That IS where I watch them...on video. I also attended the Galveston World Classic a couple years ago...they had professional 8-ball in that event. I don't know if I ever saw a single pro use the second ball break..as far as I can recollect.
My biggest gripe about the second ball break is when some yo-yo claims he has it down to an art...which he obviously doesn't.
If anyone has anything down to an art...it is the seasoned professionals...and they weren't using it in the matches I was watching.
Maniac
well maniac i am not gonna side with russ.... after all i did say earlier that making the 8 is pure luck , but i gotta tell you this story.
back in the mid 80's i was playing in a bar one fri night. i was having one of my good nights keeping the table all night long playing for mostly beers and a few 5 or 10 games.
my g/f at the time was hanging with some friends at the bar and would come and check on me and get some beers i had won for her and her friends.
she knew i was pretty good for a bar banger but i gotta tell you she was a lot better and knew more about pool than i did at the time. well after a few hours she told me ... you see that old man sitting by himself in the corner ? i said yea. she says don;t play him. i said why not? she says he is a road player.
like i said ...although she was 10 years my younger she had been around pool a whole lot longer than me. i said whats a road player ? she explained to me what one is. i said how do you know he is ? she said.. you know how i always watch every one when we are out. i said yea. she says well he has been in here for 3 hours sitting by himself drinking 1 coke and watching all the action on these 2 pool tables.
i said so ? she says aint nobody doing that unless they looking to make a score. well after i had chased every body off the tables that old man came up and said ... you wanna play some ? i said yea. he says 20.00 a game. i said no... 5.00 a game like i been playing all night long.
well i break and run 6 balls and he runs out. next game he makes 8 on break. next game 8 on break. he makes 8 ball on break 5 times in a row before i said i had enough. i dont know how many he could have made in a row but i was not paying 5.00 a game to find out. then i saked him how he made it every time. he showed me the 2nd ball break . i tried it a few times and made it one outa 10 times but playing on coin op tables got expensive getting the 8 out. i just quit trying it and actually took a 20 year hiatus from pool.
upon getting ready to leave that old man told me i had a good eye for the game and if i ever learned english i would be dangerous. now i am 59 with eyes not as good as they once were and still don't know english worth a damn lol.