8 ball break-help

berlowmj

berlowmj

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm not sure if I'm hitting the head ball correctly. I have eliminated miscues, scratchs, & my CB placement gives me good shape. My scatter is improving , but my percentage potted on the break needs improvement.

I am doing a drill consisting of putting a ball on the spot so that I know I'm getting a solid hit. The object ball is coming back straight, with high speed, & bounces up & back the length of the 9' table several times. I'm baffled.
 
First things first, and thats hitting the head ball solidly. Which im sure you can do with some consistency. After that it is technique and timing. Look at Evgeny Salev's break and Ronato Alcano's break on youtube. You will see two things, timing AND control. Its almost like a rubber band, the further you pull away the harder it comes back. Also using your whole body is a must if your going to get into the 22-25 mph range. I sadly have this kind of break and can run out regularly, and was practicing 8 ball because i was going to try and qualify for the IPT, alas it looks as if my hopes are a distant fantasy now. Also pay attention to the follow through, make sure your cue is out in front of you, just like swinging a club, or a baseball bat. I take a slight pause just before the stroke that actually breaks the balls, this causes me to have a focus before I hit the pack, and the rubber band effect as mentioned before. Hope this helped.
 
I don't think people realize how important the rack is. Check the rack everytime, make sure they have not racked the balls higher than the spot. Head balls frozen and no major gaps between the back balls. If they can't get it right offer to rack your own. I am coming to find that a LOT of players can't give a good rack because they don't know what one is. Moving the rack a half inch above the spot will dry you out everytime.

Eric.A.
 
sweet spot

Neil said:
Are you breaking from the same spot every time? If so, move the cueball over a few inches at a time until you find the sweet spot for that table.
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As I move the starting position of the CB, do I continue to hit the center of the headball?
 
"rubber band"

RunoutalloverU said:
First things first, and thats hitting the head ball solidly. Which im sure you can do with some consistency. After that it is technique and timing. Look at Evgeny Salev's break and Ronato Alcano's break on youtube. You will see two things, timing AND control. Its almost like a rubber band, the further you pull away the harder it comes back. Also using your whole body is a must if your going to get into the 22-25 mph range. I sadly have this kind of break and can run out regularly, and was practicing 8 ball because i was going to try and qualify for the IPT, alas it looks as if my hopes are a distant fantasy now. Also pay attention to the follow through, make sure your cue is out in front of you, just like swinging a club, or a baseball bat. I take a slight pause just before the stroke that actually breaks the balls, this causes me to have a focus before I hit the pack, and the rubber band effect as mentioned before. Hope this helped.
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"the further you pull away the harder it comes back" please elaborate. Are you suggesting that I increase the length of my bridge?
 
I rack balls said:
I don't think people realize how important the rack is. Check the rack everytime, make sure they have not racked the balls higher than the spot. Head balls frozen and no major gaps between the back balls. If they can't get it right offer to rack your own. I am coming to find that a LOT of players can't give a good rack because they don't know what one is. Moving the rack a half inch above the spot will dry you out everytime.

Eric.A.
Click to expand...


I find it astonishing, although sadly not surprising, that there are a great number of people who try and rack with some sort of perceived advantage to them whether it be from loose rack, crooked to one side, loose only in the center, loose only on the back row, and almost every other kind of variation imaginable and pass it off as if they didn't know what they was doing when they did it.

And then they take offense when you ask for a re-rack..............

This sort of behavior most usually stirs up my A-game in a most intense way :D
 
Hutchfish said:
And then they take offense when you ask for a re-rack..............

This sort of behavior most usually stirs up my A-game in a most intense way :D
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Haah me too. I gamble with a guy and have dealt with his crap racks. I literally rack my own in practice and make a ball EVERY break for 2 hours or so and come up dry 9-10 breaks when we play. It didn't bother me until it became a problem as I was giving him the seven heheh. Now when he asks to play I say if I can rack my own and he goes away.

Another quick racking story. I was in a college tournament here Texas. I was breaking great and going through the bracket like a hot knife, breaking and runing like 1-3 racks in a race to 6. I even opened up a set with another member here with 3 B&R's in a row. Then I get to the finals and play a guy. I did not think much of the rack because my break was working so well all tournament. I ended up dry when I got to break and the guy (whom I thought I should dominate) had the advantage every game, I lost the first set. The next set I played well and despite my dry breaks was on the hill breaking. I finally went to check out the rack and sure enough he was racking me high. I said put it on the spot. Then he gave me a oh shit look, and gave me some excuse about the balls not racking well on the spot, I made him put the head ball on the spot. I then promptly broke, made a ball and ran out a tough rack in about a min and a half LOL. Took the trophy and left, what a jackass.

Eric.A.
 
What about the second ball???

As you have all agreed, everyone will give a bad rack if they know how to pass it off as a good one!!! This is why I hit the second ball from the top square, with a stop shot. I get a ball in 80%+ of the time and go from there.

I will admit the split is not as good a lot of the time as with a headbreak with a good rack, but a poor rack does not affect you no where near as much and as long as you have a good head on you, you will realise when to play the safety and not attempt to run out.

Just an alternative thought for you guys.
 
JonoNZ said:
As you have all agreed, everyone will give a bad rack if they know how to pass it off as a good one!!! This is why I hit the second ball from the top square, with a stop shot. I get a ball in 80%+ of the time and go from there.

I will admit the split is not as good a lot of the time as with a headbreak with a good rack, but a poor rack does not affect you no where near as much and as long as you have a good head on you, you will realise when to play the safety and not attempt to run out.

Just an alternative thought for you guys.
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I think that's a good approach if you're robbing somebody and you don't want to endanger the action by quarreling about the rack. If the game is competitive, though, you must insist on getting a good rack, particularly if you are a runout player and the other player prefers tactical battles. Why should you let a formidable opponent dictate the nature of the game simply by how they rack? That's just too big an advantage!
 
I've had to deal with people giving shyt racks, and I finally spoke up about it and started checking racks, or telling them we are going to rack our own. Plus, I just stopped gambling with said people too. Along with a bunch of other people too.

So it over all made them change thier tune on how to rack the balls. Plus, now, I just randomly, check racks during a match, I'll check the first couple of racks, which makes the people give a solid rack, and then just randomly check a rack, depending on how long of a match it is.

I myself always give the best rack possible, ( cuz karma is a ***** ) lol, but its also the right thing to do. Which in turn its nice to have someone give you a tight rack everytime without trying to put a shyt rack on you.
 
Try placing the cue ball between the 2nd and 3rd diamond of the short rail, and a little a behind the first diamond of the long rail (about a ball size space). Use about 1 cue tip bottom right english, and hit the 1 ball head on. If executed properly, the balls will scatter all around the table, and the chances of the 8 ball being pocketed are increased (most likely in the bottom left corner pocket). The most balls I have pocketed with this break, is 5, and that was with a house cue. Remember to follow through all the way into the felt. Try it out, and let me know how it goes. Good luck.
 
trying

Wimpy said:
Try placing the cue ball between the 2nd and 3rd diamond of the short rail, and a little a behind the first diamond of the long rail (about a ball size space). Use about 1 cue tip bottom right english, and hit the 1 ball head on. If executed properly, the balls will scatter all around the table, and the chances of the 8 ball being pocketed are increased (most likely in the bottom left corner pocket). The most balls I have pocketed with this break, is 5, and that was with a house cue. Remember to follow through all the way into the felt. Try it out, and let me know how it goes. Good luck.
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My performance was better but inconsistent. Chalking my phenolic tip is a chore. Lenthening my bridge creates new problems although when I lengthen it & follow through succesfully the results are good. Is it worth working on lengtheing my bridge?
 
Thanks

RunoutalloverU said:
no dude take up golf or fishing lol
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Thanks for your encouragement, but I tend to agree with Mark Twain's observation that, "Golf is a terrible way to spoil a nice walk."
 
I personally like to break one ball width to the left and back from the spot with just a slight draw on it to solve my problem of launching the cue off the table on the break and hitting the head ball as dead on as I can, I have all but stopped my problem with scratching and I can usually spread them fairly well, dropping at least 2-3, with the most I have dropped being 4, close to dropping a 5th.

But like a lot of people have said it's best to try everything out and figure out what works best for you since everyone is different.
 
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