9ball break

D

ddeuce

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Hi,

At home, on an 8 foot table, I’m doing great on the 9 ball break. The wing ball is going in every time, and I’m focusing on what happens to the cue ball and the one ball. When I play on a 7 foot table, the wing ball is hitting just above the corner pocket every time. It doesn’t seem to make any difference what I do. I’m breaking from one ball off on the side rail. Anyone have any advice on what factors could bring that wing ball down lower into the corner pocket?
 
I’ll add that at home I’m using a magic rack. At the bar, even when I’m practicing, and I am racking very carefully to make sure there are no gaps, it still hits high a little bit high like 2 inches.
 
Break closer to center ....start 1 diamond in from side rail. Alter where you contact the 1.

BTW magic rack breaks are not going to break the same as a wood rack.

Can work on making 1 in the side as well, as a fallback to when you aren't making the wing ball.

All the while controlling the cueball to center table or to come up table some with the 1, if you are making the wing ball. Have to break with some slight draw.

Not a ton of good breaking instructions out there. Ask some top players in your area that play 9 foot pool .... they will know more than anyone where you are.
 
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Many many years ago, at a pool tournament in Portland (er uh Beaverton) on 7 foot tables I noticed that the powerbreakers were consistently coming up dry. Then I noticed that Don Wirtiman had solved the break. He was consistently making a ball on the break. A key actor was he was not hitting the break nearly as hard as the majority. The change in velocity seemed to change the angles just enough that balls were finding pockets. Perhaps he was just more accurate, precision over power was the lesson I took from the event. 🤷‍♂️
 
9 ball rack is all about the gaps. Learn to read the gaps and then you know where to break from, especially on a bar table.
 
ddeuce said:
Hi,

At home, on an 8 foot table, I’m doing great on the 9 ball break. The wing ball is going in every time, and I’m focusing on what happens to the cue ball and the one ball. When I play on a 7 foot table, the wing ball is hitting just above the corner pocket every time. It doesn’t seem to make any difference what I do. I’m breaking from one ball off on the side rail. Anyone have any advice on what factors could bring that wing ball down lower into the corner pocket?
Click to expand...
On a 9 foot table, using a template and racking the 1 ball on the spot, I also break from about 2-1/2”-3” width off the side rail.

Trying to hit the 1 ball as square as possible and hard, a wing ball virtually always is pocketed for me, and the 1 ball either goes in the side pocket or if not, ends up close to the upper corner pocket where I break from.

For that reason, I try to strike the cue ball low enough to leave it near center table or towards the headstring, to increase my chances for an opening shot on the 1 ball.
 
I tried it today on my table without the magic rack and I'm much less likely to make the wing ball. I'm racking it pretty tight. I don't see any gaps, but there definitely seems to be a difference. We'll see. I'll keep trying it with and without. I'll probably take the magic rack and try it on the 7ft table too.
 
SBC said:
Break closer to center ....start 1 diamond in from side rail. Alter where you contact the 1.

BTW magic rack breaks are not going to break the sane as a wood rack.

Can work on making 1 in the side as well, as a fallback to when you aren't making the wing ball.

All the while controlling the cueball to center table or to come up table some with the 1, if you are making the wing ball. Have to break with some slight draw.

Not a ton of good breaking instructions out there. Ask some tip players in your area that play 9 foot pool .... they will know more than anyone where you are.
Click to expand...
What's weird is that some nights at the bar, I'm killing it. Other days like last night, I might make a ball elsewhere, but not the wing ball. I remember seeing a video somewhere saying what to change, but I can't find it now and can't remember.

I'll experiment more on my table without the magic rack. On my table, when the wing ball doesn't go in, the ball pattern is different than the 7ft table. I don't get a lot of opportunity to practice on the 7ft table, so I'm not sure how I'm going to fix it. I asked a really advanced player last night, and he had no real advice. He said don't worry about it basically, and then I watched him dry break a bunch in his games.
 
Spot - hit - speed - rack. These are the variables that can affect the result of a break shot. Spot - where you spot the cue ball. Hit - how the cue ball hits the rack. Speed - the speed of the break shot. Rack - the quality of the rack and any gaps inherent in the rack. A consistent rack is needed to have consistent results.
 
Black-Balled said:
The balls need to be racked on the spot, so there is a like 2+ cm of vertical wiggle room there.

Helpful sometimes.
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The rules have a single infinitesimal point as the spot. It is not the area of some protective sticker. Not all players follow that rule. Templates make it easy to follow the rule.

On a related point, the official rules now place the nine on the foot spot for the nine ball rack.
 
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ddeuce said:
... Anyone have any advice on what factors could bring that wing ball down lower into the corner pocket?
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Sure. At the end of racking, move the back ball back a tiny bit so it is barely away from the two balls in front of it. That will let the wing ball go forward better. This can work even when the nine is on the spot. This "technique" is fairly well known on the pro tour -- I've seen a former world 9b champion tell his opponent to stop doing it.
 
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Bob Jewett said:
The rules have a single infinitesimal point as the spot. It is not the area of some protective sticker. Not all players follow that rule. Templates make it easy to follow the rule.

On a related point, the official rules now place the nine on the foot spot for the nine ball rack.
Click to expand...
Your point- 9 on the spot break rules will require a 10cm "break strip" to effectively lower that wing ball- is noted but I don't think it'll catch on.
 
all tables are different as to what they do on the break. you have to watch and learn rather than hit hard and turn around.
most tables the wing ball does not go. if it did all the time the rules would change again.
 
ddeuce said:
I tried it today on my table without the magic rack and I'm much less likely to make the wing ball. I'm racking it pretty tight. I don't see any gaps, but there definitely seems to be a difference. We'll see. I'll keep trying it with and without. I'll probably take the magic rack and try it on the 7ft table too.
Click to expand...
Magic rack vs triangle rack is a world of difference. Its the whole reason the pro game came up with a bunch of goofy break rules the past 15 years, because it was too easy to make the corner ball on the break.
 
As a rule of a thumb, whether it is the wing ball to the corner in 9-ball or second row balls to the side pocket in 10/8-ball, the harder you break, the closer these balls hit the head end of the table. If you are hitting the wing ball above the corner pocket, adjust by breaking slower.
 
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