Advise to get my break back !!!

StormHotRod300

StormHotRod300

BigSexy
Silver Member
Ok for the past 2 or 3 weeks, my break has for kind words has sucked big donkey dick!

Before this happend my break was working very nicely.

This is generally what happens when practicing my break lately

1 I control the CB but get no power from my break, so the balls dont spread well and rarley make anything.

2 I get some power but have no CB control, so the CB ends up bouncing back n forth off the side rails. And can pot a ball or two.

3 I get several breaks with good CB control, but then decided to try to add some power, Like #2 but end up almost miscue'n and hitting the CB with low english and get no power at all and the CB scratches back in the kitchen.

I know alot of it is from not hitting the 1ball solid, But even a slightly off hit, with power should spread the balls well. And the CB normally ends up coming off the side rail.

I do break from the box and rarely break from the side rail anymore. Now this is when i break on a 9ft table. I havent played on a 7ft table in almost a month except for my 8ball league.

Now on a 7ft table my break is pretty good, about 80% of the time i get the CB to pop up after hitting the rack and it sits in the center of the table.

And when playing on a 9ft table its about 50% of the time that i can squat my rock. But lately my break is just OFF!! I've try'd going back to a soft break and just working my way up in power but even that doesnt work.

I'm mainly looking for advise as to what people do when thier break goes to crap, and what they do or practice on to get it back to par.

Now the weird thing, is if I practice 8ball on a 9ft table, I can still get a good break, when going from the box, using alot of power and still controlling the CB. So why would I have such a major break difference between 8ball and 9ball?
 
I watched carefully some breaks from pro players and it seems (I may be wrong) they hit the cue ball without the cue being exactly horizontal so the CB actually floats in the air before hitting the 1 so less english 'bites'. I also saw some players hitting just a hair on the side of the 1 with a draw to hit the long rail and come back in the center.
 
Yes I've seen the same when the pro's break they hit the CB so hard that it sail's in the air a bit before hitting the 1ball and thats what gets it to pop up and stop in the center of the table.

when breaking I always try to hit the 1ball square, unless i am doing a cut / break. I've tried using english when breaking and It just normally ends up with the CB going everywhere except for where i planned lol.
 
what gives me a good spread on the balls is breaking from the left side of the table, the rail or even from the box. I have a cut break but not to the left of the head ball but a little to the right of it, gives me a good break, other then this i really take my time sometimes and concentrate on a dead square hit on the head ball, lining up both the left and right edges to the edges on the head ball. I notice some players who have a good break just get down and put all their power into and don't get a good square hit as they don't take the time to aim it up. They said Corey just practices his break over and over, now this is something i try to do but get tired of breaking and racking, and my girlfriend doesn't want to rack them up for me so what else to do LOL. I for one just make really shure i get that square hit, as i don't have a big break, has to be my weakness in my game, someone once also told me that your back foot should be pararrel to the table.
 
I find that "trying" to break hard is the surest way to destroy your stroke and form. I spend a LOT of time working on my break--here are some things to review that could help:

1) Grab the cue loosely, and don't try to swing your arm super fast-in fact, practice hitting a few breaks in slow motion. This means you have to REALLY focus on a slow motion movement. Make sure your body does everything it would do in a normal break stroke at full speed. Same follow through, etc. Just hit the cue ball at about 5 mph. I mean VERY slow. Do this for a while until you can hit the headball dead square.
2) Spend time focusing on the tip of your cue being the same distance from the cloth from your back stroke, through the cue ball, and all the way out to your final follow through position. Also, make sure that at the very end of your stroke, your tip is pointing towards the center of the one ball. So if your tip is 1" above the cloth at contact, make sure it stays at that height all the way through your follow through.
3) Aim for the spot where the one ball is touching the cloth, NOT the one ball. Don't even think in terms of looking at the whole rack. Only see the one ball, and if possible, only the center of it (which can be found where it touches the cloth).
4) Make sure to focus on only your hand moving straight. Don't think about power. Instead, think about smoothness. Think about one decisive motion that begins slowly and smoothly all the way through the cueball. You can get very nice results only hitting the cueball 15-18 mph, especially in 9-ball.

Try this stuff-hope it helps-it usually works for me.

KMRUNOUT
 
Well today I headed to the pool hall and for about a hour I just practiced my break.

I started out doing my 8ball break for about 15mins and of course i could sit there and crush the rack on a 9ft table.

After that I started doing my 9ball break and damn, i was back to breaking like my old self :)

I also made a mental note to keep my weight forward and a strong stance. Which i think was my problem, I was trying to get more power, and kept on messing with my stance. So I ended up going back to my old stance and problem solved!

Plus I tried breaking from the left side of the table too, couple inches left of the head spot, and found I could control the CB alot better from there than way off to the right side in the box.

Its funny how when you try to adjust something a lil bit it ends up screwing with you in the long run.
 
So it was just your stance huh, nyce to hear. I can completely agree with trying to adjust to something after you are comfortable with something else. Today i tried out my new McDermott cue that i had since last XMas, and i was missing balls all over the table, to use to my Viper cue, but i got it down now. I give major props to the people who can just pick up a cue and play there game, like the players who use the house cues and whoop on you.
 
A couple of things

I have done are: (breaking from the box - bout 2" toward center from one diamond in)

1) I shorten up my bridge by 1-2" (helps accuracy)
2) I have started to keep my eye on the cue ball on practice
and hit strokes. I line up where I want to hit the head ball, then
I switch to watch the cue ball and where my tip is going to hit it,
and try to follow through good. (I started doinng this because
I got a J&J Break/jump cue with the phenolic ferrule/tip).

Last Friday, when I knocked a guy out to 4th place, and we were
shaking hands, he said, "You sure have a powerful break".
 
i also noticed when the times i have that great follow through and make my cue touch the table that downwards motion i get that solid hard break.
 
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