Best 8-Ball Break

C

Calgaryplayer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
For the 8-ball game, (1) where is the best spot for placing the cue ball and Why? (2) Which object ball (the apex ball or the ball on the second row) and which part of it do you hit at?


ps. The term "best" means YOU have higher percentage of making balls into pockets and/or spread object balls out evenly after breaking!
 
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The best spot is where you feel most comfortable. To each is own. It's something that you will have to practice and see what and where works best for you.

I prefer to about 2 inches off center and right up to the head string. It is very rare for me to play off the side rail into the first or second ball. Only when I keep getting bad racks.

That's where I feel I get the best break/spread.

Junior
 
It really depends on your intentions. If you play 8ball on the break is a win I would suggest taking some time to learn the 8ball break. A good starting point is to put the cue ball a couple inches or so off the side rail and hitting the second ball as full as possible with some bottom spin. This causes the cue to hit the rack, bounce to the rail and come back into the rack for a secondary hit.

If you want to spread the balls as best as possible you should break down the middle with as much power as you can muster up.
 
TheNewSharkster said:
It really depends on your intentions. If you play 8ball on the break is a win I would suggest taking some time to learn the 8ball break. A good starting point is to put the cue ball a couple inches or so off the side rail and hitting the second ball as full as possible with some bottom spin. This causes the cue to hit the rack, bounce to the rail and come back into the rack for a secondary hit.

If you want to spread the balls as best as possible you should break down the middle with as much power as you can muster up.
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I'm going to try this tonight at my league play.I will report on the results.
 
Make sur to hold your cue level otherwise with the slighest jack up with the cue the cueball could fly off the table. I would use a snap stroke not follow through.
 
deadstroke13 said:
Make sur to hold your cue level otherwise with the slighest jack up with the cue the cueball could fly off the table. I would use a snap stroke not follow through.
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Why a snap stroke and not a follow thru? Do you think this imparts more power?
 
I break from the string about 6-8 inches to the right of center. I aim for the center of the head ball as I'm viewing it (as opposed to the center of the ball veiwed dead on, center table). I try to make absolutely sure I'm stroking center cue ball. I follow through keeping the tip in as stright a line as I can and throwing my whole upper body behind it.


Typically, with a nice tight rack I get a good spread and make at least one ball.

I'm 6'1" about 250 lbs so for me getting my technique down is more important than trying to generate a lot of power. For the longest time I couldn't understand why my breaks weren't getting good spreads. Then I started to really pay attention to my mechanics and I noticed some glaring faults.

Firstly, I wasn't aiming right. I was aiming for the point of the head ball that lies on the center of the table. Wrong. If I'm breaking off to the side a bit, I needed to adjust my aim point. This will keep the cue balls kenetic energy from being wasted as it flys off to the oposite side of the table (which was happening a lot).

Secondly, I could see lines on the felt where my break cues tip was running allong it's surface and they were curving to the left after impact. That told me that my stroke was not straight and I was again losing power that would have otherwise been transfered to the cue ball and then on to the head ball, not to mention trowing the cue ball off some.


Typically, when I excecute a good break this way, the cue ball will impact the head ball then travel forward towards the head rail. This also usually results in movement of the eight ball, most often towards the far left corner pocket. Sometimes I hit a little lower than center ball and end up with a stop-shot or a little draw back to roughly center table. Either way if a ball gets pocketed, I usually have a decent starter shot (unless I get unlucky and get frozen on a ball).
 
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Horses for courses

Some race tracks favor certain horses.
There is no 'greek ideal' for an 8-ball break.
Sometimes the table,cloth,balls,cleanliness,humidity or just how you
feel that day requires a particular answer to the problem.

I remember a tournament in Memphis [1989] played on Gandy tables,
Mali 821 directional nap cloth and non-match balls.Half-way through
the 1rst round the top players had found the best spot for breaking
under those conditions.You have to adapt to conditions.The conditions
don't care about how you like to do things.

If breaking off the 2nd ball i recomend very low ball with a touch of
outside english [5:50 on the clock].Long follow-through dampens
the cue-ball and low keeps it on the table.
 
For me it does because I'm only 115lbs. about 5' 8" a skinny guy and I do better snapping it than follow through
 
I personally wouldn't tell anyone to practice the second ball break. It is more to make the 8 on the break than to make a ball and spread the remaining ones.

Think of it this way. If you practice the 2nd ball break, how many times out of 50 are you going to make it on the break? Play to make a ball and scatter the rest, then run out.

I have hours and hours of me breaking 8 ball and I like the open hand bridge from either dead center or a little left or right, focusing on hitting the head ball.
 
u12armresl said:
I personally wouldn't tell anyone to practice the second ball break. It is more to make the 8 on the break than to make a ball and spread the remaining ones.

Think of it this way. If you practice the 2nd ball break, how many times out of 50 are you going to make it on the break? Play to make a ball and scatter the rest, then run out.

I have hours and hours of me breaking 8 ball and I like the open hand bridge from either dead center or a little left or right, focusing on hitting the head ball.
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If I remember correctly the book 'Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards' states a proper 8ball break gives you a 10% chance of potting the 8ball. Assuming that is accurate you would make 5 out 50. In a lot of cases you will sink a ball on the break and get good separation even when you don't pot the 8ball using this technique.

As a disclaimer I have many pool books so I apologize in advance if that wasn't from Dr. Dave's book.
 
The 8-on-the-break shot is very very iffy, no matter what any book says. I've met many people with stories of some magical player who got it three or four times in a row. The bad news that neither of us is that magical player. Maybe there's also a table with the balls tapped just right to make it go more easily but you won't be playing on that table either.

I would be shocked to see someone making a called 8 on the break more often than 1 in 20. On an unknown table, I'd put money against 1 in 30 even if it's a top pro hitting 'em.

The odds of someone running out if they make a ball and spread them are MUCH higher. Some players in IPT 8 ball were getting near 50% break and run rates. In other words, they had a 50% chance of winning even if the 8 didn't budge and they had no idea where the other balls were going. There's no 8 ball break that can come close to that (even if your own break and run rate is closer to, say, 15%).

PS: the shot I can play on some tables is to make one of the 2nd row balls in the side pocket. This works when I'm breaking right down the center or very near. On some tables this never even comes close but the head ball wants to go in the side. There are so many variables that you probably should start with a dead center break and just observe what goes near the sides, and then see if you can 'steer' any balls that are consistently moving in that direction.
 
I broke the rack with the cue ball about 2 inches to the right of the head spot and hit the rack square. I broke 3 times and each time a ball went in.
I wound up 4 wins and 1 loss. The one loss game i missed the 8 ball. It was the last game and by then i had consumed too much Bourbon.LOL. I did have a sober driver to drive me home.
 
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