14.1 Break Ball Help

Pushout

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Play Your Best Straight Pool by Phil Capelle has a chapter on break shots that covers this pretty well. Also, Break Shot Patterns book/DVD combination is great showing examples in tournament play about how the last five balls were picked. You can use the book, with diagrams, and follow the DVD and actually see the ideas in practice. Both of these are invaluable, in my opinion.
 

Pushout

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As I said above, Break Shot Patterns are all about the last 5 balls and seeing some of the top players shooting them is a HUGE help, in my opinion. Dave's stuff is great too!
 

Ratta

Hearing the balls.....
Silver Member
@peppersauce

some recommendations are shown up already.

what in my opinion is a great help- for your Overall game, and a better understanding ist George Fels "Mastering Pool".
In my opinion still one of the best books ever written- a Little forgotten nowadays. But as i said: in my opinion Kind of a bible if it s about straight pool.

watching strong Players is also a necessary thing- Play STRONG Players- and ask! try it out on your own. Make it to the table.

But you will always learn from really better Players- and never hesitate to ask them peppersauce! knowledge is real power- especially in straight pool.

George Fels: Mastering Pool
Phil capelle: Play your best straight pool

work through them- and you will have 100% a better understanding :)

have a smooth stroke.
 

Seth C.

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Little vent, if you don’t mind.

I’m back to playing like normal again since I hurt my back and I’ve been working on my patterns, break balls, end patterns, etc. I feel like I’m improving but my runs aren’t showing it. On a positive note, my pace is picking up a little and I’m not so confused about what to do after I break the balls anymore. Now I have another problem.

I’ll break the balls and find my problem areas and a secondary break ball or two, if needed. Then I begin working my way through things. Usually about halfway through the rack everything is open and I’ve decided on a break ball and key ball. Then I miss an easy shot and end my run! This has been happening over and over again. Frustrated is a euphemism for how I feel.

I have no idea why I’m doing this. It’s not like I’ve been playing bad. I’m playing pretty well, and I’ll routinely make tough shots and play good position, make good breakouts, etc., just to chop a ball into the rail from a couple of feet away from the hole. :angry:

I have a lot of work to do still with improving my patterns and not relying so much on shotmaking, but none of that matters if I keep missing the easy ones. Part of it is my table I’m sure. It’s tough, but I have a bunch of runs in the 40’s on it. I’m just having a hell of a hard time reaching my goal of 50.

Peppersauce -- This is my problem, too -- ARRGGH -- although it is mixed in with some failure to be as careful or precise with CB position as one needs to be, which results in what could be a comfortable next shot turning into a very hard (or worse) next shot. A couple of the reasons for this less than exact cue ball positioning are (a) too much focus on aiming/pocketing, when the shot I'm playing is one that regularly makes me uncomfortable, (b) lack of ability to fully control the CB (more with long shots and draw shots than anything else), and (c) less than full understanding of how hard to hit the shot in order to get the CB to land where I'm intending (example, I often send the CB too far after pocketing an OB that is close to a corner pocket).

That thoughtful Dan White will tell you that the first thing you (and I, and anyone else) should do, if we don't make all the makable shots, is to stop working on anything/everything else and perfect the stroke -- however long that may take -- and then and only then work forward with aiming, ball selection, etc. And, he will tell you to develop a "no elbow drop" stroke as part of that process of perfecting the stroke. Can't and don't disagree with him, but . . . when my stroke is good enough to make many difficult shots, and to do so with English, it is really frustrating to miss easier shots and end runs.

Seth
 

Straightpool_99

I see dead balls
Silver Member
Little vent, if you don’t mind.

I’m back to playing like normal again since I hurt my back and I’ve been working on my patterns, break balls, end patterns, etc. I feel like I’m improving but my runs aren’t showing it. On a positive note, my pace is picking up a little and I’m not so confused about what to do after I break the balls anymore. Now I have another problem.

I’ll break the balls and find my problem areas and a secondary break ball or two, if needed. Then I begin working my way through things. Usually about halfway through the rack everything is open and I’ve decided on a break ball and key ball. Then I miss an easy shot and end my run! This has been happening over and over again. Frustrated is a euphemism for how I feel.

I have no idea why I’m doing this. It’s not like I’ve been playing bad. I’m playing pretty well, and I’ll routinely make tough shots and play good position, make good breakouts, etc., just to chop a ball into the rail from a couple of feet away from the hole. :angry:

I have a lot of work to do still with improving my patterns and not relying so much on shotmaking, but none of that matters if I keep missing the easy ones. Part of it is my table I’m sure. It’s tough, but I have a bunch of runs in the 40’s on it. I’m just having a hell of a hard time reaching my goal of 50.

I call this upshifting. It's like driving up a long hill with your car, and once you're on the top, you prematurely shift to a higher gear and stall your engine. Your brain is telling you that all the hard work is done now, so you can relax and don't need to look at the shots. It's shifting gears from a low gear to where it takes it slow and pays close attention, to a high gear where it only considers the bigger picture. On a tight table, you cannot afford that luxury. I don't know if I read that somewhere or came up with it myself, but that is at least what I think about this kind of problem.

The key is to develop a pre-shot routine, where you take the same exact amount of time on every shot (after the thinking has been done). Same amount of strokes, chalking all that stuff. That internal self talk about the work being done is garbage that sabotages your progress. Don't think negativeley either. Just treat every shot the same. Really focus on every step of your psr, to drown out the garbage your conscious mind is throwing out. Personally I use chalking for that purpose. I really concentrate and look at my tip, trying to coat it perfectly on every shot. It's a reset button for my brain.
 
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Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Some great strategic info. there. Most people(including me) completely snooze some of these options.

Looks like two excellent strategies for being a massive d*ck! lol.

Thanks for posting that, but I don't ever recall a pro player using this strategy. I'm not a big 9 ball guy, so I could be mistaken.
 

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Some great strategic info. there. Most people(including me) completely snooze some of these options.
The problem with that strategy with today's rules is that any balls pocketed even on a foul or push-out are not spotted, unless it is the 9-ball. Based on Pat's age, that is an ancient video when I assume the 9-ball rules were a little different, so this strategy could have been used to a player's advantage.
 

Straightpool_99

I see dead balls
Silver Member
Actually I have allready translated that video here on this forum. I'm not German, but I do understand the language. I'll try to dig up the thread.

Here is my translation

This video is solid gold, like most of Mr. Eckerts videos!
I can make a brief summary of what he is saying (key points only, rough summary). If you have a specific section you'd like me to translate word for word, I can do that as well (keep in mind that neither German, nor English is my arterial language,so some slight mistakes are likely). I've structured my eplaination differently than his for the sake of brevity:

The main theme of his video is the standard breakshot (with the object ball close to the side of the rack) and how to determine and control where the cue ball is going on these shots.

1: When the cueball strikes the object ball it travels along the tangent line towards the rack. The closer you are to the rack, the less chance you have to alter this path.

2:. The side of the rack is divided into pairs of object balls with the crack between them as the center.

3. Using high/low/left/right has less influence on the cueballs path on these side breakshots than which object ball in a pair is hit first.

4. Depending on which ball is struck first in such a pair, the cueball will move in three different "general directions" or "basic directions".

5. When hitting the ball below the crack first, the cueball will generally travel upwards towards the end rail.You have two possibilities:
A:You can use low, making sure to have enough speed to go to the end rail and back out.
B: You can use high to keep the cueball from going up, thereby keeping the cueball down table. He explains that he does not use a lot of high, but you can travel more down/sideways with more high. In his example he states he used a bit too much and got stuck, but did get a shot.

6. When hitting a ball full the cueball will generally travel towards the middle of the lower side rail/side pocket area. This is a bit more difficult to control exactly. He generally hits these with stun.

7. When hitting the ball above the crack first, the cueball will generally travel downwards to the head rail/corner
When you have a severe angle you have two options:
A: You can use high and hit the head rail, bending the ball forward from the general direction.
B: You can use low and hit the side rail above the pocket. He explains that you can also use sidespin to control the cueball in this case, though he doesn't in his example.
When you have a flat angle (less than perpendicular) you can only use low, since the forward spin won't be effective enough in bending the cueball path and hit the end rail.
(8. "Translators note" :Whenever he says "Basisrichtung", he is referring to the basic direction or general direction)

Hope this helps. Native German speakers are welcome- and encouraged to correct any mistakes.
 
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AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Actually I have allready translated that video here on this forum. I'm not German, but I do understand the language. I'll try to dig up the thread.

Here is my translation

In your item 7, the word "head" (in 2 locations) should be "foot," right?
 

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
I play both snooker and pool and they use those terms with completely opposite meaning. Whatever makes sense, that's what I meant.

Yes, the head rail on a pool table is at the breaking end and the foot rail is at the racking end. So in talking about 14.1 pool, it's good to use pool terminology.

[In snooker, isn't the end where the reds are racked and the black is spotted called the foot end?]
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
Yes, the head rail on a pool table is at the breaking end and the foot rail is at the racking end. So in talking about 14.1 pool, it's good to use pool terminology.

[In snooker, isn't the end where the reds are racked and the black is spotted called the foot end?]

In snooker, the rail where the black spot ( originally the red spot at English billiards) is
called the top rail....so the terms for the ends of the table are reversed....
...the bottom end is where they break off from.

Canucks tend to use the American term...even at snooker.....
...we usually call the black ball rail the ‘bottom rail’
 

michael4

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Little vent, if you don’t mind.

I feel like I’m improving but my runs aren’t showing it.

Now I have another problem.

I would not be too worried about your situation, I think its normal not to see real improvement until you address several different areas, then all of a sudden - noticeable improvement!

If you have 4 flat tires on your car, and replace 3, you don't see much real improvement, then replace that 4th tire, and bingo! :smile:
 
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