9 ball break strategy

Z

z0nt0n3r

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
hi everyone, i want to ask if there is a way to almost always avoid leaving a 9 ball combo on after an illegal or unsuccesful break (although i'm aware that you can sometimes get an unlucky run of the balls after the break and leave the combo). from my experience hitting the 1 ball a little too thin usually seems to leave the ball just above the wing ball and 9 for a makable combo (but i'm not sure if it's the ball just above the wing ball or some other ball because i haven't paid close enough attention).

this has been bothering me for a long time and it has given a lot of free games to my opponents and yesterday in a big tournament it cost me 2 games (almost 3) which is very frustrating

i've also noticed that the balls for the combo after the break aren't usually frozen together but they are pretty close to each other and are lined up straight in the pocket most of the time whick makes the combo very hard to miss.
 
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z0nt0n3r said:
hi everyone, i want to ask if there is a way to almost always avoid leaving a 9 ball combo on after an illegal or unsuccesful break...
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I think this is mostly caused by a loose rack. You don't see this with the pros shooting with a template rack.
 
Poolmanis said:
don´t rack low number balls front of 9. They seem to stay close to 9 with cut break.
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If you play by the rules, it is unsportsmanlike conduct to place the balls where you want them. The WNT does have a rule that the two ball must be on one of the "corners" and I have heard that the location has to rotate each rack.
 
Bob Jewett said:
If you play by the rules, it is unsportsmanlike conduct to place the balls where you want them. The WNT does have a rule that the two ball must be on one of the "corners" and I have heard that the location has to rotate each rack.
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I know. We used to play rack your own with template in Finnish national competitions and gentleman rule was not put low balls front of 9 to get many easy combos after break.
 
FranCrimi said:
So what happens if the break is successful? You don't get a combo on the 9?
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i don't like to lose games like that and i don't like to win games like that. i like the game when it has lots of run outs, good tactical battles etc and not 9 ball combos right after the break but unfortunately these are the rules.
 
z0nt0n3r said:
i don't like to lose games like that and i don't like to win games like that. i like the game when it has lots of run outs, good tactical battles etc and not 9 ball combos right after the break but unfortunately these are the rules.
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So what happens when the break is successful? Do you get to see combos on the 9 as well? I'm not trying to imply what's right or wrong. I'm trying to get a clearer picture of the situation.
 
FranCrimi said:
So what happens when the break is successful? Do you get to see combos on the 9 as well? I'm not trying to imply what's right or wrong. I'm trying to get a clearer picture of the situation.
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ok sorry i thought you were implying something else. to be honest, i don't remember that much, only the unsuccessful breaks which leave a combo on have stuck in my mind but next time i will keep that in mind.
 
z0nt0n3r said:
ok sorry i thought you were implying something else. to be honest, i don't remember that much, only the unsuccessful breaks which leave a combo on have stuck in my mind but next time i will keep that in mind.
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It's a good idea to pay attention to all possibilities in order to properly analyze the situation. Also, you should pay attention to other players and note if it's happening to them also. Maybe it's not the bad break that's causing it but as was suggested here, that it could be the result of a cut break. If it's the cut break that's the issue, then maybe the solution is a break box, which is an area of maybe 1 foot left, right and behind the head spot, which has been used in the past to try to prevent making a wing ball on the break.
 
Tennesseejoe said:
If the break is successful, you continue shooting.
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Yes of course, but the topic of discussion was whether or not a combo on the 9 is left after the break. He said he noticed the combo after an unsuccessful break. I asked if there was also a combo after a successful break. Did you not get that part?
 
FranCrimi said:
So what happens when the break is successful? Do you get to see combos on the 9 as well? I'm not trying to imply what's right or wrong. I'm trying to get a clearer picture of the situation.
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FranCrimi said:
It's a good idea to pay attention to all possibilities in order to properly analyze the situation. Also, you should pay attention to other players and note if it's happening to them also. Maybe it's not the bad break that's causing it but as was suggested here, that it could be the result of a cut break. If it's the cut break that's the issue, then maybe the solution is a break box, which is an area of maybe 1 foot left, right and behind the head spot, which has been used in the past to try to prevent making a wing ball on the break.
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i watched 2 tournament matches that i played and the same thing kept happening almost every time that i broke. it wasn't happening to my opponents on most of their breaks. i think i'm just not racking the balls tight enough but i'm not sure.

at 1:39:40 is half of the semi- final that was recorded, and at 2:19:00 is the final.

 
z0nt0n3r said:
i watched 2 tournament matches that i played and the same thing kept happening almost every time that i broke. it wasn't happening to my opponents on most of their breaks. i think i'm just not racking the balls tight enough but i'm not sure.

at 1:39:40 is half of the semi- final that was recorded, and at 2:19:00 is the final.

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Thanks for posting the videos. It's very helpful to see. Yes, I think you may be right about the loose balls. The problem with leaving combos on the 9 occurs when the 9 ball stays still and the other balls are moving around it. When the 9 stays still like that, it almost always means the the balls above the 9 in the rack aren't sitting right. Of course, all balls in the rack should touch, but be extra careful in making sure the 3 balls above the 9 are all touching, and especially make sure the two balls directly above the 9 are touching the 9 and that they don't roll off.

Back in the days of triangle racks, that was a technique used when opponents racked the balls. They would leave a small space between the 9 and the two above it to prevent the breaker from making the 9 on the break. But back then, players broke much harder, so while the 9 stood in place, the other balls really scattered hard, so there was little chance of leaving a combo on the 9.
 
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FranCrimi said:
... When the 9 stays still like that, it almost always means the the balls above the 9 in the rack aren't sitting right. ...
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On completely tight racks the 9 ball does not move. This is why the cut break under WNT break rules often brings the cue ball off the side rail to where the 9 ball is still sitting (on the foot spot). On a good rack, the 9 should not move.
 
Bob Jewett said:
On completely tight racks the 9 ball does not move. This is why the cut break under WNT break rules often brings the cue ball off the side rail to where the 9 ball is still sitting (on the foot spot). On a good rack, the 9 should not move.
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Well, that would mean then that we should be seeing a lot more breaks where the 9 stands still, right? Are we seeing that? I'm not. I think he should still check the 3 balls directly above the 9. It may have to do with their movement during the break in relation to the 9.

Edit: Oh wait, I just thought of something. If the rack isn't entirely tight and the two balls above the 9 are not touching the 9, then the 9 will not move either. So that's a possibility also.
 
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FranCrimi said:
Thanks for posting the videos. It's very helpful to see. Yes, I think you may be right about the loose balls. The problem with leaving combos on the 9 occurs when the 9 ball stays still and the other balls are moving around it. When the 9 stays still like that, it almost always means the the balls above the 9 in the rack aren't sitting right. Of course, all balls in the rack should touch, but be extra careful in making sure the 3 balls above the 9 are all touching, and especially make sure the two balls directly above the 9 are touching the 9 and that they don't roll off.

Back in the days of triangle racks, that was a technique used when opponents racked the balls. They would leave a small space between the 9 and the two above it to prevent the breaker from making the 9 on the break. But back then, players broke much harder, so while the 9 stood in place, the other balls really scattered hard, so there was little chance of leaving a combo on the 9.
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thank you too, it's been very frustrating all these years to lose games like that. hopefully now that i know the cause, it will rarely happen again.
 
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