8-Ball Break

[WKRP]

This was posted the other day : http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=108138&highlight=SIGEL and is a video of Sigel demonstrating run outs. He makes a point of saying that it is better to break into the second ball instead of the head ball. I've heard this before and have seen threads here about it a while back. Anyone here break this way? Or, anyone try it for a while and change back and why? He claims it spreads the balls better and increases the chances of making the 8 of the break. He comes up dry more than once with this also.

 

[soulcatcher]

This was posted the other day : http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=108138&highlight=SIGEL and is a video of Sigel demonstrating run outs. He makes a point of saying that it is better to break into the second ball instead of the head ball. I've heard this before and have seen threads here about it a while back. Anyone here break this way? Or, anyone try it for a while and change back and why? He claims it spreads the balls better and increases the chances of making the 8 of the break. He comes up dry more than once with this also.

While it does get the 8 ball moving easier, it does not spread the balls better. In my experience, I can put more power (speed) into a lead ball break, and control the cue ball better with a front break. With the side ball break, I find that about one in ten breaks will leave 8 or more balls sitting on the rail straight left or right(closest to the side I broke from) of the rack. That said, if I am playing APA, where 8 ball break counts as a win, I always break from the side. In the last 4 years, I have made approximately 30 8 ball breaks in league play, plus at least as many or more in practice. However, when I play Valley, where it is neither a win or a loss, I will break from wherever I feel the best chance of making a ball is. (See Joe Tuckers Racking Secrets)

 

[TXsouthpaw]

its easier to make the 8 yeah. but you cant hit it as hard and you cant control the CB after the hit as much. I alternate between first and second ball break depending on the table.

 

[ScottW]

The fun thing with the second-row break is, if done right, you can draw the cueball straight across into the rail, and bounce it right back into where the rack was. If you can do it with sufficient control and power, it'll help spread the balls that extra bit more.

 

[Scott Lee]

WKRP...This is incorrect information (no matter who says it). The best break happens when the CB skids into the head ball, hitting it as squarely as possible. All the energy put into the CB is then transferred 100% into the rack...giving you the best control of the CB, and the best possible spread.

Making the 8 on the break (on purpose) is a myth, happening significantly less than 1% of the time. I've been looking for someone who claims they can make the 8 on the break, so we can bet high, I can bust them, and retire! Making the 9 on the break is normally possible about 1 out of 30 racks. The 8on the break happens substancially LESS often.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

This was posted the other day : http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=108138&highlight=SIGEL and is a video of Sigel demonstrating run outs. He makes a point of saying that it is better to break into the second ball instead of the head ball. I've heard this before and have seen threads here about it a while back. Anyone here break this way? Or, anyone try it for a while and change back and why? He claims it spreads the balls better and increases the chances of making the 8 of the break. He comes up dry more than once with this also.

 

[hobokenapa]

Making the 8 on the break (on purpose) is a myth, happening significantly less than 1% of the time.

Agreed. I can only remember one time where it happened against me in all my years of APA. It was in a mini-mania tournament in Vegas and my opponent made 8-on-the-break in the first three racks!

 

[PoolSharkAllen]

He makes a point of saying that it is better to break into the second ball instead of the head ball. He claims it spreads the balls better and increases the chances of making the 8 of the break. He comes up dry more than once with this also.

In watching Mike Sigel's video on 8-ball runouts, I was completely underwhelmed with his break shots. In most of the racks, he did not spread the balls very well.

Having said that, I've seen other players use the 2nd ball break and spread the balls very well.

IMO, how well the balls spread using the first or second ball break can vary greatly from person to person.

By the way, under BCA rules, if you make the 8 on the break, it gets spotted.

 

[ScottW]

Though I'll 100% agree that anyone who claims that they can make the eight on the break "at will" is full of bovine fecal matter... the second-row break *does* result in a higher eight-on-the-break percentage than the head ball break, I believe.

I know I've made far more eights on the break that way than by going for the head ball.

I've been working on this break myself the past few months. My cue control is much improved - I'm better able to bring the cue straight out from the rack, into the side rail, and back into the rack zone. But I don't get the spread of the balls as consistently as I do with the head ball break. I know folks who do the second-row break and get a good spread most of the time, though, so it *is* possible - just not as often an occurance as with the head ball break.

One time, when warming up for a monthly APA bracketed tournament in Denver (barboxes), I dropped the eight on the break three times in four consecutive breaks this way. Naturally, I could not repeat this performance during real matches, where it would have mattered.

 

[JMP]

I alternate between head ball and 2nd row breaks depending on the table, cleanliness of balls, and my opponent. I have noticed that I can make a ball off the break a larger percent of the time with the second row break if the balls are dirty and/or slow cloth. I don't have the power to crush that rack like some people. Also, when I 2nd row break I leave a lot of clusters which makes it difficult to run out but easier to control the table by playing safeties. This also slows my opponent down if they are the type of player that likes to run racks and not play safeties.

 

[stevea]

I personally don't like breaking from the side and hitting the second ball, the balls do not break up better at all (for me). I break from the middle and hit the head ball straight on, this gives me the best break on the balls and a lot of the time I make a ball on the break, then it's easier to run out. I have made more 8balls on the break from my center break then I have from the side (but thats because I don't break from the side that often).

I've hit the 8 on the break more then one time in a match a few times breaking from the middle.