Balls not spreading on break

[lfigueroa]

Hey guys and gals. Just a question about the break on my table. Breaking has become a total frustration. No matter how hard I smash the rack head on, the balls hardly move around the table. It takes just about everything I have to get 3-4 balls past the side pockets. I'm hitting it square, and more often then not, the cue ball stays in the middle of the table so I know I'm at least hitting center. It's not a super slow cloth but it's quite nappy compared to my neighbors. When I break on his table, the balls just explode out of the rack and spread all over the table. I had one break once that I got 11 balls past the side pockets. I'm hitting the rack just as hard on his table as I do mine. Mine I have to try an destroy every rack just to get some ball movement. So my question is this, does a slow cloth really impact the break that much? I took a damp cloth and wiped the table down a little while back and it helped some, but a week or 2 later and it's back to normal, as if the balls are rolling through molases on the break. I'm getting so frustrated

Run the balls through a machine with a product like Aramith Billiard Ball Cleaner or Brilianize Plastic Cleaner or Novus Plastic Polish and the balls will open up like a bag of split popcorn.

Lou Figueroa

 

[Pidge]

I've always been taught to make sure all the balls surrounding the 8 are touching each other as well as the 8. Then make sure the head ball is touching the second row.
See if you can pick up a magic rack, and that will tell you if its the rack or the table.

If its the table, my first concern would be the rails. Do the speed test with your neighbours as suggested. The cloth shouldn't impede the spread as much as you're experiencing. I've broke on super slow tables before and had half the rack travel into the top half of the table. If its none of these then I'd put it down to the balls. I remember playing with a set that was really heavy and beat up with a brand new cue ball and I just about managed to get the 1 past the side pocket on a 9 ball break. If none of the previous were the problem ask your neighbour if you could use his set of balls a second.

I feel for ya buddy. A table that breaks dead can take all the fun out of the game.