Bending the cue on the break

RBC said:
There really is no advantage to bending your cue after the break.
Click to expand...

RBC said:
The best break tip I have ever heard originally came from Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant. Basically, he said that you should follow through and try to keep your tip from touching the table. What this does is keeps you flat through the cueball, which helps keep the cueball from jumping before it hits the stack. This is huge!
Click to expand...

When you break, like you said, you want your tip to stay on the cloth. You also, don't want bridge movement. How do you move your body forward, keep your bridge hand down and tip down and follow through without bending a cue?

Look at the attached photo from my previous post of Charlie. After this break shot he says, "I couldn't break real hard, I'm playing with my playing shaft, ya'll. I don't want to take a chance warping it"
 
Simple people. You'll ALWAYS bend your cue on the break shot as long as you remain holding on to your cue in your closed bridge hand when following through (unless you hit the pool table with your grip hand or drag your knuckles on the cloth).

The extent you bend your cue depends on how long your follow through is and how high your back hand finishes.

If you don't bend your cue following the break shot, then you're simply letting go of the cue with your bridge hand post impact.
 
jsp said:
Simple people. You'll ALWAYS bend your cue on the break shot as long as you remain holding on to your cue in your closed bridge hand when following through (unless you hit the pool table with your grip hand or drag your knuckles on the cloth).

The extent you bend your cue depends on how long your follow through is and how high your back hand finishes.

If you don't bend your cue following the break shot, then you're simply letting go of the cue with your bridge hand post impact.
Click to expand...

I notice I do this on power draw shots and break shots. When your body is moving forward, and up as you strike the cue. Some players exaggerate this "cue bending" and hold the position like the picture above. It's rare that a cue would be damaged and IMO it won’t damage the cloth. Unless you have a very hard tip, then you will sometimes see white lines on the cloth from breaking.
 
I bend my cue on the break. I used to put my bridge hand on the rail for the break and it made for some cool bendy cue effect. Since then I have purchased a Mezz PB2 and break with my bridge hand on the table. The stiffness of the shaft with less elevation has reduced how bendy it gets but it still bends.
 
I remember noticing this in TCOM - Vince (Cruise) had some bend going on.

Also - did anyone notice that after the break and before his first shot he moves the balls to allow enough room for the cue ball to go through and moves the cue ball? Then moves balls out of the way at will? I know he is practicing, but I usually play the table even when practicing.

Vince Breaking in TCOM (Kids got a sledge hammer break!)
 
Last edited:
Blue Hog ridr said:
All I know is that people watch the pros do it and they want to be cool and emulate the pros, but they have no idea what the purpose is, they just want to look cool.
So, bend your shafts and be uber cool.
Click to expand...

Pretty much none of this is true.

Fred
 
RBC said:
There really is no advantage to bending your cue after the break.

It does really increase the chance that you will snap your cue or shaft at or near the joint!

I think it comes as a result from an accentuated follow through, which is a good thing on the break, but only if it's in the right direction.

The best break tip I have ever heard originally came from Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant. Basically, he said that you should follow through and try to keep your tip from touching the table. What this does is keeps you flat through the cueball, which helps keep the cueball from jumping before it hits the stack. This is huge!

I think that when great players ,as have been shown in this thread, are bending the cue it is a result of the follow through and happens long after the tip hits the cueball. But when most players try to replicate that break, they hit down on the cue ball and their break suffers. The cueball fly's around and jumps in the air too much.

I know that I break much better when I keep it flat and level.
Click to expand...
I think this is a good accurate post.

I also know that I've watched you break, and your shaft bends as well on the bed. As most of everyone's does. Even those that pick up their shaft (Archer), it still bends on the bed just before the player opens his hand and lifts.

Fred
 
RBC said:
There really is no advantage to bending your cue after the break.

It does really increase the chance that you will snap your cue or shaft at or near the joint!

I think it comes as a result from an accentuated follow through, which is a good thing on the break, but only if it's in the right direction.

The best break tip I have ever heard originally came from Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant. Basically, he said that you should follow through and try to keep your tip from touching the table. What this does is keeps you flat through the cueball, which helps keep the cueball from jumping before it hits the stack. This is huge!

I think that when great players ,as have been shown in this thread, are bending the cue it is a result of the follow through and happens long after the tip hits the cueball. But when most players try to replicate that break, they hit down on the cue ball and their break suffers. The cueball fly's around and jumps in the air too much.

I know that I break much better when I keep it flat and level.
Click to expand...


I'm not much of a 9ball player but I have been around long enough to know this is true. It's an affectation that people adopt because they've seen someone do it and they think it's cool -- kind of like the rear foot bent up in the air when leaning out over the table. (Guilty :-)

We have one or two numnuts at the pool hall I play at that do the bend-the-shaft-into-the-table and all it does is put nice long scratch marks into the Simonis.

Lou Figueroa
 
Last edited:
The key point is don't aim to bend the cue , if it happens as a byproduct of your breaking style, so be it

Aim for a solid hit on the cueball and a solid hit on the rack
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top