1st post - break question

wigglybridge

wigglybridge

14.1 straight pool!
Silver Member
Hi everyone,

this is my first post here, happy to find a straight pool bunch here!

i'm just getting my game back a little after a year of 2x a week practice, following 40 years [!] away from the game. and although my shooting and position skills are still pretty ragged, i'm at least a smarter player, largely due to studying books and videos that didn't exist when i was a kid.

so one question that comes up from watching a lot of the DCC straight pool challenges is: why do even the best players start off these sets with a side pocket break with CB in the middle of the table, going into the top of the stack? that's Never their preferred break during the game proper.

some of them don't -- Ralf and Thorsten, for example. but all of the US players seem to, at least the 6-8 i've watched so far.

thanks for any thoughts on this, and looking forward to getting to know all of you!
 
wigglybridge said:
so one question that comes up from watching a lot of the DCC straight pool challenges is: why do even the best players start off these sets with a side pocket break with CB in the middle of the table, going into the top of the stack? that's Never their preferred break during the game proper.

some of them don't -- Ralf and Thorsten, for example. but all of the US players seem to, at least the 6-8 i've watched so far.

thanks for any thoughts on this, and looking forward to getting to know all of you!
Click to expand...

Less chance of missing the breakball, less chance of a scratch off the side of the rack, usually a better spread. If you miss the breakball your inning is over and you only get 12 tries. One year Ralf missed the breakshot twice and scratched off the rack the third time, he used up 3 innings in about 2 minutes.

The reason it is not used in a game very often is the cue ball and the object would have to land in the exact place that you put them in when placed them yourself, very unlikely. Cue ball in hand for a breakshot is a wonderful thing. :smile:
 
wigglybridge said:
Hi everyone,

this is my first post here, happy to find a straight pool bunch here!

i'm just getting my game back a little after a year of 2x a week practice, following 40 years [!] away from the game. and although my shooting and position skills are still pretty ragged, i'm at least a smarter player, largely due to studying books and videos that didn't exist when i was a kid.

so one question that comes up from watching a lot of the DCC straight pool challenges is: why do even the best players start off these sets with a side pocket break with CB in the middle of the table, going into the top of the stack? that's Never their preferred break during the game proper.

some of them don't -- Ralf and Thorsten, for example. but all of the US players seem to, at least the 6-8 i've watched so far.

thanks for any thoughts on this, and looking forward to getting to know all of you!
Click to expand...

The wisdom in that line of thinking (side pocket break -- especially the technique shown by Corey Deuel) is that you get a better spread hitting the two apex balls (which distributes the hit cascading downwards through the whole rack), rather than hitting the side of the stack and getting ball movement in only one direction. The only problem with the side pocket break is that you're sending the balls into the foot rail, and are relying upon many of them rebounding back out without clustering together. A good dispersal is all you can hope for, however.

Personally, I prefer back-of-the-rack (behind the rack) break shots, because you're sending the balls up table, with more "open" room on the table to send the balls to, with less chance of clustering (at least in my own experience). And, you can easily find/make/land-on behind-the-rack breakshots during the actual run, as well. The only problem? The scratch in the two corner pockets closest to the back of the rack. You have to know when to use what spin -- when to use inside english (to spin 3 rails back out to the middle of the table), or outside, draw, or follow.

Patterning your run around side pocket break shots is not "natural" (in the traditional sense), so you won't see it often used in an actual run, unless the player has no other choice. In the end, it's what you're comfortable with. And what the table gives you.

Hope this helps,
-Sean
 
Speaking specifically about side pocket break shots, I always look for the possibly during every rack. A ball can land in a favorable position or can be purposely moved in a favorable side pocket position. As Bill mentioned, there are some risk advantages for such a shot. Additionally, I'll most often play the end sequence to leave the CB in the rack (to place and break from the headstring) rather than trying to move the CB, from the key ball, to a precise location.
 
Welcome on the board :)

You already have 2 answers of 2 absolutley great players (Marop the *high-run-machine* :p and my friend *mr oldschool Sfleinen* :p)

I just can recommend to read Mastering Pool , written by George Fels. He describes breakshots in his books how they should be learned (still learned that way in my opinion!). You learn what happens with the rack by practicing it.It will help you amazingly!
But for sure the game straightpool changed in the last 10-15 years dramatically. You ll see this soon, if you for exampl watch John Schmidt playing or also Nils Feijen. Totally different styles of playing if you watch on the other side the *old school boys*.
Further you should read "Play your best straight-pool" (if you can get it, like Mastering Pool also not printed anymore). Here is a more *modern* art shown. But both books are an absolutley *must have*. Both are good to read and also very nice to work with.

lg from overseas,

ingo
 
thanks, Ratta, and to everyone else for the observations, which helped a lot.

yep, i've read Fels & about 10 other books in the past few months; inter-library loan is a wonderful thing!

i haven't read Play Your Best yet, but of the ones i've read, i liked Fels by far the best. he made universal observations that i could use in any situation, rather than 100's of specific diagrams. now, as to being able to Apply that information... ;)

and if there's a straight pool video online i haven't seen, it must be squirreled away pretty deep. my favorites of the moderns are John Schmidt (for his beautiful patterns) and Thorsten (for patterns and stroke).

but Crane, Caras, Mosconi played with such beauty. one wonders what they could do with modern cues, balls, etc.

my dream match would be Crane vs. Hohmann, i think. or maybe Mosconi vs. Schmidt. neither one is likely to happen, i think. :(
 
Hehe,

think if those "2 games" were possible, both *sitters* would have enough time to have dinner.....no matter who would be sitting :p
 
Hi Bob,

the best comment I've heard on this middle pocket break ball so far is that it is more or less doesn't depend on how the table plays. Side pocket break shots may have a chance of a miss on a table with very tight pockets, and you need more force driving the cue ball in the side of the rack, making a miss more likely. They spread easily with a lighter stroke, if you hit the top of the stack at a proper position.

Whereas for corner pocket break shots you have a big position zone, which makes them preferrable in mid-game, the middle pocket break ball needs exact position. But if you have good position, it's pretty much a no-brainer, not much that can go wrong.

With ball in hand it's not too tough to get good position for it, though, if you know where to place it ;-)

Regards
Gwenn
 
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