Let’s bring back the big break shot in 9-ball. It makes the game exciting. We all want pool to be treated like a sport, but since the move away from the power break, the sporting aspect of the game has been diminished.
One pro famously lamented that the break was the one last athletic move in the game, and everything has been done to steer away from it.
The issue is that today’s equipment has changed the game. Cloth is very fast and unlike older, slow cloth, less power is employed nowadays to separate the balls.
Templates also wire certain balls dead to the pockets. However, templates are the proper direction of the racking future – they even the playing field and should become the standard here as they have in international play.
With fast cloth and frozen racks, modern 9-ball has turned into a methodology of popping in a ball or two from the break, controlling the cueball and setting up the 1 ball for an easy runout. There have been many attempts to make it harder for players to make balls on the break, but this is a futile, uphill battle. Crafty players will always figure a way to finesse that ball or two in and run out short racks.
Since players are great now at making balls on the break, everyone complains that the game has become too easy for the elites. We cannot and should not try to subvert this practice. Let them make balls on the break.
My proposition for adjusting to the modern game? Let’s spot the balls.
Get rid of break from the box, 9 on the spot, etc… These changes to the game have not been fruitful. They have done little to stem the tide of balls on the break, or to make the modern game more exciting.
Here’s how spotting the balls would work:
-Break from anywhere
-One ball on the spot, template rack. 4 ball and 5 ball on the wings. The rest of the
balls would be placed randomly.
-A legal break must be employed, i.e., three balls must pass the side pockets
on the break (or a combination of balls pocketed/balls passing the line must be at
least three).
-If one ball is made on the break, it is spotted on the footspot. If a second ball is
made, it is spotted on the headspot. If a third ball is made, it is placed on the
center spot. Balls would be spotted in the order they fall, or could be spotted
based on their number from low to high.
-If 4 or more balls are made on the break, they all stay down. On this rare
occasion, the breaker would be rewarded with a short rack to runout.
-If the breaker makes 1-3 balls, his turn begins after the balls are spotted. Pushout
rule would be in effect.
-9 on the break counts. This is an old rule that should be upheld. The 9 should not
move with a template rack and would only go in from being kissed. This adds
drama to the game (good for spectators) and speeds up events (good for TD’s).
In a tournament TV setting, you could hire girls to bring in players (like in the Mosconi cup). They could double as card girls and would triple as the ball spotters. A ref would be on hand to rack the balls on the template, make hit calls, and calm Earl down when needed.
With these guidelines players would not benefit from soft breaks. There is no way to finesse or cut break 4 balls on the snap.
There is potential for benefiting from a hard break (either making 4 balls or getting another ball to kiss the 9), so the big break would be encouraged. There is also some edge and danger, as the cueball could foul in a big spot. This adds more dramatic elements.
Players would also be forced to run out full racks. It is essentially like playing the 9-ball ghost with no BIH. Even for pros, this is not always a picnic. Add tournament pressure and you have a recipe for challenging play.
Bring back the juice into pool. We could sure use it.
One pro famously lamented that the break was the one last athletic move in the game, and everything has been done to steer away from it.
The issue is that today’s equipment has changed the game. Cloth is very fast and unlike older, slow cloth, less power is employed nowadays to separate the balls.
Templates also wire certain balls dead to the pockets. However, templates are the proper direction of the racking future – they even the playing field and should become the standard here as they have in international play.
With fast cloth and frozen racks, modern 9-ball has turned into a methodology of popping in a ball or two from the break, controlling the cueball and setting up the 1 ball for an easy runout. There have been many attempts to make it harder for players to make balls on the break, but this is a futile, uphill battle. Crafty players will always figure a way to finesse that ball or two in and run out short racks.
Since players are great now at making balls on the break, everyone complains that the game has become too easy for the elites. We cannot and should not try to subvert this practice. Let them make balls on the break.
My proposition for adjusting to the modern game? Let’s spot the balls.
Get rid of break from the box, 9 on the spot, etc… These changes to the game have not been fruitful. They have done little to stem the tide of balls on the break, or to make the modern game more exciting.
Here’s how spotting the balls would work:
-Break from anywhere
-One ball on the spot, template rack. 4 ball and 5 ball on the wings. The rest of the
balls would be placed randomly.
-A legal break must be employed, i.e., three balls must pass the side pockets
on the break (or a combination of balls pocketed/balls passing the line must be at
least three).
-If one ball is made on the break, it is spotted on the footspot. If a second ball is
made, it is spotted on the headspot. If a third ball is made, it is placed on the
center spot. Balls would be spotted in the order they fall, or could be spotted
based on their number from low to high.
-If 4 or more balls are made on the break, they all stay down. On this rare
occasion, the breaker would be rewarded with a short rack to runout.
-If the breaker makes 1-3 balls, his turn begins after the balls are spotted. Pushout
rule would be in effect.
-9 on the break counts. This is an old rule that should be upheld. The 9 should not
move with a template rack and would only go in from being kissed. This adds
drama to the game (good for spectators) and speeds up events (good for TD’s).
In a tournament TV setting, you could hire girls to bring in players (like in the Mosconi cup). They could double as card girls and would triple as the ball spotters. A ref would be on hand to rack the balls on the template, make hit calls, and calm Earl down when needed.
With these guidelines players would not benefit from soft breaks. There is no way to finesse or cut break 4 balls on the snap.
There is potential for benefiting from a hard break (either making 4 balls or getting another ball to kiss the 9), so the big break would be encouraged. There is also some edge and danger, as the cueball could foul in a big spot. This adds more dramatic elements.
Players would also be forced to run out full racks. It is essentially like playing the 9-ball ghost with no BIH. Even for pros, this is not always a picnic. Add tournament pressure and you have a recipe for challenging play.
Bring back the juice into pool. We could sure use it.
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