Best breaking secrets on a bar table.

JoeyA

JoeyA

Efren's Mini-Tourn BACKER
Silver Member
OK,
I'm headed over to a big bar table tournament in Mobile, Alabama. I'll be trying to get a pool lesson with the famous Gene Albrecht of Precision Aim fame.

Not too long ago I received some FANTASTIC do's and don'ts from the AZ B family for playing on a bar table and it helped my game A LOT.

I'm now requesting some suggestions on how to get the most out of my break on the bar table for this weekend.

I would like for some of you bar table players to think about some of the problems that one runs into when playing on different bar tables at a tournament and make suggestions as to how to profit from the break, faster.

I'm open to all suggestions. I'd like you to give a difficult situation that you've either found yourself in and the solution or simply make a suggestion as to how I can break better this weekend.

I'll start off with a couple of no-brainers.

1. Get in some practice breaking on a similar bar table.

2. Observe other players and how they are breaking and the results they are getting.

I really want to shorten the learning curve of pocketing balls on the break more consistently and keeping control of the cue ball on the break.

To give you a little more information, the format is 9 Ball on Valley Bar Boxes, RED Circle cue ball, race to 9, DE, rack your own, winner breaks.

Thanks for the detailed suggestions.
 
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BACK ball tight to the two balls above it... make sure the two balls above the back ball are touching if you want to make the wing ball.

Oh...and keep the CB on the table!!!!
 
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Man, I just typed out a ton of good advice for 8 ball breaking ... and then noticed you were asking for 9 ball advice. Story of my life!
 
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Depends what brand of BB you are going to play on. Mobile will be very humid this time of year. If they don't have GOOD A/C it's hard to make more than 1 on the break. Tight Diamond pockets would be the hardest. I always try to make the wing-ball and control the 1-ball and QB for a shot after the break. I don't break hard in any conditions on a BB. Control is the key. Make wing and get 1-ball to comeback toward a corner head pocket with QB in middle of table. Good luck and good rolls to you Joey. Johnnyt
 
I feel like I have improved my break a whole lot lately because a few small adjstments.

The biggest thing is using The BreakRak. Thing is great for working on controling the cueball and finding your speed. It's not how hard you smash em, it's how you end up after the break.

You say, rack your own, so the wingball should be locked.

For a while I caught myself not following through enough on my break. With the help if the BreakRak, I learned to follow my tip to the center of the table, with a 10" bridge, and park my cueball with just a half tip of low inside english.

The other night I was practicing, I was making 2-4 balls every break. Not getting out, but breaking great. Hahaha
 
I have found that for 9ball on a box breaking just behind the head spot gets far better results than a side rail break..

on strange tables I start dead center and then move a ball at a time to one side or the other until I find the sweet spot.. but for me that spot is always closer to the middle than it is the rail..

good luck:thumbup:
 
cleary...Just think...if you followed through to the other end of the table you'd probably make at least 6 balls on every break! LMAO :rolleyes: Seriously though, how FAR you follow through has ZERO to do with what happens on the break. Just thought you'd like to know the truth.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

cleary said:
For a while I caught myself not following through enough on my break. With the help if the BreakRak, I learned to follow my tip to the center of the table, with a 10" bridge, and park my cueball with just a half tip of low inside english.

The other night I was practicing, I was making 2-4 balls every break. Not getting out, but breaking great. Hahaha
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Scott Lee said:
cleary...Just think...if you followed through to the other end of the table you'd probably make at least 6 balls on every break! LMAO :rolleyes: Seriously though, how FAR you follow through has ZERO to do with what happens on the break. Just thought you'd like to know the truth.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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How about you follow through 1" and I'll follow through 15" and see who hits them harder.

Same with a punch. You gotta follow through if you wanna knock 'em out.
 
This guy, forget his name, has a really good break.

I started watching some pros who have good breaks and this was a very consistent thing.
 

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Make the bet...and post it. However, the bet will be about who makes more balls and controls the CB better. I'll come to NYC to get your dough! You haven't got a prayer of winning.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

cleary said:
How about you follow through 1" and I'll follow through 15" and see who hits them harder.

Same with a punch. You gotta follow through if you wanna knock 'em out.
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Scott Lee said:
Make the bet...and post it. However, the bet will be about who makes more balls and controls the CB better. I'll come to NYC to get your dough! You haven't got a prayer of winning.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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Maybe you should re-read what I said, "who hits them harder".

Cueball control isn't about speed and pocketing balls is about the rack and how you hit the 1 ball.

But them all together and you got a great break.
 
Study the action of the cue ball after it strikes the rack. Cue ball may be hitting the one ball on it's way up after a bounce. You might want to either back up the cue ball or move it forward depending on what's it doing. Cue ball lifting up off the table on impact means you're losing transfer of power to object balls.
 
So, I guess you're "begging off"? Again...making balls has nothing to do with how far you follow through...neither does how "hard" you can hit the rack.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

cleary said:
Maybe you should re-read what I said, "who hits them harder".

Cueball control isn't about speed and pocketing balls is about the rack and how you hit the 1 ball.

But them all together and you got a great break.
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Neil...That is solid, accurate, and completely true. The bolded paragraph illustrates my point with cleary accurately. Controlling/improving your break is more about an accurate, repeatable, sustainable stroke...and all that requires is a process that has a start and a finish. It doesn't matter how far you follow through the CB...it's gone 1/1000th of second after the tip touches it in the stroke process. Following through MORE than your normal finish (if you have one) does nothing to affect the outcome of the shot, or the quality of the stroke.

On topic, everything talked about above, and below, applies to bar table pool, as well as full size tables.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Neil said:
I'll second that. Besides that, here's a couple of things that might help you...

1. When aiming at the one, aim at the very top of it. That way you can easily find the center of the one.

2. You don't want to see how hard you can hit them. You want to hit them with complete control. On a decent speed table, you only have to hit 3/4 speed or even less. The idea is to hit the one dead square, and have the cb park in the middle of the table.

3. Hitting softer means that the one will be near the side if you don't make it in the side. Nice easy shot to start with. Balls will tend to spread, but not bunch back up on each other like when you hit real hard.

4. Make sure all the balls are frozen. Racking your own, you can easily make the wing ball every time, or have the 9 headed right for the corner every time, but that's just not right, and I know you wouldn't do that.

5. I have found that hitting the one square is the biggest thing to making balls.
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