Break practice

M

MinoInADixeCup

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I didn't want to highjack a thread about a great looking legitimate product, and I apologize for even posting this alternative idea in that other thread.

http://www.breakrak.com/BreakRAKModels.html

This looks like a killer device and if you can afford it, GET IT!

However, I'm not in a position right now to lay out that kind of cash, is there any reason that gluing together the cheap set of balls that came with my table wouldn't produce a half ass decent substitute? I figure I could get some large pipe insulation to put against the rails to keep them from getting too much of a pounding, assuming the thing would even move all that much.
 
I wouldn't spend 5 cents for it. Lot more to breaking than just hitting the 1 ball. Can't see the path of the balls, effects of gaps etc. Too many pool gadgets starting to pop up.
 
Jason Robichaud said:
I wouldn't spend 5 cents for it. Lot more to breaking than just hitting the 1 ball. Can't see the path of the balls, effects of gaps etc. Too many pool gadgets starting to pop up.
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I wouldnt get it either. plain ole breaking is the only way to go. how will you ever figure out if the wing ball goes or not.

Joe tucker did reccomend it in his racking secrets dvd but i would just rather break a regular rack.
 
Especially when you can pay a kid a soda and candy bar an hour to rack for you all you need :D


Child labor builds character
 
Well I would get it.........Nothing like practicing squattin the CB without havin to rack the balls everytime..........
 
Jason Robichaud said:
I wouldn't spend 5 cents for it. Lot more to breaking than just hitting the 1 ball. Can't see the path of the balls, effects of gaps etc. Too many pool gadgets starting to pop up.
Click to expand...

I disagree and personally know more than one champion player who uses it...as do I.

You have to understand what to do with it.

The point is to work on break mechanics that will lead to the best combination of speed, square hit and CB control off impact.

It quite realistically simulates those things and of course, you can take MANY more shots in a given time than you can re-racking.

If you can't hit the rack well, it doesn't make much difference what the path of the balls would be.

Regarding gaps...just get Joe Tucker's Racking Secrets and you'll learn all you need to know.

For those on a budget who what to work on their stroke mechanics, just line up 4 balls behind the 1 pointed at the 1st diamond and that will pretty well simulate the impact resistence of a full rack but will take up a fraction of the time to set up.

Have all 15 balls laying on the table since ball travel is not the point. That way you don't have to move much to gather up 5 balls.

Regards,
Jim
 
It's like

sex with a rubber, it just isn't the same! .... LOL

Corey Deuel sure didn't learn about breaking using a break rak, he learned by doing it the old fashioned way, Racking, breaking from a spot with certain english, watching the balls where they go, how that interact with each other, how far they come back off the rails, how close a ball is to a pocket with that type of break.

I want to make a point here. Corey spent a lot of concentrated time on breaking and racking, but he learned a lot. How much do you think it has helped him since then? I would venture to say a lot, and a lot of dollars too. How many hill-to-hill matches has he won because of his breaking and racking knowledge.

When I first started playing, I had trouble with spot shots. One day I decided I was going to cure that problem, so I set up and shot 200 spot shots in a row, using inside and outside english, on both sides of the table, plus playing the cue ball to different parts of the table for a possible next shot. It's 46 years later, and I have never had a problem with a spot shot since then.

The whole point is: An amateur does it till they make it, a pro does it till they can't miss. If you want the edge in a match, then be prepared for every aspect of Pool.

One little thing I do for kicks, is I keep track of my win percentage in hill-to-hill matches. It tells me if I analysed the situation right (offense and defense, breaking, racking, etc.), and it tells me how good I am under pressure.
 
Ok, some interesting responses here, but there is no way in hell that I'm the first person to ever think about gluing a rack full of balls together in order to practice breaking.

Someone else must have tried it, and I'd like to hear their opinions on the matter.
 
Snapshot9 said:
sex with a rubber, it just isn't the same! .... LOL

But WAY better than nothing or...ummm...self help. (-:

Corey Deuel sure didn't learn about breaking using a break rak, he learned by doing it the old fashioned way, Racking, breaking from a spot with certain english, watching the balls where they go, how that interact with each other, how far they come back off the rails, how close a ball is to a pocket with that type of break.

I want to make a point here. Corey spent a lot of concentrated time on breaking and racking, but he learned a lot. How much do you think it has helped him since then? I would venture to say a lot, and a lot of dollars too. How many hill-to-hill matches has he won because of his breaking and racking knowledge.

When I first started playing, I had trouble with spot shots. One day I decided I was going to cure that problem, so I set up and shot 200 spot shots in a row, using inside and outside english, on both sides of the table, plus playing the cue ball to different parts of the table for a possible next shot. It's 46 years later, and I have never had a problem with a spot shot since then.

The whole point is: An amateur does it till they make it, a pro does it till they can't miss. If you want the edge in a match, then be prepared for every aspect of Pool.

One little thing I do for kicks, is I keep track of my win percentage in hill-to-hill matches. It tells me if I analysed the situation right (offense and defense, breaking, racking, etc.), and it tells me how good I am under pressure.
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Right about Corey but regarding all the things he watches for, he first has to hit the head ball where he intends to hit it with his hard break stroke.

There is little point in using a training device to practice soft breaking...a practice that ought to be BANNED from the world of pool while we still HAVE a world of pool!!!

The Bread Rak is merely ONE tool useful for a single purpose..hard rack breaking practice. Similarly, weight lifters use LOTS of different equipment to train various parts of the body to accomplish various tasks.

Regards,
Jim
 
MinoInADixeCup said:
Ok, some interesting responses here, but there is no way in hell that I'm the first person to ever think about gluing a rack full of balls together in order to practice breaking.

Someone else must have tried it, and I'd like to hear their opinions on the matter.
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I am no mechanical engineer but here is what I SUSPECT regarding gluing a rack of balls together.

When you hit a normal rack, the balls very quickly (immediately?) separate from eachother so...for example, the back ball isn't providing any resistence to the movement of the balls in front of it.

But if you glue them all together, the back ball would exert continuous resistence against all the front balls so the hit just would not be the same.

I a reasonably sure that is why the Break Rak inventors designed the product the way they did...to achieve similar impact resistence/give for the CB.

Regards,
Jim
 
MinoInADixeCup said:
Ok, some interesting responses here, but there is no way in hell that I'm the first person to ever think about gluing a rack full of balls together in order to practice breaking.

Someone else must have tried it, and I'd like to hear their opinions on the matter.
Click to expand...
Ok. It's easily the best tool for practicing the Break and getting the muscle memory for repeatable break and to study how differnent heights and speeds can get you different results.

The truth is that for most of us, it's tough to practice the break and stop yourself from trying to run out the rack after you've hit them well.

The best breaker in the world isn't Corey Deuel. It's Shane Van Boening. Guess what he used to become the best breaker in the world over the past couple of years? You got it: The Break Rak. He practiced a hundred breaks at a time, by all reports.

Now, if you want to study how balls break apart, you should break a regular rack. But to practice the power break or just to improve your 9-ball break, it's crazy not to understand the worth of the Break Rak. Of course it works. It's the difference between practicing to bowl having to set up the pins yourself, or having something automatically do it so that you can spend more time actually rolling the ball.

Whether or not someone wants to put the money into such a device is a completely different question.

Fred
 
Right said Fred. I have a BreakRak in my basement now and it is the nuts. It is the nuts.

I can shoot 10 break shots in the time it used to take me to break and rack again.
Cornerman said:
Ok. It's easily the best tool for practicing the Break and getting the muscle memory for repeatable break and to study how differnent heights and speeds can get you different results.

The truth is that for most of us, it's tough to practice the break and stop yourself from trying to run out the rack after you've hit them well.

The best breaker in the world isn't Corey Deuel. It's Shane Van Boening. Guess what he used to become the best breaker in the world over the past couple of years? You got it: The Break Rak. He practiced a hundred breaks at a time, by all reports.

Now, if you want to study how balls break apart, you should break a regular rack. But to practice the power break or just to improve your 9-ball break, it's crazy not to understand the worth of the Break Rak. Of course it works. It's the difference between practicing to bowl having to set up the pins yourself, or having something automatically do it so that you can spend more time actually rolling the ball.

Whether or not someone wants to put the money into such a device is a completely different question.

Fred
Click to expand...
 
av84fun said:
There is little point in using a training device to practice soft breaking...a practice that ought to be BANNED from the world of pool while we still HAVE a world of pool!!!
Regards,
Jim
Click to expand...


I have to ask, why? Why does anyone care how someone else breaks? As long as all requirements of a legal break are met what does it matter? I'm not trying to be a jerk, I honestly don't understand why it matters.
MULLY
I don't use a soft break but it doesn't bother me if someone does
 
I beleive the primary purpose of the Breakrak is to practise or improve your break/stroke fundamentals. Build a great stroke (timing, power, etc). You don't have to waste time reracking the balls. Let's say you can shoot 100 break shots to practise your stroke in say 20 minutes using the Breakrak versus say 40 breaks wasting time to rerack the balls.

Once you can power break and plant the CB then you can worry more about the specific intricasies (sp?) for each game that requires you to actually rack the balls.
 
The time saved in having to re-rack the balls makes it worthwhile. Then again, if you have someone racking for you (for free), well that's even better.

I believe it's money well spent if you are really looking to improve your cue ball control on the break.
 
FWIW, I remember speaking with Charley Bond about 5-6 years ago when he had me review the earlier versions of the BreakRak. I can tell you that he addressed all the concerns that many of us had about the design, table wear, ball velocity, etc... the man went out and asked many people how he could improve this product - and he listened to all of the feedback that he received and improved the design.

As a result, he has perfected his product greatly since the first early prototypes.

I recommend this product to anybody that want to practice controlling/and or "squatting" the cue ball on the break.

It's a great tool to ensure that you are getting an accurate hit on the 1 ball, and you will definitely save A LOT of time racking the balls. I highly recommend the BreakRak and Charley Bond's book "The Great Break Shot".
 
Blackjack said:
FWIW, I remember speaking with Charley Bond about 5-6 years ago when he had me review the earlier versions of the BreakRak. I can tell you that he addressed all the concerns that many of us had about the design, table wear, ball velocity, etc... the man went out and asked many people how he could improve this product - and he listened to all of the feedback that he received and improved the design.

As a result, he has perfected his product greatly since the first early prototypes.

I recommend this product to anybody that want to practice controlling/and or "squatting" the cue ball on the break.

It's a great tool to ensure that you are getting an accurate hit on the 1 ball, and you will definitely save A LOT of time racking the balls. I highly recommend the BreakRak and Charley Bond's book "The Great Break Shot".
Click to expand...
I concur with u. As far as table wear, the best thing to do is put a piece of tape under the head spot so the constant breaking doesn't wear down the cloth.

Just so everyone is clear, i don't believe this to be an issue with the break rak. I'm certain if you continually broke racked balls over and over, you would eventually wear down the head spot as well.
 
I have the break rak and it IS the nuts for practicing breaking. It sets up quick and breaks down quick, I really dont have any negatives except for the cost and a bit on the table wear. My table wear was a horde of white dots that came from the cueball smashing off the breakrak and landing in front of the rack. Its about the same type of dot you get if you take the cueball and drop it on the table from about 2ft off the slate. Only X that by like 2-300 times.

I have a terrible shoulder that makes it so I cannot do sustained break rak sessions, after about 15 min my shoulder really begins to ache. For the right person who is working without a torn rotator cuff I could see using this thing for 60-90 min a session. The way the cue ball reacts off of the pack is just like breaking a full rack of nine balls. The beauty of the breakrak is that you can perfect your timing and aim at the head ball. Its one of the better instructional tools for pool I have ever seen.
 
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