‘A game of Pool’

[DynoDan]

While viewing that old ‘Twilight Zone’ tv episode tonight (for about the 5th time), I watched a 14.1 break shot I hadn‘t noticed before. The side break ball sits high, and the CB has a 45 degree cut shot. Ordinarily, I would cut it into the corner, load up with inside follow and try to nick the head balls, or maybe come off the side rail & back into the pack (which will usually leave me stuck to it!). Only on the tv show, (don‘t know who is actually doing the shooting, since not mentioned in the credits, though likely Mosconi since it was filmed same year as ‘The Hustler’ movie, where Willy made all the hard shots), he shoots the break ball into the wing ball (barley nicking the one above it), and it caroms directly into the corner. Tried it a few times, and with a center ball hit, it goes most every time!

 

[ChrisinNC]

While viewing that old ‘Twilight Zone’ tv episode tonight (for about the 5th time), I watched a 14.1 break shot I hadn‘t noticed before. The side break ball sits high, and the CB has a 45 degree cut shot. Ordinarily, I would cut it into the corner, load up with inside follow and try to nick the head balls, or maybe come off the side rail & back into the pack (which will usually leave me stuck to it!). Only on the tv show, (don‘t know who is actually doing the shooting, since not mentioned in the credits, though likely Mosconi since it was filmed same year as ‘The Hustler’ movie, where Willy made all the hard shots), he shoots the break ball into the wing ball (barley nicking the one above it), and it caroms directly into the corner. Tried it a few times, and with a center ball hit, it goes most every time!

Yes impressive, but it would take a lot of guts to play that shot in a meaningful match. I really don’t think it’s a shot you would ever see a pro 14.1 player try in a big match.

 

[DynoDan]

Yes impressive, but it would take a lot of guts to play that shot in a meaningful match. I really don’t think it’s a shot you would ever see a pro 14.1 player try in a big match.

I think it’s a matter of how high the break ball is, and how straight/close the combo is, and whether it’s directly on line to the carom target.
When the last/break ball is too high, and the CB ends up with too much angle to contact the pack.....? I’d consider it.
Of course, there may be other variables involved that I haven’t thought of (balls polished, tight rack properly parallel to the foot rail, etc.)? What I like about the shot, is the absolute CB control (center ball/stop shot), since it leaves you just off the table center every time, which doesn’t alway happen with the typical side break, and knocking out the pack’s corner balls will seldom kick whitey into a hole (or snuggle up and freeze).

 

[Bob Jewett]

Yes impressive, but it would take a lot of guts to play that shot in a meaningful match. I really don’t think it’s a shot you would ever see a pro 14.1 player try in a big match.

I think think the break ball has to be sitting in the right place or close to it for it to be a high percentage. And it's best to have the cue ball along the line of the shot for precise aiming. Speed changes the shot as does the tightness of the rack. It would take a while to learn the ins and outs of the shot if you wanted it ready for a match, and then the match conditions have to be right.

That is a more or less simple carom shot off the rack. There is another kind of off-the-rack shot, and that's to hit a ball almost full into a ball in the rack and get it to bounce back some due to the mass of the rack. Blackjack has a video of such a break shot off the side. George Rood showed me a shot off the back of the rack. Here are those two shots. They are not simple 90-degree caroms.

 

[DynoDan]

I think it’s a matter of how high the break ball is, and how straight/close the combo is, and whether it’s directly on line to the carom target.
When the last/break ball is too high, and the CB ends up with too much angle to contact the pack.....? I’d consider it.
Of course, there may be other variables involved that I haven’t thought of (balls polished, tight rack properly parallel to the foot rail, etc.)? What I like about the shot, is the absolute CB control (center ball/stop shot), since it leaves you just off the table center every time, which doesn’t alway happen with the typical side break, and knocking out the pack’s corner balls will seldom kick whitey into a hole (or snuggle up and freeze).

I must have had a streak of good luck initially, since as it turns out now, I can’t make that shot as consistently as I thought I could. One thing I HAVE discovered: If you try to avoid a total sellout by babying it, a lot of high english helps, but then the CB gets tangled up downtable. In the end, it is simply a carom, and I seem to have better luck (much as with pocketing the breakshot) if I forget about the racked balls, and pretend they are not there when I pull the trigger.