have my 8-ball break on lock now.

9-ball MR break format - Edge of the box, firm, but not all out power (75% if that's a useful measure?). 1 in the middle, and often I have been finding the bottom of the rack cannoning of another ball to a bottom corner. I have been playing this mostly with a fraction of bottom, but outside spin has also worked for me too sometimes to produce a more workable cueball for the next ball (downside is, I have a bit of a scratching issue when doing this - not sure if it's just in my head though).

I will practice a break shot a handful of times before playing a tournament. This way I can roughly gauge any adjustments to be made prior to game one. Always watch where the 1-ball ends up and adjust your cut based on the information you get back.

Standard 9-ball, I am hammering them as hard as possible, from the rail, aiming at the gap between 9 and the ball that sits next to it, touch of bottom, wing ball is almost an absolute certainty.

Still learning one pocket and 14.1 breaking methods, 'safety first' - I find it hard to dangle the carrot for the opponent.

I only play on 9ft tables. Sometimes 10-ball on the 10-footer.

Great idea for a thread, hoping some good content comes up :D
 
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